“What if he doesn’t want to discuss it?”
Mila tapped her finger on her mug while she considered that. “Good point. Let’s not bring it up on the way out. We’ll wait until we’re on the way back. We’ll give him the option of riding on ahead if he doesn’t go for the idea.”
“He won’t ride ahead and leave us behind,” Claudette said. “It’s not the gentlemanly thing to do.”
Mila nodded. “So he’s stuck. It feels too much like an ambush. We need to tell him in advance.”
“I could call him.” Claudette put down her tea. “My phone’s in the?—”
“No, don’t.” Tracy glanced at her. “In person is better, and it can wait until tomorrow morning. No reason to stir him up now.”
“He has barn duty again in the morning,” Mila said.
“I’ll go down and let him know I told you both. That news should come from me since he hasn’t confided in anyone, not even his brothers. I doubt he expected me to say anything to you.”
“See?” Mila brightened. “We’ll be doing him a favor. Keeping secrets is hard. Now he can finally talk about it with someone.”
“I’m not sure he’ll thank me for that, but I’ll tell him he’s free to seek advice from anyone.”
“My guess is he’ll talk to Luis,” Mila said. “They trust each other completely. Never thought they would the way they used to fight.”
“Hey, it’s all part of the game.” Claudette yawned. “You and I got into it, too. I’ll bet Tracy remembers some of those battles.”
“Remember them? I was the one who tried to stop you from killing each other. And I got whacked in the head and kicked in the shins for my trouble.”
“Good times.” Mila stood and stretched.
“Bridger Bunch times.” Claudette gathered the empty mugs. “Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
“’Me, either. Thanks, you guys.” Tracy gave them each a hug. “I should have come to you sooner.”
“But you did eventually come,” Mila said. “It’ll be okay,hermanita. You’ll see.”
“Yeah.” She didn’t totally believe that, but it was good to be back with the Bridger Bunch. Very good.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Adam dug into barn chores with a vengeance. He wasn’t used to facing problems he couldn’t solve and he didn’t like it. Grousing about the issue to the horses as he passed out hay flakes didn’t change anything but the horses were good listeners.
After they finished their breakfast, he turned them out into the snowy pasture except for his roan Banjo, plus Sol, the stunning palomino Mila had ridden for years, and Pickles, Claudette’s handsome bay, named for his favorite treat — a nice, fat dill pickle.
Transferring that bunch to the corral, he turned on the old radio in the tack room and cranked up the volume on the country station it was permanently tuned to. Then he grabbed a pitchfork and a rake, rolled the wheelbarrow into position and started mucking out stalls.
The barn was cold this time of year, but he put his back into the job and soon had to ditch his jacket. Felt good to sweat.
“Thought I might find you here.”
He turned around so fast he almost fell over. He regained his balance with the help of the rake. ”Hey, there.” His attempt ata casual greeting failed miserably, coming out more as a wheeze than actual words.
Tracy stood outside the stall bundled up in a jacket and knit cap. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. I called out, but I guess you didn’t hear me.”
“Had the radio on.” Like she hadn’t noticed that. Why was she here? And why hadn’t he shaved before heading to the barn?
“I need to tell you something.”
He swallowed. “Okay.”
“Mila and Claudette know.”
