Wren and I had exchanged minimal small talk over the last few days. We were both obviously making an effort to avoid one another.
At least I was.
I’d kept pretty good tabs on her during the time when we didn’t speak, even calling the hospital daily to check on her after her accident, pretending to be a family member.
But that didn’t mean I knew how to handle her being back.
“Well, I found the article very upsetting on her behalf, and I don’t even know her.” Henley reached for her wine glass and shook her head. “Easton said she was always with that horse.”
Henley hadn’t grown up here, either. She and my cousin Easton were getting married over Labor Day weekend.
Everyone who grew up in Rosewood River knew about Wren and her love for her horse, Wrax. The horse she’d just won the world championship on a few months ago.
“Did something happen to Wrax?” I asked, unable to hide the fact that I needed to know as my gaze moved around the table, and I didn’t miss the way they all shared a look.
What the fuck is going on?
I’d grown up with that horse as well.
“Read him the article,” Easton said, glancing at the girls as if he didn’t want to be the one to do it.
“I’ll read it,” Lulu said, pulling it up on her phone. “‘Hey there, Roses, the tea is overflowing today, so you might want to buckle up. Our favorite equestrian and recent world champion is back in town, but the surprising thing is she didn’t ride in on her favorite horse. Nope, she came by plane, all by herself. Word inthe horse world is that she no longer has her beloved four-legged bestie, as he was sold from right under her nose.’”
“It’s brutal,” Archer said. “Read the rest. He should probably know what’s going on, even if he wants to act like he doesn’t care.”
Lulu raised a brow at me, and I nodded.
She cleared her throat and started reading again. “‘Apparently, Daddy Dearest is not happy about the recent fall his princess took, nor does he feel that the horse is her ticket to the Olympics. From what I’ve heard, he didn’t think twice before shattering her dreams. So no one knows if she’s back in town by choice or if she’s just here to straighten things out with her family, because according to public record, a certain mama bear has filed for divorce from her overbearing husband. Either way, our favorite equestrian is back working for her bestie, but the two don’t seem to be as cozy as they once were. In fact, sources claim that they appear to be treating one another as strangers. For those of us who are from Rosewood River, that seems as unimaginable as seeing our girl on foot and not on horseback. But life is full of surprises, isn’t it?’”
The table was completely quiet as I sat there processing her words.
Wren’s father had sold Wrax? That made no sense. He’d bought her that horse. That horse meant everything to her.
She’d competed for years on that beautiful thoroughbred.
I blew out a breath. “I can’t imagine how she’s feeling if this is true.”
“You’ve been working with her all week,” Emilia said. “How does she seem?”
I thought about it.
She did seem different, if I was being honest.
But I’d just assumed it was because she still despised me.
“Wounded. Maybe even a little broken,” I admitted, and a dull ache settled in the center of my chest. “I thought it was because she was uncomfortable around me. I didn’t know this was going on.”
It didn’t matter that Wren and I weren’t what we used to be, because I could still feel her pain. We’d always joked about it growing up. When I’d taken a bad fall off my horse in eighth grade, the paramedics thought Wren had been hurt because she was on the ground next to me crying as if she were the one in pain.
Whether we were speaking or not.
Whether she was beside me or thousands of miles away.
I felt Wren’s pain.
If she hurt—I hurt.
And vice versa.
