Izzy glanced once at Abbie, as if for permission, then followed a teenaged girl toward the group of kids. “Have you ever brushed a horse before, Izzy?” Emily asked.
“Is there somewhere I need to go to check us in?” Abbie asked a very distracted Martha. The woman couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off Logan.
“The kids will be so excited you’re here—” Something about the wordusseemed to jolt Martha mid-sentence. She lowered her sunglasses, eyes bouncing back and forth between Abbie and Logan. “You two are back . . .”
“No,” she said immediately. The last thing she needed was an entire camp of kids catching wind of a false rumor. It was bad enough having Logan in town for the week, but she didn’t need talk of them to continue once he left. That gossip had been hard enough to endure last time. In a small town, everyone seemed to assume they knew the whole story.
“Always thought you two were meant to be together. The whole town thinks so, you know. It broke our hearts when you split up.”
“I’m here for Izzy,” Logan said much more smoothly, easing that smile back onto Martha’s face and switching the subject. “She’s my best friend’s daughter.”
“Well, we’re very glad to have you as a special guest today.” Finally, Martha looked at her and pointed. “Registration’s inside that cabin.”
With the frenzy of an unannounced celebrity gracing the Andersons’ horse camp, Abbie wondered if the article she hoped to write would be forgotten. She started to mention it, but then stopped. Between Logan and a family with four kids approaching behind them, Martha was much too distracted. Though Vince would encourage a more aggressive approach to capturing a story, she always found patience went a longer distance. She’d find Martha later.
“If your secret wasn’t out before, it definitely is now,” she said to Logan as he followed her to the registration cabin. “Whoever Lina Holbrook didn’t get to yesterday will know you’re back before lunch.”
“It was going to happen sooner or later.” Though the same suaveness he’d used while speaking to Martha remained, something dimmed in his eyes. She’d always thought he loved the fame despite his claims he didn’t, but now she wasn’t so sure.
“You’ve always been a talented bull rider, but why is being number one so important to you?” she asked, her question gentler in tone than any of the others she’d asked of him. “I don’t remember that ever being something that mattered to you. Not much anyway.”
Half expecting him to dodge her or give some quip about earning the answer, he surprised her. “Other than doing something I think my dad would’ve been proud of? It’s something I have some semblance of control over. I can always improve.”
She didn’t understand. She wanted to, because maybe if she did, she could make peace with the reason he went back to it. Find that closure Erin insisted she needed. She hadn’t been able to make sense of thewhylast night. “But you can’t control how a bull will behave. What mood he’s in or what he might do . . .” She let her words trail off because they reached the cabin to get checked in. But mostly, because she couldn’t put her worst fears to words. Not today.
“Abbs—”
“I’ll make sure the article doesn’t say anything about you chasing number one for the fame or the money, I promise.” It was the only promise she could make right now. She turned from him then, forcing him to catch the door or have it slam in his face, and busied herself with Izzy’s registration.
* * *
After the orientation for the youngest kids, they were ushered into the stable to learn about the different types of brushes for grooming horses. Abbie hung out at the edge of the stable, able to see Izzy sitting still and alert.
“She must really love horses,” Logan said. “I haven’t seen her sit still for more than ten seconds since I got here.”
“She does.” A warm smile fell across her face as she stared ahead at the red and white mare at the front of the demonstration area. “She’s getting one for her birthday, you know. A horse.”
“Really?”
“Don’t tell Cliff or Erin I told you that.”
“I won’t.”
“Cliff hasn’t picked her up yet, but he’s got a mare reserved.” Abbie couldn’t wait to see the excitement and glow in Izzy’s eyes when she discovered she got the horse for her birthday. She’d been asking for one for months. “Horse camp was supposed to be a compromise, as far as Izzy knows. They told her she couldn’t have one until she was ten.”
“But really she’s here to learn how to take care of her future horse.” Logan leaned against the door frame, folding his arms and crossing his legs at the ankles. He looked so at home that for a moment she forgot they weren’t together.
“I think it’ll be really good for her. If she’s going to lose interest in the whole idea, it’ll happen today before Cliff spends anything.” She caught sight of Martha again, lingering in the background of the instruction session. She wondered if now was an opportune time to ask her a few questions. She didn’t want to get in the way, especially since there was no guarantee Vince would ever let her print this story.
“I went to horse camp once,” Logan said, cutting her attention away from Martha long enough to lose her again. “Summer I turned twelve. My dad thought it was important that I learned to care for a horse, even though all I wanted to do was ride bulls. Taught me a lot.”
“You seem a little nostalgic,” she said carefully. “You must’ve had a good time there.”
“Had my first kiss, you know.”
“What?” She smacked him on the arm, but not hard enough to cause so much as a flinch. “I thoughtIwas your first kiss.” Heat rushed to her cheeks when she realized what she said. Out loud. It shouldn’t matter to her anymore.
“You were the first kiss that mattered.”
