Willow smiled. Then she fished her phone from her pocket and tossed it to him. “Take a picture of us? Me and Miss Rosie. Need some more fodder for social media, right? Keep Sloane happy and keep the fans guessing who might be on the other side of the lens. Make it a candid one, okay?”
She turned away from him and kept walking, leaving him to decide on the shot. He snapped several, not caring which one made the cut because he took the liberty of texting them all to himself. Well, his actual number since he had no idea what the number was to his loaner. He really needed to getto a phone store. It was either that or ask Sloane to do it, but that meant Sloane making another trip to the ranch, and that was the last thing on his list of things he wanted to make happen.
“Hey, Wills!” he called, and she glanced over her shoulder with a knowing grin.
“Candids!” she called back, then raised her brows.
He laughed, and she turned back to her mare.
They continued like that for another couple of laps before pausing to give Rose another snack and then taking her back to her stall for some water and rest. Then they walked back to the guesthouse, Willow heading straight for the fridge where she removed the pitcher of water and filled two tall glasses.
“Here,” she told him, offering one in his direction.
“Thanks,” Ash replied, suddenly not sure how to talk to her when there wasn’t a horse’s well-being to discuss. “Oh,” he continued, pulling her phone from his pocket. “You probably want this back.”
She set her glass down on the counter and retrieved the device. Ash leaned against the fridge and continued to nurse his drink while she scrolled and tapped, her expression morphing from pensive to curious. Then she seemed to bite back a smile as her top lip grazed her bottom lip before she let out a breath and met his gaze again.
“There,” she announced. “That should hopefully keep Sloane satisfied.”
He raised a brow. “You posted one of the photos already?”
She nodded. “I…um…I like the one you took when I turned around,” she admitted, her lips curling into a soft smile.
Ash nodded. “I like that one too. You’re not worried about people speculating in the comments about who took the photo?” He winced as soon as the question left his mouth because he knew he’d just given himself away.
“Why…Ash Murphy, have you been stalking my Instagram?” Willow asked, a teasing lilt in her tone.
He groaned but then opted for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth because what did he have to lose? “Yes,” he told her matter-of-factly. “I follow your account. Not officially… I mean, Sloane pretty much runs my socials, and my professional accounts only follow my label’s account and a couple of brands we’ve partnered with for advertising. But I’ve looked at your account since we set up our whole arrangement.”
She eyed him warily. “So you don’t follow me with a finsta or anything like that?”
He let out a nervous laugh. “No finsta.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Not that I hadn’t thought about it over the years. But… I don’t know. I felt like that would be an invasion of your privacy or something.”
Willow picked up her glass and took a long, slow sip before responding. “It’s a public account,” she mused.
“Still felt wrong to follow you without you knowing it was me.” Ash shrugged. “But I saw the comments after the bonfire post. This is only going to add fuel to the fire.”
She nodded. “Which is what we want, right? To build anticipation about what I’m doing and who I’m doing it with? Speaking of which… I have an idea for the chorus, but if you don’t like it—”
“I figured it out,” Ash blurted. “The melody, I mean. Sorry. I shouldn’t have interrupted. I’ve just been wanting to tell you, but I got sidetracked by…” His voice trailed off, and Willow nodded. They both seemed happier to reference their new arrangement—putting the brakes on what they’d started—without actually mentioning it. “And same goes for you. If you don’t like the melody…” He ran a hand through his hair. “Can I hear the chorus?”
She grinned and nodded, grabbing her phone where he guessed she’d written the lyrics down. “Can I hear the melody?”
He found himself smiling too. “I’ll go get my guitar. Couch or patio?” he added.
“Patio,” she replied. “I want to soak up as much of this Meadow Valley air as I can before I have to hit the road again.”
“See you out there,” Ash replied, swallowing the tightness in his throat. Regardless of what they’d started or paused, what happened when the song was written and the festival ended? The hotel incident had followed a local radio interview and performance. He’d had a couple more scheduled, not that he was even sure why. He was between albums and tours, had nothing new to promote.
“You need to promote yourself in the offseason,” Sloane insisted. “Stay in the public eye…in apositiveway,” she always added, so much so that Ash was able to mouth the words along with her every time she said them. Not that she waswrongto remind him of the necessity. He just seemed to care less and less these days about what anyone else thought of him.
Except Willow. And…okay…maybe Eli and Boone too.
When he met her outside, she was curled up on a cushioned lounger. Ash opted for one of the wooden bench chairs surrounding the small outdoor table.
“No guitar?” he asked her, noting that the only thing in her hands was her phone.
Willow shook her head. “I want to hear your melody, and then I’ll sing you the lyrics. We’ll see if it all works together or what we might need to fix.”
