Chapter 22
Ash found her boot first, kicked off against the wall where leads hung from a row of hooks above. Great. So she was walking around half barefoot in here? Or worse. If she took off on a horse with only one…
He breathed a sigh of relief when he rounded the corner and found her leaning on Jack’s gate, bare foot held aloft like she was a flamingo while she patted the gelding’s nose.
“Jesus, Willow. I thought you took off on one of the horses.Injured.Do you know how dangerous that is?”
He watched her shoulders deflate, and something inside of him did the same. When she turned to look at him, balancing now on her bare heel along with her boot, he saw what looked like defeat in her brown eyes.
“That was the plan,” she admitted. “It’s the best way to clear my head, but…” She shook her bare foot and shrugged. “Ibuprofen is kicking in, but the boot was definitely a mistake.” She nodded toward Jack’s gray nose still poking over the top of the gate. “So I’m getting to know Jack a bit better. He’s a good listener.”
Ash strode toward her but stopped a few feet away. He knew she’d left the house because she needed her distance from him and the four-year-long mess he’d gotten himself tangled up in. But he also knew he could help if she’d let him.
“I can take you out on him,justaround the arena. He’s been healing up really well.” He leaned closer for a conspiratorial stage whisper. “Might even be on his way to riding faster than Cirrus.”
Cirrus snorted in his stall at the mention of his name, and the corner of Willow’s mouth twitched. Analmostsmile. Ash considered that a small victory.
“On a lead?” she asked, then pressed her lips together and shook her head. “It’s not the same. Something about going slow makes me think too much. Does that make sense?”
Of course it made sense. Ash hadn’t been on the back of a horse for who knows how long before he hopped into Midnight’s saddle and took her to the clearing. That short ride off the property was the most peace he’d felt in years. He and Willow might be miles away from where they were for one glorious night in a tent, but at least here, in the barn, they were on the same page.
“Then let’s take Midnight for a spin,” he told her. “According to Eli, she’s the best at riding double.”
Willow’s eyes brightened for a second before her expression fell. She opened her mouth to protest, but Ash held up his hands.
“Hear me out. For however long we’re out there”—he pointed to the arena and the field and forest that lay beyond—“I don’t exist other than pulling the reins. It’s just you, the mare, and the wind. We don’t have to talk. I’m just the vehicle to get you where you need to go.”
She bit her bottom lip, and he could see the wheels starting to turn. She was considering the offer, which meant shewantedthis even if she didn’t exactly want it with him.
“Let me do this for you, Wills. Please?”
After a few more beats of silence, she finally nodded her head.
Ash blew out a breath. “Great. Okay. I’ll tack her up, and we’ll go.” He glanced down at her feet. “But you can’t go like that. Can I grab you a pair of sneakers or something? You still have those red Chuck Taylors?”
Her cheeks flush slightly as she nodded again. “You remember my shoes,” she told him, a statement rather than a question.
He remembered everything. Well, save for the few days following her departure when he somehow survived performing while subsisting on nothing other than an overabundance of liquid courage.
“Yeah,” was all he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Once he had Midnight ready to go, Ash sat Willow down on a storage bench outside the stalls and let her pull off her remaining boot.
“Do you want help?” he asked, holding up the well-worn pair of Converse sneakers.
Willow rolled her eyes. “I can put on my own shoes.”
That she could, and she did. Ash said nothing as she winced—but only slightly—sliding her right foot into the very loosely laced shoe and tying it just enough so it wouldn’t fall off. When he held out a hand to help her back up, she reluctantly took it, though she seemed steadier on her feet now as she limped toward the arena door where Midnight waited for them outside.
“Feeling better?” he asked.
And although she nodded, she reminded him, “No talking, remember?”
Ash let out a nervous laugh. “Right. Guess that starts now.”
Willow greeted Midnight with a pet between the eyes, and the mare responded with an affectionate nuzzle.
“So…mounting…” he began, scratching the back of his neck. “I didn’t think about that.”
