My mother’s eyes shine. “Ruby does remind me a lot of Crissy,” she says, voice thick. “It’s so wonderful to have a little girl in the house again.”
She sniffs, pressing her lips together, then looks up at me with a watery smile. “And my big boy.”
Something inside me cracks open at that—a mix of love and grief and gratitude, all tangled together. I bend and hug her, careful not to get her wet.
“Go,” she mutters into my shoulder. “Before you wake Ruby and your father.”
I nod and head up the stairs. The quiet house welcoming me, even with all its ghosts.
Ruby’s fingers tighten in mine as we step inside the stables, like she’s afraid the whole place might swallow her up.
“It’s okay, kiddo,” I murmur, squeezing back. “They’re just big ol’ puppy dogs with hooves.”
She tips her head back to look at me, suspicious. “Puppies don’t have hooves, silly.”
“They don’t?”
Pop chuckles behind us, the sound easy and familiar, and takes me back to a time when he used to laugh often. He’s got his hands in the pockets of his jacket, his shoulders relaxed in a way I haven’t seen in years. He looks … almost content. Like this—this morning, the stables, his granddaughter clutching my hand—is what he always wanted.
Sunlight pours through the open aisle doors, striping the packed dirt floor in bright streaks. Horses shift in their stalls, leather creaks, tails swish when they see they have visitors. Ruby’s eyes go wide, wonder overtaking nerves.
“Papa,” she whispers, letting go of my hand and tugging on my father’s, “that one’s really big.”
Pop leans down beside her. “That’s a gelding, sweetheart. Big fella, but gentle as they come.”
She peers through the bars. “Can he bite?”
“He could,” Pop says honestly. “But he won’t. Not unless you give him a reason to.”
She thinks about that very carefully.
I spot Caison through the open door of his office at the end of the aisle. He’s standing at his desk, one hand braced on the edge, like he needs it to stay upright. His hair’s a little rumpled, shirt untucked, just enough to notice. He looks … off.
Not hungover. Just unsettled.
I glance down at Ruby. “Hey, why don’t you stay here with Papa for a minute? I gotta talk to Uncle Case.”
Her face brightens instantly. “Uncle Case?”
“Yeah, he’s a good friend of mine, and he lives here and works for Papa. I’m going to go say hi, and I’ll be right back.”
She looks up at Pop and smiles.
Pop grins. “Wanna feed him an apple?”
She nods, and he leads her over to a bucket of apples.
I walk down the aisle, boots scuffing softly against dirt. Caison hears me coming and looks up, blinking like he’s been dragged out of his head.
“Mornin’,” I say. “You look like hell.”
He exhales a laugh, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Good morning to you too.”
I lean against the doorframe. “What’d you get up to last night after you ditched me at Wildhaven Storm?”
He winces, just a little. “I didn’t ditch you.”
“Uh-huh.”
