“Of course I am,” Joey said. “Rainbow is my favorite color.”
Adam tipped his head back and laughed. “Rainbow is not a color, Roo,” he said, and then the breath froze in his lungs.
He had never called Joey “Roo” before, and he could barely believe the nickname had come out of his mouth now. But it definitely had. She looked over to him too, her eyes blazing with something Adam couldn’t decipher.
He cleared his throat. “I thought your favorite color was pink.”
“Pink is part of any good rainbow,” she said.
“There’s actually not pink in a rainbow at all.”
Joey held his gaze for one more beat, and then rolled her eyes and looked at the horizon. “That’s why rainbow is a color,” she said. “Because it’s full of pink and purple and teal and gold.”
All the colors of her scarf, and Adam smiled and faced the horizon as well. He did like being outside, even if it was a little bit chilly. He drew in a deep breath of the good country air, and he felt everything in his life slow down and soften. He needed that more than anything, and he sighed, letting the breath take with it any stress or worries or cares that he carried with him.
He didn’t need them today. He wasn’t working. Therewas no email to answer, no event to coordinate, no band practice to sit in on—just him and the big Teton Mountains in the distance, and the yawning sky above, and God.
He looked over to Joey and found her watching him. “What?” he asked.
“That was just a big sigh,” she said.
“I think I finally relaxed.” He smiled at her. “I’m not quite sure, because it’s such a foreign feeling.”
She grinned back. “For you, I bet it is.”
“It feels good.” He drew in another breath and released it without nearly as much tension or pressure. Out here, he could hear better and think clearer. He liked the gentle movement of the horse beneath him, this connection to another living thing. He felt more connected tohimselfthan ever, and he reached over to Joey.
She reached for him too, and her horse edged a little bit closer to his. He caught her fingers and squeezed. “We should do this every week.”
“We can,” Joey said. “The horses are always here, and Bryce won’t care.”
“I cannot saddle a horse,” Adam muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
Joey giggled. “Me either. Maybe Uncle Jem would meet us to make sure we don’t die.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the backs of her knuckles quickly, because he had to lean over to do it, and he felt like he might fall out of the saddle. A pinprick of panic moved through him, and then he straightened and everything righted.
Yes, today was about him learning how to relax, and the big Teton Mountains in the distance, and the wide sky overhead, and God.
And, as he ducked his cowboy hat to hide his smile, he thought:And Joey.
Today was definitely about Adam being with Joey.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Bailey McAllister knew where to park at Bryce’s ranch. She’d been here a few times before, and she eyed the row of pickup trucks warily as she parked way down on the end of them.
Thankfully, she was the closest to Bryce’s house, and she half expected to see him coming down the back steps and jogging across the lawn to greet her. He’d done that before, but today, the ranch sat silent and still, with the noonday sun shining down on all of it.
Winter had definitely arrived in Wyoming, the same way it had in Montana. All the trees had been stripped bare of their leaves, leaving only the pale brown branches reaching up into the winter sky. The fields had gone dormant, the grass had turned yellow, and yet Bailey found such beauty in the absence of color. Soon, snow would comeand blanket everything in white, and Bailey didn’t mind that either.
She got out of her SUV and went around to the front of the house. Someone had taped a sign there that said,don’t ring the doorbell, just come in, and she hoped it hadn’t been placed there just for her. She felt uneasy simply walking into someone’s house, but Codi and Bryce had just brought their new baby home yesterday, and Bailey wanted to be respectful.
She hadn’t wanted to come see the baby at all, though it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to her. After Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, she looked at the duck that OJ had talked to her about and diagnosed it with a wing sprain. She told him just to watch it and not let him fly for a few weeks, and then the duck would probably be fine.
From there, OJ had started showing her pictures of Matthew, and he said they were coming out to Bryce’s ranch for lunch today, and she should come too.
