Since he didn’t reach to take them, I put the box on the coffee table.
“Yeah, so…I’ll be…” I pointed behind myself and fled the cabin.
The Theo from when we came to the farm was gone. This Theo, the one sitting on the couch, appearing numb and almost confused scared me. The difference was too drastic.
* * * *
I kept putting off giving Maria an answer about the book. Hell, I was putting off reading the manuscript, but eventually I had to cave.
It had been two weeks since she called when I finally printed out all the pages and went out to the back of the house to sit in a lounge chair in the shade.
River had applied for his nursing license and was interviewing with a small family-owned clinic in Joliet. Rey was sitting just inside the back door, head buried in some book about horse behavior.
The sun was slowly moving across the sky in a way that would soon hit him but not me.
“Be careful,” I said, not taking my eyes off the manuscript in my hands.
“What?” Rey asked, immediately alarmed and looking around.
“I hear you vampires don’t do well with sunlight.” I pointed at the shadow by his feet that was shrinking because of the sun.
Rey made a face, then very pointedly moved forward, until he could stretch out his legs so that they were resting on the steps.
We both knew what I was doing, of course, but it didn’t make the moment any less sweet.
After a moment of silence, he asked, “Did you know that horse hooves and human nails and hair are made of the same type of protein?”
“No, I didn’t know that. Kind of cool.”
Rey hummed. “Yeah.” And then he was back to reading as if he’d never spoken.
I smiled. While I’d had trouble with doing anything productive, Rey had found a passion in his horsey books. River had told me he’d eventually suggest something in the veterinary field as a potential career path, if this lasted for a while.
I started to read Ruth’s manuscript. I got sucked in immediately, her familiar writing somehow even more touching now I knew it was her who’d written it. I missed her, even though I hadn’t known her, and it was such a fucking tragedy Anneliese Harris wouldn’t write any more books. Not another word.
When the sun turned enough that it started to warm my shoulder, I sighed happily.
On the other side of the orchard, a handful of horses grazed peacefully. Their tails swished every now and then, and everything was so…quiet.
Rey was curled up with his book, his back against the doorframe as the sun warmed his whole body. I smiled. He, too, seemed peaceful for once.
Of course, that’s when things went to shit.
There was a bang from somewhere, a yelp, and a thundering of hooves that sounded so loud it could only mean two things: it was a very large animal, and it was coming around the corner.
Before I knew what I was doing, I put the manuscript on the chair and quickly moved away from the sitting area and toward the side the horse would run.
When it barreled into my view, I realized it was Hope.
“Hey, girl, where are you going?” I asked, my heart trying to leap out of my throat because my thoughts immediately went to Truce and Theo.
She seemed surprised to see me there, standing against the wall, so she slowed down and then stopped.
“There you are, pretty girl,” I murmured, stepping closer carefully.
Her lead rope was hanging from her halter, which told me she’d gotten loose from Theo somehow.
“Lake, here,” Rey said, and when I turned to look, he was holding out an apple, leaning out from the house without coming outside.
