“For the love of all that is holy,pleasecall me Sullivan. How many times do I need to tell you? There’s no need to be so formal.” He stands and rounds the desk, holding his hand out for me to shake. I stand, too, taking it. “I’ll have Juniper draw up a bill of sale, and once that’s all squared away, Athena will be all yours. Will you need a trailer to take her home? I know the Hayeses have a few extras lying around.”
“Thank you, Mr.—er, Sullivan. I could use a trailer, yes. But please, let me at least buy it from them.”
“I’ll let you work that out with Oscar, but I’ll warn you now, he’s probably not going to accept your money either.”
I don’t think I’ve met a more generous group of people than the people in Copper Creek. I’ll miss this entire town when I leave.
“I’ll send it in the mail, dollar bill by dollar bill if I have to.”
“I have no doubt about it.” His watch beeps, and he checks the time. “If there’s nothing else, I’ve got a date with my wife. We’re heading to the Iron Horse to taste their new menu.”
“Nothing else. Have a good afternoon.”
“You, too.”
I exit the office first, feeling a rush of excitement and relief. Athena ismine.I’ll spend the rest of fall and winter training with her to get her ready, and come this time next year, I’ll be back on the road. Living out of my truck and cheap motel rooms, going to every rodeo I can, hoping to qualify for the bigger prizes.
A vision flashes in my mind: Juniper sitting in my passenger seat, chatting away about whatever’s on her mind, my hand resting on her thigh, her hand on top of mine with a ring on her wedding finger.
God, I can picture her after my run, waiting to give me a kiss and tell me she’s proud of me, no matter how I score. We’d celebrate or commiserate by tangling up in the hotel bed sheets, losing ourselves in each other’s bodies.
I want that. I want more than anything to ask her to come with me. If I thought she’d agree to it, I would have asked her already. I won’t put her in a situation that will make her anxiety worse, though, so I'll have to live with the fact that I won’t get that experience. In a month, I’ll be saying goodbye to her forever.
I fucking hate this.
I head to the barn to tell Athena the good news. When I slip inside the doors, I listen for anyone else to be in here, but I only hear the shuffling of hooves and the huffs of the horses.
Grabbing a handful of oats, I make my way to Athena’s stall. She sticks her head out when she hears me approaching, nickering when she smells the oats.
“Hey, girl. I talked to Sullivan, and you’re going to be mine soon.” I hold the oats up and let her eat them from my palm while I pet her mane. “We have to soak up the ranch as long as we can, okay? I know you’ll probably miss it, but I promise, where we’re going will be great, too. It’s warmer in Nevada, and you’ll get to run more than you do here.”
Hot breath puffs against my hand as she finishes her snack. I move my palm to her nuzzle and stroke the white part. “Maybe we can come visit someday. Or maybe that would be too hard. I don’tknow. All I know is I’m glad I’ll have you to keep me and my broken heart company when it’s time to leave.”
After a few more pets, I leave her with a kiss on her nose, heading to the mess hall to meet everyone for lunch. Entering through the back employee entrance, Oakley and Juniper’s familiar giggles reach my ears. I find them covered in a light dusting of powdered sugar, the white powder spread across the silver workbench.
“What the hell happened to you two?” I wash my hands and grab two clean towels, handing each of them one.
“Someonedropped the bowl we were supposed to make frosting for the cookies in, and the powdered sugar went flying,” Oakley says, sending a pointed look at Juniper.
“I only dropped it because you handed it to me without looking!”
“Gotta have better reflexes then, babe, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Juniper wipes the fluffy sugar from her face but misses a smudge right above her left eyebrow.
“Hey, you missed some,” I say.
She swipes at her face again, but misses entirely, three separate times.
“Here, let me.” I cup her face and swipe the sugar away.
Her sapphire eyes meet mine as she bites her lip, subtly leaning into my touch. The smudge is gone by now, but I can’t seem to make myself pull my hand back. Her soft skin under my calloused thumb always has me craving more of her.
“Awww,” Oakley says. “You two are cuter than a bug’s ear. But please, if you’re gonna to continue to make googly eyes at each other, do it out of my kitchen.”
Oakley’s interruption brings me back to reality, and I step away from Juniper, immediately missing her touch.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just gettingsugar off of her face.” The lie tastes sour on my tongue. I want to take the words back, especially when Juniper’s face shudders.
