I side-eyed Lottie and received an innocent shrug in return.
‘That’s about the gist of it,’ I replied, smiling at Lil’s amusement. ‘But I’m a real city girl, haven’t got a fucking clue about any of it. Never ridden a horse, not planning to.’
She chuckled.
‘Aww, come on, Lottie – get her out on Penny, she’s about as bombproof as they come. Hestia, girl, you can’t know what ranching is really like unless y’all get up on four legs.’
Lottie nudged me, eyebrows raised in question as I rolled my eyes.
‘I’ll think about it,’ I shrugged, not admitting that I already felt oddly envious of Lottie’s easy grace on horseback, the effortless connection between her and Jasper. But the prospect of making a total ass of myself, or bizarrely, having the horse reject me somehow – possibly violently – had been enough to stop me asking for a lesson. ‘What about you, then? How’re you liking my hometown?’
Lil grinned again, taking a sip of her drink.
‘I feel like a goddamn traitor for saying it, but I fucking love London – there’s so much to do, and the history of this place is crazy. Folks aretotallydifferent here, but I’ve met some awesome guys. Actually –’ she paused, almost flustered by her own excitement – ‘I’ve had an idea for the ranch, Lottie. Some of these guys I met – over in East London, that’s your neighbourhood, right, Hestia?’
I had to think for a moment before nodding; Lottie’s brow creased as she noticed.
‘Well, they were talking about coming over to the US or Canada, wanting to stay for the summer and experience ranch life. I showed them our socials and they wanted to know if we offered a volunteer programme. As in, they work and help us run things for paying guests – all the jobs that keep Cole and Jesse out twelve hours a day – and we give them a place to stay in return.’
‘I love it,’ Lottie breathed, biting her lip as she turned the idea over in her head. ‘We’d need more accommodation, though . . . maybe a bunkhouse, but nicer? We’re almost there with the cabin . . . the builders could move on to a new project in a couple of weeks. Want me to run the numbers?’
Lil nodded eagerly, a slow smile spreading across her face.
‘Cabin’s almost done, huh? Bet Cole’s mighty pleased with that?’
Lottie ducked her head for a moment, wearing the same intense smile she always did around all things Cole.
‘Yeah, I mean, it’s been backbreaking work, but it looks great.’
‘Well, I’m sure you’ll make it worth his while, honey,’ Lil chuckled and I joined in, sharing a knowing glance with her. ‘Any other news on that front?’
I glanced at Lottie, not entirely sure what Lil was getting at, surprise deepening as Lottie began to blush.
‘What . . .’ I began, looking between them.
‘Oh, nothing,’ Lottie said, dismissing her cousin with a mock glare. ‘Lil keeps teasing me about Cole proposing.’ At my shock, she shook her head. ‘He hasn’t – there’s just a lot of wedding stuff going on at the moment, with his brother’s wedding coming up at the end of August. It’s just, I keep telling Lil that where I’m from, people tend to wait a few years before getting married, if at all.’
‘And I keep saying that when you know you’ve met your person, waiting some arbitrary amount of time ain’t gonna make no difference.’ Lil shrugged. ‘We get married younger, quicker than city folk, maybe. Well, some of us.’
Lottie launched into trying to find out about Lil’s love life, but I barely heard it. Somehow, for some reason, I’d just never pictured either of us getting married. Lottie was too driven by her career, and me . . . well, people like me just didn’t get married.
But now, here on the ranch, Lottie was a different version of herself. A happier, healthier version, living by her rules, not her dad’s – or Kyle’s. And Cole . . . genuine, wholly trustworthy and hot-as-hell though he was, for some reason, I just hadn’t factored in marriage there.
Some hours later, headphones in and volume way up as I groomed Luci, I kept replaying the conversation. Moving around her in the way Bailey had shown me, I used the stiff-bristle brush to clear the dirt and hairs from her coat, slowing for the more sensitive areas around her shoulder and back and carefully avoiding her healing wounds.
Just as the track I was listening to became extra heavy, the drums and guitar dropping to a ribcage-shaking depth, someone tapped me on the shoulder.
‘Fuck,’ I said, jumping in tandem with Luci, who promptly bared her teeth for a moment towards Bailey, standing at the stall door, grinning. Next to her was . . . ‘Dee! Hey!’
I pulled my headphones around my neck and came out of the stall.
‘Thought I’d bring Dee up to see why you’ve been too busy to come into town,’ Bailey began, as Dee gave me a brief hug. ‘We’ve been friends since high school, don’t get to see each other too much these days, so two birds with one stone and all that.’
‘Ah, okay – yeah, it’s been a bit intense,’ I admitted, dusting the dirt and hairs off my hands as Jesse entered the back of the barn, leading Domino back in. He tipped his hat to us, his face shaded by the brim.
‘Don’t apologize,’ Dee replied, her eyes following him for a moment before turning back to me, raising her eyebrows suggestively. ‘I always forget how good the, um, views are up here.’ I bit my lip as she fought back a giggle, Bailey shaking her head. ‘Besides, I have a gift for you!’
She grinned at me, the liberal highlighter across her freckled cheekbones shimmering in the shafts of sunlight. I realized how similar our look was – one part country, regulation cowboy boots and black denim, one part alt girl. The beginnings of a sleeve tattoo up her right arm caught my eye as she pulled out a small tissue-paper-wrapped parcel from her bag and handed it to me.
