“You ready, Cupcake?” he asks.
“Ready.”
I keep hold of Olympia, although she wouldn’t move without my permission. First, she’s old and over it. Second, because I used her as my training horse when I first got into working with the horses for the special needs camp.
She’s a pro.
I watch as Tristan helps his daughter into the saddle. She smiles down at him, and he returns the gesture.
“Thank you, Daddy,” Sadie says, and I can tell this is for so much more than just the help.
“I love you, Sadie Jo. I’m proud of you.”
“I love you, too, and I think we’re all proud of you,” she says back.
“I know I am,” I add on.
As Sadie settles into the saddle, he walks away and comes to me. “Thank you, sweetheart. For giving me the hell I needed to let her do this.”
“I’m happy to give you hell anytime, cowboy. Now we have a lesson. Go back over there and watch your daughter ride.”
Tristan gives me a sweet kiss, which causes Sadie to make a gagging noise. The two of us laugh, and then Sadie rides for the first time since her accident. Tristan looks like he might puke, but he doesn’t say a word and endures his discomfort for his daughter.
“You don’t think it’s strange that since we’ve officially gotten together, the random acts of vandalism on my farm have stopped?” I ask Tristan as we’re parking the truck.
Tonight we’re going on a date—publicly.
In town.
And I’m sure the gossip mill is going to be working overtime, but it’s clear we’re in love and happy, and we’re tired of clandestine meetings at the ridge.
So we’ll have dinner, and then we’re going country line dancing at the Beast, where Suzanne and Mary Lou are meeting us.
She arrived back in town, and I’m a ball of nerves about telling her the news about me and Tristan.
“I honestly haven’t thought about it,” he says as he puts the truck in park and turns to look at me. “It makes sense since I got arrested for it. At this point, they probably want me to take the fall, and if they did anything, it would be obvious it wasn’t me. However, I don’t know if I told you, but the charges were dropped. Out of nowhere.”
“Yeah, I told Ryan to drop the charges, or I was going to poison his food.”
“You’re truly scary some days.”
“I know, right?” I say with a smile. “Anyway, if it wasn’t you, how do you explain this phenomenon?”
Truly, I never thought it was him. He’s made it clear it wasn’t, but then…it’s stopped. That random person on the recording has never been back. We still check the cameras, hoping that maybe their face will suddenly be clearly identifiable, but there’s been nothing in weeks.
“I can’t because I have no idea who it is, why they were doing it to begin with, or why they’ve stopped.”
“Hmm, maybe we should let Jimmy keep the case open,” I joke. “I know Daddy would love an answer as to who he can shift his hate to, since he no longer despises you.”
“We should. Maybe he’ll finally solve a crime.”
I snort. “You’re such a dick to your bestie.”
He laughs. “Are you kidding? Sarcasm and cruelty are a sign of love and friendship between most men.”
Don’t I know that. The way my brothers treat each other, you’d think they were preparing for war. After Carter’s visit, the three of them sort of bonded. I don’t know if it was because of my accident, but they came to an agreement to at least try. Carter even promised to come back for Christmas, which prompted my mother to burst into tears.
Almost all her family will be together this year.
