Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
Willow was waiting for Dylan when he got back to the ranch.
She was leaning against the paddock fence, her hair pulled messily back, wearing her jeans and a pale gray sweater.
Elvis was sitting at her feet, and Thunder had her head over the fence letting Willow scratch her neck.
Instinct told him it was a sight he could get used to.
As he approached, she turned and leaned against the wooden railing, watching him. “Where’ve you been?”
“Your brothers came and got the polo ponies. We rode them back to the Silver H.”
“Together?” she asked, straightening up in disbelief.
“Yeah.” He laughed as he came up alongside her. “Brodie even apologized.”
“Wow.” She shook her head in surprise. “Maybe I’ll be nice to him again.”
Dylan smiled. They talked a bit about what had happened, the craziness of the day—all very polite and friendly—she showed him a photo of little Leo that Logan had sent through.
But then when she put her phone away, she looked up and their eyes met and he had to resist the urge to reach and touch her face, run his thumb down her cheek and trace all the little freckles on her nose.
He turned away and beckoned Thunder over as a distraction. “So, what can I do for you?”
Willow turned, too, resting her forearms on the paddock fence. “I’m going back,” she said. “I came to say goodbye.”
Dylan felt the words right in his chest, almost exactly where Thunder was currently trying to eat the button on his shirt. He nodded, glanced at her. “End of an era.”
She smiled. It lit up her eyes.
“I’ll be gone in the next couple of days, too.” He got a mint out of his pocket so that he didn’t get distracted looking at her and gave it to Willow.
She put it in her palm and held it out for Thunder, who gobbled up the mint without hesitation and made her laugh. “What happened at the race?” she asked, stroking the horse’s nose. “Why’d she lose?”
“Owen thinks it was the weather.”
“What d’you think?”
He shook his head, winced in indecision. “I don’t know. She seemed okay at the start and then it was as if she’d had enough?—”
Thunder was nuzzling Willow for more treats. “She looks pretty happy now,” she said. “Maybe she just likes hanging out here with you looking at the birds.” She glanced over at him as she said it, and it felt like a whole other possible life flashed between them.
Dylan had to turn away, look straight ahead. “Maybe.”
There was a pause, he could hear Thunder’s breathing and the sound of the birds, the noise of an engine in the distance.
“You ever think you should stay here, settle down, make a go of it?”
He smiled at the question, glancing back at her. “Never.”
She held his gaze, suddenly more serious. “You got a right to stop moving, Dylan, you know that don’t you? To settle down, to be happy.”
He looked away down at the grass beneath his feet, kicked the fence post to check it was sturdy, found himself struggling to formulate a reply.
Willow carried on. “When you were talking about Thunder, you said it was the owners that were the problem not the horses. I think it’s the same for you. You shouldn’t have to keep paying for your dad’s mistakes.”
He rolled his head to look at her. “Now I’m the horse?”
She laughed out loud, all white teeth and wide smile, curls bouncing. “I’m just saying, maybe it’s time for you to stop running and just look at the birds.”
He shook his head like the analogy was ridiculous.
“Think about it,” she said, and when he forced himself to nod reluctantly, she smiled and took a step toward him. He had to stop himself closing the gap between them.
“It’s been fun,” she said, looking up at him with her big wide eyes.
“It has,” he agreed. “A lot of fun.”
“I feel like my high-school self would have been pleased it happened.”
He laughed, reaching forward and catching one of her curls, unable to help himself. “Mine, too.”
Her mouth split into a smile again and, looping her arms around his neck, she hugged him tight. “I’ll miss you,” she said, her lips warm against his skin.
He pressed his palm flat between her shoulder blades like it might bring her closer to him, trying to seal the moment in his mind, have it there forever whenever he thought about her, the softness of her skin, the sweet strawberry scent of her shampoo, the bunched material of her sweater under his hand.
All of it so uniquely, unmistakably her that he knew he didn’t have to try too hard in order not to forget.