Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Tessa
Iwas mucking out the stalls when I heard hoof beats coming up the drive.
I set down the pitchfork and stepped out of the barn, shading my eyes against the mid-morning sun. A chestnut mare was cantering up the driveway, and the rider, a teenage girl with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, was sitting her horse with easy confidence.
I didn't recognize her.
The girl pulled her horse to a walk as she approached, and I could see her taking in the property, the barn that still needed paint, the fence line I'd been working on all week, the house that looked exactly like it had when Ray was alive because I hadn't had the heart to change much yet.
"Hi," she called out, bringing her horse to a stop near the paddock fence. "You must be Tessa."
I straightened, immediately wary. "I am. And you are?"
"Maddy Hargrove." She dismounted with practiced ease. "My dad told me about you. That you're Ray's niece, and you came back to take care of the place."
My entire body went rigid.
"You're Wyatt's daughter," I said, and it came out flat, almost accusatory.
Maddy blinked, clearly surprised by my tone. "Yeah. I'm guessing you know my dad?"
Know him? I wanted to laugh. Your dad has made my life hell since I got back. Your dad thinks he has some claim to this land. Your dad looks at me like I'm an intruder, even though I grew up here.
“Yeah, I know him,” I said carefully.
"Oh." Maddy shifted her weight, picking up on the tension even if she didn't understand it. "Dad told me Ray passed away. I'm really sorry."
The genuine sympathy in her voice made some of my defensiveness crack. "Thank you. Did you know him?"
"Yeah." A sad smile crossed Maddy's face. "I used to visit him every time I came to stay with my dad. Usually in the summer or on long weekends. Ray was really cool. He let me ride his horses and taught me how to fix the fence line. He told the worst jokes."
My throat tightened unexpectedly. Ray had told terrible jokes. I'd grown up hearing them until I left at eighteen.
"He did tell terrible jokes," I agreed quietly.
"The worst," Maddy said, and for a second we just looked at each other, two people who'd both lost Ray, even if in very different ways.
"Your horse is beautiful," I said finally, gesturing to the chestnut mare who was now trying to reach the grass on the other side of the fence.
"Thanks. Her name's Cinnamon." Maddy ran a hand down the mare's neck. "Ray helped my dad pick her out for me, actually. When I was seven. He said she had good lines."
"That was nice of him," I managed.
Maddy studied me with those sharp grey eyes that were so much like her father's. "Dad said you hadn't been back in a long time. Since you were like eighteen or something?"
"Yeah," I said shortly. "I left and didn't come back until he passed away.”
"That's a long time to be away." There was no judgment in her voice, just curiosity.
"It is." I wasn't about to explain to Wyatt Hargrove's daughter why I'd stayed away, why I'd let anger and pain keep me from the man who'd raised me.
Maddy glanced at her horse, then back at me. "Look, I'm sorry for just showing up. I was riding, and I always used to stop by to see Ray, and I guess I just, I don't know. I wanted to see the place again. And Dad mentioned you were here, so I thought I'd say hi."
Part of me wanted to send her away. She was Wyatt's daughter, and Wyatt Hargrove was trying to claim grazing rights to land that belonged to Ray, to me now, even if the will was still in probate. Every interaction with anyone connected to him felt like a potential complication.
But another part of me, the part that loved Ray even when I was too stubborn and hurt to come back, the part that was drowning in guilt over the years I wasted, couldn't turn away a kid who missed him too.
"Your horse looks hot," I said finally. "You want to put her in the paddock for a bit? Let her cool down? I have water."
Maddy's face lit up. "Really? That'd be great. We've been riding for like an hour."
We got Cinnamon settled in the paddock with fresh water, and the mare immediately started rolling in the dirt with pure joy.
"She always does that," Maddy said, smiling as she watched. "No matter how clean I get her, she finds dirt immediately."
"Sounds like every horse I've ever known," I said, and was surprised to find myself almost smiling.
We walked toward the house, and I was hyperaware of how strange this was, offering hospitality to the daughter of a man I couldn't stand, a man who made it clear he thought I had no right to be here after abandoning Ray for so long.
I poured two glasses of iced tea, and we sat at the kitchen table. "So," Maddy said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "You and my dad aren't getting along."
I nearly choked on my tea. "That obvious?"
"Kind of." She picked at the edge of her glass. "He gets tense when he talks about you. And you looked like you swallowed something sour when I said I was his daughter."
"I don't have a problem with you," I said quickly. "Your dad and I just disagree about some things."
"For what it's worth, my dad's not usually a jerk. He's actually pretty decent most of the time. But he gets really stubborn about stuff he thinks is important. And he's been stressed about the ranch lately."
"I've noticed the stubborn part," I said dryly.
Maddy grinned. "Ray used to say the same thing. Said my dad was stubborn as a mule but twice as useful."
That sounded exactly like something Ray would say, and despite everything, I felt my mouth curve into a reluctant smile.
We talked for another fifteen minutes, carefully avoiding the subject of her father, instead talking about horses and school and what it was like to be the new kid in town.
Maddy was smart and funny and disarmingly honest, and I found myself wishing the circumstances were different.
That her father and I weren't at odds. That this could be simple.
"I really should go," Maddy said eventually, checking her phone. "Dad doesn't know I came over here. He's probably going to freak out when he finds out."
"You’re going to have to tell him," I offered.
“I know.” She stood, carrying her glass to the sink. "Besides, maybe it'll help. You know, if he knows I like you, maybe he won’t be so stubborn.”
We walked back out to the paddock together. Cinnamon was still rolling, now completely covered in dust, and Maddy laughed as she called her over.
"You're a disaster," she told the mare affectionately. "Dad's going to make me bathe you before I put you away."
She tacked up quickly, and I watched, impressed by how efficient she was. When she was ready to mount, she hesitated.
"Would it be okay if I came back sometime? Not to spy for my dad or anything. Just being here makes me feel like Ray's not completely gone."
Something in my chest cracked open. "Yeah. You can come back."
"Cool." Maddy swung into the saddle, gathering her reins.
I watched her canter down the driveway and stood there for a long moment after she disappeared, trying to process what just happened.
Wyatt Hargrove had a daughter. A daughter who'd known Ray, who'd spent time here while I was gone, who'd been part of my uncle's life during the years I'd stayed away.
And somehow, despite everything, I just invited her to come back.
I went back to mucking stalls, my mind churning.
This didn't change anything between Wyatt and me. The land dispute was still there. His attitude was still infuriating. The way he looked at me like I had no right to be here after abandoning Ray for years, that still made my blood boil, even if part of me wondered if he was right.
But his daughter was a good kid who missed Ray.
And that made everything just a little bit more complicated.
I was working on the fence line before work when I heard a truck coming up the drive. I straightened, shading my eyes, and felt my stomach drop.
Wyatt's truck.
He parked near the barn and got out, and even from a distance, I could read the tension in his body. He walked toward me with purpose, and I set down my tools, bracing myself for whatever confrontation was coming.
"Maddy came to see you," he said when he was close enough. Not a question. A statement.
"Yeah," I said, lifting my chin. "She did."
Wyatt's jaw worked. "She told me about it. Said you gave her iced tea and talked about Ray."
“Yep.”
"She also said you invited her to come back."
"Also accurate," I said, crossing my arms. "You have a problem with that?"
Wyatt stared at me, and I couldn't read his expression. Anger? Concern? Something else?
"I don't know yet, "Maddy liked you," Wyatt said, and his voice had lost some of its edge. "She came home and wouldn't stop talking about how you were honest with her and didn't treat her like a kid. That means something."
"She seemed like a good kid," I said carefully. "You should be proud."
"I am." Wyatt looked at me, really looked at me, and for the first time since I'd met him, I didn't see hostility in his gaze.
Just weariness. "Look, I don't know how to do this.
The property thing is still an issue we need to resolve.
But if Maddy wants to come see you, and you're okay with it, I'm not going to stop her. "
"Okay," I said, not sure what else to say.
Wyatt nodded once, then turned and walked back to his truck.
I watched him go, my anger draining away and leaving confusion and a dull ache in its wake.
That had not gone the way I'd expected.
Not at all.