8. ashton
eight
ashton
. . .
Butterflies - Kacey Musgraves
There’s nothing like a missing stuffie to bring the team together.
Actually, it was a text from Everett, asking if I was free to join the search party. It’s a quiet day on the ranch, and Big John, Solly, and I were just exercising some of the horses, so as long as they get ridden hard, it’s a job well done. And once I told them about the mission, they were all in.
Emmy Jean might be Harriet’s kid; Brooks’s niece and Silas and Josie’s granddaughter, but on this ranch, one cowboy’s baby is everyone’s baby. We’re family, and family takes care of each other.
I had my very own “Bunny” when I was young.
It was a little cowgirl ragdoll, with sparkly jeans and red boots and a little felt hat, and yellow wool hair in two long braids that reached the little golden star on her belt.
I called her Macy and I took her everywhere with me.
I remember being devastated the first time I left her somewhere.
Mr. Hart showed up less than an hour later, with Macy in one hand and a thick slice of pie boxed up in the other.
I’d left her propped up on the salt and pepper shakers on the table at Miss Celia’s diner when he’d taken me, Everett, and Brooks into town for lunch.
Miss Celia had called Ms. Josie, who had told Mr. Hart when he got home, and he turned right back around to get her.
He brought me the pie because he knew I’d be sad, and pie always makes everyone happy.
Later, I shared the pie with Mom, Dad, and Everett, with orange juice in fancy crystal glasses, and it did indeed make me happy.
All of that to say, I know exactly how little Emmy is feeling right now without her beloved Bunny, and I’m determined to find that bunny and take him home.
“C’mon, Garly-boy.” I dig my heel lightly into the horse’s flank and he snorts, trotting away from Solly and Big John. “Let’s go find EJ’s bunny.”
I take Garlic on a slow walk, eyes down and focused on a spot just beyond his front hooves.
I scan the ground from side to side. It’s highly unlikely anyone else would’ve walked through this part of the ranch since Emmy and Dean were here earlier, so everything should be untouched, just as they left it.
The problem with being out here with Garlic—who doesn’t really say much, no matter how much I talk to him—is that it gives me far too much time to think.
And inevitably, I find myself thinking of Declan.
Of his 1990s spiky boyband hair and his adorable, wire-rimmed glasses. Of his shy smiles and careful touches.
When we first met, I wasn’t looking for anything. That’s not what New York was supposed to be about. But I’ve always been the kind of girl who falls hard and fast, and Declan was right there to catch me.
We met in a coffee house, where he quite literally bumped into me and I spilled my coffee on him.
I was afraid he’d be mad about the way the brown stain seeped into his linen shirt, growing and changing shape with each passing second, but he laughed, and he bought me a fresh cup along with two cups of his own.
Then he asked for my name and number, and we talked for ten minutes while we walked in the same direction.
He was so different from everything I thought I could ever want—a software engineer in New York City, a man who rarely had to leave his Hudson Yards loft if he didn’t want to, who wore Italian leather shoes and knew terms like amuse bouche and used them entirely unironically—that for a moment in time, he seemed absolutely perfect.
And when he introduced me to his wife, I really thought we’d have something special.
Something beyond my wildest imagination.
Something I couldn’t ever have dreamed up myself, but something that could only have happened to me in New York.
I’d taken my bite of the apple, and I finally got to savor its sweetness.
Until the apple poisoned me.
I swallow the memories down, leaning forward to wrap an arm around Garlic’s long neck. Horses have always been there for me, even when people weren’t. I take three long, deep breaths and feel my heart rate slow down as I embrace Garlic.
“Doin’ such a good job, buddy. I don’t know what old Big John was talkin’ about, you’re a good boy.”
It’s as I pull back to sit upright that I spot it.
A slightly grubby yellow ear, flopped over a leafy stalk.
I signal Garlic to come to a stop and I hop down to the ground, leading him by the reins to where I spotted Bunny, right between a patch of Autumn Sage and Whiteleaf Mountain mint.
The bushes are tall enough here that Emmy herself could almost disappear in them, so it’s hardly surprising Bunny got lost.
“Whoa, hold on there, buddy.” I reach in and grab Bunny, accidentally disturbing a resting butterfly as I do so.
He’s a little dusty, but I brush him against the hem of my T-shirt to clean him off, then climb back up onto Garlic’s saddle, tucking Bunny in front of me, between my body and the horn.
Then I snap a quick picture of the three of us and send it out to the whole search party.
*attachment: one image*
Jody
STAND DOWN MEN bunny been found
pocket rocket wins again
Everett
Ashey to the rescue!
Brooks
meet me at harriets house devil
promised emmy bunny would tell her about his adventure
Roger that
and don’t call me Pocket Rocket
Solly and Big John offer to walk Garlic back to the stable, which isn’t too far from Harriet and Dean’s cottage. That allows me to hang back with Brooks, Ev, and Jody when we all met at the Forbes residence.
“Gimme that.” Brooks takes Bunny from me, gently picking some rogue seeds from his fur and giving him a good shake, before adjusting his ears and laying them neatly over his chest.
“Y’all good if I head back?” Jody asks. “Promised Mom I’d take a look at the combine tonight. Might need you guys’s help with it tomorrow.”
“Tell Ms. Angie to cut her losses and get a new header, bro,” Ev complains.
“It ain’t the header this time, else I’d tell ‘er the same.”
“Go check it out. Let us know. I’m gonna head back too, Ruth must be off that call by now.” My brother waves as he climbs into his truck and starts the engine. Jody waits for him to be ready, then leads a two-man convoy down the driveway and into the distance.
“Guess it’s just you and me then, devil.” Brooks looks at me, holding out Bunny between us. I take one yellow paw, and Brooks holds the other.
“Me and you, demon.” I smile weakly as Brooks knocks on the door. Three raps of his knuckles in quick succession. Dean opens the door, a tearful Emmy sat on his hip, head resting on his shoulder. She lights up when she sees us—or, more accurately, when she sees Bunny hanging between us.
“Bunny!”
Brooks holds Bunny out to his niece and she snatches him, holding him up to her face and nuzzling into his fur. As Emmy escapes Dean’s hold and runs back into the house, Bunny in tow, Harriet meets us at the door and greets us both with hugs.
“He was in the wildflowers,” I explain. “Think he had a nice little nap in the meadow.”
The four of us move into the house to find Emmy already on the sofa, holding Bunny up to her face and babbling quietly. I cross the room and drop to my knees in front of her.
“Hey, Emmy-girl. You happy to have your Bunny back?” She nods. “Found him out smelling the flowers in the meadow. He said the Autumn Sage smelled real good. You wanna see his adventures?”
I pull out my phone, glad I had the wherewithal to snap a picture before I retrieved Bunny from his hiding spot. I swipe to show her the pictures and she kicks her feet excitedly.
“Here’s Bunny ridin’ a horse with me. I had to help him up, ‘cause his legs are only little. But this horse is Garlic, and he’s a real sweet boy. He helped me find Bunny and bring him home to you.”
“Gar-yick?”
“Garlic! You see these reins right here?” I point at the photograph where I wrapped Garlic’s reins around Bunny’s middle to stop him from falling off the saddle while we rode.
“These are super special magic reins. See how Bunny’s holding on real tight?
You always gotta hold on to your reins when you’re ridin’ a horse, and they’ll keep you safe. ”
“Bunny safe!”
“Bunny’s safe, sweet girl.” I lean in to press a kiss to her head. Her hair is soft and fine and she smells like lavender mixed with strawberry yogurt. She giggles gleefully, one of Bunny’s ears clutched tightly in a fist.
“Unky Book!” Emmy cries. Brooks winks at her from across the room. “Story?”
Brooks holds out his hand and Emmy takes it, leading him to a tiny pink bookshelf full of fairytales and picture books. While they lose themselves in a story about princesses—complete with high-pitched animal voices—I sit down with Harriet and Dean.
“I’m so mad I didn’t even think to check we still had him after we passed through the meadow,” Dean sighs.
Harriet rests a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“We stopped to smell the flowers. The dogs were starting to get restless staying in one place, and there were some bees around, so I had to hurry EJ along. I should’ve thought. I’m sorry.”
“It happens, honey,” Harriet says soothingly. “One restless toddler and two restless dogs is a lot for anyone to handle.”
“How are we gonna cope with two of ‘em?!” Dean looks like he might cry.
“Love ‘em both twice as much, I guess,” Harriet says. It’s punctuated with a silent chuckle and tear-filled smile as she leans her head on her husband’s shoulder.
The relief in both of their faces is palpable, as is their love as their fingers intertwine.
They watch Brooks reading to Emmy with soft smiles.