Epilogue
NORA
“ T he fucking concert is going to scare the horses,” Clint growls from the corner of the barn.
I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Clint. For the last time, we’re moving all of the horses out to the farthest possible pasture.”
“Except for the girls and their foals.”
I look over to where Thunder and Joan are staring at us. Joan’s beautiful little chestnut filly prances, her coat getting suspiciously close to Storm’s roan, while Thunder flicks her ears back at anyone who passes by. Her colt, the sweet second-born twin, has his nose poked out over the side of the stall. The filly, just like her mama, does the same, but instead of getting a pet and a carrot from passersby, she delivers a bite instead.
Soon after everything settled down, we started calling her Lightning, because she’s easily as flashy of a bitch as Thunder is. Now that the foals are almost a year old, their personalities are coming out even more. It’s fun to watch them grow.
It’s even more fun to watch Clint get excited about them.
“Saylor already gave us the green light when she came to visit. Plus, you know that Thunder is going to make sure that all the babies stay calm, and Joan is just… Joan,” I say, moving to scratch my favorite mare’s chin. Joan, ever the lover, whickers and rests her head on my shoulder.
Clint frowns. He looks over at Thunder, who tosses her head and looks at him with rage in her very soul. “You know, I thought you and I had an agreement,” he says to her. In response, Thunder flicks her ears back and bares her teeth.
I sigh. “Thunder is no man’s peace, Clint. No woman’s, either.”
Clint grumbles, messing with the horse tack on the wall.
“Hey, were we putting all these bales out for people to sit on?” Landon calls from the barn.
I head out. “Yes, and then the quilts go over them. How’s Shane doing with the stage?”
We both peer out at where the stage is being set up.
In the last year, with Kendall’s help, we’ve decided to do something new. We’re going to host a concert.
The ranch is going to make actual money on this. It’s an experimental use of the land, one that I don’t love, but the idea came to me when Clint bought me tickets to the Big Sky Festival, a music festival that takes place in Whitefish.
They were expensive. Like, insanely expensive.
The festival wasn’t all that. The bands were great, but I spent most of my time looking around, realizing one thing. We could do that exact same thing.
So, after we came home, I got to planning. I don’t think we’re quite ready to host a festival yet, but I knew we could do a concert. And I just happened to know the perfect artist to headline.
Surveying the preparations, I feel a little swell of satisfaction. The stage looks good. I planted a ground cover early in the spring that has covered every inch of the field, which can hold about five thousand people.
The risk here is going to be the land. Having that volume of people is going to tear up the land itself… Unless we do our best to mitigate it.
After the festival, I looked into ways to keep land from getting shredded during outdoor events. Short of pouring concrete and making it into an outdoor amphitheater, the ground cover was my next best bet. I even had Juniper come out to help me do some planning, and Piper chipped in with the social media stuff. With all they helped me with, I think this will work.
Hopefully, it will work.
The hay bales are out for seating. I’m draping quilts across them to keep people from sitting on the scratchy surface or having allergic reactions to the hay if they don’t know they’re allergic yet. It’s taking forever, but…
Shane is directing the event company, who came out to set up the stage yesterday. He seems to enjoy it, bossing them around and fiddling with all the technology.
“Nora!” my dad calls. I turn, looking for him. He’s waving at me from the driveway. “Kendall’s here!” he yells.
I dash over, a smile plastered on my face. “There she is!” I squeal.
Her driver opens the door to her Yukon, and Kendall gets out and smiles. “Hey, girl.”
I stop for a second.
My best friend is alive with energy. She’s the life of the party. Heck, most of the time, she’s the one who starts the party.
Tonight, though, she seems… muted. Different, somehow.
“You okay?” I say.
Kendall blinks, like I’ve asked her something deeper than just a routine question. She looks up at me, and I can see actual bags under her eyes. I don’t think I’ve seen Kendall look this tired… ever.
“I’m fine,” she says softly. Her eyes dart to her driver, then back to me. “Where are we doing makeup and stuff?”
“In the new barn,” I answer.
When the guys helped me rebuild the barn, they spared no expense. I protested, because this is the barn for me and my ranch, but Shane explained that it was a gift. “You refuse to take jewelry, dresses, or new horses,” he rumbled. “So we’re going to buy you a goddamn barn.”
I can’t turn down gifts more than once. The barn stayed.
“You have a place to change in there?”
There’s a whole apartment in the barn. Clint hires round-the-clock security now, despite the fact that Aaron’s been in jail for almost a year, and his sentence won’t be up anytime soon. The vision was for the barn apartment to house a security guard, but the guard prefers to live in his cabin out in the woods when he’s off shift.
So now, the barn apartment is just fun. We sneak away to it, a lot, if we’re here instead of at home. It’s fair game, because my dad and Ellen like to sneak away to the house. My dad doesn’t ask me about my love life, and I don’t ask him about his.
Besides, who cares? If he’s happy, I’m happy. If I’m happy, he’s happy. That’s as far as we need to go into each other’s personal lives.
I smile at Kendall. “Oh, we have more than a place to change. Come on in.”
Kendall follows. Meekly.
When we’re in the barn, before her bevy of hair and makeup artists arrive, I corner her. “You’re really okay?”
Her eyes look down. “Listen. Nora. Everything is fine. I swear. It’s just… some stuff.”
“What stuff?” I ask. “You can tell me about any and all of your stuff, KenDoll.”
She smiles at the old nickname. “How about this… If it gets to the point where I need your help, I’ll ask.”
“You promise?”
Kendall nods. “I promise.”
I want to ask more, but her stylist bursts in, and the time is lost. I leave, worrying about my friend.
One problem at a time. The concert is the problem at hand.
Once the concert is done, then Kendall and I can talk.
It’s a massive hit.
Three weeks later, the internet is still buzzing about the best new concert venue in Montana. I’ve already had four major bands reach out, and one guy, whose star is definitely on the rise, even asked if he could do a duet with Kendall here as a guest. He has to ask her agent that, of course, but I send it along, anyway .
I’m sitting out on the porch of the Wild Spur. The sun is getting low, and it’s much earlier than it used to be. Summer is definitely fading. When I was a kid, this would be a stressful time. Harvesting everything, getting the cows out of the high pastures. All of that meant just a constant stream of chores.
Now? The cows are being herded by actual, hired cowboys, not my dad and me. The alfalfa has been harvested. The winter wheat is in, ready to hide under the snow until the frost breaks and the ground starts to warm again. I can actually enjoy the slight chill in the air, without dreading the amount of chores that come with it.
I’m looking forward to another winter with my guys, but this one will be a little busier.
“Hey, you,” Shane says, heading out from the house.
“Hey, yourself.”
“Beer?”
I accept the bottle from him. Shane settles in the rocking chair next to me, and together, we watch the sun lower down. He smiles. “The concert was a fucking brilliant idea.”
“I know,” I smirk back.
“Can’t wait for you to get that MBA.”
I laugh. “I wish it wasn’t an online program.”
“We could send you to the Greenies down in Colorado, if you want.”
“Hell no,” Landon says, coming out onto the porch. He takes another rocking chair. “Colorado sucks.”
“Well, I definitely prefer to stay here.”
He sighs. “I guess if I have to come stay in Boulder with you, I will.”
I roll my eyes. “You’d just be there to cook and clean for me.”
“A job that I would be lucky to have,” he says with a grin.
I shake my head. “You’re an idiot.”
“But you love me.”
I peek at him. “I do, Landon,” I say softly.
Landon chuckles, looking into his beer.
The door creaks again, and Clint comes out. “That bitch mare is going to be the death of me,” he grumbles .
“Thunder likes you more than she’s liked another human being ever. You should feel lucky.”
“I don’t. Not about that.” He walks by, dropping a kiss on my forehead, before settling onto the porch steps.
I sigh. Here, with my guys, looking over the Wild Spur, I can’t imagine anything this perfect.
I love them. Together, we’re a team. We’re working to make the Foster Ranch profitable, and we’re keeping the Wild Spur running, too. These guys have changed my whole world. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I lean back, resting my head against the house. “I love you,” I say to all three of them.
“Love you too, Nora.”
“Hellcat, I’d never even think of loving someone else.”
“Darlin’, you’re the only one.”
I open my eyes. My guys. The ranch. Everything is exactly what I want.
My phone buzzes. I take it out, frowning. Clint shoots me a quizzical look.
“It’s Kendall.” I pick it up. “Hi, KenDoll. What’s up?”
“Nora?” Her voice sounds weird, like it’s coming from a really big distance. I frown.
“Kendall? Is everything okay?”
There’s a pause. A long, long pause.
When Kendall answers, my heart sinks. “I think I need your help.”