CHAPTER 9
Victor was sitting in his barn office trying to figure out the slew of this month’s receipts when his phone bleated from its resting place on the old plaid couch against the opposite wall.
Victor shoved himself out of his peeling vinyl chair and went to retrieve it.
Upon seeing the name on the screen, he accepted the call.
“Victor! What’s up, buddy?” came a familiar smoky alto voice on the other line.
Victor smiled as he sank onto the couch. “Hey, Skyler. Just doing accounting stuff.”
“Ew. I’m glad I could interrupt.”
“Did you just call to chat or do you want something?”
Skyler laughed. “What makes you think I always want something when I call you?”
“You’re the practical sort. No cozy meandering conversations allowed.”
“Well, it turns out I do want something, but it’s a good something. In August I’m going to be delivering a horse to Kentucky, so I thought I’d crash at your place for a few days to give the horse a break but also to spend time with you, since we haven’t hung out since you left California.”
“Why are you delivering a horse to Kentucky?”
“I mostly agreed so I’d have an excuse to come see you.”
Victor’s chest clenched a moment at Skyler’s admission.
It was nice to be missed. He and Skyler had grown up two miles away from each other for most of their lives, and it felt weird to be half a country apart nowadays.
Considering she was an eventing rider, they existed in very different competitive circles but they’d always done the fun stuff together, like overnight trail rides and sleepovers in the hay loft of Victor’s parents’ barn.
He’d used to take dressage lessons from her mother, and because of him, Skyler knew how to rope a cow from the back of a warmblood.
“I’d be happy to have you if you visit,” Victor told her.
“Would there be space to squeeze a big ass ornery mare for three nights?”
“Sure, but where will the horse go?”
Skyler laughed. “Very funny, idiot. Seriously though, I don’t want to impose myself.”
“There’s plenty of room, trust me. It’d be no problem. I’ll clear out a stall.” There was a short pause before Victor joked, “Welp, if that’s all you’re calling about—”
“You’re such an ass! Tell me about what the hell is going on with you. I feel like you’ve left the planet, for all you call me.”
“Just been busy, that’s all. I’m running a pretty big barn.”
“Is that it? Work?”
“This is the horse business. Life is work and work is life.”
“How are the boys out in Oklahoma? They cute?”
“Should I schedule you a date with one? I can probably arrange that.”
“Not for me, idiot. For you.”
“If Grindr is correct there are exactly five bicurious men within thirty miles of me and none of them possess a head. Or a talent for conversation beyond asking me if I can blow them.”
“You were the one who chose to move out there,” Skyler said.
“Yeah, I know. It’s a beautiful farm and I love the work. It’s definitely cheaper than California ever was. You should see the storms that roll through. I get laughed at for being afraid every time it rains, but the tornados here are no joke.”
They talked for a bit—about the horses they had, what shows Skyler had gone to and what clinics Victor had led.
Skyler had a more competitive spirit than Victor, so she was really making a name for herself in the eventing world, riding and selling horses worth more than anything Victor had ever touched in his life.
She’d grown up moderately wealthy, but Victor had never really noticed outside of the times he’d slept over at her house or piled into her mother’s Mercedes for a trip to town.
They’d bonded over their love of horses, and they’d been attached at the hip until Skyler graduated high school and went to Ireland to ride and train for the big leagues in Europe.
She’d returned to California around the time that Victor’s life blew up, and it was because of her that he’d gotten through it.
Out of everyone in his life, she’d been the most supportive of his transition, and she still probably didn’t understand how much her love had kept him afloat.
For the last six years she’d lived several hours away from where they’d grown up and she spent her summers in Ireland, so she didn’t see him as much, but they could have conversations that lasted hours.
“By the way, I was in the area a few weeks ago and stopped by your mom’s place just to say hi,” she said. “Your mother had a lot to say to me.”
“About what?”
“About everything. I think she’s going stir crazy now that both her kids are somewhere else. She’s glad you took over her sister’s place, but sad you aren’t around anymore. She complained to me about Diego’s engagement, as if that’s any of my business.”
Victor’s heart stopped. “Wait, what?”
“Diego’s… engagement.” Skyler went silent for a second. “You don’t know? It was on Facebook.”
Victor was at a loss for words for a moment, then took a deep, shaky breath. “No, I didn’t know. He’s engaged?”
“Shit. I thought you knew. I wouldn’t have brought it up if I thought—yeah. He is.”
“To who? Anyone I know?”
“No. I didn’t recognize the name at least.” She paused. Then, with some urgency, said, “Look, I gotta go, but I’ll text you my itinerary, okay? I’m so looking forward to seeing you again!”
They exchanged some overwrought farewells, and then Victor hung up.
He stared at his desk across the office for a long ten seconds before pulling up his Facebook app.
He rarely used Facebook for anything beyond business.
It was how horse people liked to communicate, and it was the primary way people asked about lessons, boarding, or training rates.
So he spent plenty of time on the messaging app but very little time scrolling through his timeline unless it was to look for or sell a horse.
Most of the people on his timeline were clients or students, and to be honest he had very little interest in their personal lives or political opinions.
He’d also unfriended Diego a long time ago, so how would he have known?
He found Diego’s page and quickly scrolled through his posts.
Right in the top five was the engagement announcement, complete with a professional photo of Diego and his fiancée sitting under a tree, Diego’s arms around her from behind.
Camila Robles was pretty, especially with fake lashes and some matte dark pink lipstick, twin braids, and a flowy white dress with a heavy turquoise necklace.
The announcement was in both English and Spanish, and it read:
Excited to announce my engagement to the exceptional Camila Robles Trevino. There’s no one else in the world I would rather spend my life with, and I’m excited to start a new chapter together with her at my side. I told her to take her time before saying yes because—
Victor stopped reading and put the phone down, feeling nauseous.
He wished he hadn’t read it. He wished he hadn’t seen the photo or that Skyler hadn’t told him.
All this information was going to do was eat at him.
Fuck. Diego had barely changed in the eight years they’d been apart.
Still wore the same dirty old cowboy boots and the same damn button-up white shirt tucked into his jeans.
The engagement photo even looked similar to the one ten years prior, except for the one in Diego’s arms.
* * *
There were no liquor stores open on Sunday, and some of the bars were closed too, so Victor ended up at a joint he wouldn’t have stepped foot in before his transition.
Dingy bars weren’t really his scene, but he needed a stiff drink and he needed it fast. Thankfully no one looked twice at him as he sat down at the bar and asked for a few shots of whiskey.
There were a few women here, but they looked rough.
Clearly this place was where all the local alcoholics holed up until Monday.
The juke box was stuck on that song Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks and it almost made Victor laugh. How fucking appropriate.
His vision was just starting to swim when a hand fell so hard on his shoulder it nearly knocked him over.
He whirled around, wondering if some man was about to get fresh.
Instead he was staring up into the crystal blue eyes of Johnny fucking Stearns.
It was like he couldn’t get away from him these days.
“It really is you,” Johnny said with a gap-toothed grin. “I thought it couldn’t possibly be, considerin’ how you are.”
“How I am?” Victor asked, hoping he didn’t sound as drunk as he felt.
“All buttoned up tight.”
Victor peered at him with narrowed eyes, uncomprehending.
“No worries, son.” Johnny slapped his arm so hard Victor wobbled again. “Lemme pay for your next drink.”
Victor saluted him with his empty shot glass.
“So what brings you to this hole in the wall?” Johnny asked, springing himself up onto a stool at Victor’s side.
“Dunno. Just wanted a drink I guess.”
“Somethin’s got you in a twist.” Johnny turned and flagged down the bartender, who he seemed to know. He ordered something, but Victor wasn’t paying attention. “I know a miserable man when I see it.”
“I’d rather not talk about it,” Victor replied, pinching his nose.
“Then you ain’t drunk enough, my friend.”
“You come here often?” Victor asked, hoping to distract Johnny with a new topic.
“Aw yeah, all the time. I know a lot of the regulars. That over there is Tonya.” He touched a hand to his hat in the direction of an older woman in cowboy boots and an unlit cigarette perched between her thin lips.
“And that big guy over there is Travis.” He pointed to a fat man in a trucker hat seated at the end of the bar. “He don’t speak much.”
Victor sat there in silence and let Johnny point out all the people he hoped he’d never have to see again. The bartender put another drink in front of him in the meantime, and Victor nodded in gratitude.
“That’s Kevin,” Johnny said with a tilt of his head.