Chapter 43
Lark
Tristan is sitting on the fence, watching Sadie come to join me in the ring of my training arena.
After I rode Cloud successfully for three days, I pushed that it was time for Sadie to come into the ring with me.
She’s already aware that neither of us thinks he’s ready for her to ride, but she can do some drills for twenty minutes, and then she’s going to ride Olympia.
I don’t know that I’ve ever been as nervous as I am now. Tristan already expressed to both of us how hard this is for him, and I hate it.
I also know that horses feed off our energy, and Cloud will only pick up on it.
I do a box breath. In for four, hold for four, out for four.
Again.
I feel my body start to settle.
Again.
Sadie opens the gate. “Hey, boy, it’s me, your old friend,” she says as she approaches.
“Keep talking to him,” I encourage.
“I’ve missed you, Cloud. I know you’ve had it rough, but I promise I won’t hurt you.”
I pet his neck, keeping him calm. Sadie gets close, extending her palm to him. He sniffs it, turns his head, and then sniffs again.
“Go ahead and pet him.”
She does, and he allows it. “Good boy,” I praise him.
And he is a good horse. The two times he’s had issues, he was in an open field. Knowing this, I’m not sure that he’ll have that chance for a while, but we’re going to build up to it.
Sadie comes a little closer, rubbing his neck and nose. Then he drops his head, and she scratches it with a smile. “You like that, I know,” she says with a giggle.
Tristan’s eyes meet mine, and I smile. He doesn’t return it, but at least he’s not leaping off the fence, tossing Sadie over his shoulder, and running away.
Progress is slow.
But it’s at least moving forward.
“How about you and I walk him on the lead?” I offer.
Sadie bobs her head. She’s done this before—it’s how she got Cloud to me and out in the pastures in the first place. Still, she’s done it behind her father’s back, and we’re going to move at a glacier’s pace in front of him.
The two of us make a few circles, and Sadie determines where he goes. I’m just standing on the other side in case she needs me, which she doesn’t.
Then we move on to some turning drills, all of which he does well, and I start to fall back a little, letting Cloud know that Sadie is the leader.
I pull myself back little by little, and she continues to show great strength. Cloud is doing fantastic. Sadie is as well, and Tristan hasn’t had a nervous breakdown.
All seems to be going okay.
Time to stop it before any dominoes start to fall.
I walk back over and smile. “You guys did amazing. Truly. Let’s put Cloud up, and how about we get to the next part before your dad loses his patience?”
She laughs a little. “Okay.”
We get Cloud back in his stall, and I grab Olympia. Sadie helps me get her saddle on and talks to her, and then we go into the corral.
Tristan is in the same spot, gripping the edge of the wood so tightly I can see his knuckles turning white. He’s struggling, and I need to help ease this situation and get him involved.
“Tristan?” He looks at me. “Do you think you can help Sadie up?”
“I don’t—” Sadie starts but then stops when she sees me tilt my head and wink. She looks over at her dad. “Could you, Daddy?”
God, she’s good.
He exhales deeply and hops down, then walks toward us.
This is the man I love. The one who is willing to do anything for the people he loves. Even though this is hard for him, he’s pushing through—for Sadie.
“How do you want to do this?” he asks. There is a small shake in his voice, but I ignore it.
“I’ll hold Olympia. You just help Sadie into the saddle.”
“You ready, Cupcake?” he asks.
“Ready.”
I keep hold of Olympia, although she wouldn’t move without my permission. First, she’s old and over it. Second, because I used her as my training horse when I first got into working with the horses for the special needs camp.
She’s a pro.
I watch as Tristan helps his daughter into the saddle. She smiles down at him, and he returns the gesture.
“Thank you, Daddy,” Sadie says, and I can tell this is for so much more than just the help.
“I love you, Sadie Jo. I’m proud of you.”
“I love you, too, and I think we’re all proud of you,” she says back.
“I know I am,” I add on.
As Sadie settles into the saddle, he walks away and comes to me. “Thank you, sweetheart. For giving me the hell I needed to let her do this.”
“I’m happy to give you hell anytime, cowboy. Now we have a lesson. Go back over there and watch your daughter ride.”
Tristan gives me a sweet kiss, which causes Sadie to make a gagging noise. The two of us laugh, and then Sadie rides for the first time since her accident. Tristan looks like he might puke, but he doesn’t say a word and endures his discomfort for his daughter.
“You don’t think it’s strange that since we’ve officially gotten together, the random acts of vandalism on my farm have stopped?” I ask Tristan as we’re parking the truck.
Tonight we’re going on a date—publicly.
In town.
And I’m sure the gossip mill is going to be working overtime, but it’s clear we’re in love and happy, and we’re tired of clandestine meetings at the ridge.
So we’ll have dinner, and then we’re going country line dancing at the Beast, where Suzanne and Mary Lou are meeting us.
She arrived back in town, and I’m a ball of nerves about telling her the news about me and Tristan.
“I honestly haven’t thought about it,” he says as he puts the truck in park and turns to look at me.
“It makes sense since I got arrested for it. At this point, they probably want me to take the fall, and if they did anything, it would be obvious it wasn’t me.
However, I don’t know if I told you, but the charges were dropped. Out of nowhere.”
“Yeah, I told Ryan to drop the charges, or I was going to poison his food.”
“You’re truly scary some days.”
“I know, right?” I say with a smile. “Anyway, if it wasn’t you, how do you explain this phenomenon?”
Truly, I never thought it was him. He’s made it clear it wasn’t, but then…it’s stopped. That random person on the recording has never been back. We still check the cameras, hoping that maybe their face will suddenly be clearly identifiable, but there’s been nothing in weeks.
“I can’t because I have no idea who it is, why they were doing it to begin with, or why they’ve stopped.”
“Hmm, maybe we should let Jimmy keep the case open,” I joke. “I know Daddy would love an answer as to who he can shift his hate to, since he no longer despises you.”
“We should. Maybe he’ll finally solve a crime.”
I snort. “You’re such a dick to your bestie.”
He laughs. “Are you kidding? Sarcasm and cruelty are a sign of love and friendship between most men.”
Don’t I know that. The way my brothers treat each other, you’d think they were preparing for war.
After Carter’s visit, the three of them sort of bonded.
I don’t know if it was because of my accident, but they came to an agreement to at least try.
Carter even promised to come back for Christmas, which prompted my mother to burst into tears.
Almost all her family will be together this year.
All except one.
“Well, whatever the reason you’re all mean to each other, it’s lame. I never want to hear any of you say that women have issues,” I scoff.
Tristan grins and hops out of the truck, then comes around to open my door. He extends his hand and helps me down before closing it. As I go to move, he pushes me against the door, arms caging me in on both sides.
“Before we make our grand debut, I wanted to say this. I love you. No matter what people say or think. No matter whether they agree or disagree, I don’t give two fucks. I care about you. I care about us. I care about the life we’re building.”
I nod and smile. “Good, let’s give them something to talk about then.”
We share a sweet kiss, and then I place my hand in his as we walk into the restaurant.
It’s like one of those dramatic moments on television. People’s forks freeze, midway to their mouths, conversations stop, and all eyes are on us.
The town is all very aware of the bad blood between our families, and I get it. This is a shock, but it’s not that dramatic.
Or maybe it is, since they’re all staring.
Tristan lets out a low sound from his chest. “Lark and I are together, and I love her. This is a date, so continue on with your meals.”
I slap his chest with my free hand. “Tristan, that’s not how you tell them.”
He stares down at me. “How do you want me to do it? Look at them.”
“You could have some finesse. Like…” I turn to face the crowd of onlookers. “Hey, everyone, how ya doing? We’re good. This might be a little bit of a shock, but you know, we’re together on our first date in public. Our families are aware and thank you for being so wonderful.”
I finish my little speech and turn to him.
He snorts. “Yes, that was better, sweetheart.”
While I heard every single syllable laced with sarcasm, I respond the opposite way. “Thank you.”
The host grabs the menus and gestures for us to follow. Tristan places his hand on the small of my back and we go have our dinner. People stare the whole time, but neither of us notices because we’re too busy being focused on each other.
“You and Tristan?” Mary Lou asks. “Tristan Stone. As in my brother-in-law?”
“Yes.”
“Like together?”
I nod. “Yes.”
“Well, I didn’t see that coming,” she says with a laugh. “Are you…like…do you guys love each other?”
We’re sitting at the bar, just the two of us, having the conversation I’ve been terrified of all night.
When we arrived, I gave hugs, grabbed her hand, and we’ve been sitting here ever since, each nursing a drink.
The rest of the group—Tristan, Suzanne, Jimmy, Harper, and two of her friends—are at the table area or dancing.
Mary Lou and I needed to talk in private. Tristan pretty much demanded he come with me, but I don’t need that. I need my best friend’s blessing or at least understanding.
“We do. I promise, we wouldn’t have told another soul if it wasn’t serious.”
She glances over her shoulder and laughs. “I can see that with the way he’s staring at us, as if he can read lips and he’s ready to come rescue you.”
“Do I need rescuing?” I ask.
Mary Lou places her hand on the bar and turns to me. “You’re my best friend, Lark. You’re like a sister, and while this is a little weird, I just want you to be happy. I think Emmy Jo would want that too. How does Sadie feel?”
“Well, she’s my bestie.”
She laughs a little. “I bet. You’re pretty cool.”
“I also got Tristan to let her ride.”
Mary Lou’s eyes go wide. “You what?”
“Yeah, we’ve been working with Cloud a few days a week, and she’s not ready to ride him. I should clarify: She’s ready, but her father’s not. She’s been riding Olympia.”
Every day we ride five minutes longer than we did the day before.
Sadie is a natural rider, and I love watching her come alive when she’s in the saddle.
We work on small things like posture and better control of the reins.
With each day we’re accident-free, Tristan relaxes a touch when we start, and by the end he almost smiles.
I take that as great progress.
“I feel like I missed so much in the last few months!”
“You should move back to Infinity Ridge.”
Mary Lou scoffs. “Not a chance. I love being away from here. This town, it holds a lot of memories that aren’t the greatest. Anyway”—she lifts her glass—“here’s to you and Tristan. May you both find whatever you were missing and be happy.”
I clink my bottle’s neck to hers. “Thank you for being my best friend.”
She rests her head on my shoulder. “Thanks for being mine.”
We head over to the rest of the group after we finish our talk. Mary Lou jokes with Tristan about clearly being obsessed with her since he keeps being with women closely connected to her.
He laughs.
I roll my eyes.
We dance a lot. Mary Lou and Suzanne are always the life of the dance floor, and they drag me along with them.
Finally, the lights go down and the mood shifts.
I look at Tristan, who is staring back across the bar, a grin on his face. He stalks toward me with purpose and desire.
“Dance with me?” he asks.
“I would love to.”
Hand in hand, we go to the dance floor, where his hands go to my waist and mine around his neck.
“Happy?”
I smile up at him. “Very. You?”
“More than I ever thought possible.”
“Could it be because of me?” I question.
“Could be.”
I laugh. “Oh, well, in that case.”
Tristan leans down and gives me a kiss. “You are the reason I smile every day, Lark. You’re the reason the world spins, the birds sing, the sun rises, and the stars shine. You make me incredibly happy.”
Tears fill my eyes. “That was…so beautiful.”
“It’s true. You’re my now and my forever.”
My fingers brush the hair at the back of his neck. “Forever?”
“Forever.”