When we finished feeding, Layne enticed Sophie off my back for a minute, promising to show her the new horse in the barn. I followed behind them, appreciating my daughter’s comfortable chatter with Layne.
For a moment, I felt at peace. Happy, even. It was a strange feeling after the year I’d had, which would explain why, for a split second, my guard was down. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and without thinking or even checking the ID, I answered it.
There was silence. I was about to hang up when a deep and familiar voice came through the other end.
“Uh…Jake?”
Immediately, my finger disconnected the call. It was almost second nature. He’d been calling more frequently the pastcouple of years, but I didn’t care. I kept meaning to block his number but hadn’t gotten around to it yet.
We entered the red barn located directly across the sprawling lawn from the lodge. The smell of fresh hay and manure greeted us, along with two rows of stalls, each filled with horses. On either end of the dual, sliding barn doors were stacks of hay, grain, and a tack room for saddles. In the summertime, most of the cattle grazed in the mountains surrounding the ranch. But we kept about twenty-five head of cattle in the corrals and kept hay stocked for the guests to try their hand at feeding.
“Who’s coming this week?” I asked Layne.
“It’s a family reunion. There should be around twenty people or so, including kids.”
I nodded, tossing a handful of hay into my horse, Jimmy’s, stall before reaching in to give him a pat.
“What’s your plan with the guests for today?” Layne asked.
“I just figured I’d teach them some roping this afternoon. I’ve got a few calf dummies they can practice with. Tomorrow, we’ll go fly fishing.”
“Is Shelby going with you?”
My jaw tightened at the mention of her name. We hadn’t talked since last night. I had been about to step out of the cabin with Sophie when I saw Shelby leave to go on a run this morning—if the skimpy shorts and tank top meant anything. I couldn’t be sure, though, because I stayed inside until I knew she was gone. I knew she’d been disappointed when I turned her down last night. But dating was so far off my radar that it was laughable. She’d be fine. She just needed to relax.
“Yeah, she’ll be there.”
“I’m glad. She’ll be good for you.”
I bit my bottom lip as I ignored his pointed stare, instantly uncomfortable.
“Yeah, it will be nice to have somebody to boss around and make do all the dirty work.”
Layne’s eyebrows raised. “I’d like to see you try and boss that girl around. Just to see what happens.”
I laughed, waiting for him to leave, and was surprised when he still stood there, rubbing at his neck.
“Listen, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about Miranda.”
My body tensed at her name, but I kept focused on feeding the horses.
“Thanks.”
Again, I expected him to leave and was surprised when he didn’t. Though Layne and I had had many heart-to-hearts in our time together, he was usually quick and not one to prolong both of our awkward pain.
“Did you know I was married before Peggy?”
That made me stop and turn to face him, leaning on my pitchfork. “You were?”
He breathed out a laugh. “Yeah. Not many people know. We were only married four months when I realized it wasn’t going to work. But when it was done, I had sworn off women. And then one day, a cute girl named Peggy walked into the DMV to get her license renewed at the same time as me. And all my determination to stay away flew out the window. I chose wrong the first time. The second time, it saved my life.”
He was looking at me a little too earnestly for my taste.
“That’s kind of heavy talk for the stables.”
He smiled and tugged on his cowboy hat. “I know. It might not be today. Or even in ten years. But sometimes, in life, there will be moments that have the power to change your life’s trajectory in one glance. It can happen anytime and anywhere. So when it happens to you, don’t be an idiot.”
He left a few minutes later, taking Sophie with him. He was going to drop her off at his daughter, Kelsey’s, house onhis way out. I told him thanks and gave Soph a hug, but then I busied myself with grooming the horses. The ranch currently housed ten horses used for guests on trail rides as well as for me, Cade, and Logan to become cowboys, checking the cattle in the mountains every so often.