Before he knew it, he’d turned from the highway leading back to Three Rivers and onto the well-kept dirtroad that led to Lone Star. It sat north of Stinnett, about thirty-five minutes from the town of Three Rivers. To get home to the ranch, though, would take Henry another forty-five, so he was still over an hour away.
Close, but not so close he couldn’t breathe. Close enough to go home for the day and then sleep in his own bed. Not close enough for Momma, but a good distance for Henry and his father.
And apparently Paul, he thought, wishing he could keep the resentment out of his head. He really didn’t need it right now, faced with the arch of Lone Star as he was.
Henry rumbled along after passing under the arch, the buildings of the stable coming into view as he rounded a bend in the road. The trees standing guard on either side of the road thinned as the ranch expanded in front of him, a big, two-story house that looked like it had been recently repainted welcoming them to the facility.
Bard and his wife lived there, both of them aging and not in the best of health. Well, Bard was, but his wife had been ill for quite some time now. Angel and her brother lived on the ranch too, but not in the main homestead. They each had their own cabin around the corner to the right, but Henry went left to get to his assigned house.
He wasn’t the only one moving in today, as Lone Star had selected six summer-only interns this year too. So he wasn’t surprised to find othermen moving into the cabins that lined the road on the south side. The line of them faced north, with the homestead kitty-corner to them, and the long rows of stable houses in front of them.
Henry had chosen to live in the very last one, so he drove by all the activity happening at the other five dwellings until he reached it. A single truck sat there, but the other man who lived here didn’t have to move in or out today.
Levi Tanner had started his apprenticeship with Lone Star last year, and he’d just graduated from the program Henry had been doing. He’d chosen to stay on as a second-year apprentice, as many farriers did. Moving from farm to farm was an option, to get a variety of experience, and Henry wasn’t sure what he’d do.
Some farriers simply worked their whole careers at places like Lone Star. Some started their own businesses and had to find work, operating from a central location and going to the ranches and farms that needed them on a daily basis. Some worked in academia, teaching the rising generation about horse care and shoeing and everything a farrier needed to know.
No matter what, Henry felt like he’d finally found something he could do for longer than a couple of months, and he sighed as he came to a stop in front of where he’d live for at least the next year. “We made it.”
“You sure did,” Paul said, and he got out of the truck as Daddy pulled in beside them. “I’ll get Stormchaserout for you.” His door slammed, and Henry pressed his eyes closed again.
“Lord,” he prayed, the word barely slipping out from beneath his tongue. His mouth certainly didn’t move, because he didn’t want anyone to see him talking to himself. And he wasn’t doing that anyway—he was talking to God.
“I know I made a mess of things with Angel, and I’ve tried to fix it. Please, please, please help me to have some dignity when I see her again, and bless her with a forgiving heart.”
He had no idea if she was still seeing her boyfriend or not. It wasn’t like they talked about personal things. He might’ve been able to do that if he hadn’t disastrously kissed her when he’d discovered he’d gotten this apprenticeship.
But she’d shoved him away, those blue eyes like liquid lightning and told him to “Get in control of yourself.”
He’d apologized profusely, right there in person and later in emails and texts. She’d finally told him it was over and done, and he didn’t need to keep saying he was sorry. So he’d stopped that too.
Henry also knew that in the couple of seconds before Angel had pushed him away, with his mouth on hers, she’d kissed him back. Absolutely, definitely, for-sure had kissed him back.
His lips tingled just thinking about it, and hementally commanded them to stop. He sighed again, this one filled with frustration.
“Help me to be in control of myself,” he said, and then he opened his eyes. In the next moment, Momma opened his door, and he turned toward her.
“You ready, baby?”
“Yeah.” Henry slid from the truck and into his mother’s arms. She had a fiery streak too, and she’d often passed Henry to Daddy as he’d grown up, because she didn’t know what to do with him. She’d told him once that God had told her to “simply love him,” and she’d been doing that and leaving the disciplining and lectures to Daddy.
Henry hugged her and said, “I hope I make you proud, Momma.”
“You do, Henry.” She pulled away, her dark eyes filled with worry. “Of course you do.”
“I know I’m not Paul.” He looked down and scuffed his feet along the tufts of grass growing through the dirt. “But?—”
“You do not need to be Paul,” Momma said. “Look at me, Henry.”
It took him a moment to look up, but he managed it. She wore a fierce look of determination on her face now, and Henry wasn’t sure what to do with it. “I have never wished you were more like Paul,” she said. “Never once. I have loved being your mother, even if you pushed meand stretched me, and I had no idea how to be that mother for you.”
Part of him wanted to apologize, but he wasn’t sure for what, so he stayed silent.
Momma put one hand on his shoulder and the other cradled his face. “You are an amazing young man, Henry. You work hard, and you’re so smart, and you’re fun.” She smiled. “You have made me and Daddy so proud, baby. Okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Repeat it back to me.”