Kevin turned and looked at Grady, apparently not realizing until just then how big the man was.
Kevin’s shoulders drooped.
She watched as Grady led Keven away to the edge of the yard. They stood talking for a minute, and then Kevin got in his car and drove off.
Once he cleared the driveway, Merry Anna stepped back outside to talk to Grady. “Thank you so much.”
“So, that’s your ex?”
“Yeah.”
“Told him if he came back, I’d arrest him and that you would press charges. I don’t think he’ll bother you again, by the string of expletives he mumbled on his way out.”
“I don’t think he’d hurt me, but he’s not welcome in my life anymore.”
“You call me if he shows up again.”
“I will.” She sat on her stoop, catching her breath. After her heart rate slowed to normal, she walked over and picked up the pine cone and reattached the hanger. Her bird had taken refuge during the ruckus. Couldn’t blame him.
She went to where Adam and Zan had been standing near the fence. They must have left when she was arguing with Kevin.What did Adam hear?
Chips was still saddled up at the hitching post across the way.
Adam must’ve come to get her for the ride. She hadn’t planned on going. She was hoping to distance herself from him and ratchet down her feelings to where they all began. Friends. A much safer place if she wanted to keep her heart from getting broken.
She wanted to explain that scene, though.Out of context, that conversation sounded awful. I have to get to Adam.
She knew where he’d have ridden with Zan. She went inside and put on jeans and boots, then climbed the fence and ran over to Chips. “Hey, boy. I know we’ve only done this once, but I need you to help me out.” She touched her hand to his face. “This is crazy.” Her heart spun, but she didn’t give herself a moment too long to think about it. If Adam could ride a wild bull, then she could certainly manage a trail horse. She lifted the reins that were loosely hooped over the post and tossed them over the saddle horn.
“Stay right there for me.” She put her foot in the stirrup like Adam had shown her, and she bounced to get a leg up over the saddle. It took her a couple of tries, but then she finally pulled herself high enough to shimmy up and get her leg over with a grunt. It couldn’t have been pretty. This was so much easier with his help. “Come on, Chips.”
She pressed her legs tight against his body, then used herstirrups to flap them, but with no spurs, it didn’t do much. “I have no idea what I’m doing here, Chips. Take me to Adam.”
Chips let out a fluttering breath and began walking. She wobbled in the saddle, then finally tried to relax. “I’m trusting you to get me there in one piece.”
30
Adam heard twigs snap fromover in the tree line. He and Zan sat at the old picnic table next to the trailer, making a wreath out of dried leaves, acorns, and pine cones they’d gathered in the woods.
The pile of those items was just a reminder of how hot and dry it had been. The mess of foliage looked more like fall than the middle of summer. Sometimes when the days were hot like this, severe storms popped up in an instant.
Zan tucked twigs into the twisted circle Adam had fashioned out of vines and an old hay string he had in his saddlebag. There wasn’t much you couldn’t fix with string.
He kept his eye on the tree line. The leaves began to curl upward in want of moisture that was sure to come. A moment later, thunder rolled in the distance.
He was getting ready to move Zan inside, when the unmistakable sound of a horse sighing from the mountain path alerted his nerves. Had Chips backed off the hitching post? Adam hadn’t tied him but had just tossed the reins over top of the post. Normally, Chips would stand there until dark if no one came and put him away.
The horse whinnied from behind him and shifted from foot to foot.
On alert for Zan’s safety, Adam stood.
Another whinny came from the woods path, and Chips cleared the trees. Merry Anna was riding.
“Merry Anna!” Zan yelled. “We’re making crafts!” She scrambled to her feet from the picnic table.
“You wait here,” he said to Zan. She sat back down, and he took off toward Merry Anna.
He walked in long strides right up to Chips and put a possessive hand on the horse’s bridle. “What, now you’re a horse thief too?”
