The alarm went off, and Emery flailed a hand to grab his phone and swiped the screen. Once the phone was back on the bedside table, he opened his eyes for the first time and then smiled at me in that adorable, sleepy way of his I’d come to love.
“Morning,” I murmured, kissing his forehead.
“Morning, sugar.” His voice was still sleep-rough, and something in my chest tightened at the thought of not having this every morning. He lifted his hand to touch my cheek. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head, and for once, I couldn’t play it off as if I wasn’t feeling big, serious, heavy things.
“Oh,” he breathed out.
Then he burrowed himself against my chest and we stayed like that for a few more minutes. At least I was holding back the words I’d wanted to say for days now. Maybe longer than that.
Eventually, he sighed and lifted his head to kiss my jaw. Then I watched him slip out of bed and start his day.
I got dressed after Emery, and made it downstairs when he was still scarfing down some breakfast. This time, I kissed him on the mouth on my way past him.
“Have a good day at work, baby,” I murmured, then went to take the coffee Nick had already poured for me.
Wren came inside just as Emery was leaving. My friend looked perkier than I would’ve expected.
“Nick, hit me up!” he said happily, practically beaming.
“What’s got you looking like this?” I asked, gesturing at his… everything.
“Oh, I just went to take a look at my horse, you know.” The pride in his tone was clear as day.
Jenn, who had been enjoying her own coffee, smiled at him. “It’ll be nice to have more reason for you to come visit whenever you can, Wren.”
He nodded, something darker passing his expression for a second. “Yeah. Hawk’s gonna train him and keep him at the training barn for me. The gelding’s already halfway in love with Humphrey anyway, so it’ll be great.”
“Did you buy a queer horse?” I teased, and he rolled his eyes while Nick snorted as he took a tray of bacon out of the oven.
“I don’t know which way he swings and I don’t particularly care, but he actually whinnied at Humphrey while walking past and almost stepped on Crew when he tried to look back at the big guy while Crew was leading him.”
“That donkra is also something special,” Jenn commented, shaking her head a little.
“You should see if Juanpablo likes her,” I said thoughtfully. “I mean it’s likely he won’t, but it couldn’t hurt to try.”
“Huh,” she replied. “I guess I’ll float that by Hawk and Crew.”
Abigail sat on a hay bale in the sun that streamed through the open barn doors. I leaned on the door frame nearby.
“He’s going to quit, isn’t he?” she asked quietly, her face tilted to the sun, eyes closed.
I exhaled, smiling a bit at the way she’d learned to know Wren and his tells over the years. “Yeah.”
“We’re going to record the album and then go on tour, and after that?” She was making an educated guess, but I still made a noise in agreement.
Wren seemed to have surprised himself with these thoughts of quitting. Or maybe they weren’t concrete thoughts yet. For a creative person whose life was all about music and words, he could be a bit dense about some things.
He’d bought a goddamn horse. If that wasn’t a commitment to lifenotspent on the road, I wasn’t sure what it was. He wasn’t the type to buy an animal and then board it when he went to see it once or twice a year. When Wren got attached to someone, he went all in. It would happen with this gelding, too.
I watched as Wren propped his elbows on the top rung of the fence a little way away from us, and just gazed at his horse. He still hadn’t given him a name, which was interesting. He’d also been writing lyrics in the little notebook he kept on his person most of the time.
“Are you gonna poach us once he quits?” Abi asked, opening her eyes to squint at me.
I smiled. “Absolutely.”
The label wouldn’t like it, but the three guys and Abi were all ready to be done, too.
