I’ve got to be the luckiest man alive with her telling me all of this, trusting me with her deepest truths and the shadows she keeps from everyone else.
She pauses, letting her thoughts catch up with her words. “Because this is where I’m supposed to—” Her words die in her throat as she clears it. “Be, you know? This is where I feel the best and most like myself, but how can I make it work? What do I even bring to the table?”
Everything.
“So much,” I say instead.
There’s no point in holding back the truth or the way I see her. She needs to know. “You’re smart and funny, joyful, and so careful with the way you treat others. You’ve spent so long thinking you’re this careless human, you don’t seem to see all the beautiful things you do for others, or all the brightness you bring with you everywhere you go.”
Her eyes shift from stormy to clear skies, not trying to interrupt me, and I appreciate it. One if, but, or maybe, and I won’t continue.
“You’re sunshine and rain.” Each word caresses her features, relaxing as she takes them in. “Birds flying in big skies and everything good that comes from all of it. We all have so much to learn from you.” I wish this world was full of mirrors so she could see herself the way I see her. “That’s a lesson your sister needs to learn. I don’t know why she’s so stuck with the teenage Riley she had to raise that she can’t see the beautiful woman you have become.” I lower my voice and add, “And that’s a shame.”
“Nobody else seesher, not evenme,” she says. I’ve only come to know little parts of her, but every single side of her is so worthy of celebration.
“Then that’s a shame for you too, but it’s a lie…because I do. I seeher.” I stroke the soft flesh above her knee. “And let me tell you—she’s breathtaking.”
“Please, stop. There’s no need to lie.”
“I’m not lying. Do I need to say more of it out loud?”
She shakes her head without effort, not meaning it, not even a little bit.
“You’re inspiring, and anyone who doesn’t help you feel that way doesn’t deserve you—even your sister.”
Riley sucks her bottom lip between her teeth. “She’s the only family I have left. Her and Willa. If they don’t believe in me, who would?”
“I do. But beyond that,youneed to believe in yourself. You need to believe it with everything you have. And the proof is in the pudding—you just have to open your eyes. All that joy and love you so freely give others? You need to start giving it to yourself.”
My phone rings, interrupting this moment, and she laughs. “Who even has their ringtone on anymore?”
At least there’s a laugh there.
“Make fun of me all you want, but that silent phone bullshit is not for me.” My heart sinks in my stomach when I see the caller ID.
Arnie.
31ALLUREMENT & STRIDES
Riley
If I haveto bite one more nail while waiting here, I’ll be left with none. Arnie, Dom, and a horse have been locked in the barn for the past thirty minutes. Arnie called him in a panic after some random person dropped off a hurt horse. It took them working as a team to get the horse in the barn, and I don’t know what’s going on. I refuse to go in there.
And they’re not coming out.
And I’m losing it.
I don’t know what’s going on, and I just want the horse to be fine, but I also don’t want them to get hurt. Horses are majestic creatures, truly. They form a bond with their people in a way few animals do. But we know nothing about this one. And he’s hurt. And I’m truly worried about them.
I refuse to go in. There are too many memories I refuse to relive vividly, which is what will happen if I step foot in the place where I used to feel more at home than anywhere else.
Dom strides out of the barn, head low, heading my way.
“How is he?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know, and we can’t get anyone out here today. The vet isn’t in town. I don’t know enough to help, and Arnie is doing what he can, but he’s weak. We might have to wait and assess in the morning.”
He might not make it to the morning. And leaving him alone in that state is not feasible.
