I run my hand along Seven's neck. He turns his head and studies me with one dark eye.
"He's beautiful," I gush.
"Don't tell him that. His ego's already out of control." Ace pulls Penny's tack from the rack and hands me her bridle. "You remember how to do this?"
I snatch it from him. "I was saddling horses before you were riding bulls, Ace Sterling."
"That's debatable.”
"It's really not."
I tack Penny up. My hands remember the motions before my brain catches up. Ace watches me from Seven's side. I can feel his eyes on me. I don't look up.
"What?" I say.
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
"I'm supervising. Making sure you haven't forgotten."
"I haven't forgotten anything, Ace."
The words come out heavier than I mean them to.
I lead Penny out of the barn and swing up into the saddle. The leather creaks. My thighs grip. And the second I'm up, something slots back into place in my chest, a piece I didn't know was missing, clicking home.
God, I've missed this. Missed him.
Ace mounts Seven beside me, and for a moment we just sit there. Side by side on horseback in the late afternoon sun, the ranch stretching out ahead of us, and if I didn't know any better, I'd think no time had passed at all. That we're nineteen and stupid in love and about to race to the creek bed and fuck.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
He tips his hat back and looks at me. That half-grin. The one that used to get him anything he wanted.
"You know where."
My stomach drops. "Ace."
"What?"
"We can't go there," I whisper.
"Why not?"
Because it's our spot. The ridge overlooking the east valley, where you can see the sunset paint the mountains. Where he first told me he loved me.
"Because," I say.
"Compelling argument."
"Ace."
"Harper. It's a sunset. Relax. Hunter's not back for two hours, and I'm not sitting in the kitchen making small talk."
He clicks his tongue, and Seven moves out. I watch him ride ahead. I kick Penny forward and follow.
We ride in silence. Through the back paddocks, past the round pen, along a fence line that borders the creek bed. The land rises gradually, and the path narrows to a single track I know by heart. I used to ride it bareback. I used to ride it in the dark. I used to ride it so fast, Penny's hooves barely touched the ground because Ace was behind me, and I wanted him to catch me, and I didn't want him to catch me, and both of those things were the game.
