“Poetic Night,” Tucker responded easily as he propped the saddle up against the stump.
Something passed through me then, a little frisson that told me a piece of Tucker’s story had just settled into place. Looking back toward the black horse, I realized what it was. Poe was always meant to be his. Maybe in the same way Tucker was always meant to be Raleigh’s. And maybe mine too.
Later, when the sun was just beginning to lower behind the tree line and the slow chill of evening was setting in, we got ourselves dressed and tacked Poe back up. We’d managed to wipe away a lot of the water that clung to his coat with our hands when he came out. He’d dried under the afternoon sun, so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable on the ride back.
We were ten minutes into our ride home when something hit me.
“Tucker?” I called up to him.
“Mmm?” He glanced over his shoulder slightly.
“How many California twinks do you know?”
He chuckled softly and lowered his head. “Not a damn one.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
TUCKER
When Jackson and I entered the barn after returning from our trip to the river, Lane and Elliot were perched against a wall, doing their best to act casual and not like they’d been sitting around waiting. Lane had been twiddling with a piece of straw, which he chucked away the moment he laid eyes on us. Elliot was no better, quickly scrambling to a more neutral position from holding his head up against the wall.
“Well, hey you two.” Lane grinned, blinking in faux surprise. “Where have y’all been all day?”
“Out,” I grunted, narrowing my eyes at the two of them.
“Just getting back?” Elliot asked, shoving his hands into his pockets with a shit-eating grin I didn’t like one bit. Something was tickling at the back of my mind, but I couldn’t be sure what it was just yet.
“Yep,” I responded with just as little enthusiasm as before.
The two idiots shared a look between them before Elliot pushed off the wall to glance behind us. “Only y’all? No one else?”
“Yep.”
Lanelet out a low whistle at my response, and I crossed my arms over my chest, fed up with whatever game we were playing here.
“What the fuck is with this little welcome party?” I asked, glaring both Tweedledee and Tweedledum down, but neither of them seemed affected by it. Instead, they let out little giggles like some schoolgirls discussing their crushes before Lane flapped a hand.
“Just wanted to see it for ourselves,” he chirped merrily, shoving his hands in his pockets as he slowly started inching toward the barn exit.
“Now that we have, we’ll get out of your hair,” Elliot added, the two of them turning on their heels and doing a shitty job of hiding their snickers as they left.
“What was that all about?” Jackson asked, stepping up beside me. He’d already gotten Sky into a cross-tie paddock and untacked her during that little interaction.
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” I said, leading Poe over to another paddock to do the same.
My intuition told me I knew exactly what that was, though, because a thought was running through my head that I hoped was wrong, but somehow knew deep down was true. The thing about Granger was that he struggled to keep his mouth shut even at the best of times. Secrets weren’t much of secrets with that man. So maybe it hadn’t been the smartest idea to tell him about Jackson and I before I was ready for the rest of the farm to know my business. But I’d been hoping that his own recollection of how much I’d suffered—still suffered—with the loss of Raleigh, would help him realize the pressure it would put on us if he didn’t keep it under wraps.
My mind was a mess, and I didn’t hear Jackson making his way over into the paddock until he was right next to me. I turned to ask what he was doing, but he snaked a hand around my neck and pulled me into a quick but hard kiss.
“What was that for?” I asked around an amused huff when he pulled back.
“Youwere thinking too loud. I could hear you all the way over there.” Jackson winked before making his way back over to Sky.
I bit back my smile, shaking my head as I continued to get Poe untacked and then brushed down. The kiss did what it was supposed to though, and as we got the horses taken care of, I listened to Jackson chatter away about wanting to bring fishing poles the next time we went to the river. By the time we got Poe and Sky situated back in their stalls with some fresh water and hay, I’d almost completely forgotten my worries and was discussing the logistics of getting Tallie to fry up any fish we might catch when my phone buzzed in my pocket. Pulling it out, I glanced down at the text.
Marcy:
Just heard from Lane and Elliot. Happy for you.
