Page 81 of Ethan

She looked at him for a moment longer than necessary, and he could see her turning something over behind those blue eyes.

“Okay,” she said finally.

He nodded and touched the brim of his hat.

He was three steps from the door when he heard her.

“Ethan.”

He turned.

She was still sitting Vader at the rail, looking at him across the arena.

“Be careful,” she said quietly.

He held her gaze for a second.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

He walked out into the morning sun and thought that those two words from her were just about the best thing he’d heard in two days.

Ethan left before six, the trailer hitched and empty behind him, the road quiet in the early morning dark. He had a thermos of coffee and eight hours ahead of him and nothing but his own thoughts for company.

That last part was the problem.

He drove south as the sky lightened around him, the mountains shifting and changing on either side, the land opening up gradually as he put miles between himself and the ranch. The radio played low and he let it, not really listening.

His mind kept going where it wanted to go. Which was to her.

He thought about the look on her face when he’d told her about the mare. The way something had shifted when she understood what he was doing. He wasn’t sure what it meant but it had felt like something.

Seth had said, ‘she’s not going anywhere’ and Ethan prayed that was true, then he thought about the two words she’d called after him.

Be careful.

He was three hours out when his phone buzzed on the seat beside him, and he glanced at the screen on his truck.

Naomi.

He pressed the button on the steering wheel to answer. “Hey.”

“Hey.” A pause. “How’s the drive?”

“Long.” He shifted in the seat. “Boring.”

“I’ve never been to Billings.”

“You’re not missing much between here and there. How’s it going with Vader?”

“Good. We had a strong session this morning.” Another pause, shorter this time. “I’m glad you told me you were going.”

He looked at the road ahead. “I wasn’t going to just disappear.”

“I know.” Her voice was quiet. “I just wanted you to know I appreciated it.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment.

“I’ll call you when I get there,” he said.