Page 102 of Sunrise & Serenity

She shakes her head. “She passed away two years later. I wish she’d been here longer. She was my mom’s mom, and she was probably the only person in my family who really saw me, you know?”

Her wistful tone tugs at something deep in my chest. “Sounds to me like it’s your parents’ loss if they can’t appreciate who you really are.”

“I’m starting to realize they only really care when what I’m doing reflects well on them. I think that’s why they liked Graham so much. They were disappointed when we broke up.”

My hands tighten on the reins. I hate this fucking Graham guy, and I’m beginning to think I might feel the same way about her parents. “When you broke up with him.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t mutual,” I grit out. “I don’t give a damn if you think you should’ve seen who he was sooner. The moment you did, you told him to fuck off. If you were the kind of person who cared only about success, you’d have looked past it. But you knew that wasn’t what you wanted, and you walked away—from all of it. You need to give yourself credit for that.”

She’s quiet for a beat, and when she finally speaks, her voice is thick. “Thank you, Holden.”

Silence stretches between us. It’s not awkward, but I don’t like the idea that what we talked about might still be weighing on her. “I tried riding a bull again before I came back here,” I confess.

Her indrawn breath is sharp from behind me. “Why?”

“Thought maybe the doctors were overreacting. It was about six months after the surgery, at a trainer’s property.”

“Holden.” The concern in her voice, mixed with reproach, makes me smile.

“I’m assuming it didn’t go well?”

I wince as the memory hits. The chute gate opening, the seconds passing that felt more like hours, the way my shoulder gave half a second before the rest of me, and the pain that ripped through me hard enough to blur my vision before I even hit the dirt. “I stayed on five seconds and couldn’t move my arm properly for a week.”

“And that’s when you knew?”

I look ahead to the curve in the trail. “Think I knew already. But yeah, that’s when I packed up and headed back here.”

“Lucky for me.” Sage’s voice is light. “Imagine what might have happened if you hadn’t been around to rescue me that first night.”

I tip my head down, a grin escaping me. “Yeah, imagine.”

Except no part of me wants to imagine someone else being sent to get her that night.

A few minutes later, we ride out into a small clearing. I help Sage dismount, then secure the horses nearby. With her hand in mine, I lead her through a narrow line of trees to the ridge’s edge.

One I haven’t visited in too many years.

“Where are we?” Sage asks.

It’s a fair enough question. With the sun not yet risen, the valley is still in shadow, the stars strewn across the sky just beginning to fade above the distant peaks.

It’s not the highest elevation, but it faces the perfect direction, and most importantly…

“It was one of Mom’s favorite places.” The words come out rougher than I intend.

She turns to me, surprise widening her eyes. “Really?”

I tip my head back and breathe in the cool mountain air. “Yeah. She liked getting up early and going for rides. When I was young, I used to wonder where she was going and why. So I snuck out to follow her one morning.” I chuckle. “I may have overestimated how easy it is to follow someone on horseback.”

Sage smiles softly at that, but she doesn’t say anything.

“Mom noticed me straight away, but she wasn’t annoyed. She just waited for me to catch up, then took me with her.”

“And this is where she came?”

“That morning, yeah. She had a few places she liked to go. But any time she felt like coming up here after that, she’d always wake me up and take me with her.”