Page 12

“Yeah, sure.” I hadn’t done much moving around lately and it felt good being here.

It felt like fall, and something about the scent in the air reminded me of childhood in a weird way.

“How’s he doing?” I glanced at Hawk as we walked.

He looked at me and for a moment he wasn’t sure if I meant Bodhi or the horse. Then he glanced behind us and said, “He’s coming along well. You can definitely try riding him next week if you want to.”

I fucking wished.

“He’s that far along?” I frowned. I knew he and Gemma had worked on the horse-with-no-name whenever they had time, but they’d also been busy.

“Yeah. He really got into swimming at the horsey pool and that helped with everything. He got used to being handled more and that kind of took off. I’ve been riding him a little here and there. He’s still adjusting to human movements while we groom him and such, but that’s about it.”

“Gemma said he has gotten some muscle back?”

“Oh yeah. Having proper nutrition, friends, and exercise, including the swimming, has done a lot for his form.”

I nodded, happy with the idea that he was doing well. “I think I’m gonna call him Nelson,” I said, without thinking about it too much.

Hawk chuckled. “Willie Nelson?”

“Have you not heard Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other?” I asked, pretending to be scandalized.

He threw his head back and laughed, then adjusted his ballcap. “No, I have. I enjoy the video with Orville Beck.”

“I enjoy everything about Orville,” I murmured. The man had a build that reminded me of… yeah okay.

Suddenly there was a beeping sound and cheering, and we jumped to the side of the road and watched as Bodhi and the little boys zoomed past on Bluey. Well, at least as much as you could zoom in a blue six-seater golf cart anyway. Especially with a responsible-to-the-core Marine behind the wheel and two kids as passengers.

“How’s things with Carter?” I asked, because we hadn’t really talked about that in a while.

Hawk smiled. He looked so damn happy, and I was so happy for my baby brother in turn.

“We’re doing well. He’s gotten better at not throwing his money at things unless I ask for it.”

Ah. That thing. Yeah, I did the same thing so I could relate to Carter’s point of view. I was a millionaire. I needed very little money, my albums would keep generating more income for decades to come, and I had a lot of good investments.

I was also in the process of selling my penthouse in Nashville. I didn’t want to be there. I had yet to tell Ville this, although he probably guessed as much. We’d need to figure out what we wanted to keep from our things there and what we could let go.

Ville didn’t realize it, but it was just as much his place as it was mine. He still thought that he just had a room in my home, but no. For one, Ville had been the thing making the penthouse a home—not that I’d ever hold him to that sort of thing, because it was accidental and I’d realized that was the case only when he wasn’t there anymore—and for two, most of the actually functional furniture and other things we used and enjoyed there we’d decided on together. I might’ve been sneaky about it, but I had Ville’s input on everything from the couch to the entertainment system to the weights in the home gym.

“How’s things with you?” Hawk asked quietly, giving me space to ignore the question, but I didn’t want to.

“Eh. I guess I regret releasing one particular song but… otherwise….” I sighed and ran my fingers through my near shoulder-length hair. It was a little bit curly and needed a trim, but it was what it was. “I mean I’m not great. I needed to come home.”

To my surprise, Hawk wrapped an arm around me as we walked and squeezed hard. “Well for what it’s worth, all of home has missed you.” Then he snorted softly. “And I think I agree about the song. It’s a great fucking ditty, but holy fuck, Wren.”

I laughed, and well yeah. Whether he meant because he knew it was about Bodhi or how overplayed it had become, he wasn’t wrong there.

It turned out Nelson looked like a completely different horse now. I was a little bit in awe when Hawk got him inside the arena and I could stand by the railing with Bodhi and the boys.

“He looks so different,” I said, sounding breathless.

I’d of course seen numerous photos and videos of the gelding, but it was a whole other ballgame seeing him move in a controlled way, clearly having fun with Hawk’s instructions instead of constantly contemplating between escaping and cowering as he had been when we brought him home from the rescue.

He’d been a mess, and now he was flourishing, and that brought sudden tears to my eyes. I couldn’t help but to think about the parallels between Nelson and myself. I, too, had come to this ranch and found people who understood me and helped me grow into who I was meant to be.

“Mr. Wren?” Payton asked suddenly.