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“You aren’t saying anything I haven’t thought a hundred times in the last month. I don’t know why I do this. It’s not like I didn’t have a perfectly normal childhood. My parents are happily married, rarely fight and support me in everything I do.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You are a born caretaker and one of the most nurturing people I know. It’s in your nature to get overly in
vested, which is why you hated teaching a class of thirty kids. You might make a difference with one or two, but it’s hard to give each child the sort of attention they need.” Kori hit the problem squarely on the head. “Being a guidance counselor suits you so much better.”
“I know.” Hadley sighed. “But none of this helps me with what to do about Liam’s marriage proposal. I really do love him.”
“You haven’t known him very long.”
Hadley couldn’t believe Kori of all people would use that argument. “Not directly, but I saw a lot of him ten years ago when I was barrel racing. I had a crush on him then. He was always nice to me. Never made me feel like I was going to be his next conquest.” And for Liam, that was saying something.
“Because you weren’t that sort of girl,” Kori reminded her. “You told me while your friends dated extensively you weren’t interested in boys, only horses.”
“I was interested in Liam.”
“Let me guess. He didn’t know you existed?”
“At first, but toward the end of my last show season, that changed. I used to compete with his on-and-off girlfriend, and he’d sometimes show up to watch her. Most of the time I beat her, and he started congratulating me on my rides. At first I thought he was doing it to make her mad, but then I realized he meant it. One thing about Liam, he was always a horseman first and everything else came after.”
“So things were warming up between you. What happened?”
“Anna was my best friend at the time, and she had a huge thing for him.”
“But he liked you?”
Hadley shrugged. “He was way out of my league.”
“What would you have done if he’d made a play for you?”
“Freaked out in true teenage fashion.” Hadley trailed off as she recalled how much more intense her emotions had been in those days. Every problem had seemed crippling. Her success had sent her straight into orbit. “I’d never had a crush on anyone before, and Liam was older by a couple years and had a lot of experience. I told myself he couldn’t possibly be interested in me that way.”
“But you hoped he might be?”
“Sure, but it was complicated.”
“Because of Anna?”
“Yes.” Hadley hadn’t told anyone the story behind Anna’s accident. Ashamed that her friend was paralyzed as a result of something Hadley had said in a moment of anger, she’d punished herself all these years by avoiding something she loved: horses. “It bugged her that he’d go out of his way to comment on my rides but didn’t notice her at all.”
“What did she expect? That you’d tell him to stop being nice to you?” At Hadley’s shrug, her friend sighed. “You should’ve told her to go to hell.”
“I did something so much worse, and as a consequence my best friend lost the use of her legs.”
Kori’s eyes widened. “You need to tell me the whole story.”
Haley killed the last of the wine in her glass and refilled from the bottle. “It was July and Wade Ranch was throwing a huge party at their stalls in the show barn to promote one of their stallions. Anna had been flirting with Liam for a month and was convinced he was finally showing interest when he invited her to the celebration. She dragged me along because she didn’t want to go alone and then promptly ditched me to go hang with Liam. I lost track of her and spent the night hanging out with some of the other barrel racers.
“It was getting late and Anna didn’t want to leave, so I arranged to get a lift with someone else. A little before we took off, I went to check on Lolita for the last time to make sure she had water and because being with her calmed me down. I was mad at Anna for chasing a guy who didn’t act like he was into her.”
“Because if he had been into her she wouldn’t have had to chase him.”
“Right.” Several girls at the party had poked fun at Anna for thinking Liam could possibly be interested in her. “So, there I was in the stall with Lolita and guess who appears.”
“Liam?” Kori said his name with such relish that Hadley had to smile.
“Liam. At first I thought maybe Anna was looking for me and got Liam to help her, but turns out he’d just followed me.”
“Where was Anna?”
