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Prologue
Parrish
Dylan, Montana, 2007
The twinkling fairy lights that have been draped across every inch of McCormick Ranch are creating such sparkle, the whole place looks like it could practically take off and flutter away. I’m one of the only seniors who isn’t part of the “McCormick Clique” to get invited to this graduation party, and my girlfriends have made it more than clear that they are insanely jealous of me. To be honest, I have no idea how I ended up with the invite in my locker. I was sure that it was mistake; I even asked Anna McCormick, the youngest of the brood, if it had been an accident. But she’d assured me that her brother was insistent I get an invitation.
She just didn’t tell me which brother it was.
There are five McCormick boys, ranging from the oldest, Hawk, to the youngest, Mason. Mason and Anna are twins, and they are freshman at the high school. Hawk graduated two years ago, and I never once had the nerve to so much as look at him in the hallways. He was gorgeous, tall and muscular and powerful, with the kind of eyes that sparkled with mischief no matter what he was thinking. Wild rumors abound that he’s currently a male prostitute living out in California, but it’s all silly speculation because no one has seen him since he graduated.
Matt McCormick is in my graduating class, but he’s a baseball player, a swimmer, and a professional rider for his family’s riding team. I’m a theater nerd, I volunteer at the library after school, and I spend all of my free time at the local animal shelter, helping stray dogs and cats find their forever homes. I can’t fathom that Matt McCormick knows my name, let alone that he’d invite me to a party at the ranch.
And yet, here I am. I wander amongst the crowd of the most elite families in Dylan, Montana, completely at a loss for what to do, or who to talk to. I only see a few people I recognize from school, and they definitely aren’t the kind of kids who could pick me out of a crowd. After picking up a glass of sparkling cider, I finally spot a friendly face in the crowd.
“Anna!” I shout to the tiny redhead, who is ladling out punch to guests.
“Hey, Parrish! Let me get someone to cover for me, and I’ll be right over.”
Anna hands the punch ladle to a woman standing next to her and then runs over to me and gives me a hug. “I’m so glad you came! Everyone here is lame. You’re the only person besides my brothers who acknowledges me and even they can be jerks.”
I laugh. “Were you not allowed to invite anyone?”
Anna waves a finger at me and puts on a voice that is clearly mimicking her father. “You graduate in three years, Anna. You can invite anyone you want then. Until that day, you serve punch!” I shake my head and give her a hug.
“You’ll graduate before you know it, Anna, and I bet when that day comes, you’ll think back fondly on all the years all you had to serve punch.”
Anna rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Speaking of, have you seen my brother? He’s looking for you.”
“Girl, don’t forget, you have five brothers. And I have no idea which one you’re talking about.”
Anna slaps her head. “Silly me. I never told you! The invitation came from…”
She doesn’t have time to finish her sentence. Suddenly, I feel a large, strong hand on my shoulder, and I turn around slowly. Standing behind me is Hawk McCormick. He looks different, older somehow. His reddish-brown hair is shaggy, and his defined jaw is scattered in a week’s worth of stubble. He’s wearing a plaid flannel shirt over well-worn jeans, and I am immediately lost in that same mischievous sparkle in his eye.
“Well. Parrish Monroe. I wasn’t sure you’d show up.”
My jaw drops and I can’t seem to form words. “I… I… I…”
Hawk laughs. “I’m sure glad you did. Do you want to take a walk?”
“I… I… I…”
Anna laughs behind me and gives me a gentle shove toward Hawk. “Go on. I’ll return to my very important duties as Punch Girl.”
I walk away from Anna haltingly, complete baffled as to why I’m going anywhere with Hawk McCormick. We wander slowly away from the party, in the direction of the opulent horse stables on the edge of the property. The McCormicks are the foremost horse ranchers in the entire state, and almost every member of their family has won multiple awards in their classes for riding. Even Candy, the matriarch of the family, is one of the most well-known riders of classical dressage. She only gave it up when the twins were born. Now, Anna is picking up her mantle, while the rest of the boys vary between show jumping, Western riding, and trail. The only outlier is Hawk. No one really knew why he’d so adamantly spurned the family business.
We step into the stables, and the horses mostly seem to have bedded down for the night, but a few are still milling about in their stalls. I have always found horses to be not only beautiful but comforting, and they are working their magic on me right now. I walk up to a gorgeous piebald and trace my fingers across its black and white muzzle. Hawk walks up behind me and stands directly next to me, and I can feel the heat of his body permeating through his shirt and into my skin. He reaches out and gives the horse a loving pat on the neck.
“This is Moonfire. Well, that’s her family name. Her show name is Apple Blossom but I never thought that suited her.”
I give her another gentle pat and she nickers softly at me. “She’s a real beauty.”
“So are you,” Hawk says as he brushes a strand of blonde hair from my face. I shiver under his touch and squirm away, ducking under his arm and taking a few steps back.
“Hawk… I don’t understand. You’ve been gone two years. And for all the years we were in the same schools before that, you never said a single word to me. Why are you… why…”
He takes a confident step toward me, and my stomach does flip-flops the closer he gets. “Maybe I was too shy to say anything.” I burst out into laughter.
