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“Laying low for a while is extremely appealing,” she confessed. She’d bought a guitar and had started working on new songs. She found it therapeutic and a good way to keep from thinking about Sam all the damn time.
Reese said, “I’ve got a phone interview for the marketing position.” She gave Sky a hug. “Don’t do anything hastily, please. Put some more thought into this.”
“I will.”
After Reese left, Sky went down to the stable. She’d been visiting Midnight more often, since Sam wasn’t around and she suspected the stallion missed him.
She was running a bit late today, though.
“Dalton,” she said in greeting.
The mental health specialist grinned at her. “Good timing. Your favorite horse was starting to get antsy. I was about to turn on the sound system so he could hear your voice.”
“I’ll take care of him.”
* * * * *
Sam returned from Nebraska on an overcast Friday. He considered going straight to the inn. It’d been a month since Willet had been arrested and the news had died down, what with various other celebrity scandals and news to eclipse what had happened to Sky. The first week had been a real bitch, with Sam unable to buy something at a grocery store without seeing Sky’s picture on the cover of a tabloid at the checkout stand, along with Willet’s mug shot. The headlines drove him crazy. Made him sick to his stomach.
He hated everyone knowing her personal business. He hated knowing it probably tore her up too. Mostly, he hated not being with her.
She wasn’t returning his calls, though he’d finally received two text messages from her, saying she hoped the horse rescues went well. Sam continually had to bite back the overwhelming desire to tell her that, somehow, there had to be a way for them to find their way back to each other.
Maybe now that the sensationalism of what had happened to her in Nashville was waning, they might be able to put it behind them.
He missed her something fierce. And there really wasn’t anything Sam wanted more than to be with her again.
As he considered heading up to the inn, one of his volunteers called out, “Sam, you’ve got a Michigan humane shelter on the phone for you.”
He took the call in his office. While he discussed the potential for a horse to be temporarily housed at the shelter before Sam came and got him, he caught Sky out of the office window. She delivered more baked goods to his staff. She and Dalton had a brief discussion, then she moved farther into the stable.
Sam wrapped up his business, the rep from the shelter agreeing to rescue the horse on his end and keep him until Sam made it out that way.
With his insides knotted from the sight of Sky, Sam left his office.
But Dalton pressed a hand to his chest to hold him back, saying, “Give her some space. She’s been coming in while you’re gone, and Midnight’s settled down from the night Willet let him out. Must’ve confused him to be freed without a bridle and he wasn’t sure where to go without you or Sky around.”
“Can’t blame him for that.”
Dalton’s arm dropped and he stepped back.
Sam returned his attention to Sky. She entered the stall and, moments later, emerged with Midnight. They strolled casually down the wide aisle. She walked alongside the horse as usual, neither leading him nor tugging on the reins.
When they reached Sam and Dalton,
she gave Sam a tight smile. Her dark-blue eyes held myriad emotions, none of which he could read.
So he simply said, “Nice job, getting him back on track.”
“Took some doing,” she told him. “I think with you gone so much, he needed supplemental companionship. We’ve bonded pretty solidly.”
She rubbed the horse’s nose with her free hand. He snorted…almost playfully.
Dalton said, “They spend time at the pens so he can see the other horses. I think he just likes being with Sky.”
She spoke softly to the horse and then they were on their way out the oversized entrance.
Sam watched them go. A part of him felt optimistic for Midnight’s sake, because of the progress he’d made. The other part felt an even greater wedge between him and Sky than what she’d mentioned a while back. How the hell was he supposed to remove it?
