Page 80 of Indigo Ridge (The Edens 1)

“Sure.” She nodded, motioning to her clothes. They were the jeans she’d had on last night and one of my black T-shirts, which dwarfed her, so she’d tied it into a knot at her hip. “Do I need to run home and change?”

“You’ll be fine. Have you ever ridden a horse?”

“No.”

“Want to learn?”

“Not especially.” She smiled as I laughed. “Maybe one day.”

If and when that one day came, I’d teach her. “We’ll do another kind of ride.”

So after our breakfast dishes were in the washer, we set out for the barn.

“How about a four-wheeler? Ever driven one of those?”

“Another no.”

“Want to ride with me? Or drive your own?”

She eyed the machine as I filled the gas tank. “Ride with you.”

“Good answer.” I straddled the seat, patting the back for her to climb on behind me. Then I started the engine and set out on the road.

We rode for an hour, following old trails around the ranch. Winn’s arms stayed tight around my waist, her head resting against my shoulder at times, as the sun warmed our skin and the wind blew her hair off her pretty face until I came to a stop along a fence.

“This is the far end of the ranch,” I told her.

“This is all yours? From here to your house?” She pointed toward the direction that we’d just come from.

“And a bit beyond.” I pointed left, then right. “This is the center point. How long we just rode? It goes twice as far in both directions.” The Eden ranch was essentially a rectangle that stretched along the base of the mountains in some of the best country under God’s blue sky.

“Are all ranches this big?”

“Very few.” I stood from the seat, climbing off the machine to walk to the fence where a small cluster of wildflowers was tangled with the stalks of grass. I plucked a white one and a yellow one, bringing them to her. “We’ve expanded over the years. Bought new property.”

“Like the one next to Indigo Ridge.”

“Exactly. After a few generations of buying when land comes available, now we’ve got one of the largest ranches in this part of the state.”

“It’s beautiful.” She pressed the flowers to her nose. “Thanks for taking me out today.”

“Welcome.” I propped a hip on the edge of the four-wheeler, looking out over the pasture. “It’s been a while since I’ve done this. Just driven around. No task in mind.”

“It’s been a long time since I didn’t fill a day with work of some kind.”

“What about in Bozeman? What did you do there to relax?”

“Hung out with friends. Did some hiking around the area. I had a vegetable garden one summer. Skyler ruined that one for me though.”

“How did he ruin it?”

“He complained that it was too time consuming. That instead of having our evenings free to meet up with friends or go to a movie or whatever else he wanted to do, I liked to stay home and work in the garden. Maybe I’ll put one in at my house here. Not that I have a lot of free time.”

“Maybe by this time next year you will.”

“Yeah.” She smiled and lifted the flowers to her nose again. “Maybe.”

“Have you heard from him?” I asked.