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“You’ve helped me as well. I can’t thank you enough for being there when I needed someone.”
“Look at us… two broken souls mending each other in different ways,” he says and releases me but takes my hand, leading me back inside.
The afternoon goes so fast, and before long, I stand at the driver’s side door of Sebastian’s car with Olive on my hip. Sebastian buckles the girls in, and I’m holding back tears. I don’t want him or the girls to go. Connecting with him has been a highlight of my return home, apart from catching up with family. Dad still hasn’t spoken to me since I got mad at him. Now that I think about it, I’ve not seen him at all except for when he showed up in the back of the room today as we sang “Happy Birthday” to Olive and Ruby. He left as quickly as he came in.
We need to talk, but he has to come to me. I can try with him, but as Mom would say, he’s stubborn and pigheaded sometimes. He’ll figure it out, though, and when he does, I’ll be here, ready and waiting to talk to him.
Sebastian shuts the door and turns to face me. He rubs his hand on his pants and moves closer to Olive and me. “I really don’t want to leave.”
I take a step toward him, our bodies now inches apart. His arm wraps around my waist and pulls me against him. “I know you don’t, and I don’t want you to go. You have to do this, though. I’ll be watching and cheering you on. But don’t do anything stupid. You hear me?” I poke him in the chest with my finger.
His grip tightens on Olive and me. “I’ll do what I need to.”
“And that’s what frightens me because I know the kind of driver you are. I was watching you before you stopped. You were one of my favorites.”
Sebastian’s eyebrow cocks up. “Really?” he teases.
“Yes, really. Don’t get too excited. Promise me something?”
“What’s that?”
I move my face close to his, my lips hovering over his mouth. “That you’ll try to come back to me. I know I said earlier, whatever happens will happen, but I’d like you to try to keep that promise.”
He closes the gap, his warm lips tasting mine.
The heat.
The passion.
The promise in one kiss.
We pull away, breathing heavily.
Olive smacks my face. It’s not really romantic. “I guess she’s not ready to share,” I say, giving her a cheeky smile which she returns.
“She’ll have to get used to it,” Sebastian says. After one last kiss, he places a small peck on Olive’s head, climbs into his car, and drives off down the road, taking some of my heart with him.
“YOU READY TO GET YOURbutt beat?” Harley attempts to goad me as we saddle up the horses for our ride. I think he’s really trying to help take my mind off Sebastian leaving about an hour ago.
“You realize who you’re up against, don’t you?” I mock while tightening the saddle’s strap.
“Ha, you’re out of practice. I’ve got this in the bag.”
This is something we always used to do. There’s a track we would use and race around the paddock on the horses, going as fast as we could, trying to beat each other. We were so competitive with each other.
I test the straps and then hastily get up on Holly while Harley does the same with his horse, Buster, who’s an ex-racehorse. He still has so much talent—he used to have the wrong owner until I found him, trained him, and gave him the love he deserved.
“Let’s go,” I say. With a click of my tongue, Holly leaps forward, and I guide her out of the barn and down the same road Sebastian and I went down yesterday. I only walked with Sebastian to the start of our track as he isn’t as experienced as Harley and me.
Once we hit the dirt track out in the paddock, Harley and I both give a nudge with our feet into the horses’ bellies, and they take off. Their hooves clap along, and it’s music to my ears. The adrenaline pumping through me brings the biggest smile to my face. I’ve missed this. Trees and fences blur past us. When we get to the creek, we wade across it and surge forward to the open field where cattle are grazing with some other horses. Our property boundary is in the distance, and it’s a race to see who gets there first.
Harley comes up beside me, but little does he know, Holly isn’t at her hardest clap yet. I know how to manage her pacing and make it appear as if she’s going all out, but in fact, she’s not. As he pushes past us and the fence line comes into view, I mutter, “Let’s go, girl.”
I give her a fast push, and we power past the stunned Harley, his eyes wide as he shakes his head and laughs loudly.
I arrive at the fence before Harley, and Holly huffs out a breath. “Good job, girl.” I climb off and lead her to the water trough. When Harley arrives, he does the same.
“I kicked your butt,” I say.
