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I let out a disgusted breath. Dammit. Why couldn’t I just tell him to send me whatever had to be signed and walk away? I’d finally opened up and talked to Ma, but that hadn’t helped. Or had it? She got me to realize I had feelings for a husband who wanted to want the person his arrogant friends thought was appropriate for him.
I’d known Briony had plans for Archer. He wasn’t good enough for her to date or marry—she’d chosen Wilson, whose family was as affluent as hers. But he was clearly good enough for her friends.
When I’d met the Truitts, I hadn’t been as awestruck as they thought I should be. I’d been raised around Barrons, who loved brandishing their land and oil money. And I’d seen the friendship with Archer for what it was. He was their pet project. Archer didn’t talk about his childhood, but he hadn’t grown up like them. He was their charity case. Rags to riches, all because of their goodwill.
I rolled my eyes.
Now, they had the perfect woman selected. Who wouldn’t look at Archer and think he was God’s gift wrapped in an Armani suit just for them? Why wouldn’t Archer want her over me?
God, this hurt so damn much.
I wasn’t a talker. I’d never had many friends. But I had a few now. Maybe it was time to talk to them.
I went outside. Heat wrapped around me, compressing the emotions I was already having a hard time dealing with. My boots crunched through the gravel as I walked toward the barn. The sound dulled as I hit the mowed grass. Ma did a lot of the ranch stuff. Papa manicured the yard when he was actually home on the weekends. We had an older house. A worn red barn, and an even older white barn with peeling siding. But the lawn was on point. It was easier to keep a riding lawn mower going than to stick around home long enough to re-side a shop. Re-siding ate up too much fishing time.
But at least Papa hadn’t asked Ma to pretend they’d never been married.
I crawled over the metal gate to the pasture and hopped down on the other side. Three horses nibbled the long grasses. The rain would help grow more food. Not enough to feed all the cattle, but I’d worry about that later.
The soft swish of the horses’ tails reached my ears. They were grazing in the shade of the barn. Ma’s old paint horse wandered away as soon as she saw me. It took oats and a prayer to catch that mare. Bolt the gelding watched me, his big, dark eyes interested. He was too high energy for an easy ride. My bay ignored me, tearing at the rapidly drying grass. I’d named her Target because of the white patch on her forehead. It was more round than oblong and made it look exactly like a bull’s-eye.
The irony that I’d married a man named Archer was just mean.
“Wanna ride?” If I planned a longer ride, I’d skip it in this heat. But my trip would be short, and the grass she’d get at my destination would be worth it to Target.
I veered into the barn where we kept the tack. Target was as mellow as warm butter. Once she was saddled, I swung up and rode her across the yard, staying in the ditch along the driveway and all the way to my neighbor’s house. My friends Liam and Kennedy Barron. Friends who didn’t know even half of my story.
I relaxed into the saddle, letting the sway of Target’s easy gait chase away the tension that had been building since yesterday. I couldn’t ignore Archer forever. He’d show up again eventually.
I rode next to the driveway, toward the shop. I never minded visiting Liam and Kennedy. Liam’s grandparents had raised him on their ranch, but the operation had folded shortly after Liam moved out after graduation. He now lived in the house he’d grown up in and leased out the pastures to Bruce.
The shop doors were open. Liam’s twins sprinted out, saw me, and ran for the house, calling for “Kenny,” Liam’s nickname for her since the first day they’d met.
I was almost to the main yard when Kennedy came through the door. She wore a loose T-shirt that was probably Liam’s—they’d practically shared the same skin since they’d moved in together. Her denim shorts had been cut from an old pair of jeans. Another reason why I was so comfortable around her. She didn’t put on airs.
When we were younger, she’d been a fragile little birdie. Cute and helpless. She’d been forced to come into her own after Derek died. Having a hot best friend turned husband who fully supported her while allowing her to do things for herself had helped.
I had the hot husband part. The support was missing.
Kennedy waved, her smile wide. I had never gotten that sort of enthusiastic reaction from anyone. Not from my shallow friends in high school, not even from Derek when he and I had been thick as thieves. Kennedy liked me for me, an outcome I had never imagined, one I decided I liked.
Eli sprinted for me, tripped over nothing, and cartwheeled his arms, but stayed upright.
“Eli, what’s the rule about horses?” Kennedy called in her calm teacher voice. There wasn’t much the boys could do to get her worked up.
Eli stopped, and Owen pulled up short next to him with his face scrunched up and answered, “Don’t charge them?”
“Right. So why don’t we wait by the shop while she puts Target in the pasture?”
Liam had fenced off a small portion of the pasture by the shop just for Target. The thoughtful gesture made my chest tight. This was what having friends was like. To be wanted somewhere.
The pressure around my heart eased. “I put some carrots in the saddlebag for them to feed her.”
Kennedy grinned. “You’re their favorite aunt.”
It wasn’t much of a competition, but I preened anyway. Her sister rarely came to visit, and Liam didn’t have siblings—not ones who talked to him, anyway. Cameron’s other two kids had been trained to pretend he didn’t exist.
She opened the gate, and I rode Target in. Eli and Owen dug out the carrots. Target was old and didn’t get excited by the boys, but I made sure she attributed goodies to them anyway.
As Kennedy and I walked toward the house, Liam leaned out of the shop. He wore a thick apron and his hair was plastered to his head. He must have been welding one of the iron creations he made to sell at the furniture shop downtown. He said the owner marketed him so well that when she posted something of his, it was sold within twenty-four hours. I’d seen his work. It wasn’t Hattie’s marketing skills alone that sold them so fast.
“Hey, Laney. How’s it going?”
I was about to sayfinelike I always did. Not today. “I’ve gotta talk to both of you, actually.”
Liam frowned and stepped out. When I’d come home after learning Kane was in the hospital, Liam had been the first to notice the tan line from my wedding ring. I had let him and Kennedy assume I was divorced.
“I, um, haven’t been completely honest.” I hadn’t lied to them, and that had been good enough. Only one more thing I’d fooled myself about. I wiggled my ringless left hand. “So, funny story.”
