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“I’m going to put together a video,” I say, setting the currycomb on the fence post. “We can use it as marketing for next year.”
He grunts, but he doesn’t discount the idea, which has my heart doing slow somersaults in my chest. Though I know Charlie will forever be a technology-challenged cowboy, he trusts me and it means so much.
I step over to the blanket draped over a fence post. Charlie follows me, his eyes tracking my motions. I lift the blanket up, and with a heft, toss it across Arrow’s back.
“Is that right?”
“Almost.” Charlie helps me adjust the blanket. “Now the saddle.” His rugged face crinkles as the corner of his lips rise. “Slackin’ on the job, Sunflower.”
I mock gasp and kiss him before heading toward the saddle. We’ve been riding for a few weeks and he’s been doing most of the work. But today, I’ve asked him to show me how to get a horse saddled for a ride.
When I bend to lift the saddle, my heart sputters. Like an engine that’s revved up and then cuts off.
The world spins. Black spots dance in my vision. The sound vanishes from my ears. I sway and fall onto my hands and knees on the green grass.
“Whoa, whoa, hey.” A strong arm bands around my waist. I hear the rough sweep of Charlie’s voice in my ear. “Ruby? Baby?”
A whimper escapes my throat. The erratic thumping in my chest has panic crashing over me. I squeeze my eyes shut as my chest rises and falls in an uneven rhythm.
Charlie’s hold tightens. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
My heart. It stopped.
But I don’t say that.
When I open my eyes, Charlie’s face has worry all over it. “I’m bad at this,” I whisper.
“Nah.” He gives me a sweet grin. “Saddle’s too heavy for you is all.”
But it wasn’t too heavy.It was my heart.
He helps me to standing, and I watch him saddle up Arrow. I don’t miss his dark gaze on me. Wondering, worrying.
Biting my lip, I clutch my chest, willing my hands not to shake, willing my heart to keep pumping.
He’s not stupid. He’s going to figure it out. And if he does, before I come clean ...
I follow Charlie’s long-legged stomping stride back to Arrow, a sense of dread building in my chest.
But it’s quickly replaced by a feeling of strength. My mother’s words echo from somewhere in the cracks of my mind.
Honor your heart until you become it.
He’ll be okay.
We’ll be okay.
I inhale a breath.
Stepping close, I grip his massive forearm and hold tight to him like he can anchor me. Looking up into his eyes of blue, I say, “Charlie, I—”
A clanging noise shatters the calm silence of the ranch. Charlie and I both pull back a little from the loud, screeching metal noise.
A horse trailer sits in the gravel drive. Charlie says nothing, his intent gaze on my face.
Then Wyatt’s hopping out of the cab of the truck with a loud whoop. He opens the back door of the trailer, and after a few tries with the lead rope, the beautiful buttercream-colored colt I’ve loved since I got here backs out of it. The one Charlie took to a buyer in Deer Lodge.
My mouth falls open, and I turn to look at Charlie.
