AllFreeNovel
Share Us
TULLY
“I’m a horrible friend,”I say to my best friend.
Today has been a day.
I’ve never felt more alive and more exhausted at the same time. On the one hand solidifying everything with Dean, saying fuck it. I’m jumping in feet first, head over heels, ass over elbows, any analogy you can come up with it. That’s what we’ll go with and it will be absolutely amazing. On the other hand, it left me feeling like a piece of shit. I kept this huge, massive, life-size secret from her. The worst part is she’s not even the first to know. Nope, that would be Ryland, JW, and Catherine. Birdie has every right to kick my ass and take away being the godmother of her future unborn children. I’d deserve it plus some.
“Why do you say that?” Birdie is at mygreenhouse I’m renting from her mom. I left Dean and the Johnson ranch. I had to go back to the clinic, drop off the bloodwork, work on charts, and tell Maureen about the three extras horses I worked on, too. She didn’t act surprised in the least, which led me to believe this wasn’t the first time it happened. The only difference was the bill was divided between the ranch and Dean. I didn’t really like the idea of Dean taking responsibility of three horses that may come back with an issue of who knows what. Although I’m praying with everything I’ve got that Honey Belle, Raven the black stallion, which is now JW’s horse, and Catherine’s colt, Buck, are as healthy as they can be under the circumstances. Yep, she named him just as fast as I did Honey Belle. Poor Dean. He didn’t get a say in the last two, and I named the first.
“I’ve been seeing Dean for a few weeks. It’s been a secret because of Herbert and his penchant for riding my ass. And I’m falling in love with him.” I’m stepping out of the shower, towel wrapped around my body, one on my hair wrapped in a turban. This was the only time I could get with her before I’ll undoubtedly be called out. Thankfully, Lane was working with Lawson on some downed fence, and she was planning on coming to see her mom, too.
“I know, Tully.” Birdie is sitting on the floor, back to the mattress, legs stretched out in front of her, and looking down at a paperback. She quiteliterally has her nose stuck in a book. The same one I’m supposed to be listening to, but each time I lay my head down at night, I promptly pass out. I’ve tried to catch up while driving, except it seems that’s now become my down time.
“What do you mean you know? Does everyone know?” I ask.
“Tallulah, it was clear as day at the rodeo that he was smitten with you. I don’t know how you thought you could get away from a Johnson. When they see something they want, they go after it. I’ve been waiting patiently for you to finally tell me.” She turns a page, finishing the chapter she was on. I see her find a receipt on the floor to use it as a placeholder. Damn straight. We are not evil spawns of Satan. We do not dog ear pages, crack spines, or read the last page first.
“And you’re not mad at me?” Birdie shakes her head. Finally, my shoulders relax.
“Nope, I knew you’d talk to me when you were ready, and I also know my best friend enough to realize there was a reason behind it. Although, I’m sure the subject matter sounds stupid even to your own ears. We women put up imaginary walls; it’s up to our men to break them down.”
“Fuck.” My back meets the wall, and I slide down until I’m on my ass and facing my best friend. I sit much the same way she is, my lower back and calves loving the stretching sensation.Clearly, I haven’t been as active lately, minus in bed with Dean.
“I hope you’ve been doing a whole lot of that.” Birdie’s comment breaks me out of my reverie. I giggle then snort. She laughs and tosses her head back.
“Oh, we have.” I’m unsure of how to talk about this or how this is going to work. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you first.”
“Tallulah, that’s enough. We’re friends. I’d probably do similar in your shoes. From now on, though, no more secrets.” She holds out her pinky finger. I wrap mine around hers, and we kiss our fist at the same time, sealing our promise to one another.
“No more secrets,” I agree.
“Good. Now tell me everything. Lane gossips with his brothers but forgets to relay the juiciness to me. Therefore, I’ll be living vicariously through you for the time being.” Who am I to deny my best friend details of what’s been going on today? I’m known for staying in my towel forever. Same goes with my hair turban, a character flaw of sorts. There is some good that comes with it though, the longer it dries on its own, the less time I have to deal with blow drying. We sit for what seems like hours, catching up like we didn’t see each other a couple of days ago.
13
DEAN
“Hey, you got a minute?”I ask Lawson, the oldest of our bunch. He’s not around the barn as much as I am. Usually, he’s riding from pasture to pasture with Lane and a few others, and they’ll move the herd of cows to fresh fields. In between they’d keep them out for downed fence line, and if it was a small break, they’d fix it. The bigger issues they’d put a call into the barn and whoever isn’t busy would ride out and take care of fencing.
“Sure. Everything okay?” It’s been a few days since JW and I came back from the auction with six horses instead of three. The bloodwork has since come back in decent standing. Obviously, they had some vitamin deficiency. Honey Belle is about five months pregnant, but for the most part, they got lucky. They all need to put on a quite a bit of weight, definitely could use some trainingwith simple tasks like loading up and off-loading from a horse trailer, and then there’s getting them used to human touch. They’re still so damn skittish it nearly breaks your heart.
“I think so. I suppose it depends on the way you look at it.” I take my hat off, run my fingers through my hair, and put it back on. The sun is a damn scorcher today, and with the blue eyes we all carry, it’s like we’re being blinded by the big yellow orb in the sky.
“Yeah, I can see that. Hear you got your girl. Between Birdie and Tully, we’re going to have a houseful of women. The men will be weeded out, ya’ll start reproducing little Johnsons. Lord help us all. Do me a favor and don’t have a girl. My uncle heart won’t be able to handle all that.”
“All is good with Tully, and brother, ain’t no way that’s on my agenda right about now. You’ll have better luck with Lane and Birdie.” I can only imagine what Tallulah would say if I brought the subject up. Hell, it’d probably go a little something like this: ‘My vagina is off-limits until further notice!’And then she’d proceed to kick me in the balls for good measure.
“You’re probably right. Anyways, what did you want to talk about?” We walk toward the round pen. Raven is currently walking around getting acclimated to the area before I start working him a little bit. Honey Belle will be next. We’re still quarantining them from the otherhorses for a bit longer, mainly because we’ve got a bunch of divas. They like to make noises, interacting with one another, trying to get attention from anyone walking their way, and at night you’d think they’d sleep. Fuck no. They’re up and moving. I’ve been woken up so many times to the camera feeds, thinking one of my pests decided to figure out the gate lock and make a great escape only to realize they were just being nosy.
“Well, you’ve seen the horses I’ve brought in. Something’s not right. It’s givin’ off a weird vibe, one I can’t shake. I’m worried these might be stolen horses, they transported them here, and now here we fucking are.” I don’t tell Lawson my major concern is that Tallulah will get so attached to Honey Belle, shit goes sideways, and she’ll end up having to be taken away. That’ll piss me the fuck off. I’ll have to throw out a bunch of money, call in a fuck ton of favors, and still deal with the aftermath.
“Yeah, and don’t think we’re tabling the discussion of you paying for them either. Sunday dinner, that shit will be rectified. Don’t be swinging your ass out there on a limb. None of us would do it. You shouldn’t either.” Law is good and ticked. Hell, so is everyone else. Dad specifically. He’s already given me the talk. As much as I should care, I don’t. I did what I had to do, and the paperwork can always be changed at a later date.
“I hear ya,” I say mostly to shut him up and to move the conversation forward. Tully is hoping to get out here on her lunch break, and I’d like to have Raven out of the round pen and Honey Belle out so Tallulah can work with her. “You think Fletch would mind looking into this for me? I’d like to keep it as quiet as possible.”
“Hell yeah, he will. Fletch is probably bored off his rocker. Peache Springs, Georgia is smaller than Arrowleaf in population and land. He’s got plenty of time to fuck around seeing as how he’s in his I’m not settling down stage.” Law and Fletch have been friends for years, each of them having their moment of rowdiness, Law more so than Fletch back in their day.
“The same could be said for how long it’s taken you to go after Juniper,” I finish my statement before I move out of Lawson’s way and his rock-like fist so it’s not meeting my face, and get to work on Raven.
