Page 91 of Unbreakable Love

“I’m ready,” I told Gavin.

“You sure?”

“As long as you keep hold for a little while longer, yeah.”

“Don’t worry, Penny.” He winked, and I had to steady myself from the look in his eyes. There was no playfulness, more the hint of a promise. “I’ve got you.”

And damn... that felt good.

We left the horse paddocks, and soon, with Bryce and Josie leading the way, we were riding with the horses as they walked at a slow gait. Maize and Caleb were in front of us, Maize holding her own reins like she knew what she was doing, but it was clear she was listening to Caleb’s quiet instructions.

“You want control?” Gavin asked and held up Pickles’ reins in his hand.

“Not quite yet.” I grabbed the pommel and readjusted my sit, tried to match the way Caleb and Bryce both sat on their horses ahead of me. Back straight, legs and arms loose, their bodies naturally pitched with the sway of the horse. I relaxed my thighs, and soon, sitting on a horse, walking over the terrain of the Kelley land, seemed to be as natural as breathing.

“This is beautiful,” I told Gavin as we crested a small hill and all we saw in the distance was snow-speckled land that hadn’t melted. There was mud and dirt and grass peeking through and thousands of cattle roaming free. In the distance was Dalton, sitting atop his own black horse, barely a speck on the horizon.

“What’s Dalton doing today?”

“Making sure the herd is all moving correctly. We move them around on the land, so it all gets worked and fertilized, and at this time of year, we like to keep them closer to home. Easier to check in on them, but sometimes there are stragglers.”

“With so many cows, how can you tell?”

“Sixth sense and magic,” he teased.

“Shut up.”

“Some of it is.” He looked at the land with a wistful gaze and shrugged. “It’s in our bones and our blood. We’ve grown up doing this. There are multiple herds, and when you’ve done this for so long, you get used to the sizes of them, being able to eyeball anomalies. But there’s also the behavior. We can tell if they’re upset or stressed, or if some are wandering farther behind others. That might mean they’re keeping rhythm with the missing, so they don’t get too far ahead. It’s why we’re out here so much, always working and riding, although normally in trucks when it’s this weather. Plus, we take stock, count heads.”

It was a science as much as an art form, I figured, and as we continued walking over hills and valleys and through trampled down paths in the trees, it started to feel like home.

We eventually caught up to Dalton on his way back and he declared everything good. They took us out to the creek on their land, water barely trickling through areas that were icing over.

“We’ll de-ice a lot of the natural or manmade ponds in the winter so they always have water to drink, but this creek will be left alone. See that rope across the way?” Gavin pointed to a large tree with flat ground surrounding it.

“Yeah.”

“That’s where we all hung out in the summer. It’s one of the few entrances to our land from a public access way and over time, back beyond the tree, it became a flattened parking lot. Everyone in town can come use it, but it’s technically our land, so we keep an eye on it, too. If any of us went missing on hot summer days when we were supposed to be working, we’d most likely be found there.”

I grew up in ramshackle housing with elevators that didn’t work or gave a terrifying, deadly shriek on the rare occasions they did. I grew up with sirens and horns honking as my white noise and the constant worry of what would happen if my mom lost her job.

Gavin grew up with this.

“You had the most perfect childhood,” I quietly admitted, sad for myself and Maize, but happy for him.

For Josie.

“I really did,” he agreed.

By the time we got back to the barns, my fingers were starting to freeze, and my cheeks had to be pink and dry from the wind, but as I jumped off Pickles, no hesitation on the dismount, I didn’t want to leave.

Didn’t want to leave the fresh air and land and sunshine and the absolute glorious peace I’d spent the day experiencing.

It was a day I would never forget and hoped for a thousand more.

“You good?” Gavin strode up next to me as I absentmindedly stroked Pickles’ neck and mane, now sad to leave her behind.

“I don’t want to say goodbye to all of this.”

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