Page 19 of Operation: Integrity

Good. Very good. I can already tell you’re calming down and realizing that this is right and good. We’ll be in touch very soon. Do not say a word to anyone. Just do what they tell you to do and be a good girl. I’m so glad to have you back. I’ll see you very, very soon.

Chapter Nine

The watch felt strangely hot against Kelly’s wrist. Whenever she’d moved in the night, the device had pulsed and lit up, waking her even more than rolling over usually would. The lack of sleep made the task for the day even more daunting than usual. She had to meet and perhaps ride her horse today. Brendon had encouraged it, telling her she might feel like she fit in more at Wayside if she tried some of the things that would give her something in common with the other guests. Something besides their somewhat shared pasts.

Flakes of snow drove over the open landscaping, stinging as they hit her face. She buried herself deeper in Lacy’s coat and quickened her pace to the barn. There, she would find warmth from the horses, light from the windows and lights, and quiet from her thoughts. At least she’d received no new texts that morning. Maybe Nathan would allow her a day to process this new hidden part of her life.

Her mind whispered softly,hiding things from Sam hurt you before. He can’t rescue you if he doesn’t know . . .Buttelling him would make him disappointed in her or distrustful. She’d put the watch on. Even though she’d done it to save Jasmine, she’d still done it. Nathan had gotten to her, and she couldn’t believe how easy it had been for him.

She trudged into the barn and Sam waited near the back. Zeus sat just outside the horse stall, away from possible kicking hooves. Kelly snorted and a puff of cloudy breath hung in the cold air. Without the wind, she could see it whereas outside, she hadn’t.

“Morning,” Sam called as he continued to saddle Bella the horse Edwyn had introduced to her. The days seemed to run together in her head, and she could no longer recall how many she’d been there. Had it only been one, two? She wanted to say two but couldn’t be certain of anything.

“Morning,” she replied shoving her hair from her face and tucking it under her hat so she could see better.

Sam tilted his head slightly. “Something is different about you today. Everything okay? I know yesterday was probably stressful on you. I was in meetings all afternoon, or I would’ve come to check on you.”

She was glad he hadn’t. There was no way she could’ve kept what had happened from him before she’d had a chance to work her way through her own plan. She would do what Nathan wanted as far as she could without putting everyone who lived at Wayside in danger.

“There was no need. I was fine.” She twisted the watch on her wrist, trying to find a comfortable position for it. The band made her itch, but she didn’t want to make it obvious that she wasn’t used to wearing it. If someone took it from her, Jasmine might be hurt or even killed and her death would be all Kelly’s fault.

“Are you sure? You really don’t look fine.” Sam led thehorse by slowly walking it back out of the stall, one slow step at a time until it was in the wide middle aisle.

“I am. It’s just the cold. I couldn’t get my cabin a comfortable temperature last night, so I didn’t sleep well. That’s all.” How she hated lying to Sam, but it was for his own good.

“I’ll stop by after our walk today and see if there’s anything wrong with the thermostat. I don’t want you to have to worry about anything and Connor usually asks me to check out maintenance things before he hires anyone. Usually, I can fix a problem if it isn’t too complicated.” He tossed the reins over the horse’s back so they hung on the other side. “Have you ever ridden before?”

She’d never been in the presence of a horse before she’d met this one the day of her arrival. Kelly slowly shook her head.

“Are you scared of the horse?” Sam asked without a hint of condemnation. He wasn’t speaking like she would expect him to speak to a child, but there was definitely a primary teacher vibe to his question.

“Not really. I’m not sure that I want to ride today but I would try walking it around. I want it to like me. What if I hurt it?” Climbing on a horse’s back had to hurt, didn’t it?

Sam grinned. “Good question. I like that. This horse will like you before you ever even get close. She is the kind of rare horse that really likes people, the kind we travel across the country to find. And as far as hurting her, you won’t. She could probably carry four of you, but I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“Four of me?” the thought was terrifying. “One of me is plenty.”

Sam paused and looked at her, his earnest eyes boringinto her broken soul. “One of you is exactly what this world needs.” He held out his hand for her.

Without thinking, she reached out the hand with the new watch. Her coat sleeve tugged back, exposing the face. She flinched inwardly. If she tugged back her hand now, he would know something was wrong. Kelly forced herself to relax. Act natural.

He paused, looking at the watch and frowned. “Is that new?”

“I had it in my bag. I didn’t wear it yesterday.” Another lie. If she was ever going to make up for lying to him by omission last time, she had to stop lying to him now.

“Interesting. It’s one of those fitness watches. People who have those usually wear them all the time. Are you trying to count your steps or something?”

Though he was most likely only making small talk, she didn’t want to answer questions about the watch. “No, I just treat it like a watch.” She tugged her sleeve over it and stepped closer to him.

He nodded that he was agreeing to drop the subject and gently ran his hand down the horse’s cheek until he swung the animal’s head to face Kelly. She was a handsome horse, though she wasn’t sure if she could pick her out of a herd yet. She looked about as common as any other horse, though her dark eyes with long lashes held a friendliness she couldn’t explain.

She puffed a breath, and her cloud of vapor was much larger than Kelly’s making her laugh. The sound made the horse lift her head a little more. She then reached her nose out to Kelly and with slightly more force than she was expecting, nudged her elbow.

“She wants you to pet her. The girl loves her attention.She’s telling you that you have a free arm that could be put to good use.” Sam chuckled.

Kelly couldn’t fault her. If she felt comfortable telling people what she wanted, life would probably be easier. Unfortunately, over the past few years, she’d learned to never open her mouth. Her desires were less than unimportant. They were unwelcome. Humans had wants and desires and she hadn’t been human.

With slow movements, she reached out toward the horse’s nose. While the part closest to her nostrils was soft, the further away from the nose she touched, the rougher she felt. “I thought a horse would be softer.” She tried not to recoil.

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