Page 112 of The Rogue

The system???

Three years old.

Bessie.

Frank.

Hideaway Springs.

“So, she’s ours now?” Jackson asks as we head back to the stables. It’s our third morning in a row riding Willow to watch the sunrise. Then we’d walk home and try to recreate Tessa’s breakfast spread to the T.

“Technically, she’s Tessa’s.”

“But she’s going to live with us?”

“Tess doesn’t have any place to keep a horse, so she’s boarding Willow here at the ranch.”

He frowns, his head dropping in thought.

“You meant Tessa,” I say, not having the heart to ignore his feelings.

He nods.

I hop off the horse and lift him down. “You know the plan for a nanny was only through the summer, right?”

He squints up at me. “Was the plan for a girlfriend only through the summer too?”

“Christ. How old are you?”

“I’ll be ten in November.”

My chest squeezes and I take his hand as we walk back to the house.

“When is she coming back?”

He hasn’t asked me this since that first morning without her. And I wish I had a better answer.

“When she’s done helpin’ her friend out.”

Another beat. “I need help. I start school on Monday. You need help, too.”

“Buddy—” I nearly snap with irritation and catch myself with a deep breath. “I’m getting a little hungry. What do you say we go whip up some pancakes?”

Noah:What are these words you sent me the other day?

Levi:Everything I know.

Noah:It doesn’t make sense.

Levi:Make it make sense. It’s all I’ve got.

Noah:Come by the office. We’ll need two heads for this. Yours will have to do.

At two in the afternoon, I leave Jackson with Dad at the Inn and head to Noah’s law office.

Again, the man was too quiet for my liking. Tessa told him something and judging by the way he hasn’t looked me in the eye, he’s been sworn to secrecy.

Fine.

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