Page 64 of Until Then

The boy laughs as Hayley scratches the horse’s belly and it makes a grunting sound of pleasure. Then, she directs the kid how to work his core to help swing a leg over the side, where she’s waiting to help him sit back in his chair.

“Good work, Colt. Any pain?”

“Nah.” He shakes his head and adds a Velcro strap across his legs. “Got a little nervous when she started trotting, though.”

“You did perfectly,” I hear Hayley say. She tells him how he properly engaged the tone of his other muscles and gained control even if he couldn’t use his thighs and knees as well.

“Same time next week?” the mom asks.

Hayley nods and pulls out her phone, scheduling the appointment, then walks with them to the gate, where she notices me for the first time.

Her eyes go wide, then the smile creeps over her lips. Hard to fake happiness, and I’m going out on a limb to guess she’s happy to see me.

“Oh, my gosh.” It’s the mom who lets out a breath when she sees me. “Are you . . . Noah Hayden?”

Hayley hesitates.

“The one and only, Jean.” Alice claps my shoulder. “He’s dating our Hayley.”

Jean gapes. “Really?”

Hayley hesitates, but slowly recovers. She steps up to the fence, holds my stare, then pecks my lips, smiling. “Yep.”

Maybe I’m not a good enough actor. One kiss initiated by her, and I’m stunned silent.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to be weird,” the mom goes on, “but my husband and I are big fans of the show. You do Kage Shade so well.”

Speak. Fans. Talk.

I return a smile. “Thank you. I’ve got to give most of the credit to our showrunner and the writers, though.”

We make idle chit chat about the show. I learn she and her husband are both fans of the book series. Since I have an in with the author I promise to bring a signed copy to Colt’s next session of Chase’s new series before it’s released, and I’m pretty sure I earned a fan for life.

Before they leave, I stop them. “You can absolutely say no, but I took a video and you can see Colt’s profile in it. I was going to post it, you know, brag a little about my girl. Are you all right if I do—I’ll cover Cole’s face completely.”

His mom looks at him. “You okay if your video goes on Noah’s page?”

The kid grins up at me. “That’d be cool, but just make sure it's not when I’m screaming.”

I laugh. “No screaming, got it.”

“Noah’s been interested in helping at the ranch,” Hayley says with a touch of shyness. “He’s not just a pretty face and actually likes horses.”

“How’d you two meet?” Colt’s mom asks as we walk to their car to load up.

“Um, a chance meeting actually,” Hayley says.

“She stole my blueberry scone.”

“I did not.” She pinches my arm. “He stole mine.”

After I help put Colt’s chair in the trunk, I drape an arm around Hayley’s waist. “Agree to disagree. The point is, she had no idea who I was, and I couldn’t help but fall headfirst.”

With a hand to her chest, Colt’s mom grins. “I love that. I also love the idea of more people learning about this one.” She nudges Hayley’s arm. “She’s been a miracle worker for Colt. He’s just free here. He feels so big and?—”

“Mom, stop.” The kid complains from the open window.

She laughs. “Sorry. Well, we better get going.”

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