Page 11 of Just Say When

“I already know that word, Dad. And lots worse,” he added. “I’mtwelve.”

“Well, just because you know the word doesn’t mean you should use it,” Adam said.

Ben nodded. “James says there’s a time and place for everything, especially swear words.”

“Did she, now?” Adam’s gaze shot to James, who grinned unrepentantly.

“I figure she’s right,” Ben said. “I’ve heard you say pretty bad words in the barn, but you never say those words in church.”

Adam laughed and squeezed James’s hip. “Can’t argue with that, I guess.”

“Here’s what I don’t get,” Zack said suddenly. “Why the he—heckdid you buy Pirate anyway? Gaffney’s haddozens of offers but he turned them all down. Must have cost you a hefty wad of cash to convince him to sell. What do you think, Adam? Isn’t that odd?”

“Come to think of it, that is odd.” Adam made a show of scratching his chin. “Brax has never shown much interest in horses as anything other than pets or transportation. What would make him interested in owning a colt like Pirate? It’s out of character, that’s what it is.”

They were talking past me like I wasn’t sitting right there between them. “You’re both idiots,” I said. “But unlike you, I know a good investment when I see one. Pirate’s bloodlines make him a good investment.”

“I have a theory,” Zack said, ignoring me. “Do you want to hear it?”

“Absolutely, I do,” Adam said, raising his bottle of beer like a toast.

Zack leaned over me. “The specifics are cloudy, but the gist of it is Miss Essie Price.”

“The same Miss Price who is on her way here with Pirate right now?” Adam asked with fake surprise.

“The very same.”

“That’s a damn good theory.”

“Dumbasses, both of you,” I muttered.

“I know that word, too,” Ben chimed in earnestly. “Dad says it alot. Mostly about Uncle Zack.”

Zack’s hoot of laughter was echoed by Adam, Dad, and James. I might have joined in if I hadn’t beendistracted by the sight of a cherry red SUV kicking up dust as it came down our unpaved road, just as the sun disappeared behind a mountain peak.

Essie was here, right on time.

The kick of anticipation in my chest told me my brothers were right. Buying Pirate had everything to do with Essie Price. More than my promise to Jack. More than simply wanting to keep her out of jail.

Because I could have kept my mouth shut. I could have bought Pirate and figured out a way to keep her from ever finding out. Hell, I could have just given her the fucking horse and washed my hands of the whole damn thing.

But I hadn’t done any of that.

No, instead I’d demanded she bring Pirate here to Lodestar, the ranch my family owned, where she was currently doing a trainer apprenticeship.

I wasn’t a liar. I didn’t lie to other people, and I sure as fuck didn’t lie to myself. I knew exactly why I did it. Essie was here. Wherever Essie was, that’s where I wanted to be, too.

I just needed a reason.

Fifteen Years Ago

If I could save onlyone thing in a fire, it would be Esther Louise Price. Odds were she was the one who started the fire to begin with, but I’d still toss her over my shoulder without a second thought, and give her ass a good, hard smack every time she reached for a flame on our way out.

Because she would. She definitely would.

There were a lot of things wrong with this hypothetical scenario posed by Mrs. Dunphy, our eleventh-grade English teacher at Aspen Springs High School. The first being that if Essie was there to save, then so was Jack, her twin brother and my best friend, because the two of them were a package deal. He might have something to say about being left to burn. Of course, if Jack were there, he would have saved us all, put out the fire with superhuman spit or something, and I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near his sister and her spankable ass. So.

I didn’t write about any of that. Mrs. Dunphy said it had to be an inanimate object, which was the opposite of Essie Price. Mrs. Dunphy didn’t want to make us choose between parents and ruin our home life, she said.

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