Page 119 of We Redeemed the Rain

The relief rolling off my spirit spoke volumes. I had dragged my feet in the decision making, but the truth was I never really wanted the record deal in the first place. After my night with Glory and Tillie, I had no trouble at all turning away from that closed door.

I gladly chucked my phone into the Ranger’s floorboard, and tuned my heart to the thing—the person—it now beat for.

THIRTY-FOUR

Bea

The day flew by in a whirl of excited activity. Tag floated through the feeding routine even though the horses were agitated about being fed three hours later than usual. He beamed ear to ear and was unusually chatty. Adorable, honestly. I ate it up.

The workload at the ranch wasn’t lighter than it had been any other day, but it felt lighter. We had flown through the day’s tasks, giggled and laughed like giddy teenagers, and our conversations had taken a turn for the silly. It was so fun.

I absolutely loved seeing him let loose. It was beautiful.

Driving back in from town, we crept up the gravel road in the Chevy truck, the bed laden with bags of heavy horse feed.

Tag spoke over the noise of crunching gravel. “I want you to name her.”

He was talking about the foal.

“What? No, I couldn’t do that.”

“Sure you could.”

“She’s your horse, Tag. Plus, I doubt I could come up with something before I leave. It will probably take me weeks.” That statement stung my insides a little more than I intended it to.

“Well, if you name her, I’ll have another horse that reminds me of you when you’re gone.”

I glanced at him. He bit his lower lip, suppressing a bigger smile.

“Tag.”

“What?”

“Stop.”

He shrugged and laughed like he had no clue what I was talking about. “Stop what?”

“Being sweet. Don’t be sweet.”

“You’d rather me be an ass?”

I barked a laugh. “No! But…you can’t…talk like you’ll miss me.”

“Why not?”

“Because…I might…” I struggled for words.

He looked at me, his head lulling a little likeyes?

“I might…stay forever.”

He gave one loud huff of a laugh then side-eyed me.

“What?”

“I’m trying to imagine you as a cowgirl. If you stayed forever, you’d inevitably turn into one. Probably start spoutin’ country songs, too.”

“I hate country music.”

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