Page 33 of Stables

I swear he looks ten years younger. And he’s three years older than I am.

“You’re just jealous, Dix. You ever find someone that makes you happy, you’ll never want to leave home either.” He maneuvers his horse next to the gate and pulls the latch so we can ride through. “You know that might mean you’d have to loosen that stick you carry up your ass, though.” His lip curls in a smirk as he shuts the panel behind me.

“Funny. How’s Jack?” I didn’t get a chance to hold him this morning since I was late getting here.

Mason lets out a long sigh as he settles into his saddle. “Growing like a weed. Will be four months old tomorrow. Can you believe it?”

“Time flies.” I find my gaze dipping to a vague spot between Shadow’s black ears. What would it be like to have my own kids?

“You know what’s crazy? I think he’s going to have Lori’s green eyes. Sophia and Sawyer’s are blue like Carolyn’s.” Mason pauses.

I bet it still hurts him to talk about her, even after all of these years.

“Guess I’ll have to try harder on the next one to see if I can have one with our brown ones.” He turns and blinks rapidly at me exaggeratedly.

Shaking my head, I veer Shadow a half step wider from him. “Seems like a shit reason to have another kid, Mason.”

He squints at me and scratches the graying hair at his temple. “You don’t get it, do you? What better way to express the love you share with someone, then to create a life together that lives on past you?” He gestures to the dust cloud behind us where Sophia is still running her mare. “Carolyn is always here, through Sophia and Sawyer. That love lives on, bigger than either of us. I hope you can experience it someday.”

Paisley’s big blue eyes pop into my mind. “What about those who weren’t made from it?” I ask ruefully.

I know Char loves her very much. She’s a great mom.

The dad is a piece of shit.

Mason turns sideways and stares hard at me, for the first time in years looking very much like the older brother.

“Dix? What aren’t you telling me?” His dark eyes bore into me.

I can almost feel the questions behind them.

Shrugging them off, I let Shadow break into a canter to pull away. “Nothing.”

Mason prods Hank to match my pace. “I’d say, even a kid not made in love can still thrive with it and it will affect generations to come.” His teeth flash into a wide grin. “Of course, it doesn’t always work. Mom and Dad adored you, and you’re still a prick.” His words jostle as his Appaloosa breaks into a loping run.

Asshole.

But he’s right.

Chapter 9

Char

“What do you meanhe stayed the night?” Libby shrieks into the phone.

I hold the speaker away from my ear until she settles down. “He slept in his truck. In the yard.”

I’m not sure I want to make more of it than it is.

Matt has exhausted any part of me that wants a relationship. He didn’t seem that bad when it started, either.

He put me on a pedestal, showered me with gifts, and demanded all of my time.

I thought that was love.

Now I know he was just trying to control me, and alienate me from what few friends I had.

Libby is the only one who saw through him.

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