Page 42 of When We Burn

“Yeah, they told me about that. I think it’s pretty cool.”

“So do I. I plan to volunteer as much as I can, and I think it would be fun to do a field trip out there once a year with my class.”

I wrap my arms around her from behind and kiss the top of her head. She smells like my shampoo, and I like it.

She is good to her word and is wearing my T-shirt, but she’s tied it into a knot around her waist so it doesn’t look like she’s wearing a dress, and she looks adorable in it. She paired it with a pair of jeans that she fetched from her house, along with some boots, and I’d like to fuck her here in this barn.

But I promised her a different kind of ride.

“Need a boost up?” I ask her.

“Nah, I’ve got it.”

I reluctantly let her go and watch as she expertly lifts up into the saddle, settles her feet in the stirrups, and holds on to the reins, smiling down at me as she pats Crackers’s neck.

She looks sexy as fuck on a horse.

I boost up onto my own horse, Copper, and then we stride out of the barn.

“You know, aside from the farmhouse and this horse barn, the ranch doesn’t look much like it did when I was a kid,” Dani says. “And we spent a lot of time out here.”

“Beckett’s been changing a lot since he took over for Mom and Dad,” I agree as we ride, side by side, over to anew path that’s been forged this year. “This is a horse trail, but it’s also going to be a cross-country ski path in the winter.”

“Do you guys do that often?”

“Not really. But Beckett just had eight tiny cabins built back this way, on the other side of this grove of trees, for guest cabins.”

“He’s making the Double B into a guest ranch?” she asks, surprised.

“He is, yeah. He’s keeping the dairy farm, of course. That’s the bread and butter of this ranch, and it always will be. But with so many more tourists coming to town every year, he thought it would be worthwhile to add the guest ranch side, and he’s already booked up through next summer. He hasn’t even officially opened yet.”

“That’s incredible.” She tips her face back and takes a deep breath. “Fall is here. I mean, it’s still warm enough, but can you feel the cold on the back side of it? Does that even make sense?”

“Yep, I feel it. The trees will be turning in the next week or two.”

“It’s my favorite time,” she says. “I love all the colors and the more comfortable temps. Also, the bugs die and go back to hell where they belong.”

With a laugh, I grin over at her. “All good things, for sure. Can I ask you a question, kitten?”

“Of course.” She grins over at me. “Go ahead.”

“Since the day that you and your sisters met up with Holden at your ranch and took out what you wanted from the farmhouse, have you been back out there?”

She frowns, staring over the top of the horse’s head, and I worry that I’ve just ruined our day.

“No,” she says at last. “There’s nothing out there for me except for bad memories, Bridge. The best thing my brother ever did was have you burn it all down. It’s like it cleansed the land or something, you know?”

I nod, waiting for her to continue.

“I know that Holden would give me a piece of that property if I wanted to build a house out there or something, but I honestly don’t want it. I don’t care if I never go back out there, except to the horse rescue when it’s finished. I go out to Ryan Wild’s ranch for riding lessons with Millie. And we’ve been out to the Wild ranch for dinners and stuff, which issoironic because my dad would rain down hellfire if he knew that was happening.”

I nod, listening, so proud that she’s able to talk about this without it upsetting her.

“So, no. I don’t have a need to go out there. My sisters and I grabbed the few things of our mom’s that we wanted to save, and Charlie has all of that in her garage for some time in the future when we want to go through it. The rest is over.”

“I’m so glad he’s dead.” I swallow hard with that admission, and Dani turns her gaze to me. “I didn’t know until this year that he killed your mom. I knew he was an abusive fuck, and I hated that you always had to go back.”

“He and the sheriff were best friends whenI was young,” she reminds me. “He got away with anything and everything.”

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