Page 49 of Live for Me

No one would ever know how much. He hurt me every single day since the day I left. His absence was painful, but his presencewas my damnation. I couldn’t tell Dave that, though. There was so much left unsaid, hiding in the dark where they would forever remain.

I shook my head, choking on a sob.

Dave set me down, but didn’t let me go as he looked back at Harmony. “Who is she?” he asked me.

I looked back to Harmony, wiping a tear. “A friend.”

She smiled and took a few steps back to the door of the backseat, getting my bag. She closed the door with her hip and began walking toward us when I heard it.

The sound of rolling thunder.

I stepped out of Dave’s arms, spotting a cowboy on horseback coming over the hill, the sun shining down on him.

“Abbie!” he roared, his call rolling through the swaying blades of grass like a siren’s song. Goosebumps scattered across my skin, stretching over my arms and down my legs.

Harmony looked back to Beau and then to me. “If you go now, I can hold him off,” she offered.

I jerked, looking at her. “You—you would do that?”

Dave took the bag from her. She gave another sad smile, lifting her chin. “Go.”

I looked back to Beau, seeing how close he was now. I could see his sharp jaw, the only thing that wasn’t covered by the shadow of his hat, watching the way his body moved in time with the mighty steed underneath him. Suddenly, I had the overwhelming desire to paint, to capture this moment on a canvas, to hang it on my wall. My fingers twitched, missing the feel of the paint brush in my hands. The sky above him was crisp, the clouds fluffy and grand, the sun high and bright, and I knew his eyes were fierce. His horse—Spirit—was a work of art all on his own, tall and golden with a mane and tail as black as midnight and pairing him with the beautiful cowboy on his backseemed almost criminal. How dare God put such beauty in my life, such love…only to take it away?

“Abbie?” Dave called from beside me. “Are we going, or did you want to say goodbye to him?”

“Abbie!” Beau bellowed again, Spirit’s hooves pounding against the earth.

Harmony wrapped her arms around herself, her thin, sage green cardigan falling off her shoulder, revealing more freckles dotted across her pale skin. “Abbie,” she rasped. “If you don’t leave now, he’ll never let you go.”

Tears stung my eyes. I knew she was right. I had to go.

Still, my feet didn’t move.

They didn’t move when Dave put my bag in the car.

They didn’t move when Beau started slowing his horse.

They didn’t move when he got off his horse, holding the reigns as he stalked towards me, his blue eyes on fire, his nostrils flaring.

They didn’t move when he ignored Dave and Harmony’s presence as he closed the distance between us, not stopping until he was inches from me.

I remained frozen in place as he reached up, hooking his rough finger underneath my chin as he glared down at me.

“Leaving me again, Wildflower?”

As if I had a choice the first time.

The tears in my eyes spilled over the edge as my lip trembled. I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t. His blue eyes scanned my face, the air around us growing hotter by the second, having nothing to do with the sun looming over us.

When I didn’t answer, he tilted his head to side as he softly noted, “Regret doesn’t look pretty in your eyes, Abbie.”

I flinched, and then his hand was gone.

He took a step back and twisted his neck, his eyes on Harmony. “Your husband is looking for you,” he said.

“If my husband wants me, he’ll find me himself, Beau,” she returned, raising her chin.

He said nothing and looked over to Dave, tipping his hat. “Dave.”

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