Page 19 of Unspoken Promises

There were countless times I mourned the loss of my teenage years. But I didn’t spill tears over the big stuff like not going to prom or learning to drive or throwing a graduation hat in the air. I mourned those years because I had no friends. I wanted to buy cheap makeup at the grocery store and put glitter on my face with my bestie before football games. I wanted to have slumber parties and save my friend by sharing a tampon under the stall in the high school bathroom.

Swapping numbers with Penelope was mundane for most. But for me, it was giving me a feeling I thought I’d lost forever.

Echo Valley is paradise.

Even Enzo declining my offer to bring his horse the carrots myself doesn’t kill my buzz.

But as I watch his tight buns in those sexy jeans saunter away from my front door, it’s impossible not to think about my teens again and one last thing I missed.

7

I’m back laterthan I’d like and have to race down to the stables just to grab a few moments of daylight. My horse, Estrella, whinnies as soon as she smells me entering the American-style barn. The thoroughbreds are out to pasture for the night; it’s just my family’s horses in here. We have nine.

Knowing Estrella, she’s going to be pissed off at me for being late. Two of us brothers prefer geldings, and two mares. I’ve always been a mare man myself. They’re temperamental; there’s no such thing as unconditional love when it comes to a mare, but that’s what I like about them. I know I earned it. And I don’t mind havingto work for it.

Which only makes me think about Ava. She asked a lot of questions but wasn’t prepared to answer any. Of course, now I’ll lose a second night of sleep trying to piece her together, because just like with my mare, earning it is part of the appeal Ava brings to the table.

If she’s bringing trouble, she sure seemed free of it tonight. She danced her way around that grocery store inspecting every item with interest. The way she befriended Penelope with innocent, youthful energy was, quite frankly, sweet as can be, and she has a rare sort of sparkle about her. And the aliens? It was too quirky not to be cute.

In another lifetime, back in college when chasing a woman like Ava wasn’t attached to such stakes, when a woman’s ulterior motives couldn’t burn my empire to the ground, she’s the exact kind of firecracker I would have lit up with one swift strike of a match.

But besides being my employee, she comes with a whole host of other potential complications. No matter how charming her effortless laugh or how tasty those freckles on her shoulders looked, there’s no ruling out she could be a black widow.

Golden, early evening sun shifts through a shadow and warms my cheek. Estrella kicks the door and snorts when she sees me.

“You didn’t think I was coming, did you?” I lean over the stable door and stroke her flank. Just like our old dog, Frida, Estrella can tell the time better than an Apple watch. That dog would know if it was five p.m. and time for her dinner or seven in the morning when Mom used to take her on the school run with all of us. I miss that dog. I miss all the animals from my childhood. Those were good times. Simple times.

But there was no way to have established GhostEye inNew Mexico. There simply wasn’t a big enough community of developers willing to work for peanuts back there. When I started working on our software, just after graduating college, it was clear the only way to get it done would be if we were closer to a national tech hub. Building GhostEye was a years-long endeavor, taking almost a decade to actually develop and even more to bring it to market.

Rio and I moved to California first. Santi came to visit and used some of his rodeo winnings to get some scrubland. Gabriel came to work the land for a while. Over the course of a few years, the concept of a ranch with enough houses for our whole family became the dream.

Over time, bit by bit, we built it. All of us contributed with whatever money we came into. I worked two jobs for many years. Rio, too. Santi had a successful year on the rodeo circuit, and his first racehorse ended up being a big Derby winner. Gabriel poured any and all money into the dream.

Leaving Starlight Canyon behind wasn’t easy, but we made a home for ourselves here. There are good people in this town. Invested people. It’s a tight community.

Now that we convinced Dad to finally sell up and retire, I hope he sees a second chapter here.

Estrella isn’t from Starlight Canyon. She never knew that life. She’s part of the string of purchases Santiago made over the years of quarter horses and Appaloosas we keep alongside the thoroughbreds to make it feel more like our raucous, dusty childhood. Only his old boy, Hector, is still alive and well; he’s somehow still out there on the trails, though he doesn’t kick up much dust anymore.

Life sure is different. I hardly have time to ride. Even now, I’m losing daylight fast and think better of taking her out on the trails around here in the dark. But even if it’s forthirty minutes, she deserves the excursion, to sample the cow’s parsley that we should have pulled up but none of us can bring ourselves to do it because our horses love the treat.

I set to work tacking up Estrella while she flicks her tail around warning away the odd fly, and eventually we set off along the trail leading to the easternmost gate. I salute the guard on duty, and he opens the gate leading to the Diablo trails. It’s not the same as back home where we could simply ride around our own land.

We couldn’t afford the acreage here in California when we started out, and now that we’re doing better there isn’t as much available. But the trails are typically empty, which is just as well because unless I’m with my brothers, I like riding alone. And even then, I prefer alone to my brothers. There’s something grounding about being with my horse in the mountains. Call it a return to my roots. Call it Mother Nature paying me a visit. I don’t care how it happens, but the loping movement of a horse underneath you at sunset? It would calm the most anxious soul.

About a mile out we reach a small lake. I let Estrella drink for a moment and breathe in the air that’s finally starting to cool as the sun dives toward the ocean. I don’t have long out here before sunset but I wish I did. Usually, the mountains bring clarity, and I haven’t been able to decide what to do about Ava.

Tonight I saw such innocence in her. The whimsical way she spoke of her uncle showed me a woman who loves her family. She didn’t seem to have the first clue how to cook. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Pen offered to exchange numbers. And the way she let the wind blow her fiery locks at my window was, quite frankly, charming. It’s beautiful to see someone enjoy living that much.

I could probably use a person like that in my life.

Maybe it’s too bad Ava came to this ranch under these circumstances. But she did. And she’s too young for me anyway. I’d better keep reminding myself of that.

I need to figure her out. If she can help with the hacks, I need that a whole lot more than I need to smooth my hands down her curves.

Thankfully, I have plenty of grounding moments. Debbie in payroll has been stalking me, anxious to get Ava’s identity documents in the system. I am, too, especially because I still haven’t managed to find much on her. Why doesn’t she have a record of housing agreements? There is literally nothing on this woman. I’m spending way too much time trying to figure out who she is and have come up empty-handed. I’ve always been good at solving puzzles, taking things apart and putting them back together, but this time, I’m falling down the rabbit hole and can’t think of anything but Ava Scott.

And how much I’m wanting her to be the good person she appears to be.

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