Page 75 of Somewhere We Belong

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colt

“I’m doing it!”Sol squealed as she rode Luna.

Her happiness was infectious, and I smiled with her. She gave me the biggest toothy grin as she continued to trot on Luna.

“You got this, Sundae!” I steered De Ville towards her, riding next to her.

“Can we keep riding?” she asked, and there was no way I could say no.

“Yeah. Fifteen minutes and then we have to head back, ok?”

“Yes!!” she yelled, as we continued trotting through the pastures.

I had brought her to a place where we had just moved the cows in the hope to stay away from the herd.

We rode in silence as I watched her like a hawk. Any time she didn’t move with the horse, and I thought she might slip off, gave me a heart attack. Nova would kill me if I brought her back injured and I would let her.

“Colt,” Sol said, as I steered us back to the cabin.

“Yeah?” I looked over at her, a pout marred her usually jovial face.

“Momma went out on a date last week,” she huffed.

I stilled. Sol was trying to extort information out of me. I knew it, she knew I was the weakest link when it came to her.

“I want a daddy, but sometimes I’m scared,” she said, biting her lip that made her look exactly like Nova.

Ok, maybe I was overreacting.

“Why are you scared?” I asked, studying her.

She shrugged. “What if he doesn’t like me?”

“That's impossible,” I scowled. “Everyone loves you.”

“Then, why don’t I have a daddy?” Her lip quivered.

Fuck.I was not equipped for this.

“Cause your daddy is an asshole who doesn’t know what he is missing out on,” I said without thinking.

I had always wondered why Sol’s father wasn’t in the picture, but it never felt right to ask. All we knew was that Nova had been alone since she was pregnant.

“Momma says some people hurt us because they didn’t know better,” she sighed.

“Your momma is right,” I agreed. “Some people are afraid of change and that makes a lot of people do dumb things, but not everyone needs a daddy. You have an amazing momma who loves you to pieces.”

The cabin came into view, relief coursing through me, but at the same time, anger simmered in me that this little girl had had so much heartache already. Nova was right to keep this a secret. The last thing I wanted was to get her hopes up for us to make it worse.

Sol stayed quiet as we went into the barn. I got off my own horse, then helped her get down. We brushed the horses and gave them treats. She was just like Theo, affectionate with the animals like they were her family.

“Sometimes I wish you guys could be my daddies,” Sol said, hugging my leg before running off to play with Hula Hoop.

She left me speechless as I watched her play. My heart clenched, wishing I could give her what she wanted, but we just had to be patient. I gave De Ville and Luna some love, putting them back in their stalls, and added more hay before closing the door. Theo came out of the house telling Sol to come in and she ran into his arms.

I wasn’t ready to go inside just yet, walking to the garage to work on my bike for a moment. It was a rebuild that I had started during the winter and I was almost done with it. It was a nineteen eighty-one Harley Davidson that was begging for me to restore it. It gave me something to do when I was restless and if I wanted to, I could sell it for a pretty penny after I was done with it.

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