Page 87 of The Ground Beneath Our Feet
Driving up to Headlands Ranch, where Will and Marie lived, we passed what I now knew was the site of Mikey’s accident. When I saw it again, I shivered. It was a horrible place for an accident—a hairpin curve with rocks on the side.
I kept going.
After driving down a bumpy dirt road, we ended up at a collection of buildings with an old farmhouse, a barn, a bunkhouse, and other accessory buildings, surrounded by acres and acres of farm and rangeland.
“We bring kids here in the summer,” Marie explained. “They’ll be out of school soon, so we’re gearing up for them. I run the programs for them to experience the rural life.”
“I love it,” I said. “I was an inner city kid. I’ve never been around a horse.”
“Wanna try it?”
After we stashed my bags in a guest room downstairs in the farmhouse, Marie had me put on jeans and took me to the barn. There, she saddled up a large, gentle-looking horse for me, and with the help of a ramp, I got on.
Then we took off, me behind her, headed along the bluffs to the beach.
The gait of the horse made me feel every part of my body. My breasts jiggled and my thighs were stretched. But I felt the balmy breeze of the ocean and smelled the sagebrush and relaxed into the natural pace.
When we got along the trail, Marie turned around. “It’s a good place to do some thinking, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It is.”
When we sat down for dinner at the chow hall with all the wranglers and ranch hands, I noticed that Marie didn’t eat the same things as Will. Will ate meat and potatoes. Marie ate some kind of vegan stuff out of a box that she’d made herself.
Will looked over at me apologetically. “Marie and I don’t see eye-to-eye on a few things, like meat-eatin’. But since I ain’t gonna interfere with somethin’ that’s not bothering me none, I let it be.”
Huh. Mikey’s past wasn’t really bothering me. That was me holding onto his past, not looking at how he was right now.
I ate my meat and vegetables. Being out for a ride in the outdoors cleared my head, and I found myself talking more to Will and Marie. Will’s plain wisdom and Marie’s kindness helped. When I admitted to them that I was an emotional eater, Marie said, “It’s rare the woman who doesn’t have issues with food. Men too. We all eat too much or too little. We all have baggage with it.”
She was right.
That night, we had a campfire. Marie and Will sat together, but they gave me a blanket to wrap around me. I watched as the sparks flew up into the night sky.
Marie started. “Girl, since I’ve known you, you’ve seem to come out of your shell. You were so quiet, and then you got all badass. But something happened. What was it?”
“I found out that Mikey had something happen in his past.” I told them about my father and what Mikey’d done.
Will looked up to the sky, then turned to me, his arm around Marie. “Darlin’ don’t look back. You’re not headed that way.”
True. This was true.
I was making assumptions about Mikey based on my past experiences with someone else. And maybe that wasn’t fair to him.
But I wasn’t sure it was fair to me to think anything else.
“Does he treat you like a princess?”
I nodded.
Will didn’t say anything else. Marie leaned over and patted my knee.
“Focus on your heart. That will help you. Will and I were an unlikely couple, and I fought my heart for way too long. But even though logic would say that we wouldn’t work, he’s my soulmate. We belong together.”
“But how did you know that?”
“Pay attention to your feelings. They’re a great guide for what you want to do.”
For the next few days, I didn’t work in the office. Instead, this city girl worked on a farm. I rode horses, fed animals, helped Marie with her plans for the summer programs on the ranch, and spent my evenings talking with her and Will around a campfire.
After that, I started working again, commuting from Headlands or using my laptop to get work done at the ranch.
But I missed Mikey. I missed the animals and his house.
And I missed his warm arm over my waist while I slept at night.
