Page 7 of Boston
She didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “Yep.”
“There’s just six people going, right?” Him, Mae, Dustin, Cora, Jeremy, and Katherine. Six people did not need two coolers worth of food and drink for a half-day horseback ride. They weren’t even doing any of the walking.
“Actually just five,” Anne said, her enormous knife already dicing up a trio of colorful carrots. “Katherine decided not to go.”
He moved over to the blue cooler and closed it. “Did you pack food for her?”
“No.”
So two coolers for five people. Boston had no idea how they’d even eat or drink all of this. But he smiled at Anne and said, “Thanks. There’s a cart out back?”
“Should be.” She gave him a smile too, and her no-nonsense demeanor reminded him of his mother when she got busy at her flower shop. Boston didn’t want to be in the way or incur the wrath of the chefs at the lodge, so he picked up the cooler and headed outside.
Sure enough, a cart waited, and when he had both coolers, he started the walk back to the stables. He’d done this trail ride before with more people and less food, and he reminded himself that the Silvers weren’t regular people. They owned this multi-million dollar lodge and resort, and of course they required more.
At the stables, he, Cotton, and another horseman named Jimmy set about getting the saddlebags packed and the horses ready. Right about nine o’clock, just as the sun started peeking over the tops of the shortest pines in the area, Katherine Silver showed up.
“Good morning, everyone,” she said in her perfectly perky voice. She carried her two-year-old on her hip, wore a sundress and a pair of strappy sandals, and turned as her husband came up behind her.
“Kat’s not going this morning.” Jeremy took their daughter and kissed her cheek. “Did y’all hear?”
“Yes,” Boston said, moving forward to shake his hand. He did the same with Kat. “It’s too bad. I hope you’re feeling okay.”
She smiled at him, one hand migrating to her pregnant belly. “I’m fine. I just can’t ride horses until after these babies come.”
Boston gestured over his shoulder. “Come say hi to Dolphin, though. Otherwise, I’ll have to listen to him snuffle and cry the whole time.”
Kat grinned and giggled, and she went with Boston to say hello to the horse who preferred her over anyone. “Who are you going to put on him?” She ran her hands down both sides of his neck and leaned her forehead against his.
Boston had him saddled and ready, and Dolphin was a great horse despite his tendency to be vocal about things he didn’t like. “I was thinking Cora,” he said. “Do you think that would work?”
“Cora’s horse is Goldie,” she said.
Boston blinked and looked at Kat as if seeing her for the first time. He knew Cora and Kat were twins. Fraternal, not identical, but could she be who he’d met yesterday afternoon?
That woman had been riding Goldie.
He looked over to the pale yellow horse whom he’d also saddled. “I thought I might give her to your granddad,” Bostonsaid. Panic began to build within him. “Kat, would you mind going over the equine assignments with me?”
He pulled a paper from his pocket as she lifted her head and looked at him. He met her eyes, and holy brown buttered biscuits. The woman he’d saved yesterday—and who had not left his mind for more than five minutes since—had to be her sister.
He’d met Cora Silver and hadn’t realized it.
“So Cora with Goldie,” he said, his voice scraping his throat. “Cotton gave me the horse assignments, and he put her with Dolphin.”
Kat took a step closer to him and peered over his forearm. “My mother should be with Bacon Bits,” she said. “So that’s right. Granddad does great with Goldie, yes. Jeremy will be on Baywatch, of course, and you’re on Coach.”
That left Cora with Dolphin, and Boston really didn’t want to irritate his new boss unnecessarily.
Kat took another moment with the paper and then stepped back. “Just ask my grandfather when he gets here. If he wants Goldie, Cora won’t argue.”
No, Boston didn’t imagine she would.
“She likes Coach too,” Kat said, back to loving on Dolphin. “But she probably doesn’t remember that.” She flashed him a quick smile, and Boston looked over as more footsteps arrived.
Mae and her father, and Boston nodded politely to Kat and went to greet them. “Good morning,” he said, lifting his cowboy hat slightly.
Mae gave him a bright smile. “How are you this morning, Boston?”
