Page 20 of Spur of the Moment
“Callan and I didn’t want to spoil your fun so we never told you.”
He grabbed the bottle again, bringing it to his lips.
“You guys probably made fun of me behind my back.”
He laughed again, handing the bottle back to me. “Oh, we definitely did.”
Raindrops landed on the windshield, quickly turning into a downpour. With the land so flat in this area, I could see lightning in the distance, miles in front of us.
I reached forward to turn down the music after finishing off the last of the sunflower seeds in my cheek. I rolled the top of the bag and shoved it back in the pocket of my door.
Anxiety crept in as we drove further into the storm, my palms getting clammy. When I was thirteen, there’d been one of the biggest storms we’d seen pass by. Through all the chaos of the high winds and downpour of rain, lightning had hit the tree directly outside my bedroom window. Iscreamed so loud, the entire house woke up. They’d all stormed into my room to find the tree on fire through the window.
I’d ran outside with my brothers and dad wearing my flannel pajamas when Bailey and his dad sped into our driveway, having seen the fire from their house. One look at me and Bailey could tell I was terrified. While his dad helped the guys put out the fire in the storm, Bailey had held me to his chest in the driveway, rubbing circles on my back. I never would have thought the tree could have lit up so fast with all the rain, but the flames were relentless. Thankfully, there was no damage to the house, and soon after, the fire department showed up to help battle the fire. The entire time, I could tell Bailey wanted to help, but he’d stayed right with me.
I wiped my hands on my denim-clad thighs, trying to wipe the memory away. Bailey caught the movement from the corner of his eye, and I knew he was thinking of the same night.
“Forgot you hate thunderstorms,” he said.
I turned to check on Rouge behind my seat to find him sleeping. He wasn’t a fan of storms either, but at least he could sleep through them. I was thankful for the little bit of sleep I got earlier because until we got out of this weather, I wouldn’t be able to relax.
I faced forward in time to see lightning strike the open field out the passenger window. I flinched as thunder rolled around us.
“Look at me.”
My hands fisted on my seatbelt, holding onto it as I looked at Bailey. His green eyes landed on me before turning back to the road. “We’re going to be okay. It’s just a little rain.”
As if the sky heard him, another lightning strike hit. The light illuminated the cab, and seconds later, thunder boomed. The rain pelted the windshield and Bailey turned up the speed of the wipers, their efforts doing little against the battering of rain.
I took a deep breath, attempting to calm my nerves. I leaned the back of my head against the headrest, clamping my eyes shut. I knew we’d be okay, but that didn’t stop my fear from taking over. I probably looked pathetic sitting here while the storm did nothing to jar Bailey, even driving the trailer through this. I admired his ability to keep calm in stressful situations.
When I was ten and he was fourteen, I twisted my ankle trying to balance on rocks to cross the creek on my parents’ property. Reed had freaked, running back to the house to get my dad. Bailey stayed with me on the shore of the creek bed, talking to me about the new rescues my dad had brought in. We’d sat there, my ankle elevated in his lap, and named each horse. He’d distracted me from the pain effortlessly.
That’s just who Bailey was.
I hated the feelings that came up with the memories of us growing up. No amount of time away could keep those at bay.
“I bought the twenty acres next to my parents’ ranch so we can grow more hay.”
I gnawedon my cheek, the nervous tick doing little to ease me. “Really?”
“Yep. Bought it shortly after you left for college. We’ve upped our profit. Any bales not going to Lennon’s store go to our horses and Bottom of the Buckle. Saves a hell of a lot on feed.”
“That’s really good.”
“I heard that property next to your dad’s might be up for sale soon. Billy passed away about a year ago and his kids have been trying to figure out what to do with it.”
“Let me guess - you want to buy that one, too.”
“I’ve thought about it. If I did, we could expand the rescue and have more space to take in more horses.”
“My dad would like that. He’s stretched thin on space. I can’t believe he’s seriously limiting how many horses we bring back.”
Bailey chuckled. “Can’t bring back a whole trailer full of ‘em if we don’t have the space, Huckleberry. You can’t save them all, as much as we all want to.”
“If we had more space, we could damn sure try,” I said.
“You trying to convince me to buy Billy’s land?”
