Page 3 of Come With Me

I. Love. You.

It’s been our thing since we could drive.

I wait, hopeful she’ll do it too.

As I watch her struggle with deciding, I honk three times again, each one a little longer this time.

I.

Love.

You.

Finally, she faces me, then honks three times.

We stare at each other, both lost in the moment, both wishing this weren’t goodbye.

Then she drives away.

Making sure I’m gone before my father returns from a long day of screwing his secretaries, I bolt out of the driveway, too.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, I look at the house with more bad memories than good and say goodbye to eighteen years of pain.

Half of those years were spent lovingher,and still, our love wasn’tenough to stay.

ChapterOne

Ayden

PRESENT DAY

“Taylor Alison Swift,” Mallory singsongs, skipping into the stables in her pink cowboy boots. At only eleven years old, she’s the youngest in the Hollis family andnotcoincidentally, the loudest. I shouldn’t even be surprised she’s an obsessed Taylor Swift fan who named her quarter horse after the singer since she was born and raised in Tennessee.

“She’s in the pasture,” I tell her when she looks over the gate. “Her stall needs to be cleaned.”

“Can you saddle her for me?” she pleads, folding her hands into a praying gesture.

“I’m busy, Mal.” I make a show of holding up two large buckets of feed. “Ask Noah.”

“Where is she?”

“Trainin’.”Where else?Noah’s as passionate about horse training as Mallory is about Taylor Swift.

As soon as the word leaves my lips, Mallory bolts out the way she came in. Blond hair flies through the wind as she belts out the lyrics to “Love Story.”

I shake my head with a grin. Mallory moved to the ranch a year ago after her parents died in a car crash, and the Hollises became her guardians. At the time, I’d been working here for nine years, and I’d never seen Mr. Hollis cry until the day of his wife’s sister and brother-in-law’s funerals. It was devastating for everyone, but especially for their only child. Mallory’s gone through a lot in her short life, but ever since learning to ride here at the ranch, she’s been back to her happy, free-spirited self.

It also helps that there’s never a dull moment at the Sugarland Creek Ranch, which keeps her busy. The Hollises are a big family who shower her with plenty of love.

Once I finish feeding the horses, Noah walks in with Foster, the horse she’s training, and Mallory skips behind them. Noah shoots me a glare, and I hold back a chuckle at the annoyed expression on her face. She grabs a lead rope, hands it to Mallory, and then tells her to bring in the horse so they can saddle her for a ride in the corral. In the meantime, she puts Foster back in his stall.

Mallory isn’t experienced enough to put one on by herself, so she’s required to ask an adult for help. We usually don’t mind, but we’re short two ranch hands this week, and since it’s early June, we’re at the start of our busy season with guests and boarders.

“Where are the others?” Noah asks as she hauls a saddle from the tack room.

“Trey’s in Georgia for a family wedding, and Ruby is on some romantic getaway with her boyfriend to celebrate their six-monthiversary.”

She stops walking and stares at me.

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