Page 90 of Forever After All

“That means you and Brett will need to stay to get things ready here. It’ll be a sixty-hour week for both of you.”

Thea nodded once. “We can do that.”

Jameson poked at the tablet with a stylus. “Jess, you’ll take Liberty. Linc will have Thunder. Paul will have Bolt. I think you’ll need two or three pack mules, but I’ll verify that with Paul.”

Jess gasped a little at Linc’s name on the list. It had been a while since she’d been on a trail ride with Linc, and only Paul had been to the Red Canyon site. It was secluded, and they’d dropped it from the trail ride schedule a few years ago when the last foreman retired. Jameson had been overwhelmed when he took over, and the best thing to do had been to minimize the workload.

“Is Thane coming?” Jess asked, trying to push Linc from her mind.

“I assume he will. Do you think Liberty will have a problem with Thane?”

Paul’s wolf dog was as gentle as they come, but the best horses could get spooked by a dog that big if he got riled up.

“I think it’ll be fine. I’ll ask Paul to bring him around more while I’m training Liberty.”

“Good. Things should be thawed from the last freeze, but we’ll give it a few more days. You think you can be ready to leave Monday morning?”

“Yep.”

Jameson locked the tablet. “Great. I’ll get this on the schedule.”

Thea waved as Jameson left and whispered, “Ava must be bad off if Jameson is making the schedule.”

“I don’t want to think about it,” Jess said. Worrying over Ava during the pregnancy always seemed to make her hands sweat and breaths come quicker. They were two of the signs her doctor told her signaled an anxiety attack, but whatever it was, she didn’t like it.

Thea hummed. “Okay then. Let’s talk about you and Linc.”

Jess tugged on Liberty’s lead. “Nope.”

Thea fell into step beside the horse. “I’m serious. You think this is a good idea? I’ve noticed some tension between you two.”

“There’s no tension.”

Lie. Lie. Lie.

“I know you two don’t talk a lot as a rule, but you’ve been antsy, and he’s been broodier than usual.”

“I’m not antsy, and he’s not broody. I don’t even know what that means.”

Thea observed Liberty as they kept walking. “If you say so. I’m here if you need to talk.”

Jess scrunched her nose. “I don’t like talking.”

“Ha! That’s not news, but sometimes it helps.”

Pushing Linc out of her mind was more difficult than usual. She wanted to focus on Liberty, but Linc kept taking over her thoughts.

“It’s not like this is the first trail ride I’ve been on with Linc. We’ve been doing this for years, and we work well together.”

“No one is questioning that,” Thea said. “I know it’s hard for you to name your feelings, and I’m sure sorting through whatever this is with Linc is extra tough.”

“There’s nothing going on with Linc,” Jess whispered, painfully aware that there truly wasn’t anything going on.

Thea sighed. “I know you’ve done this before, and I know you’ve done it with him. But the two of you will be in close quarters for an extended period of time. You think you can do that without sharing the truth about your feelings?”

“Yes. I do it all the time, and I can’t speak for his emotional state, but I’ve got mine covered.”

“Both of you are emotionally constipated,” Thea said.

---