Page 25 of A Reckless Memory

“Tex. Since you’re going to claim her anyway.”

She smirked. “You wouldn’t.”

“Maybe a play of a country song. Boot Scootin’ Booger.”

She laughed. “Gross.”

I missed this easiness between us. I hadn’t found it since her. “Drunk In A Barn. Body Like A Back Yard. Garth Tortie. Fancy Like Milk.”

She waved her hands, laughing. “Stop. Fancy. We’ll call her Fancy.” She poked a finger into my chest. “Not short for Fancy Like Milk.”

“And the six kittens?”

She rolled her eyes and drew her hand back. “I’m not prepared to hear your ideas for those.”

The horses were linked by music. A little like Aggie and her siblings. “You could do books, like your mama did with you and your brothers.”

Her smile fell. “I don’t read much anymore.”

“Why not?”

“I moved a lot, and Tex was a handful. Didn’t accumulate much that he could chew up.”

Like the books he’d destroyed the day we broke up. We had a lack of treasured personal belongings in common, but hers was due to puppy collateral damage. Mine was because I didn’t form attachments. I’d rather avoid the severing.

I didn’t want her to quit talking to me, but our thoughts didn’t need to go down that road. “Where’s your tack?”

“I...have none.” She shrugged and stuffed her hands in her coat pockets. The barn was getting cooler with the sun setting and her breath puffed out. “I didn’t want to fight Daddy for my saddle. He’d say it was his, and I wasn’t using Mama’s money to pay him for something that was mine.”

Fucking Barns. He was like that. If it was on his land and he’d spent one shiny penny on it, he claimed ownership. I could let it roll off when I worked for him, but growing up like that had to suck.

“You haven’t ridden since you left?” I asked.

“No.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Do you?”

I clamped my jaw down. I didn’t have to answer her. She was making a point. One thing about Aggie, she didn’t push. She hadn’t needled me for my secrets. The subject of Archer and my dad, when we’d been planning our guest list, was a perfect example. I fed her a half-truth during our engagement, and she was good with it. The problem was she’d trusted me to tell her more if it was pertinent, and I hadn’t.

“I miss riding when it was easy,” I said. I used to compete with the horses of my old boss’s clients. It had been fun for five minutes before I realized I was as much of a tool to earn other people’s money as the horse. I wanted my own place. A house a lot like the one Aggie built...

Had she built that house based off our old plans?

And what if she had? I’d entertained her, knowing full well I’d planned to move us to Texas and purchase the only property that had ever felt like home.

A chill stole over my shoulders. Surely it was from the cooler weather and not thoughts of the past. I had on a long-sleeved shirt, but fixing fence and working with the vet had kept me warm. “I miss riding when I’m not dealing with...everything else.”

Her brows crunched together like she was going to ask me more. Then she nodded. “Same.”

She left the barn and started for the house. The more distance between us, the more the cold seeped into my clothing.

“I can give you my card to buy supplies tomorrow,” she said. “You have your own tack, I assume?”

“Yes.” I’d been away from home for fifteen years, and the closest I’d gotten to my dream ranch was owning my own tack and training supplies. I stopped in the opening of the barn. Watching her walk away was too much of a treat to resist. “You trust me on the loose with your credit card?”

She faced me while walking backward, her gaze solemn. “My credit card isn’t what I’m worried about with you.” Then she circled around and continued to the house.

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