I knew I had the stupidest smile on my face, but I didn’t care. Today was my fucking day, and nothing could ruin it.
Seriously, the sky could fall right now—the titan that held it up could collapse, and I wouldn’t care.
Because who needed the sky when I had Ada Hart?
She hadn’t let me see Baby Blue for the past couple of days because she wanted the almost-finished product to be a surprise. There were a few things she had left to do—a few pieces of furniture, linens, things like that—but both of us wanted the family’s input to see if there were any other parts of Rebel Blue that they wanted represented in there.
I rode Ziggy back to the Big House and put him in the smaller pasture next to the house. Ada might have gone riding with Emmy, but she’d never ridden with me. And ever since I first had that mental image, I was trying to create an opportunity to make it happen.
Today felt like the perfect time. Riding through Rebel Blue with my woman to the place we’d built together? And it was on my property? Yeah, I could get into that.
Plus, I was so proud of Ada. She was so good at what she did—talented as hell—and I couldn’t wait to show her off. Honestly, I was excited for her to go to Arizona and work her magic there too.
Yeah, we had to work out a plan. The guest ranch wouldn’t open until next summer, so I could visit her while she was in Arizona, and she could always come back here whenever she wanted.
I didn’t want it to be that way forever, but it was worth it to make a short-term plan for a long-term relationship.
When I walked in the front door to the Big House, something felt off, but I didn’t know what. “Ada?” I called.
No answer. Huh. I checked both of our rooms. No sign of her.
I thought she’d be here already.
The front door opened, and I heard footsteps. I made my way down the hall to meet whoever it was in the kitchen.
“…you’re seriously putting in a mechanical bull?” That was Gus.
“Yeah, I’ve gotta do some rearranging, but we’ve got that whole second floor.” And Brooks.
“I pity the first person who has to walk on that second floor, though,” Emmy said. “We should probably put them in a harness and bring in one of those giant pads that stunt people use.”
“There are a million boxes up there,” Brooks countered.
“And I bet the floors are substantially less sticky,” I said as I came into the kitchen. “Hey,” I greeted everyone, and Emmy came and gave me a quick hug.
“Hey, stranger,” she said. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in years.” It had been a while since I’d seen Emmy. My work didn’t overlap with hers a lot, but we did talk almost every day—she mostly sent me harassing messages about what was going on between Ada and me.
When Emmy came home last year, it took a second for me to adjust to having her back. For Gus and me, it was like we were both waiting for the other shoe to drop—waiting for her to leave again. I was really happy she hadn’t. The three of us balanced one another out.
“Hey,” Brooks said. “That part you had me order for Ada’s car got here. It’s out in my truck.”
I felt bad that it’d taken me so long to fix Ada’s car, but I’d needed Brooks to help me diagnose the problem because car engines were like his Rubik’s cube, and he loved to fix shit. There’s a reason he was always handymanning on the ranch. Turns out we needed a part, and parts for an early nineties Honda weren’t in ready supply in Meadowlark. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
“Where’s Dad?” Gus asked, looking at his watch. It was ten minutes before the hour, and that qualified as late for Amos Ryder.
And Ada Hart.
“I’m right here,” my dad’s voice came from the back door. “I got an older filly today. I was just getting her settled in the stables.”
“Dad,” Gus groaned. “If you got Riley a horse, I swear to God.”
My dad grinned. “Actually,” he said, “I rescued those three senior horses, and there happened to be an older filly that needed a home too.” Whenever we had extra room in the stables, Dad liked to fill them. Usually he filled them with horses that needed a beautiful place to live out the rest of their days with a lot of love and sunshine.
Gus’s eyes narrowed. “And this has nothing to do with the fact that both you and Emmy”—he shot my sister a look—“have told me in the last week that Riley should have her own horse.”
“None at all,” my dad said, “but I couldn’t leave her there, and if Riley accepts my offer to start helping me take care of her, that’s her choice.”
“Both of you”—Gus motioned to my dad and my sister—“are ridiculous.” When Gus turned away, I saw my dad shoot Emmy a wink. I wondered what those two were up to.
“So,” Emmy said, changing the subject, “are we ready to go?” I looked down at my watch again. It was time.
“Ada’s not here yet,” I said.
“Are you sure she’s not meeting us down there?” Emmy asked.
“I’m sure.” And I was. I’d watched Ada put today in her calendar—time and location included—and she lived by that thing when it came to her job. I pulled out my phone to call her. I walked away from my family, and they continued to talk.
Her phone rang. And rang. And rang. It went to voicemail. I tried again and the same thing happened.
Try one more time before you freak out, I thought.
So I tried one more time. Again it went straight to voicemail. No rings, which meant she’d turned her phone off.
I felt my shoulders drop. Or maybe it was my heart—I couldn’t tell.
She ran.
“Did you get ahold of her?” Emmy asked. All I could do was shake my head. I took a breath before I turned around and faced my family.
As soon as Emmy saw my expression, her face fell. “Wes, I—” I shook my head before she could finish. I didn’t need her to say she felt sorry.
I needed to get out of here.
So that’s what I was going to do. Everyone but Emmy looked confused as I grabbed my hat off its hook and headed for the garage door.
“Are you going after her?” Emmy called.
“No,” I said. “I’m going to wait for her.” When I opened the door to the garage, I saw that my old truck was gone.
The one with the stick shift.
That’s my girl.
