Seth looked over his shoulder to glimpse Josie occupied in conversation with Dr. Cranford, discussing the upcoming procedure and the current condition of the horses. He nodded to Bridgette and moved out of their earshot.
“Seth, I know you haven’t really been dating Josie.”
“How would you know that?”
Her hand was still on his arm. Seth thought about shaking it loose, but the feel of it was like a memory and he couldn’t say it wasn’t a good one.
“Well, for one, in order for the two of you to be dating as long as she says you were, you would have been cheating on me. You’re a lot of things, Seth Ford, but a cheater isn’t one of them,” she reasoned. “And second, you had no idea who she was when I recommended her as a farrier. That was just last week. Things aren’t adding up.”
Seth inhaled for several long moments before releasing the breath slowly through his mouth. “You’re right. I didn’t cheat on you, nor would I ever do that. And I didn’t know who Josie was until a few days ago. That’s true, too. But one thing led to another and—”
“And now you’re suddenly a couple?”
“A fake couple. It’s complicated. But I would appreciate your discretion concerning all of this. It’s a long story involving my parents, the ranch, and my future.”
There was little chance any of this made sense, but it was all he could disclose at the moment. He just hoped it would appease Bridgette’s curiosity and tide her over temporarily.
She chewed on her bottom lip and then finally nodded. “Okay. I can respect that. But please don’t spin the story to make me out to be the girl who’s been wronged. According to Josie, you two have been together a couple of years and that would completely overlap with our relationship. I’m not sure how you’re going to reconcile that.”
“Already have. Everyone just thinks she’s you.”
Bridgette’s eyes turned huge. “That woman over there cannot be mistaken for me. Not to be rude or anything, but we’re clearly nothing alike.”
“You don’t have to be anything alike. My family doesn’t really have any information about you to compare her to.”
“Wow, Seth.” Bridgette looked offended. “I’m not sure how I should take that. In the entire time we were together, you never shared anything about me with your family? Your friends?”
“Not anything important. But that’s not because you weren’t important, Bridge. I just like to keep my relationships to myself. You know that.”
She fell silent a beat, then conceded, “I do know that, and truth be told, it’s something I greatly appreciated when we were dating. But now…I don’t know. It just feels a little like I’ve been erased. Like we’ve been erased.” She grabbed onto his hand and pulled him so close he could feel the warmth of her breath escape her mouth. “Breaking up with you messed me up, Seth. I thought we had a future, you know? And then to find out we were never on the same page? That hurt.” She gave a squeeze before she released his hand and took a step back. “Just be careful with her, okay? I know what it’s like to have my heart broken by you and I wouldn’t wish that upon any girlfriend. Real or not.”
14
Josie
You should call Mom. She’s been asking about you.
Josie reread the text from her older sister, Maren. Funny how she could hear the critical tone so clearly in those typed words.
Will do, she punched across her phone screen.
The Friar women used to have a relatively good relationship. But then tragedy struck, along with a lightning storm of lies that hit even harder. It was funny how—in one instant—life itself could completely upend. It had been years since her father’s death, but it was still the marker of things. Everything that came before was now washed in the haze of deceit. Everything after…well, it was like starting over.
You up for an adventure?
Josie had to do a double take. This text wasn’t from Maren.
She smiled as she read Seth’s name at the top of her screen.
Depends what your idea of adventure is.
She didn’t like the way her heart picked up speed as she impatiently watched the typing bubbles pulse on the screen.
You okay to ride a horse with that cast?
She snorted. I could ride a horse with no hands if I had to. It’s all in the legs. You should know that, cowboy.
And butt and thighs, but she left out those body parts. Just thinking them in regards to Seth made her face flush with warmth.
The bubbles on the screen were their own kind of unique torture. When the phone finally vibrated with a reply, she jumped so suddenly the cell almost flew right out of her hand.
I don’t have a response to that.
More text bubbles…
Meet me at the barn in ten.
Josie didn’t need all ten minutes. She was there in five.
“Looks like you’re thinking what I’m thinking.” He tugged on the sleeve of his rain jacket that matched Josie’s, all the way down to the olive green, camouflage print. “I can feel the storm coming.”
“Same.”
It was in the whipping of the wind that forced Josie to secure her hair back with a rubber band. It was in the petrichor scent of the air, that musky, earthy aroma that permeated the damp atmosphere before the clouds opened up and the deluge began. It was in the slight ache of her bones that knew something was shifting in the climate around her. It was everywhere.
“You can ride Sally, my mom’s broodmare. She’s a good old gal. I’ve got her all tacked up and ready to go for you.” Seth handed off the reins hooked on the bridle of the bay horse. “There’s a first time calver out in the field that looks to need some assistance. I’m hoping to get to her before the storm gets to us, but we’ll have to hurry.”
Seth stooped with a bended knee and interlocked his fingers to give Josie a boost up and onto the horse’s long back. She settled into the saddle and tried to avert her eyes when he hiked his leg over his own horse in the smoothest, sexiest motion she’d ever seen. She shook her head. Maybe the impending storm was messing with more of her senses than she realized.
Josie had this unanchored feeling in her belly as they galloped out to the cows. It wasn’t excitement. It wasn’t dread. But it was a sensation that made her insides roil, this churning of weightless emotion each time she glimpsed Seth at her side. Tonight he wore his signature cowboy hat and the collar on his red and black plaid jacket peeked out the top of his rain slicker, snug up under his scruffy chin. His rope hung from the saddle horn, his reins were collected loosely in his hands, and his focus drilled into the pasture ahead, scanning the dusky fields for the calver in question.
He was all things cowboy. Rugged. Skilled. And irrefutably gorgeous.
Josie didn’t often get flustered by a handsome man. More often than not, God used up all the good parts on the outside and left little to be desired on the inside, anyway.
She didn’t get that sense with Seth. His character was even more attractive than his impossibly square cut jaw, his dark, deep-set eyes the color of rich, melted chocolate, and his perfect lips that were made for kissing a woman fully and deeply.