Chey accepted the little stab of guilt for letting the ball drop more often than not, when it came to maintaining contact. Tory wasn’t just her closest friend from those days, but the only person Chey had stayed tethered to from her former life. She tried like hell to ignore the even bigger stab of guilt as she leaned in close to Buttercup. Tory wasn’t the only one Chey hadn’t kept in regular touch with over the years.
“Living in the Blue Ridge must be quite wonderful,” Tory said wistfully. “I’ve only been out there once, to a show in Asheville, North Carolina. Simply gorgeous.”
Chey laughed and swept her arm wide. “Seriously? You live in Sedona. Possibly one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I would never tire of this view.” The red rock mesas and jutting buttes, their striated lines showing the layers of the earth that had formed them, stretched out as far as the eye could see. All outlined by a cloudless sky of such rich blue, the stunning contrast rushed into her soul with a wave of awe and appreciation for what nature was capable of producing. The view was that profound.
“It certainly puts things in perspective,” Tory agreed, slowly inhaling as she scanned the breathtaking vista beyond the paddock and stables, then letting her breath out in a longer sigh as she shook her head. “But an eye candy view isn’t everything.”
“It’s certainly a good place to start.”
Tory shared Chey’s smile, nodding in agreement, but Chey hadn’t missed that brief moment, that flicker in her friend’s big blue eyes. Though they kept in touch, or Tory did, at any rate, it had been years since they’d laid eyes on one another. Some things were timeless, however, and reading Tory’s every emotion as it played across her pretty face was one of them.
“What’s going on, Victor?” Chey asked, kindly but directly, using the nickname she’d given her friend the first time Tory had stolen Chey’s title. “Trouble in this desert paradise? You said you weren’t able to keep Buttercup here, which was why you contacted me.” Chey gestured to the expansive and beautifully maintained stables they were standing in. “I’m forever grateful you did, but it doesn’t look like there’s an issue here with room. Are they working you too hard? Want too much board for him? I know you’ve had nothing but kind things to say about your employers, but—” She broke off, thinking maybe it wasn’t her place to push. Not that such qualms had ever stopped her before. Or Tory, for that matter.
Tory looked as if she was going to shrug off the question, but at the last second, she caught Chey’s eye, and their gazes held. Tory lifted a shoulder and let it drop in a helpless sort of half shrug. “The Parmenters—the owners, my bosses—are going to sell this place and move to northern California to help out with their grandchildren. They’re selling the house, the stables, the land. All of it.” Her expression turned a bit bleak. “To developers who plan to turn the place into a sea of desert condos. Even if I was able to buy it, which I’m not, I couldn’t compete with that.”
Chey’s expression fell. “Oh no. I’m so sorry. I know how much you’ve loved working for them.” Chey might not have been good at keeping in touch, but Tory had. Chey knew what was going on in her friend’s life, even if she’d generally only given a cursory overview of her own. Tory hadn’t told her this, though. “I can’t imagine they’ll give you anything other than the most glowing reference, and you have so many contacts built up.” Chey smiled. “Your e-mail and letter-writing skills must have held you in good stead where that’s concerned.”
Tory let out a somewhat watery laugh at that, then wiped the back of her hand over her cheek. “They’ve already offered to do whatever they can. They are lovely, with huge hearts, and I don’t fault them for wanting to go be with family.” She looked up and down the wide aisle and the row of roomy stalls that lined both sides. “One winning lottery ticket and I’d shut that developer out in a blink.” She chuckled and let out a shaky sigh, all at the same time.
“You’d hate running this whole place,” Chey said dryly. The stables were just a sliver of the property Tory’s bosses owned.
Tory wiggled her eyebrows. “If the win was big enough, I’d hire a majordomo for that.”
“Ah. Solid business plan then.”
Tory nodded and brushed at her sleeves, as if duly accepting her friend’s trite apology. “Have a little faith.”
They both laughed then, but it didn’t diminish the sadness Chey saw in Tory’s eyes. Or the weariness. Chey knew what that felt like, to have to pick up and move. Again, and then again. No matter how long the interval, or how often you did it, the process never got easier. Chey also knew that when she’d moved to Blue Hollow Falls and helped to launch Lavender Blue, she’d found her forever home. She’d been tired of traveling, tired of picking up and moving. Losing Cody had been a large part of that. Her joy was gone. Chey had long since accepted that her heart was no longer in competing. It had taken a bit longer to admit she was also tired of traveling, but she didn’t know any other way of life. It had been time to find something stable, permanent. Maybe Tory was feeling the same way, and the idea of packing up and moving again was one time too many.
On instinct, Chey reached out and took hold of Tory’s upper arm, gave it a light squeeze and a rub. Chey wasn’t much of a toucher, so that might as well have been a bear hug coming from her, and Tory knew it. “You’re going to land on your feet. Why don’t you come east? Blue Hollow Falls will pull you right in.”
“Lots of ranching in the mountains of Virginia, is there?” she said dryly, though she’d clearly been touched by the gesture.
Chey laughed. “Okay, maybe not. Not like out here, anyway. But there are plenty of horses and riders to go with them. At the moment, I’m the only game in town, at least where lessons and training are concerned anyway. As you duly noted, I’m also part owner of a lavender farm and we’re in full swing this year, so my horse side gig is honestly just that. You could pick up my lessons and go from there. I’ll help. Not that you’d need it, but I can introduce you around, vouch for you.” She grinned.
“That’s truly kind of you—”
“Don’t brush me off, now,” Chey said, a teasing note in her otherwise dead serious offer. “I’m not tossing that out there like a bone to a starving animal. You could get a job in every single state in the union, and many other countries besides. You loved your time in Canada—”
“I don’t want to leave the States,” she said. “That much I know. I may still have the accent, but I’m part American and a citizen here for far longer than I was a resident there. I’ll admit it was a bit of a thrill when I left the circuit and traveled as a trainer, being in demand in countries other than the US. Or it was when I was younger at any rate. Now?” She lifted a shoulder. “Not so much. These shores are home to me and I plan to stay somewhere between them.”
“Even better. But I’m not just offering you a chance to find work.” And as Chey spoke the words, she knew the truth of them. “I’m offering you a chance to find a home.” Not giving her friend even a moment to say anything, Chey went straight on. “How many of these mounts are yours?”