Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
But maybe it would be exactly what she needed.
My brain whirred with options and various imagined scenarios until Lellie began to stir in my lap.
When she woke up, she happily ate her new favorite—PB&J—while stumbling back and forth to the water’s edge. Every time she reached the edge, she tried to lean over to pat her hand on the cold water, and every time, I had to rescue her before she fell in.
I couldn’t hold back my grin. She really was stubborn…
Like her father.
It wasn’t until we were a quarter of a mile back down the trail that she lost her good mood and dissolved into a tantrum. I tried not to take it personally, as a sign of my failure as a parent, but it was hard not to feel like I could have somehow prevented it if only I’d been more experienced.
When we got back to the vehicle, she fought me at every turn. She didn’t want the car seat. She wanted “ap-puh” and “Dah.” I tried explaining that I was out of apples, and I couldn’t hold her while I drove.
My attempts to explain things rationally weren’t well received.
Lellie cried without pause the entire ride home. My nerves were completely shot by the time I pulled off the highway and onto the ranch road. I selfishly hoped Tully would be up for taking a turn with her, or, at the very least, I hoped his familiar presence might calm her.
But when I pulled up to the parking area, Tully was hopping behind the wheel of one of the ranch trucks, completely oblivious to my arrival. It wasn’t until he pulled past me that I noticed he was hauling a trailer with a horse in it.
My horse.
Trigger.
“Hey!” I shouted, throwing my truck door open and jumping out. “Hey!”
He didn’t hear me but continued driving away, the tires from the truck and trailer throwing up dust in their wake.
My heart was in my throat. What the hell was he doing with my horse, and why hadn’t he bothered to stop and explain?
“What’s happening?” I asked when I noticed Indigo standing near the large open doors to the barn.
He looked shaken. The whites of his eyes were huge. “I-I don’t know, man. Tully said… something about colic, I think? Asked me about where we keep the medicine, but I didn’t know. I’m sorry!”
Colic?
Trigger had seemed just fine last night. He was only nine years old, in his absolute prime. The gelding was my baby. He was more important to me than anything in the world, with the very recent exception of Lellie. The idea of him suffering made me nauseous.
I opened the door and unbuckled Lellie, taking her in my arms to soothe her cries. “Does he know where to go?” I asked Indigo.
Way pulled up on a utility vehicle and thumbed in the direction of the dust plume. “Hey. If the two of you are here, who was that in the truck?”
Indigo looked like he was about to throw up, himself. “Tully. He said one of the horses was sick. I think he’s, like, taking him to the vet? He said he knew where to go.”
I explained what he’d said about Trigger and suspected colic.
Way met my eyes. “Go after him and make sure he gets there. I’ll call Pete to give him a heads-up.”
I hesitated, taking a step toward the truck before remembering I had Lellie in my arms and then doubling back. Shit.
I needed to go, but I also needed to stay.
Indigo reached for Lellie. “I can take care of her.”
I was afraid she would freak if I tried handing her off to anyone else. What kind of parent left their kid when they were upset? “Maybe I should take her with me.”
Indigo opened his mouth to speak but seemed to second-guess himself. Way didn’t show that much restraint. “No. Leave her with us, Dev. She’ll be fine. Go.”
I pressed a long kiss to her dark curls before attempting to hand her to Indigo. “Can Indigo hold you while I go find Tully, sweetheart?”
Thankfully, she didn’t fight me and went right to him, murmuring, “Tuh-wee.”
My heart cracked.
After thanking them and jumping back into the truck, I lit out after him. A million questions tumbled through my head. How did Tully know what to do? What made him react so quickly? How did he even recognize the signs of colic in a horse?
And how hadn’t I noticed them myself?
I thought back over my movements this morning and realized I’d never gone out to the paddock to check Trigger. I’d taken care of all the high-needs horses first and then run up to the ranch house.
Fuck. This was my fault.
I sped up enough on the highway to catch sight of the burgundy trailer ahead. He slowed down before the edge of town and hung a careful left at the large sign for Majestic Animal Hospital. I silently thanked Pete for making sure the signage was large and clear on the highway. Tully must have noticed it when driving between the ranch and town earlier in the week.