Bitter Springs by Laura Stone

Author:Laura Stone [Stone, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781941530566
Publisher: Interlude Press
Published: 2015-11-08T19:41:27+00:00

Chapter Nine

Renaldo woke, blinking at the dawning light while curled into a miserable ball, facing away from his companions. He’d never woken before Hank, but then again, he couldn’t recall Hank ever staying up as late as he must have done last night. Eyes screwed tight and heart clenching, he remembered what he’d witnessed the night before, something he clearly wasn’t meant to see.

Preparing himself for what he might find—Hank and Tsá-cho wrapped up together in an embrace—he turned himself over and let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Hank was on his bedroll near Renaldo’s, face turned toward him. He was alone. Tsá-cho was stretched out on his deerskin several feet away, still sleeping.

It probably didn’t mean what Renaldo hoped. The most likely answer was that the two men had become embarrassed or possibly even worried about Renaldo’s reaction and had separated before turning in. Maybe Hank hoped Renaldo would chalk it up to a dream.

As much as he wished it had been some horrible dream, it wasn’t, and Renaldo couldn’t forget.

Striding off toward a clump of sagebrush to relieve himself, he shook his head, sighing and feeling ridiculous. He told himself that it was for the best that he hadn’t acted on his feelings for Hank, hadn’t given in to his base desires. His father had sent him out here to learn a skill, not fall in love.

Renaldo draped an arm over his face. Love? Oh, how Calandaría would laugh at him, tease him for having such a romantic heart, just like their father and Francisco. Walking back to put his bedroll to rights, he thought about what his feelings truly were. Renaldo admired Hank. Respected him. Enjoyed his company. He was not in love.

He pulled his now-dry clothes from where he’d hung them and dressed quickly, crossing to where Paloma and Abuelita were grazing. He ran his hand down each of their sides in turn. The warm solidness of their bodies was a familiar comfort. Paloma turned from where she’d been nibbling blades of gamma grass to lip at the open button placket on Renaldo’s shirt. He smiled at her, pushing her face away.

“If I let you eat my clothes, you’ll get sick, and then where will you be, hmmm?” he said, scratching under her chin the way she liked. She made a soft noise of appreciation, and then turned back to graze. Abuelita turned her gentle gaze to him, ears twitching forward, one leg pawing in the air before returning to stand perfectly still.

“Did you think I would forget you?” Renaldo said, stroking the backs of his fingers along her face, using both hands to rub behind her ears. She closed her eyes and dropped the heavy, solid weight of her head onto his shoulder, making him laugh as he kept up his ministrations. “How could I ever think I was lonely with mis dulce damas by my side?”

“Are you lonely?” a voice asked.

Renaldo turned his head, his hands buried in Abuelita’s mane, and saw Tsá-cho standing there, yawning and scratching his chest.

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