The Horseman by Charlotte Nash

Author:Charlotte Nash
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary romance, western romance, country romance, small-town romance, contemporary women, rural romance, medical romance, family drama, romantic drama
Publisher: Flying Nun Publications
Published: 2019-12-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Peta spent the rest of the afternoon going through her pack. Craig had been quiet when he’d driven her back to the pub. He’d only provided the barest details and apologized, saying that he needed a day to cool down. Peta was more than happy to give it to him; she daren’t mention that she’d known about Gemma and Wade, and she bet the atmosphere at the farm would be awkward for a while.

With no space in the pub, she took the pack to the med center, sweating under the load during the short, careful walk. She really was out of shape. With her ankle so good now, she needed to step up retraining. So before full dark, with her sleeping bag, tent, cooking tin, canteens, maps, dried food, wet gear and dry bags spread out in the old plaster room, she went out for a session.

For the first time, she decided not to take a crutch, and to go along the river path, behind the pub and up past the weir. Oh, how liberating not to hear the constant click of the metal with each step. She covered the distance to the path’s end in record time, raising a sweat, even as the sun was already making the surrounding hills into silhouettes. Looking up into the blushing sky, Peta thought of Craig. The last two days weren’t something she’d gone looking for, and she was trying to rationalize what would happen now. Would they write when she was back in Melbourne? Or would it just peter out when she left, a nice memory to take with her and nothing more? The idea sat like a bad meal, but she brushed the queasy feeling aside; it would be another thing she could solve as she finished the trek. At least her confidence to do that was back.

As she turned for home, the weir misted cool drops across her burning cheeks. She trailed a hand around a wet trunk at the bend in the river, her fingers coming away slick with something brown and green and sweet smelling. She rubbed it between her fingers. Everything seemed coated in magic these last two days; a mountain essence that was fresh and cleansing. With no one around, Peta dragged a finger down her nose like war paint, then she touched her fingers lightly to her chest, feeling the necklace against her skin. She could feel the answers waiting, just out ahead of her footsteps. All she had to do was walk for long enough, and she would catch them up.

She almost went straight to the pub; even the prospect of a shower in the body-origami-inducing pub bathroom was no longer daunting. But then she wondered ... had she locked the med center door? She couldn’t remember.

She stopped, chewing her lip. Probably, she had. But if she hadn’t ... the equipment in there was worth good money, not to mention her pack. She remembered the graffiti. She couldn’t risk it.

So she turned the corner into the street, pushing on to see how much her ankle could really take.

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