Sea Horse Ranch by Natalie Keller Reinert

Author:Natalie Keller Reinert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Natalie Keller Reinert

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE NEXT MORNING bloomed warm and full of sunshine. Too much sunshine, if we’re being honest here. My attempts to pre-medicate my way out of a hangover weren’t entirely successful, but I was grateful for the painkillers I’d managed to swallow before I crashed into my bed.

Crystal greeted me brightly, fed me dry toast, and told me today we’d ride all the horses. “We’ll get them all fixed up for the bachelorettes,” she said cheerfully. “No weather in our way today!”

“Oh,” I said, chewing my toast carefully so that my teeth didn’t accidentally touch and rattle my brain. “How nice.” The idea of getting on a horse and bouncing around in the saddle was not at all pleasant.

But it was fun. Toast and sugary coffee got me down the stairs, and once we were riding, the horses were fairly good. Okay, a few were a little rude and spooky, but for the most part they were a quiet bunch, interested mainly in sticking close together and avoiding stepping on Roger, who had ventured off his rock for the day in favor of sitting in the middle of the road. He must have looked like a scary green monster to the horses, who snorted and blew at him as they skirted along the edges of the road. I practiced putting down my heels and sitting deep in the saddle at Crystal’s command.

Lou stayed in his room most of the day. Every time we ran upstairs for a quick bathroom break or a snack or a cold bottle of water, I looked at his closed door and wondered what was going on inside. Last night had felt charged, like the air between us was glittering with promise. I’d felt weirdly guilty when Crystal arrived home after midnight, her face drawn, her purse stuffed with paperwork. Like we should have been working as hard as she clearly was, to save the ranch, but instead we’d gotten drunk and flirted really hard in her living room.

But when she had finally come home, she hadn’t said anything to us, besides agreeing that yes, she was tired. She went straight to bed and then we crept into our own bedrooms, though not without little surreptitious glances which promised all sorts of future mayhem.

And now today he wasn’t even getting up? I was frustrated; I needed to see him, needed to feel that heat between us again and make sure it wasn’t just something I’d imagined. I wanted to throw open his door and tug down the covers and—

“I guess Lou’s just sleeping all day,” Crystal said. We’d come inside for a lengthy break from the sun and a proper lunch. She had that exasperated mother tone in her voice, the one my mom would have used for me when I slept past noon on a perfectly sunny Saturday, or when I refused to ‘go outside and do something’ in favor of hunkering down in my bedroom with the shades pulled down. Her sigh was definitely right out of the mom playbook.

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