Wild Horses by Claire McEwen

because she was sick and tired of the heartache.

CHAPTER NINE
    I T WAS ONLY two dozen heifers, but Nora watched the truck pull slowly into the driveway with excitement buzzing inside her. Wade was going to have cattle. Real cattle, bought and paid for. The start of a herd that would hopefully give her brother’s life a focus, and a sense of purpose and meaning.
    â€œFunny how things work out, huh?” Todd looked at her, but Nora tried not to meet his eyes for too long. Even after her reality check last night, they still did funny things to her spine.
    Ugh. She had to stop thinking about stuff like that. He wasn’t for her. He was just a random piece of the past. She had to stay in the present. “It is strange. When I left here, I swore I’d never have cattle again as long as I lived.”
    â€œI guess we can’t know what will happen.” Todd was saddling up one of the mustangs he’d brought over. Abby was a beautiful buckskin mare with a gorgeous full black mane and tail. Nora was drawn to the little horse, wanting to be the one to ride her when they moved the cattle. But she hadn’t ridden in years. She just hoped she stayed on whichever horse Todd offered.
    She watched as Todd pulled the stirrup down and took the mare gently by the reins, leading her away from the side of the barn and swinging up on her back effortlessly. “True,” she answered. “I certainly never thought I’d see you under a cowboy hat, up on a horse, on my family’s ranch.”
    He looked good up there, too. In college he’d been beautiful, but also sort of skinny. A boy. Now he was muscled all over and as at home on a horse as any local she’d ever met. She looked away. He was a hologram of who he’d been then and who he was now, the two versions of him meeting and changing and weaving together in a disconcerting combination.
    â€œI’ve changed.” He looked down at her with a quick wink. “And I’m still changing. Especially now, with you around to give me lectures on how to behave.”
    â€œI’m not giving you lectures.” She shaded her eyes, watching the driver of the cattle truck turn the vehicle around in ponderous maneuvers.
    â€œAnd what do you call what happened at the High Country the other night? With Tess?”
    â€œOkay, fine. One lecture.” She winced as the truck’s wheels spun for a moment in the dry grass lining the dirt road. They’d just have to add that hole to the list of things to fix.
    â€œAnd in the Dusty Saddle?”
    â€œWell, you deserved more than a lecture that night!” Defensiveness prickled and had her turning to face him. He was grinning. “You’re teasing me!”
    â€œYup. But I truly appreciate you putting me in check.” He pointed to his bad leg. “Hard evidence, right here, that I can get carried away when I’m fighting for something I believe in.”
    He had to stop being so nice. “I’d better go talk to the driver,” she said. The truck had stopped and she walked briskly toward the cab. The door swung open and the hauler got out.
    â€œI’ll back it right up to unload,” he said, indicating the chute Wade had just finished repairing a couple days ago.
    Nora nodded and climbed the ladder built onto the side of the chute as the truck approached. She reached over to open the gate that would allow the cattle to exit down the ramp and into the corral. From there she planned to move them to the one pasture where Wade had repaired the fencing. This delivery was a small step toward Wade’s big dreams, but at least they were on their way.
    The latch was on the far side of the gate and she had to reach over to tug on the metal handle. It wouldn’t give. Wade must have done something different to it when he fixed it. She climbed up onto the next rung and leaned farther across the gate.
    The truck was almost up to the chute, backing slowly, beeping