Seventeen-year-old Chloe Matthews is done with guys, done with her ex, and done with the cowboys of the Grand Teton Mountains. She refuses to get hurt again.
All that matters now are the horses. Every horse Chloe helps is another piece of herself pu...
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I smoothed my hand along Piper's neck as we rode out to Spotted Horse, hoping she could feel the love through my fingertips. I couldn't stop thinking about Penny. Would she ever be able to receive love? Piper nickered and bobbed her head beneath my hand, and I wished every horse in the world could be as happy.
When Spotted Horse came into view, my thoughts turned to Jack. I'd been rude to him when he'd asked if he could help the night before, and there was no way he hadn't heard Amber call me a suicidal freak.
So much for my fresh start. I was knee deep in it already and these people barely knew me.
The barn was unusually quiet when I walked in. All Jack's stalls were clean and the barn was empty. Cool. Maybe I wouldn't have to face him. I practically skipped over to grab a rake from the wall.
After cleaning just one stall, my left forearm ached and my hand was twisted in a painful cramp. How was I going to keep this up? I'd just started the second stall when footsteps approached behind me.
I couldn't see over the side of the stall. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I spun around and swung the rake high.
Mr. Hunter stopped mid-stride, eyes wide.
"Oh! Sorry, Mr. Hunter." I lowered the rake. Psycho, anyone?
"Expecting trouble?" He held my gaze.
"No, I . . . you just startled me."
"Why don't we start over? And you tell me the truth this time?" He stayed outside the stall, as if he knew I couldn't handle being boxed in. "I understand you weren't straight with me when I hired you."
I glanced away from his piercing eyes. "I just needed a chance to prove myself." Sissy tattletale Jack.
"Maybe I would've hired you. Maybe I wouldn't have. But you should've been straight with me."
"I know. I'm sorry." I looked up and his gaze was on my wrist. "I'm a hard worker, Mr. Hunter. Maybe I'm slower, but I do my job, no matter how long it takes."
"Everyone has problems, you know," he said. "Some worse than others. But there are ways of dealing with things."
Heat raced up the back of my neck. "Yes, sir." Was he going to give me the number to the suicide hotline? Or fire me so it wouldn't happen on his property?
"I need to know what's going on with my employees," he said. "I expect you to come to me if you're in any kind of trouble, if there's anything you need. Got that?"
"All I need is this job, Mr. Hunter." Was he still referring to me as an employee?
"How much use of that hand do you have?"
I fumbled with my friendship bracelets, keeping the inside of my wrist pointed toward my stomach. "Not much, to be honest." This was where I was going to get fired. "I use my forearm more than anything right now, but my hand's going to get better. I have more feeling now than I did a few weeks ago." That may have been a stretch - I felt more pain than a few weeks ago.
