Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
By the time the dust had cleared, Tulsi was gone.
Pike didn’t see her again until the group of twenty friends and family members were mounted and starting down the trail behind his grandmother’s house. He was near the front of the group, behind Sawyer and Mia; Tulsi was at the very back, trailing behind with Ross’s date, a girl with jet black hair and arm sleeve tattoos who looked like she’d be more comfortable on a skateboard than a horse. Tulsi had always had a soft spot for newbies—going out of her way to make sure they had a great first experience because she wanted everyone to love horses as much as she did—but Pike knew there was more to it this time.
She was avoiding him. It was what he’d expected, but it still made him feel like shit. She was right there, the woman he was still in love with after seven years apart, the woman he’d probably love until the day they put him in the ground, but she might as well be in another time zone. She didn’t want anything to do with him, and that near-kiss Monday afternoon was probably the last time he’d ever touch her.
The knowledge made him ache all over and by the time they reached the end of the trail, where a cool stream ran through a grove of shade trees at the back of Gram’s acreage, his knee felt like it was catching fire. His doctor has said he was clear to ride as long as he wasn’t in pain. The first two and a half miles had been okay, but as he slid to the ground to water his horse by the stream, his bum leg threatened to buckle. He clung to the saddle for a long beat, grimacing as hot licks of pain shot through his connective tissue.
“You okay?” Mia asked, frowning at him over her horse’s back.
“Fine,” Pike forced out through gritted teeth. He wasn’t going to ruin Mia’s shower by making her worry about him. He’d stick a cold can of soda on his knee during lunch and walk the horse back to Gram’s if he wasn’t feeling better come time to head to the farmhouse.
“Here, let me tie him up for you.” Sawyer appeared beside him and took the reins.
The other man was the same height as Pike but built like a brick shithouse, with massive shoulders and bulky muscles Pike had only seen on pro football players. Sawyer didn’t look like the kind of man who was big on empathy, but he always seemed to have his finger on the pulse of how other people were feeling, especially his bride-to-be.
“I can get you an ice pack if you need it,” Sawyer said too softly for Mia to hear. “I packed a few in the cooler just in case.”
“Thanks, man, that would be great,” Pike said, clapping him on the back. “I should have thought of that. I’m not very good at being a gimp.”
Sawyer smiled. “No worries. Between you, me, and Tulsi I figured one of us would need to ice something. I threw my shoulder out a few weeks ago putting up the new framing for the jailhouse, and Tulsi’s hip has been acting up since she got thrown by that last horse she broke for her dad.”
Pike’s eyes shifted to where Tulsi was helping his grandmother spread white tablecloths, from the saddlebags, on the two long picnic tables set up by the stream, gut clenching at the thought of her being thrown. “She’s breaking horses now? That was always her dad’s thing.”
“His arthritis got too bad a few years ago. Now Tulsi’s handling that side of the business.” Sawyer shook his head as he followed Pike’s gaze across the shaded meadow. “It’s hard to believe a person that small can boss around a thousand pounds of horse, isn’t it?”
“She’s tougher than she looks,” Pike said, forcing his eyes away from Tulsi before he gave himself away. “So did y’all finish up the schoolhouse this morning?”
Sawyer sighed and rolled his eyes. “We did, but we’re still a week and a half behind schedule. If we have any bad weather this winter, no way in hell we’re making the June opening. And I’m still waiting on bricks for the jailhouse that might not be delivered until November.”
Pike followed Sawyer to an uprooted tree where several of the other riders had tied their horses. He did his best to pay attention to his future brother-in-law’s talk of historical bricks and specialized mason work, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Tulsi flying off her horse and slamming into the ground. She could have done a lot worse than a bruised hip. She could have broken her damned neck.
The thought plagued him throughout the leisurely lunch of sandwiches, chips, and three different kinds of fruit salad. By the time Gram handed out her scavenger hunt sheets and everyone scattered into the trees to search for the items on the list, Pike knew he had to say something. He couldn’t leave Lonesome Point without speaking his mind about how crazy it was for Tulsi to risk her life for a few hundred bucks a month.