AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty
Don’t do it.Don’t do it.
It became a chant in Nic’s head as they walked beside the horse and the pony and their riders back to the barn. It would be a simple, easy solution, but the very idea of it made her too edgy to even think about it seriously.
And the fact that her mother had given her that well-known questioning look the moment she’d heard Jackson say “a place of our own” told her she had thought of it too.
They stopped at the platform Dad had built. Mom ground-tied the patient horse, who was very used to this by now, and Nic went up on the platform to help. Her mother had this pretty well down, but it never hurt to be on standby, just in case.
Once she was back in her wheelchair, she headed down the long ramp, letting the chair pick up a little speed about halfway down, when it would be safe. She let out a whoop Nic knew was for Jeremy’s sake, and the boy laughed.
“That’s pretty cool,” he said.
“Nobody wants to end up in a chair, but if you do, you grab your fun where you can,” Mom said. “Did you know there’s a famous barrel racer who got hurt like I did and still races? They even made a movie about her.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Really?”
The boy glanced at his father, who smiled. “We’ll find it and watch it,” he promised.
“Now,” Mrs. Baylor said, “Nicky has something she’d like to show you that might suit your needs.”
“Mom!” She almost yelped it, making Jackson look at her curiously.
Her mother lifted an arched brow at her. “It would be the perfect solution, would it not?”
It probably would. And she’d have to come up with a pretty good reason not to even offer it, and the only one she could give her mother would cost too much in embarrassment. She couldn’t even plead it wasn’t fit to be shown, because she had just been there and tidied up.
“Dare I ask?” Jackson said, rather dryly. And he asked it of her mother, she noticed, no doubt having seen her own reaction.
“Nicky can explain,” she said cheerfully. “Right now, I need to get inside for a video meeting.”
Defeated, Nic watched her mother head for the house.
“She’s busier than most agents I know,” Jackson said.
She glanced at him, and he was smiling as he watched her mother go. Damn, he was hard to resist when he smiled like that, so warm and genuine.
“What’s goin’ on?” Jeremy asked.
“I’m not really sure,” Jackson answered, then looked at Nic directly, with those famous blue eyes. “What is going on?”
She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, calmingly. “I guess I’m showing you something. So unless you feel like walking a half a mile or so, you might as well saddle up Shade. Jeremy, you can just stay aboard Pie.”
“Cool,” the boy exclaimed. Clearly, anything that involved more time in the saddle was good with him.
It took them twice as long to get there as it had taken her the other day, because they went slowly on purpose, so Jeremy and the pony could keep up. Jackson didn’t seem inclined to chat idly, but then, he never did. He rode with the same ease she’d seen before and looked around with interest as they went. Therewere several of Dad’s herd in the biggest pasture, and Jeremy spotted them immediately.
“I thought cows were brown,” he said.
Before she could answer, his father did. “Those are special. Black Angus, they’re called.”
So did he actually recognize them, or had he been talking to Dad?
“Who’s Angus?” Jeremy asked.
Jackson blinked, and Nic couldn’t help chuckling. “Not who, where,” she said. “Angus is a county in Scotland, where the breed originated.”
“Oh,” the boy said with a small nod, apparently satisfied.
