Page 9 of Heartstrings & Horseshoes

“Can you please save it for a time when I’ve had more than five hours of sleep and haven’t just had my entire life upended?”

She rolls her eyes. Bitch. “Whatever. Show me where you want stuff to go.”

We go round and round about my relationship with Connor on a regular basis. I love my sister to death, but I wish she’d let this go.

I’ve always insisted Connor is just my friend and am careful to act accordingly in public. My feelings for Connor are the one secret I’ve ever kept from my sister.

Nothing’s ever going to happen between us. If something were to happen, I’d first have to admit my feelings to myself, and then to Connor, before I’d dream of telling anyone else. Not even my sister. I wouldn’t survive the heartbreak if my secret was exposed, and Connor didn’t feel the same.

Our friendship isn’t something I’m willing to risk, even if it means never having the only thing I’ve ever wanted.

We put away clothes, bopping around to music Izzy plays on her phone. We work in comfortable silence, something I’ve always valued in our relationship. We finish and find there’s not much left to put away. I put out my knickknacks, each one widening my smile. Connor won’t mind, he bought most of them for me anyway.

“How did you like it?” Izzy asks, holding my newest paperback book.

“I loved it! Thanks for the recommendation!”

“I think this is book two, so I’ll order book one and book three comes out soon. So, I’ll pass them along once I finish reading them!” Izzy offers.

“Thanks sissy.”

Izzy continues stacking my books and I’m jolted by panic. Oh my god. Those books were on my nightstand in the trailer. The nightstand that concealed my vibrator. Shit.

Maybe Connor didn’t see it. It wasn’t with the toiletries he brought over, and we’ve emptied the other boxes. There’s no way I’m going back for it. I’ll have to order a new one and be careful to hide the delivery from Connor.

Olivia returns with arms full of reusable grocery bags. We busy ourselves putting everything away. I don’t pay close attention to the items because I’m too overwhelmed to fight my demons right now.

From the last bag, Livy pulls out three pre-packaged salads and sets them out on Connor’s coffee table. He doesn’t have a dinner table; I suppose there’s no reason a transient bachelor would see the need for one. We plop down on the couch and dig into our lunches.

Either to keep it simple, or to manage any possible fights, Olivia bought three identical club salads. I’m hungry enough that each bite of hard-boiled egg, cheese, ham, turkey, and ranch dressing goes down easily.

The familiar itch nags me to calculate the calories in my head. Thankfully, my obsessive thoughts are interrupted.

“Things have been so crazy with the memorial and Deliliah’s re-homing, we haven’t gotten to talk about the ROCK on Izzy’s ring finger!” Olivia exclaims.

Reid proposed to my sister a few days ago. Their love story is unconventional, but I’m so happy my sissy is being loved the way she deserves. After being sexually harassed and mercilessly bullied for years following, my sister swore off men and had never gone on a date before Reid.

I missed her terribly when she was living in Denver, so when I realized how stressed she was about her finances, I did the only thing I could think of. I went to Connor to fix it.

Connor always takes care of things and this was no different. A quick call to his mom and we got Izzy an interview with Swift Property Management here in town. Lucky for us the company is owned by his mom’s best friend.

Reid and his older brother James both work for the family business, so I wasn’t shocked when Izzy told me she’d be working with Reid. Livy and I poked fun at her for working with her childhood crush. She’d been infatuated with the middle Andersen brother since middle school.

Reid was a royal ass for the first several months Izzy was back home. They were together non-stop for work, traveling across the Rockies and spending nights together at the rental properties.

He better count his lucky stars my sister gave him one last chance after he broke her heart one too many times.

Izzy’s extremely forgiving, and ultimately her heart prevailed, and they’re madly in love. Now engaged to be married seven months after “meeting,” I’ve never seen my sister so happy. She deserves her happily ever after.

Izzy blushes at Olivia’s proclamation but holds out her left hand and wiggles her fingers. She shouts at the top of her lungs, kicking her feet, “I’M ENGAGED!”

We spend the rest of the afternoon plying her for every detail of the proposal and what comes next for the happy couple. From what it sounds like, they have a long road of hard work ahead of them to renovate the Andersen family ranch.

Reid renamed it Lucky Spurs Ranch and has grand plans to make it a vacation destination and to expand his horse operation. Their vision is remarkable, and passion radiates from her like rainbows and sunshine.

The vacation cabin build-out is pretty cut and dry, but Reid’s dreams for his horses wander far and wide. On top of offering trail rides and basic experiences for guests, he also wants to rescue and rehabilitate horses.

All the horse-talk around the ranch gave me courage to attend an equine therapy demonstration, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. It’s been in the back of my mind since middle school, but it was never a possibility for me.