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Jenn saw the look on my face and sighed, smiled, and gave me the biggest mom hug. “Come on, eat. Then you can peel some carrots for me.”

I could do that.

Chapter 5

Bodhi

Wren was ignoring me. At first, it was easy enough to rationalize. He was visiting with everyone—and there were a lot of us to spend time with—and I had a long session booked with fifteen equestrians. It took up all my attention, so of course, Wren had to occupy himself with everyone else.

But as the days dragged on, and I made it a point to stop in at the ranch, it became clear that it was much more than that. The first time Wren turned away from me rather than engaging in conversation had to be an accident. The second time? Coincidence. But by the third time, when he actually stood and left the room, I knew it was on purpose. Yesterday during brunch, he’d managed to keep at least three people and two babies between us at all times.

I had to fix that. A week had gone by and I was running out of time. He had to be planning to get back to his life soon. Or at least his new adventure. Wren was done making his own music. He’d told me that through text late one night, though I’d already heard it through the family grapevine. At least he’d told me.

The two of us needed to talk. Really talk. He was still my person and I needed him to know that. But I wasn’t sure how to get my point across without spilling my guts. More than that, short of kidnapping him, I wasn’t sure how to get him to talk to me. Though I wasn’t above a covert op to get time alone with him, I would save that for when the situation became dire.

In the meantime, I made sure to keep tabs. And I had to trust that if Wren was actually making plans to leave, Mom would let me know. It might be accompanied by her disappointed face, but I’d weathered that look more times than I could count.

Fortunately, I had more than enough paperwork to keep me busy until I could figure it out or my hand was forced. We had a short session this week, which meant I had all of today to get things ready. The cleaning crew had been in, turning over the guest rooms and setting up, and Nick was hard at work prepping everything for the week that could be prepped. The three high school kids I hired would be in this afternoon after classes let out to get the stables ready. Now it was up to me to make sure all the paperwork was in order, all the forms were filled out and fees paid, and tackle the bills.

I went with the easiest task first, which was opening the mail. We didn’t get a lot, considering everything I could make paperless, I did. But still, there was always some notice, some piece of junk mail that needed shredding, or information that was required to be sent by mail. I flipped through the batch, and froze when I saw an envelope with my bank’s logo in the corner. For just a second, my stomach dropped, worried about what might be inside. But my rational brain kicked in a second later, and rationalized that it had to be either some kind of notice or promo or something like that. I ripped open the envelope, shook out the paper’s inside, ready to toss it in the recycle bin as soon as I saw it didn’t apply to me.

I froze. Stared at the paper in my hand, reread it three times, and then set the paper on the desk with shaking hands. The rather substantial loan I’d taken out to pay for the Yellow Ribbon, that I’d been making diligent payments on since that very first month, had a zero balance. Which was impossible. There was no way I’d made enough payments, and last month there’d still been over 300k due.

Unless someone had gone behind my back and paid it off without consulting me.

There were only two people I knew personally who had that kind of disposable income. One of them, my brother Hawk’s boyfriend Carter Cahill, had invested in my vision at the start. I’d been paying him quarterly dividends since we’d started turning a profit, and still had plenty to go. He wouldn’t have gone behind my back, two years later, and suddenly paid off the loan. He was a businessman first and foremost. More than that, he knew he’d be in for a world of hurt if he had.

And that only left one person. It looked like Wren and I were going to have our come-to-Jesus meeting earlier than I planned.

I made two quick calls, then let Nick know I was leaving the property for a bit. I took his grunt as an affirmative. I headed right for the paddock where Ez and Imelda were turned out. My girl came right to me, hanging her head over the rail so I could give her all the love she deserved. Ez stood by her side, knowing his place in the pecking order.

Once Imelda was satisfied, I led Ez to the crossties at the front of the stable and started saddling him. Imelda whinnied and flicked her ears at me, wanting my attention back. She’d just have to deal. I couldn’t ride her, as she was a petite fifteen hands. Ez was a draft cross, much stockier and almost two hands taller. He could handle my height and bulky frame.

They both got treats when I was done, then I mounted up and pointed Ez toward the ranch proper. Once we got through the gate separating the two properties, I nudged him into a lope. He was well conditioned, but I didn’t want to push him into an all out run. We only had a little over a mile to go. I could wait the five or so minutes it would take to get there. I circled around Barn 4 and the hydrotherapy building and rode right to the doors of Barn 3. I was about to dismount but our barn manager, Wyanne, poked her head out, red bun flopping in the breeze, and held up a hand. A couple of minutes later, she exited the barn with Ransom saddled. The dappled gray mare tried to take a bite out of my knee when she got close enough, but that was just her showing affection.

Wy cocked her head as she handed me the reins. “You sure about this? She’s feisty today.”

“He can handle feisty,” I assured her. Maybe he even deserved feisty after what he did. But we’d see what he had to say for himself once I confronted him.

Ransom ambled along docilely at Ez’s side as I headed for the house. Once there, I ignored Juanpablo kicking up a fuss, dismounted, and wrapped both sets of reins around the railing. Ransom pinned her ears back, but lowered her head to munch on grass. Ez nudged me hard enough to knock me off balance and then laughed at me, the jerk.

I headed inside, only pausing to scrape my boots. I wasn’t going to take them off since I had every intention to head right back out again. Mom had done as I asked and kept Wren occupied, but the moment he turned and saw me, his fake smile slipped into place.

“I think I’m going to—”

“Wren,” Mom interrupted, giving him a look.

Wren for his part, smiled for her, though it looked pained. “Mama H, I just—”

“Will you come with me?” I asked, voice low, as I stepped right into his path. Several emotions flitted across his expression, too fast for me to catch. And that hurt too, because there used to be a time when I instinctively knew every one of his micro expressions. Not anymore. I added, in an even softer voice, “Please, Wren.”

It took him a few seconds, and a very quiet breath, before he gave me his public smile and said, “Sure, Bodhi.”

My gut clenched. I missed hearing my name from him like he meant it. Like I meant something.

“Thanks.”

He followed me out, stopping only long enough to put on boots, since the sneakers he was wearing weren’t appropriate. Not that he couldn’t ride in sneakers, but the boots were better. I waited for him to add a flannel jacket to the mix, since it was starting to turn chilly. When we stepped out on the porch, both horses lifted their heads.