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“You stared into those blue eyes and got Booned, didn’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Booned. It’s what happens when Boone Williams makes you fall in love with one look.”
Ruby let out a sarcastic chuckle. “I did not fall in love in Boone Williams. In fact, his first impression was terrible.”
“And then he gazed into your eyes and you were Booned. It’s okay. You can admit it. He’s the hottest guy over thirty-five I have ever seen.”
“Holly, I was not Booned. He was a total jerk that day I stopped by your office. Then he caught Violet shoplifting, and instead of telling me what happened, he told her to keep quiet about it.” Ruby went on to share her embarrassing conversation with Mary Ellen and her confrontation with Boone. “In the end, he apologized for not telling me and we parted on friendly terms. At no time did he Boone me with his eyes. I swear.”
“I can’t believe he cared enough to look out for our little Violet. That is the sweetest thing I have ever heard.”
“That’s your takeaway from this story?” The woman was hopeless. Ruby had always trusted Holly to be a levelheaded, reasonable person, and here she was acting like a love-struck teenager.
“I think the boys and I would like to come with you to the farm tomorrow. They think the horses are cool. And I want to see for myself that you can resist Boone Williams the way you say you can.”
Hopeless and impossible. Holly was almost as stubborn as Violet, and that was saying something. “Fine. I can’t stop you from showing up at Helping Hooves, but I am not hunting down Boone while I’m there.”
“Don’t worry.” Her best friend smiled. “Leave that to me.”
* * *
THE NEXT DAY, Ruby’s stomach was in knots. Holly brought the boys over for lunch and couldn’t be talked out of following Ruby and Violet to Helping Hooves.
She prayed Boone would be nowhere to be seen and there would be no way for Holly to get to him. She didn’t want him to think she’d ignored what he’d said about interviews. His mistrust of the media was clear.
“Did Dad text you to get the information on the horse show yet?” Violet asked.
Ruby’s worries about Boone quickly shifted to the familiar worries regarding Levi. “I haven’t heard from him, but I’ll call him tonight and remind him to check the email I sent him last week.”
“Make sure you don’t start a fight. He won’t show up if you make him mad.”
That was what Violet always believed when Levi ditched out on her. It was always Ruby’s fault. Violet’s defense mechanism was to believe her mother must have said or done something to set her dad off. She refused to see his selfish and manipulative behavior for what it was.
Not that Ruby could blame her. Who would want to believe their father was such a class A jerk? Ruby had never liked to admit her own dad was one.
“You guys aren’t going to stay the whole time, are you?” Violet asked as they pulled into the parking area.
“Probably not. Holly is hoping to meet Boone, but I’m sure he’s—”
She was going to say not around, except there he was, leaning against the paddock fence. Dressed in dark blue jeans and a red plaid button-down, he fit right in. His black cowboy hat shaded those blue eyes, but that didn’t stop them from taking Ruby’s breath away when he turned his gaze on her.
“Oh, he’s going to love having a real fan. Maybe she’ll let him sign something and his life can be complete,” Violet quipped as she opened the door.
Ruby eased out of the car and hoped she didn’t blush when he tipped his hat at her. She could only imagine what Holly would say.
“Boone and I were just talking about you two,” Jesse said. Ruby hadn’t even noticed he had been standing there.
“Whatever he told you happened at Valu-Save is probably a lie,” Violet said.
“He didn’t tell me anything about Valu-Save, but I hope you will, now that I know there’s something to tell,” Jesse said with a grin only he could get away with when dealing with Violet.
Ruby enjoyed the rush of relief. Thankfully Violet had ratted herself out, and she wouldn’t have to be the bearer of bad news to Jesse this time. When she glanced at Boone, he was smiling back at her like he thought she had been smiling at him. She hadn’t been. She wanted to explain she had only been reacting to her good fortune and look away, but she was caught like a rabbit in a snare.
The slamming of car doors finally jarred her loose. Holly lifted Henry, her youngest, out of his car seat. The two-year-old pointed at the black horse in the paddock with an expression of pure joy on his face.
“Boone was just telling me he’s pretty familiar with some of the horse shows and riding competitions around Nashville,” Jesse said. “His daughter rides, so I thought Violet could show him what she can do on Sassy and get some feedback.”
“That would be nice of you,” Ruby said, her lips still curled up in that stupid smile she really needed to get rid of before Holly noticed. “My friend and her boys are here to watch a little, too. I hope that’s okay, Jesse.”
“As long as it’s okay with Violet.”
“Whatever,” Violet replied with a shrug. “More people means less serious talk.”
Holly sidled up to Ruby. “What beautiful horses! The boys want to know what the black one’s name is.”
“That’s Renegade,” Jesse answered, stepping forward. Boone seemed happy to hide behind him.
Jesse named the other two horses and introduced himself, as well. He did not mention Boone, which meant Ruby would have to. Hopefully Holly wouldn’t do anything embarrassing or lead with a request for an interview. But Ruby didn’t think Boone could Boone her so badly that she’d make a fool of herself.
“Holly is a big country music fan. I hope it’s okay that I brought her by. I promise she won’t throw herself at you or anything, Boone. At least not while she’s holding Henry.”
Boone was hesitant but inched forward. “Well, I’m surprised someone like you is friends with someone who knows who I am. I thought maybe you only hung out with progressive rock types,” he teased.
“I’ll have you know I’m a very open-minded friend. I do not judge based on musical preference. Unless they tell me something crazy, like boy bands are more musically significant than Pink Floyd. Then we can’t be friends.”
The grin on Boone’s face exposed his straight white teeth. “The New Kids got nothing on Roger Waters.”
“I knew you were smarter than you looked,” Ruby replied with a grin of her own.
“Booned,” Holly said in a cough. Ruby felt her cheeks heat up. “Don’t listen to a word this woman has to say about music, Boone. If she gave country music a chance, she’d love it.”
Boone’s attention shifted to Holly. “You sound like a woman who has her head on straight. You’re a big fan of my work?”
“The biggest, but I’m not the only one here in Grass Lake. We have a ton of Boone Williams fans. I’m editor in chief of the Grass Lake Gazette, so I have my finger on the pulse of this town, and I would love to interview you about how you like it here so far.”
Boone’s smile faded. His whole body seemed to tense and his jaw ticked. Holly had done it. With one foolish confession, she had gotten him to put his wall back up.
“Well, that’s mighty interesting,” he said, backing away. “But I’m not doing any press while I’m here. You ladies take care. Jesse, I’m going to have to take a pass on helping out today.”
Ruby chased after him as soon as he took off. She caught him behind the Strattons’ house. “Come on, don’t be like this.”
He stopped and turned around. “Is this all some sort of game to you?”
“No! I swear I didn’t bring her here to start trouble. We cleared the air, remember?”
“I thought so until I realized you brought a reporter here to snoop into my life.”
Ruby blew out a frustrated breath. “She edits the Grass Lake Gazette. It’s a small-town paper, not a gossip magazine. The most scintillating thing they’ve ever written about was when Grace Reilly’s roses beat Joyce Newberry’s in the Grass Lake Garden Contest. Relax.”
“Don’t tell me to relax. Until you’ve had your face on every magazine known to man with headlines that are bald-faced lies, I have no reason to trust your advice on which reporters are safe to talk to or not.”
“I don’t know any reporters other than Holly, but I know Holly like I know my family. She’s a good person with honest intentions. There is not one malicious bone in her body.”
“I’m not doing an interview. I thought I’d made that clear.”
“Well, don’t punish Violet because you’re mad at me. Please.” It wasn’t like Ruby to beg, but she felt like it was the only thing that might change his mind.
“I’d have to care about you to be mad at you,” he said. His words sent a chill through Ruby that she hadn’t felt in a long time. They stared wordlessly at one another for a full thirty seconds before he continued his retreat to wherever he planned to hide from the world he was so sure was out to get him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
BOONE HAD HIS mind made up about Ruby Wynn. The woman was nothing but trouble. She pushed his buttons and flashed him those smiles. He never knew which way was up with her, and he didn’t have the energy to figure it out.
“Boone, I need your help,” Jesse said as he knocked on the door of the Airstream. “I promise the coast is clear.”
Boone was still on the fence about Jesse. He seemed like a nice guy, but he wanted inside Boone’s head for sure. The man could have all the good intentions in the world; it didn’t mean he would be good at actually helping Boone through this struggle.
Boone pushed the door open. “I’m a little busy. You sure you need my help?”
“Busy hiding in the trailer? Come on. We need to get a stall ready for a new horse. Faith went to pick it up, and I told her we’d be ready when she got back.”
“Don’t you have volunteers for this kind of stuff?”
“You are a volunteer. Wasn’t that the point of you coming here? Do some work, clear your head? Nothing clears a head like physical labor. Here...” Jesse tossed him a pair of work gloves. “You’ll need these.”
Boone stepped back inside and grabbed his hat. Jesse didn’t appear to be a man who took no for an answer. As they walked to the barn, Boone noticed Ruby’s car was gone, along with her friend’s. They probably left right away when they didn’t get what they came for. Everyone wanted a piece of him. He didn’t know why he’d thought Ruby was any different.
“Let’s sweep this stall out before we lay down some fresh straw,” Jesse said, handing Boone a broom.
Jesse did all the talking as they got to work. He shared information about the new horse and how excited he was to train it with Faith’s help. Jesse clearly had a passion for the animals.
“How exactly did you become a social-worker-slash-riding-instructor-slash-horse-trainer? I didn’t know there were colleges giving away degrees in that.”
Jesse stopped working and rested both hands on the top of the broom handle. “Well, I grew up with horses. We had a ranch about forty miles from here. I loved it. I think horses are the most amazing animals on the planet.”
Boone kept sweeping as his curiosity got the best of him. “So why get a degree in social work?”
“That story’s a little bit more complicated. Did you notice I said we had a horse ranch? My dad was a good man, but he had a gambling addiction. It cost him and my mother everything they had spent their lives working for. The bank foreclosed on the ranch on my sixteenth birthday. All the money I thought my parents had put away for me to go to college was gone. We had to move in with my grandparents. My parents split about a year later.”
Boone froze. He wasn’t expecting Jesse to share something so personal.
“Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by the power of addiction,” Jesse explained. “How could a decent man who loved his family let his life fall apart? How did betting on a horse race or a football game become more important than putting food on the table? My father would tell you it wasn’t more important, but he couldn’t stop himself. Losing was painful, but when he won, he claimed there was no feeling like it. He had to chase it. That’s how I fell into social work.”
The weight of his own shame made Boone weak in the knees. He leaned against the wall for support. Somewhere along the line in his life, alcohol had become more important than everything else—his marriage, his career, his daughter. It wasn’t more important, but Boone couldn’t stop. His body literally craved it, even after all these months of sobriety.
Jesse pushed his broom around. “Thanks to scholarships, loans and working any job I could get, I managed to pay my way through college and graduate school. I learned everything I could about addiction and treatment. I believe that people can overcome their addictions with the right tools and a lot of determination. I tried to convince my dad to get help, but he was too stubborn and proud. Three months before I graduated with my master’s degree, he died, carrying more debt than I had at the time.”
“That’s quite a story,” Boone said.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, my mom used to say.”
“It’s like this place was made for you.”
“That’s exactly how I feel.” Jesse smiled, and the wrinkles around his eyes appeared. “I like to imagine my dad had something to do with it. I think he’d be happy to see me doing something I love while helping people like him at the same time.”
“You think you can help someone like me?” Boone asked, unsure if he really wanted to hear the answer.
“I can help anyone who wants it badly enough and is willing to work hard. There’s no miracle cure for addiction. It’s not easy, and you have to be willing to fight it the rest of your life. Some people have the strength to do that and some don’t.”
This wasn’t a new message. No one ever gave Boone any guarantees. All the doctors and counselors liked to remind him that he was in control of his treatment. Jesse was the first one to make him almost believe it.
“I might be a lost cause.”
Jesse pressed his lips together while he seemed to consider that self-assessment. “If that’s what you truly believe, then what are you doing here mucking stalls with me?”
It was an excellent question. Boone didn’t want to die with a million regrets. He wanted his daughter to answer the phone when he called. He wanted to shake the feeling that everyone was waiting for him to fail. “I don’t want to be one.”
Jesse put a hand on Boone’s shoulder. “Then you don’t have to be.”
* * *
THE TWO MEN had the stall ready to go when Faith returned home with the newest member of the Helping Hooves family. The blue roan filly was a beauty. Her head was dark like her mane and tail, but her body was a bluish gray.
“Isn’t she gorgeous?” Faith asked once she’d backed her out of the trailer. She tried to lead her toward the barn. The horse had other ideas. She wasn’t going anywhere.
Jesse snickered at her struggle. “She’s got a little stubborn streak, huh?”
Faith had the patience of a saint. She stayed calm and encouraged the horse to come along. “We’ve got our work cut out for us, but she’s going to be something special. I know it.”
“What’s her name?” Boone asked.
“They called her Willow.”
Boone stepped closer, and Willow pulled on her lead to back away. “Hey there, sweet Willow,” he said, running a hand down the side of her neck to calm her. “You are a pretty girl, aren’t you?”
“You want to try?” Faith asked, offering him the lead.
Boone took the rope and kept talking to the horse. She seemed to like his attention and took a step forward when he moved toward the barn.
“Well, look at that. I think we have ourselves a horse whisperer,” Jesse said to Faith.
“Or another Boone Williams fan,” Faith joked.
Boone led the horse into the barn. She immediately went to the water and took a drink.
Jesse stood outside the stall. “I may have found the perfect job for you.”
“Dare I ask what?”
“How do you feel about helping us train Willow to do some therapy?”
“I don’t know what that means, but I wouldn’t mind working with this lovely lady.” Boone held some alfalfa hay out for Willow, and she took it without hesitation.
“We need to talk about something first,” Jesse said, making Boone’s stomach turn. He liked the horse-training Jesse better than Jesse the social worker.
Faith took that as her cue to go. “I’m going to clean out the trailer. I’ll check in with you later, Jesse. Good to see you again, Boone.”
Boone could have sworn the stall walls moved inward. His heart beat faster, almost painfully. “What do we need to talk about?”
“I need to know what’s up with you and Ruby Wynn.”
That was not the issue Boone assumed he wanted to discuss. “What does Ruby have to do with me helping you with this horse?”
“Holly threatened your sense of privacy. I get that. What I don’t understand is why that impacted your relationship with Ruby and your willingness to help Violet.”
“Ruby knew I wasn’t interested in being interviewed, and she still brought that reporter here,” Boone answered. His anger reignited. “That woman is a beautiful disaster, and I’m not going to let her bring me down.”
“It was Ruby’s fault you felt anxious, so as punishment you wouldn’t watch Violet ride. Do I have that right?”
The way Jesse said it made Boone sound like a child. “It’s not that simple. I wasn’t punishing anyone. I needed to walk away because I was frustrated.”
“And when you’re frustrated, escaping is the easiest thing to do?”
Boone’s agitation increased. He could feel his muscles tense and his blood race through his veins. “No, the easiest thing to do is scream and yell, but that’s gotten me in trouble, and I was trying not to make a scene. What does this have to do with Willow?”
“First, this horse is going to frustrate you. Screaming at her isn’t going to help. You already know that. Walking away isn’t going to help me. I need to know that you’re willing to try some other strategies.”
“Sure,” Boone replied gruffly. A stubborn horse wasn’t anything like a stubborn woman. He could manage his frustrations with the horse because it wasn’t going to be personal. He could do this. He wanted to do this. He imagined Emmy answering the phone to hear all about his work with Willow.
“The other issue is, I promised Violet I would let her help with the new horse. You can’t join the team if that’s going to be a problem for you.”
The wind was quickly taken from Boone’s sails. Of course Ruby would ruin this for him...unless he didn’t let her.
“I’ve got no issue with the kid. I don’t have to work with her mother. So what’s the problem?”
“Violet doesn’t need to get caught in the middle of two more people who don’t see eye to eye. She can’t be someone you use to show Ruby you’re frustrated.”
Was that what he had done? Inadvertently, yes. He had needed to get as far away from the reporter as possible. He hadn’t thought about how his refusal to stick around to watch Violet ride would affect her. The only person he wanted to hurt was Ruby.
“The kid won’t be put in the middle. I didn’t mean to do that, and it won’t happen again.”
Jesse clapped his hands. “Then we start tomorrow.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“ARE YOU SURE you want to spend the rest of your summer at Helping Hooves, volunteering?” Ruby wanted to make sure Violet really understood what she was committing to. She couldn’t admit she didn’t want Violet to do it because it meant Ruby would have to drive her there and pick her up several days a week. Each visit was a potential run-in with Boone, a man she’d had the displeasure of knowing for all of a week.
“Oh my gosh, Mom. Jesse is going to show me how to train a therapy horse. Maybe Faith will let me work with her like the high school girls do.”
Not surprising Violet wanted to be like the high schoolers. She was thirteen going on eighteen. There was no way Ruby was going to convince her daughter this was a bad idea. She was much too excited.
“I guess that means yes, you want to do it. What time did he say you needed to be there?”
“Nine. Eat your breakfast faster. I don’t want to be late.” Violet snatched a blueberry muffin off the table and headed back upstairs to finish getting ready.
Ruby should have known Violet was serious about this when she was up and moving before eleven. All Ruby could do now was accept that there would eventually be some sort of awkward face-to-face with Boone.
Letting Holly come along had been the worst idea ever. Boone had proved to be exactly like Levi. Her ex-husband loved to blow everything out of proportion and didn’t care about anyone except for himself.
“Let’s go, Mom!” Violet shouted from the front door.
Ruby stood up and grabbed her purse. The things she did for this child. Although this time, she hoped Boone was there when she arrived, so she could get the awkwardness out of the way.
Her prayers were answered. Boone and Jesse were standing outside the barn when she drove into the farm. They watched the car pull in, and surprisingly Boone didn’t run off.
“Don’t get out of the car, Mom. Come back at eleven and wait in the car for me.”
Apparently Ruby wasn’t the only one worried about what would happen when she had to confront Boone again. “I’m not going to embarrass you, I promise.”
“Yeah, I totally trust you.” Violet’s sarcasm was not Ruby’s favorite. “Please stay in the car.”
Ruby did as Violet asked. There was no reason for her to start trouble with an angry teenager and an angry country star. She didn’t avert her eyes when Boone stared her down, though. She held his gaze until he was the one to look away. It was a small victory, but a victory all the same.
She drove home, determined to push all thoughts of Boone out of her mind. It was impossible that she could be under some strange spell like Holly claimed. Maybe he was a bit intriguing and quite handsome, but he was also stubborn and mean. His negative traits outweighed the positives.
Ruby’s phone rang just as she pulled into her driveway. Levi’s name appeared on the screen. Given a choice, she would have preferred fighting with Boone to fighting with Levi, but she wasn’t lucky enough to choose.
“Hello?”
“Ruby? I thought I was calling Violet’s phone.”
No, he didn’t. He had pulled this trick a time or two, especially when he had bad news to share with Violet but didn’t want to be the one who had to tell her.
“Violet is at the horse farm. Should I have her call you when she’s done?”
“Oh, I thought she’d be sleeping. Does she have an early-morning lesson?”
Ruby took a deep breath to keep her frustration from spilling over. She got out of her car and headed inside. “She’s volunteering there now. They got a new horse, and she’s learning how to train it to do therapy.”
“Wow. Good for her! What kind of horse is it?”
There was no need for all this small talk. “What do you want, Levi? Do you want me to have her call you when she gets done?”
“No, no, no,” Levi insisted. “I was just calling about that email you sent with the info on Violet’s horse show. Next weekend is kind of a busy one for me—”
Ruby lost what was left of her patience and cut him off. “Don’t you dare back out. You know how important this is to her. She has worked really hard, and she wants you to see what she can do. Your opinion matters to her.”
Violet was dying for her father’s approval. Levi was a bull rider. He wasn’t a huge star but made a decent living doing it. Violet thought riding was the way to prove to him that she was worthy of his attention.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t coming. I just need you to know that there’s a possibility I might only be able to drop by for part of it. I have a life, you know?”
He had a life? Ruby was about to hang up but stopped herself. If she turned this into a fight, he would tell Violet he hadn’t come because of what her mother did or said.