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00:00The letter arrived on a Tuesday, shattering the fragile routine I'd built in Willow Creek,
00:05where the biggest disruption was a late feed delivery at the vet clinic.
00:09It informed me that my estranged uncle, a man I'd met only once as a child,
00:14had died and left me half-ownership of Blackthorn Ranch,
00:17a sprawling estate in the Texas hill country worth millions.
00:21But there was a catch.
00:22To claim it, I had to relocate there immediately
00:25and co-manage it with his business partner for one year,
00:28or the entire property would revert to auction.
00:32My hands trembled as I read it again, the words blurring through unshed tears.
00:36I'd spent my life in this small town, cocooned by the strict rules of my upbringing.
00:42Church every Sunday. No dating without chaperones.
00:45A vow to myself after watching my mother's heart break from my father's abandonment
00:49that I'd never let a man close enough to wound me.
00:52Men were temporary. Self-reliance was eternal.
00:55This inheritance was a cruel joke.
00:57Thrusting me into a world of wealth and strangers,
01:00when all I wanted was the quiet certainty of my scalpel
01:03and the animals who never betrayed.
01:06I drove to Blackthorn Ranch that same afternoon,
01:10the two-hour journey winding through dusty roads that grew wider and smoother
01:14as the landscape shifted from scrubby fields
01:17to manicured pastures framed by iron gates.
01:20My old pickup rattled like a confession of my unsuitability for this place.
01:24The ranch house loomed ahead, a two-story stone behemoth with wraparound porches and stables
01:29that could house a cavalry.
01:31I parked beside a row of gleaming trucks,
01:34my sneakers crunching on gravel as I approached the front door,
01:37letter clutched in my fist.
01:39The man who answered was not what I'd imagined.
01:43Tall, broad-shouldered, with sun-weathered skin and eyes like polished obsidian,
01:49he wore faded jeans and a button-down rolled to his elbows,
01:52revealing forearms corded from years of hard labor.
01:55His jaw was shadowed with stubble,
01:58and a faint scar bisected his left eyebrow,
02:00giving him the look of someone who'd stared down worse than a will contest.
02:04Eleanor Hayes?
02:05His voice was low, gravel rough,
02:08carrying the weight of authority without effort.
02:11Lena, I corrected, lifting my chin.
02:14And you must be—
02:14Jack Harlan, your uncle's partner?
02:18He didn't offer a handshake,
02:20just stepped aside to let me in,
02:22his gaze flicking over my dusty jeans and ponytail with clinical detachment.
02:26Inside, the house smelled of leather and aged wood,
02:29a vast, great room opening to windows that framed rolling hills dotted with longhorn cattle.
02:36Lawyer's already here.
02:38Let's get this over with.
02:40The meeting was a blur of legalese in a mahogany-paneled office.
02:44The attorney, a wiry man named Pierce,
02:46explained the terms.
02:48Co-ownership meant shared decisions on operations,
02:51finances,
02:52everything.
02:54Jack had run the ranch solo for a decade,
02:56turning it from a failing operation into a premier horse-breeding facility.
03:00My half was non-negotiable unless I fulfilled the year.
03:03Your uncle trusted Mr. Harlan implicitly,
03:06Pierce said,
03:07sliding the contract across the desk.
03:09He wanted you to learn from him.
03:11I signed, my pen scratching like a trapped animal.
03:14What choice did I have?
03:16The clinic in Willow Creek barely paid rent.
03:18This could secure my future.
03:20But as Pierce left,
03:21Jack turned to me,
03:22arms crossed over his chest.
03:24One year.
03:25You pull your weight,
03:26or you leave.
03:27No drama?
03:29I don't do drama,
03:30I shot back, meeting his stare.
03:32I'm a vet.
03:33I'll handle the horses.
03:35His mouth twitched.
03:36Not a smile, but close.
03:38We'll see.
03:39That night,
03:40a storm rolled in,
03:42lightning cracking the sky
03:43as I unpacked in the guest wing upstairs.
03:46The room was too grand.
03:48Four-poster bed,
03:49en-suite bath with a claw-foot tub.
03:51But it felt like a cage.
03:53I was like a cage.
03:54I couldn't sleep,
03:55the thunder reminding me of the night my father left,
03:58promising to return and never did.
04:01Downstairs, lights flickered in the kitchen.
04:04I padded down in socks and an old sweatshirt,
04:07drawn by the need for tea.
04:09Jack was there,
04:10silhouetted against the window,
04:12a glass of whiskey in hand.
04:14Rain lashed the panes.
04:16He didn't startle when I entered,
04:18just nodded toward the kettle steaming on the stove.
04:21Help yourself.
04:22I busied myself with a mug,
04:24the silence thick.
04:26Thunder boomed,
04:27and I flinched,
04:27spilling hot water on my hand.
04:29Hiss of pain escaped before I could stifle it.
04:32He was across the room in two strides,
04:35gripping my wrist under cool running water without asking.
04:38His touch was firm but careful,
04:41thumb pressing just enough to steady me.
04:43Hold still.
04:43Up close,
04:46he smelled of rain and sandalwood,
04:48his breath warm against my temple.
04:51My pulse hammered,
04:52not from pain,
04:53but from the sheer proximity of a man who moved like he owned the space between us.
04:59I'm fine,
05:00I whispered,
05:01pulling away,
05:02but he held on a second longer,
05:04eyes locking on mine.
05:06You're burned.
05:08He released me,
05:09grabbing salve from a cabinet and smearing it over the red welt.
05:12His fingers lingered,
05:14tracing the edge with unexpected gentleness.
05:16Stubborn?
05:17Like your uncle,
05:18I swallowed.
05:19You knew him well?
05:21Ten years.
05:22His voice roughened.
05:23Saved this place when no one else would.
05:25Lost my own family farm to debt first.
05:28Wife walked out after.
05:30Said I was married to the land.
05:32He stepped back.
05:34The vulnerability shuddered as quickly as it appeared.
05:37Point is,
05:38I don't need a partner meddling.
05:39I'm not meddling.
05:41I'm claiming what's mine.
05:43Our worlds clashed here.
05:45My small-town solitude against his empire of solitude.
05:48He controlled everything with quiet command.
05:51I guarded my independence like a fortress.
05:54The next morning,
05:55forced proximity began in earnest.
05:57Jack showed me the stables.
05:59A cathedral of polished wood and brass nameplates.
06:02Dozens of thoroughbreds stamped in their stalls,
06:04worth more than my lifetime earnings.
06:06This is thunder, he said,
06:08leading me to a massive black stallion,
06:11eyes wild and nostrils flaring.
06:13Bought him cheap after a racing accident.
06:15Most would put him down.
06:16I approached slowly,
06:19hand outstretched.
06:20The horse shied,
06:21then sniffed my palm.
06:22He's scared,
06:23I murmured.
06:24Not mean,
06:25Jack watched,
06:26arms folded.
06:27You got away with them.
06:29Over the following days,
06:31the ranch swallowed us.
06:32Meals were shared at a long oak table,
06:35silent at first,
06:36then punctuated by logistics,
06:38fence repairs,
06:39vet checks for foals.
06:41I worked dawn to dusk,
06:42diagnosing lameness,
06:44birthing a colt under starlight
06:45while Jack held the lantern steady,
06:48his presence a silent anchor.
06:50He was all edges,
06:51commands barked at ranch hands.
06:54Deals closed with a glare,
06:56but with the horses he softened,
06:58murmuring apologies for every bridle.
07:01One evening,
07:02as sunset bled orange across the pastures,
07:05we rode the perimeter fence.
07:06My mare stumbled on loose rock,
07:08pitching me sideways.
07:09I hit the ground hard,
07:11breath knocked out,
07:12dust clouding my vision.
07:13Jack was off his horse before I could move,
07:16kneeling beside me,
07:17hands framing my face.
07:19Lena,
07:19look at me.
07:21His voice was a command wrapped in fear,
07:24eyes searching mine for concussion.
07:26Protector instinct raw in the set of his jaw.
07:29I'm okay,
07:30I gasped,
07:32but tears pricked from the shock.
07:34No one had touched me like that,
07:35urgent,
07:36caring,
07:37since childhood.
07:39He helped me up,
07:40arm around my waist longer than necessary,
07:43body heat seeping through my shirt.
07:45You stay on the trails till you learn them.
07:48Not anger,
07:50worry,
07:51banked but fierce.
07:53That night,
07:54alone in my room,
07:56I traced the bruise on my ribs.
07:58His world was pulling me in,
08:00vast and unyielding,
08:01while mine shrank to the space between his glances.
08:04I needed independence,
08:05a way out after the year.
08:07But leaving meant losing the ranch,
08:09and something else stirring,
08:10dangerous and unnamed.
08:12The crisis came a week later.
08:14A buyer arrived,
08:15slick-suited from Dallas,
08:17offering to buy out my share triple its value.
08:19Walk away rich,
08:20Miss Hayes,
08:21he said in the office,
08:22while Jack stood silent by the door.
08:24I hesitated,
08:26freedom dangling.
08:28But Jack's eyes met mine,
08:29dark,
08:30unreadable,
08:31and I saw the scar beneath.
08:33Betrayal from his ex,
08:35who'd sold their farm out from under him while he fought wildfires.
08:38He needed control to heal.
08:41I needed this place to prove I could stand alone.
08:44No,
08:44I said firmly.
08:46I'm staying.
08:47The buyer left.
08:48Jack exhaled,
08:49a rare crack in his armor.
08:50Your call.
08:51But as he walked away,
08:53I realized I'd chosen his world,
08:55for now.
08:56Forced into cohabitation,
08:58our emotional journey had just begun,
09:00opposites colliding in the dust of Blackthorn Ranch.
09:06Living at Blackthorn Ranch with Jack Harlan
09:08was like sharing a house with a storm cloud.
09:11Always present.
09:12Unpredictable.
09:13And charged with something I couldn't name.
09:16The forced proximity of our co-ownership
09:18bound us to daily routines.
09:20Morning briefings in the office,
09:22afternoons in the stables,
09:24evenings over ledgers in the great room.
09:27My small-town vet life,
09:29built on solitude and predictable wounds,
09:31clashed with his world of calculated risks
09:33and sprawling wealth.
09:35Yet every shared space,
09:37kitchen counters,
09:38stable aisles,
09:39the porch at dusk,
09:40became a battleground for glances and hesitations.
09:44Moments where I caught myself watching the way his hands moved over a bridle,
09:47or the way his jaw tightened when a deal went sour.
09:50I kept my distance,
09:53guarding the walls I'd built since my father's abandonment.
09:56Men left.
09:58That was the lesson etched into my childhood,
10:00reinforced by my mother's quiet sobs
10:03and my vow to never let anyone close enough to break me.
10:06Jack,
10:06with his commanding presence and scarred past,
10:09was a threat to that vow.
10:11He didn't push,
10:11didn't flirt,
10:12but his attention was a weight,
10:14steady,
10:15unyielding,
10:16like he saw through my defenses to the fear beneath.
10:19One morning,
10:20while checking a mare's swollen fetlock,
10:23I caught him watching me from the stalled door.
10:25You're good with them,
10:26he said,
10:27voice low,
10:28almost grudging.
10:30Most vets would have given up on her.
10:32She trusts me,
10:33I replied,
10:34not looking up,
10:36my hands steady on the bandage.
10:38Animals don't lie,
10:39he snorted softly,
10:40stepping closer to adjust the mare's halter.
10:43His arm brushed mine,
10:45not intentional,
10:46but enough to make my pulse stutter.
10:48People do,
10:50he said,
10:51and the bitterness in his tone wasn't aimed at me.
10:54I learned his story in fragments,
10:56pieced together from offhand comments and silences.
11:00His wife's departure after their farm's collapse wasn't just a betrayal,
11:04it was a wound that festered.
11:06She'd called him a failure,
11:08sold their land to developers while he was away fighting wildfires,
11:11leaving him with nothing but guilt for not seeing it coming.
11:15He'd rebuilt himself here at Blackthorne,
11:17pouring his grief into control.
11:19Every fence post,
11:20every contract,
11:21every horse a testament to his refusal to lose again.
11:25Intimacy, I realized,
11:26was a risk he couldn't afford,
11:28but he noticed me.
11:29Not in loud ways,
11:31but in the quiet ones that chipped at my guard.
11:34He left a thermos of coffee on the porch railing
11:36when I worked late in the stables,
11:38black with one sugar.
11:39Exactly how I took it.
11:41Once,
11:42after I'd spent hours stitching a colt's leg,
11:44he wordlessly handed me a clean towel to wipe the blood from my hands,
11:49his fingers grazing mine for a heartbeat too long.
11:51Each gesture was a crack in his armor,
11:54a glimpse of softness beneath the wounded hero he wore like a shield.
11:58My own resilience surprised him.
12:01One afternoon,
12:02a delivery truck broke down,
12:04blocking the main gate.
12:06The driver,
12:07flustered,
12:08ignored my directions,
12:08and the ranch hands were out on a cattle drive.
12:12I climbed into the cab,
12:13found the clutch sticking,
12:15and had it running in ten minutes,
12:17skills from years of coaxing my ancient pickup to life.
12:21Jack appeared as I slid out,
12:22grease on my cheek,
12:24and his eyes held something new.
12:26Respect,
12:27maybe admiration.
12:29Didn't know you were a mechanic too,
12:31he said.
12:32I'm not,
12:33I replied,
12:33wiping my hands.
12:35Just don't like being stuck.
12:37His mouth twitched,
12:38almost a smile.
12:40Noted.
12:41The ranch forced us closer,
12:43amplifying our opposites attract friction.
12:45I was methodical,
12:46grounded in science.
12:48He was instinct,
12:49reading horses and markets like a sixth sense.
12:52I kept my heart locked.
12:53He buried his under control.
12:55Yet in the shared rhythm of Blackthorn,
12:57feeding schedules,
12:58late-night foal checks,
13:00our edges began to blur.
13:01I'd catch myself lingering when he spoke about the land,
13:04his voice softening as he described the way the hills caught the sunrise.
13:09He'd pause when I explained a horse's injury,
13:11listening with an intensity that made my skin prickle.
13:15The midpoint came during a late-night storm,
13:18the kind that rattled windows and made the horses restless.
13:22I found Jack in the stable,
13:24soothing thunder,
13:25the black stallion who'd nearly kicked a groom through a wall.
13:28Rain dripped from his hat as he murmured to the horse,
13:31hand steady on its flank.
13:32I joined him, checking thunder's pulse,
13:35our shoulders brushing in the cramped stall.
13:37Lightning illuminated his face.
13:39Scar stark, eyes haunted.
13:42He reminds me of you,
13:44Jack said suddenly,
13:45scared, but too stubborn to show it.
13:48I froze,
13:49the truth of it stinging.
13:51I'm not scared,
13:52I lied,
13:53but my voice cracked,
13:54betraying me.
13:56He turned,
13:57closer now,
13:58the air thick with rain and unspoken words.
14:00Everyone's scared of something,
14:02Lena.
14:04For me,
14:04it's losing this place.
14:06Losing.
14:07He stopped,
14:08jaw-tight,
14:09as if the next word might cost him everything.
14:12I swallowed,
14:13the stable's dim light
14:15narrowing the world to just us.
14:17My father left when I was eight,
14:19I admitted,
14:20the words spilling before I could stop them.
14:23Promised he'd come back.
14:24Never did.
14:25I swore I'd never need anyone like that again.
14:29His gaze softened.
14:31Not pity,
14:32but understanding.
14:33That's why you're here,
14:34fighting for this ranch.
14:36It's all I've got,
14:37I whispered.
14:38If I lose it,
14:39I'm nothing.
14:41You're not nothing.
14:43His voice was fierce,
14:44almost angry.
14:46You're the only one who's ever stood up to me here.
14:49The almost moment came then.
14:51He stepped closer,
14:52hand lifting as if to touch my face.
14:54But he stopped,
14:56fingers curling into a fist,
14:58my breath caught,
14:59wanting that touch and terrified of it.
15:01Thunder snorted,
15:03breaking the spell,
15:04and Jack stepped back,
15:06muttering about checking the other stalls.
15:08But the confession lingered,
15:10binding us.
15:12Over the next weeks,
15:13trust grew in small ways.
15:15Him teaching me to ride the trails,
15:18me showing him how to spot early lameness in a foal.
15:21Yet tension simmered.
15:23When evening,
15:23as we balanced the books,
15:25I suggested selling a parcel of land
15:27to fund new equipment.
15:29His face darkened,
15:30control snapping shut.
15:31You don't get it, do you?
15:33This land is all I have left.
15:35I'm trying to help,
15:37I shot back,
15:37stung.
15:38You can't control everything,
15:40he stood,
15:40chair scraping.
15:42Maybe you should stick to horses,
15:43not decisions.
15:45The words cut deeper than they should have.
15:47I stormed to my room,
15:49the misunderstanding a wedge between us.
15:51Alone,
15:52I realized how much his trust had come to mean,
15:55how much I'd let him in despite my vows.
15:58His rejection felt like proof I'd been right to guard myself,
16:01yet the ache in my chest said otherwise.
16:05Days passed in strained silence.
16:07I worked the stables.
16:09He handled the office.
16:11But one night,
16:12I found a note slipped under my door in his sharp handwriting.
16:16Meet me at the West Pasture midnight.
16:19Need to show you something.
16:21Curiosity warred with pride.
16:23But I went,
16:25pulling on a jacket against the chill.
16:26He stood by the fence,
16:29stars overhead,
16:31pointing to a constellation low on the horizon.
16:34My dad taught me that one,
16:35he said quietly.
16:37Before we lost everything,
16:38I forgot how to look up till you got here.
16:41My throat tightened.
16:42Jack,
16:42I
16:43don't,
16:44he cut in,
16:45voice raw.
16:46Just
16:46stay,
16:47I nodded,
16:48standing closer,
16:48our arms almost touching.
16:50The space between us hummed,
16:52an almost moment that said what words couldn't.
16:54We were falling,
16:56despite ourselves,
16:57into something neither could control.
17:02Living at Blackthorn Ranch with Jack Harlan
17:04was like sharing a house with a storm cloud.
17:07Always present,
17:08unpredictable,
17:09and charged with something I couldn't name.
17:12The forced proximity of our co-ownership
17:14bound us to daily routines.
17:16Morning briefings in the office,
17:18afternoons in the stables,
17:20evenings over ledgers in the great room.
17:22My small-town vet life,
17:24built on solitude and predictable wounds,
17:27clashed with his world of calculated risks
17:29and sprawling wealth.
17:31Yet every shared space,
17:33kitchen counters,
17:34stable aisles,
17:35the porch at dusk,
17:36became a battleground for glances and hesitations.
17:39Moments where I caught myself
17:41watching the way his hands moved over a bridle,
17:43or the way his jaw tightened when a deal went sour.
17:47I kept my distance,
17:49guarding the walls I'd built
17:50since my father's abandonment.
17:52Men left.
17:53That was the lesson etched into my childhood,
17:56reinforced by my mother's quiet sobs
17:58and my vow to never let anyone close enough to break me.
18:01Jack,
18:02with his commanding presence and scarred past,
18:05was a threat to that vow.
18:06He didn't push, didn't flirt,
18:08but his attention was a weight,
18:10steady,
18:11unyielding,
18:12like he saw through my defenses to the fear beneath.
18:14One morning,
18:17while checking a mare's swollen fetlock,
18:19I caught him watching me from the stall door.
18:21You're good with them,
18:22he said,
18:23voice low,
18:24almost grudging.
18:25Most vets would have given up on her.
18:28She trusts me,
18:29I replied,
18:30not looking up,
18:31my hands steady on the bandage.
18:33Animals don't lie,
18:35he snorted softly,
18:36stepping closer to adjust the mare's halter.
18:39His arm brushed mine,
18:41not intentional,
18:42but enough to make my pulse stutter.
18:45People do,
18:46he said,
18:47and the bitterness in his tone wasn't aimed at me.
18:50I learned his story in fragments,
18:52pieced together from offhand comments and silences.
18:56His wife's departure after their farm's collapse
18:58wasn't just a betrayal.
18:59It was a wound that festered.
19:02She'd called him a failure,
19:04sold their land to developers
19:05while he was away fighting wildfires,
19:08leaving him with nothing but guilt
19:09for not seeing it coming.
19:11He'd rebuilt himself here at Blackthorne,
19:14pouring his grief into control.
19:16Every fence post,
19:17every contract,
19:19every horse a testament
19:20to his refusal to lose again.
19:23Intimacy, I realized,
19:24was a risk he couldn't afford,
19:26but he noticed me.
19:27Not in loud ways,
19:28but in the quiet ones
19:29that chipped at my guard.
19:31He left a thermos of coffee
19:32on the porch railing
19:33when I worked late in the stables.
19:35Black with one sugar,
19:37exactly how I took it.
19:38Once,
19:39after I'd spent hours
19:40stitching a colt's leg,
19:42he wordlessly handed me
19:43a clean towel
19:44to wipe the blood from my hands,
19:46his fingers grazing mine
19:47for a heartbeat too long.
19:49Each gesture was a crack in his armor,
19:51a glimpse of softness
19:52beneath the wounded hero
19:53he wore like a shield.
19:56My own resilience surprised him.
19:59One afternoon,
20:00a delivery truck broke down,
20:02blocking the main gate.
20:03The driver flustered,
20:05ignored my directions,
20:06and the ranch hands
20:07were out on a cattle drive.
20:09I climbed into the cab,
20:11found the clutch sticking,
20:12and had it running in ten minutes,
20:14skills from years
20:15of coaxing my ancient pickup to life.
20:18Jack appeared as I slid out,
20:20grease on my cheek,
20:21and his eyes held something new.
20:23Respect, maybe admiration.
20:26Didn't know you were a mechanic too,
20:28he said.
20:29I'm not, I replied,
20:31wiping my hands.
20:32Just don't like being stuck.
20:34His mouth twitched,
20:36almost a smile.
20:38Noted.
20:39The ranch forced us closer,
20:40amplifying our opposites
20:41attract friction.
20:43I was methodical,
20:44grounded in science.
20:46He was instinct,
20:47reading horses and markets
20:48like a sixth sense.
20:50I kept my heart locked.
20:51He buried his under control.
20:53Yet in the shared rhythm
20:54of Blackthorn,
20:55feeding schedules,
20:56late-night foal checks,
20:58our edges began to blur.
21:00I'd catch myself lingering
21:01when he spoke about the land,
21:03his voice softening
21:04as he described the way
21:05the hills caught the sunrise.
21:07He'd pause when I explained
21:08a horse's injury,
21:10listening with an intensity
21:11that made my skin prickle.
21:14The midpoint came
21:15during a late-night storm,
21:17the kind that rattled windows
21:18and made the horses restless.
21:19I found Jack in the stable,
21:22soothing thunder,
21:23the black stallion
21:24who'd nearly kicked a groom
21:26through a wall.
21:27Rain dripped from his hat
21:28as he murmured to the horse,
21:29hand steady on its flank.
21:31I joined him,
21:32checking thunder's pulse,
21:34our shoulders brushing
21:34in the cramped stall.
21:36Lightning illuminated his face,
21:38scar stark,
21:39eyes haunted.
21:40He reminds me of you,
21:42Jack said suddenly,
21:44scared but too stubborn
21:45to show it.
21:46I froze,
21:47the truth of it stinging.
21:49I'm not scared,
21:50I lied,
21:51but my voice cracked,
21:52betraying me.
21:54He turned,
21:55closer now,
21:56the air thick with rain
21:57and unspoken words.
21:59Everyone's scared of something,
22:01Lena.
22:02For me,
22:02it's losing this place.
22:04Losing.
22:05He stopped,
22:07jaw tight,
22:08as if the next word
22:09might cost him everything.
22:12I swallowed,
22:13the stable's dim light
22:14narrowing the world
22:15to just us.
22:17My father left
22:17when I was eight,
22:18I admitted,
22:19the word spilling
22:20before I could stop them.
22:22Promised he'd come back.
22:24Never did.
22:25I swore I'd never need
22:26anyone like that again.
22:28His gaze softened.
22:30Not pity,
22:31but understanding.
22:32That's why you're here,
22:33fighting for this ranch.
22:35It's all I've got,
22:36I whispered.
22:38If I lose it,
22:38I'm nothing.
22:40You're not nothing.
22:41His voice was fierce,
22:42almost angry.
22:43You're the only one
22:44who's ever stood up to me here.
22:46The almost moment came then.
22:49He stepped closer,
22:50hand lifting as if to touch my face,
22:52but he stopped,
22:54fingers curling into a fist.
22:56My breath caught,
22:58wanting that touch
22:58and terrified of it.
23:00Thunder snorted,
23:01breaking the spell,
23:02and Jack stepped back,
23:04muttering about checking
23:04the other stalls.
23:06But the confession lingered,
23:08binding us.
23:10Over the next weeks,
23:11trust grew in small ways.
23:12Him teaching me
23:14to ride the trails,
23:15me showing him
23:16how to spot early lameness
23:17in a foal.
23:19Yet tension simmered.
23:20One evening,
23:21as we balanced the books,
23:23I suggested selling
23:24a parcel of land
23:25to fund new equipment.
23:26His face darkened,
23:27control snapping shut.
23:29You don't get it,
23:30do you?
23:30This land is all
23:31I have left.
23:32I'm trying to help!
23:34I shot back,
23:35stung.
23:36You can't control everything.
23:37He stood,
23:38chair scraping.
23:39Maybe you should stick
23:40to horses,
23:41not decisions.
23:43The words cut deeper
23:44than they should have.
23:46I stormed to my room,
23:47the misunderstanding
23:48a wedge between us.
23:49Alone.
23:50I realized how much
23:51his trust had come to mean.
23:53How much I'd let him in
23:54despite my vows.
23:56His rejection felt like
23:57proof I'd been right
23:58to guard myself.
24:00Yet the ache in my chest
24:01said otherwise.
24:03Days passed
24:03in strained silence.
24:05I work the stables.
24:07He handled the office.
24:08But one night,
24:09I found a note
24:10slipped under my door
24:11in his sharp handwriting.
24:13Meet me at the
24:13West Pasture midnight.
24:15Need to show you something.
24:17Curiosity warred with pride,
24:19but I went,
24:20pulling on a jacket
24:21against the chill.
24:23He stood by the fence,
24:24stars overhead,
24:26pointing to a constellation
24:27low on the horizon.
24:28My dad taught me that one,
24:30he said quietly,
24:31before we lost everything.
24:33I forgot how to look up
24:34till you got here.
24:35My throat tightened.
24:36Jack, I don't!
24:38He cut in,
24:38voice raw.
24:40Just...
24:40Stay.
24:41I nodded,
24:42standing closer,
24:43our arms almost touching.
24:44The space between us hummed.
24:46An almost moment
24:47that said what words couldn't.
24:49We were falling,
24:50despite ourselves,
24:51into something
24:52neither could control.
24:54Jack and I found
24:55our home in each other
24:56at Blackthorn Ranch.
24:58A love built on trust
24:59and vulnerability
25:00that changed us forever.
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