I watched Holly’s jaw drop the moment we pulled up to Garrett’s house. I’d only ever been there at night, and I had to admit, the place was pretty impressive in the daylight. His house was more than a simple ranch house. It was stunning. The facade was made of wood and stone, which made it charming. The wood had been stained a deep mahogany, while the stones were light, complimenting the darker wood perfectly. The landscaping was gorgeous, too. The design framed the house, accentuating both the stone and wood and it even had some of the same stone and wood tied in to make planted and flower beds so the whole thing was one flowing line of sight. As we passed the house to head to the barns, I could see his backyard. The huge pool had a slide and grotto tucked into a pile of boulders, which incorporated some of the scrubby plants that were found naturally out in the plains of the panhandle.

Holly’s whispered wow from the back seat wasn’t missed, and I could see Garrett’s small smile of appreciation for his hard work.

I’d always thought there was only one red barn that sat on his property. I’d only seen one light shining in the darkness when we’d pulled up to his house, after all. But as we pulled up, I realized just how wrong I’d been. There were four of them. All laid out side by side with horses heads peering out as we pulled up, curious who had come to see them. As Garrett drew to a stop, two border collies came rushing toward the truck, not bothering to wait for him to open the door. The smaller of the two leaped easily in through the window and dropped herself into his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Can I touch her?” Holly squealed, unclicking her seatbelt and squeezing through the gap between the front and back seat in one smooth movement.

“Sure.” Garrett laughed, rubbing the dog with affection on the sides of her neck. “Cuervo, this is Holly and Kay. Can you say hello?”

The dog’s mouth fell open, her tongue lolling out as she lifted a paw in greeting, which only excited Holly all the more. She fell forward, her laughter flowing easily as she took the dog’s paw in her hand and shook gently. “Very pleased to make your acquaintance, Cuervo.”

A whine came from outside the door, and Garrett rolled his eyes before opening his door and whistling once. “Come on then, old man.”

As though she knew what was coming, Cuervo moved, shifting herself into my lap with no hesitation as she watched the other dog bounce twice before completing the leap into the cab of the truck.

“This,” Garrett said happily, “is Jose.” He looked over to Holly who was hanging over the seat gleefully. “This guy will be your best friend. All he wants is belly rubs and cuddles. Call him to you.”

“Jose,” Holly sang out, sitting back in the seat and patting the space next to her. “Come on, boy.”

As promised, Jose hopped over the seat to the spot she’d been patting, circled twice, and collapsed with his head in her lap, his eyes flicking to Garrett’s as though asking where they were headed. Holly melted, her heart in her eyes as she bent and buried her face in rough of his neck, all the while making cooing noises of affection. I almost felt remiss that I hadn’t ever broken down and got her the dog she’d always wanted, but the time hadn’t been right, and I’d amended that by having Megan bring Kenny with her when she visited. He’d always loved the long mountain trails we’d walked.

My eyes flicked to Garrett, who was watching the two with a huge smile on his face. He seemed almost as content as Jose was as he flipped to his back in an invitation for Holly to rub his belly.

“Match made in Heaven there,” I said, my own hands running through Cuervo’s fur easily. “How long have you had these two?”

“Jose I’ve had for six years. He was actually named after one of the ranch hands who was killed in a car wreck one winter. Cuervo is his daughter, and she’s two. I bred him a couple of times in the past and once, the litter was a big one. Cuervo was just so full of life, and when they gave me the pick of the litter, she came bounding up, scrambled into my lap and bared her teeth at her siblings when they dared come close to me.”

“So you named her Cuervo?”

Garrett spread his hands before leaning forward and rubbing under the dog’s chin. “I may have been going through a tequila phase.”

Giggles came from the back seat as Jose squirmed and licked Holly’s hands.

The dogs followed us as we got out of the truck. Jose trotted faithfully beside Holly, seemingly content that she was walking with her hand on his head, while Cuervo circled and herded us toward the barn where people moved around carrying buckets of feed, hay, and tack from stall to stall. It looked like a well-oiled machine. Garrett cut through the moving bodies with small nods of acknowledgment and his usual sarcastic comments to people as he passed them, but he didn’t linger. Once we were out of the barn, there was three more the same size as the first, but it was one that was half the size that sat on the other side of a fenced-in pen that he headed toward, laughing as Cuervo raced ahead and jumped at the door. She did a side flip and sat restlessly waiting for us to join her.

“This is where I keep my horses,” he explained as Jose trotted off to join Cuervo, and Holly’s arm slipped through mine. “Cuervo has a love affair with my sable mare, Angel. They’re inseparable.”

“What kind of horses are they?” Holly asked excitement emanating from her now.

“Four of them are American Quarter Horses, but I have one Arabian. A rescue group approached me about her. I take in some mistreated horses and rehabilitate them. I normally adopt them out to families who will love them, but I fell in love with her. I call her Sassy Pants because she had major attitude. Holly, you’re going to be riding her today.”

“Really?” Her eyes widened even farther. I was beginning to worry they would fall off her head if this continued.

“Yup. You ever put a saddle on a horse before?” Garrett asked, unlatching the door and pulling it open. The smell of horses, hay, feed, and leather all collided as they hit my senses. It was an almost pleasant smell even in the path of the huge fans that were aimed at each of the stalls. Five heads peered out from the stalls, and I could see there were another five beyond that, standing empty.

“No, sir. I haven’t got that far in my lessons yet. I’ve only had two.”

“Well, if you’re gonna be riding here, that’s the first thing you’ll learn. You have to pull your weight. Tack up, strip, and wash the horse once you’re done. Make sure they have fresh water, and in the winter, you may have to blanket them.”

If that was meant to deter my daughter, it didn’t work. She just seemed more involved and excited about what was to come. She’d never been afraid of hard work, and I’d always known I was lucky in that respect. There were nights I would come home from work, and the house would be spotless. If she was committed, the task would have her full attention, and this was something she wanted more than anything.

Garrett patiently worked with her, the beautiful grey horse, Sassy Pants—she had a nametag on her stall and everything—that he brought out had an amazing stature, her neck curved, and her long, snowy-white mane and tail were wrapped up in intricate braids.

Holly was in love.

She listened, she did as she was told, and her eyes flickered to the animal with wonder as she worked. Sassy Pants stood and waited with almost as much patience as Garrett, only occasionally scraping her foot to show her enthusiasm for getting free of her stable. Holly walked her around as Garrett moved toward the Dapple Grey horse, Riley, that he’d picked out for me to ride. He taught me with just as much enthusiasm, only the heat in the look he gave me made the stables feel claustrophobic. It didn’t take him long to saddle his horse, Angel, and once he was done, he led us outside beyond the barns where the horses in the stalls whinnied in protest at being left out.

We must have been riding for fifteen minutes, joking about the dogs and horses as we moved, when we fell into a companionable silence and hit a property line fence.

“Can’t we go any farther?” Holly asked quietly, her gaze lingering on some perfect riding land just beyond the simple fence.

“Today we can,” he said, an odd laugh falling from him as he looked over at me. “Your granddad owns this meadow. About fifty acres of it.”

“Fifty acres?” I asked, covering my eyes with my hand and looking off in the direction of the rolling fields. “That would take you up to the highway by my dad’s old place.”

Garrett nodded, using his shirtsleeve to wipe some of the sweat from his forehead. “Yeah, it backed up onto that land, that’s why he wanted it so badly. I don’t know what he’s doing with it while he’s in prison.”

“Granddad died,” Holly said, turning her horse to face the two of us. “It’s why we were here over Spring Break. He had cancer, I think.”

“Jeff died?”

“You didn’t know?” I asked, quietly surprised.

“I liked pretending he didn’t exist.”

“That makes two of us,” I said under my breath. Garrett heard me and smiled, but I was glad Holly missed it. It was a perfect time to tell him that I was putting the land back in his name, but I didn’t. It felt as though it wasn’t the right time. We were having a good day, and I didn’t want to bring up any of the ugliness from the past just yet, and I would have preferred it to happen when Holly wouldn’t be witness to it, which led me to an enlightened thought. “I guess that means no one will complain if we go riding there then.”

Garrett’s eyes lit up with pride that I’d figured it out as he turned Angel to face me. Glancing down at the dogs, he smiled and gave them a command, the two of them racing back in the direction we’d come from. I guess not knowing what the parcel of land held meant it was better for them than to head into territory unknown that hadn’t been tended to in over a decade, as far as I knew.

Pulling some tools from his saddlebag, he headed to the fence and clipped through the wires, peeling them back and attaching some neon flags so we could find the spot when we came back. Taking the lead, he headed through the gap first, followed by Holly and Sassy Pants, while I covered the back on Riley.

It felt like we were on unchartered territory. Even the horses were prancing across the open field with caution, unsure of their footing as we got deeper and deeper into the grassy flats. Our silence was companionable now, but the longer it lingered, the more I retreated into my own mind, which was still a myriad of unfinished thoughts.

Almost as though he read my mind, Garrett pulled up beside me, his eyes flickering to Holly and back to me, as though asking permission to start some kind of dialogue between the three of us. I could only nod in agreement and let him take the lead as he sidled his horse up next to Holly’s and spoke to her in a quiet voice. Her grin was bright when she looked at him, only growing when they flicked back to me. She nodded and pulled on her reins to slow the horse, and kept pace on my right while Garrett circled to my left.

“So, we have a little dilemma,” he said, rubbing Angel’s neck with the flat of his palm.

“That we do,” Holly said sweetly, her head tilting to me.

“I guess I third that,” I said cautiously, gathering the reins in my hands and resting them on the horn of the saddle.

“Today I learned I have a beautiful niece,” Garrett said, grinning at Holly and looking back to me. “I also discovered the woman I’m in love with is the mother of said niece.”

Holly giggled, while I stared openly at Garrett.

The rat bastard.

I wasn’t quite ready to give that kind of detail to my fourteen-year-old daughter.

“That makes things a little weird in our dynamic.”

“Oh, you think?” I asked, rolling my eyes and shaking my head as Holly’s giggle gave way to full laughter.

“Momma, relax. Mr. Garrett and I talked about this earlier. It wasn’t hard to figure out how he felt about you, even if he was mad at you.”

“Damn, she’s perceptive,” Garrett said.

“No kidding,” I chimed in.

“Come on. I’m fourteen, not four.” The exasperation in her tone was hard to miss. “Mr. Garrett, you look at my mom the same way Rob looks at Megan. That kinda faraway look like he can’t believe this is his life.”

Garrett and I looked at one another then back at Holly who was staring off into space with a small smile on her lips. I shook my head and gazed to the heavens briefly. I swear, she was the only one who could have said something like that, and it actually make sense. Like me, she was a watcher. She saw more than she was ever meant to see and heard more than she was intended to hear. It didn’t matter that I put so much effort into protecting her from things like that. My perseverance in trying to draw out her childhood was being thwarted by her of all people—because she was so much like me, which was a kick in the ass.

“What exactly did you two talk about?”

“A lot,” Holly clarified. “Daddy, you, the ranch, and the horses. Ways to stay close so we could get to know each other better.”

I turned to look at Garrett, a frown marring my brow. What had he planted in her mind? Ways to stay close? I thought. I aimed a what the fuck look at Garrett. He held up his hands and shook his head in surrender.

“I agreed that I wanted to get to know her. No scheming on my part. I was angry, but I wasn’t going to undermine you with your daughter. I wasn’t willing to risk you getting angry with me and leaving.”

“Okay, so that was my idea.” Holly sighed. “Mom, I don’t want to leave, and you promised we’d have the summer to make up our minds. But I’ve made up my mind. I made up my mind even before you told me about Un… Garrett. He didn’t need to tell me he was in love with you. That’s why I did what I did today. I saw the way he looked at you, and I saw the way you looked at him. I never saw you look at someone like that. Only when you talked about my dad.”

I reached a hand out to Holly, and she took it and squeezed, but she wasn’t finished.

“I am so proud to be Dustin Hill’s daughter. I know how amazing he was. I’ve known every day because you always answer any question I have about him, but you know people get weird about things. People can be cruel, and no one really knows but us, do they? I thought that it would give us all a chance to be happy, without feeling bad or strange about the whole thing, without people being mean.”

“Honey, what are you trying to say?” There were so many different pieces to what she was saying, I felt stupid for not being able to put them together.

When I glanced over at her again, I saw the tears well in her eyes and pulled the horse to a complete stop before clambering off and handing the reins to Garrett. He took them willingly and reached for Sassy Pants’ reins, too, while I helped my daughter from the saddle and pulled her against me. Holly buried her face in my shoulder and cried, leaving me and Garrett bewildered.

“Do you know what she’s saying?” I mouthed to Garrett.

“She didn’t say any of this to me,” he whispered, leaving me to read his lips.

I shrugged, rubbing Holly’s back in soothing circles and waiting out her sobs as she broke her heart. I’d never seen her so inconsolable before, and I worried that she’d been hiding her feelings about everything she’d discovered. It was a lot for me, so I could only imagine how she was feeling.

“Let’s go home, baby. We can talk about all of this there.”

“Mommy, don’t hate me.”

I smoothed her hair in strokes and looked up at Garrett, my heart was pounding so heavy in my chest, and he looked unsure about what to do. She had no idea how impossible that was. Hating her was impossible. I loved her too much and unconditionally. She should have figured that out by now.

“Holly Dee, you know I am incapable of even being mad at you. What could possibly make you think I could hate you?”

“Because.” She sobbed.

“Holly, baby, talk to me.”

“I just thought that it would stop people talking, but it’s a stupid idea. It doesn’t matter.”

She was distressed, I could see that, but I also knew that if I didn’t coax whatever this was out of her, she would dwell on it and it would plague her until she was able to say it. It was a part of who she was, and something I’d figured out for the first time when she was six and had been trying to tell me some brat in first grade was bullying her.

“Holly, say what you need to say, honey. You know you’ll just chew on it for weeks before it comes out anyway. Save yourself the pain and just get it out there.”

“Maybe…” She hiccupped. “Maybe if people thought that Garrett was my dad they wouldn’t think bad things about us. I’m sorry.”

Holly wrapped herself around me, and I froze, to the point I was unsure how my hand made it to my eyes to hide my tears. I felt like the most selfish human being on the planet. I’d thrown her into the frying pan today, and I hadn’t given her a chance to get used to the heat before flipping her around. Gathering her to me, I squeezed her so tight that she grunted in complaint even as her arms tightened around me.

“I love you so much, Holly.”

Strong arms circled the two of us as Garrett joined in the hug. I admonished myself for the fleeting thought about how well he fit with us and focused back on the crying child in my arms. I hadn’t known how desperately she’d wanted a family until this moment, and she felt guilty because of it. This wasn’t about what people thought because the truth was it was no one else’s business. Her suggestion was to fulfill a wish she hadn’t known she’d had.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” I whispered into her hair as our bodies leaned into Garrett’s.

“Why are you sorry?” she asked mid-sob, the word coming out garbled.

“Lots of things,” I said quietly. “But mostly for not giving you time to process all of this.”

“I really don’t need to process anything, Mom,” she said, pulling her head back and looking at me. “I like knowing that I have an uncle, that I have more family to annoy, but it doesn’t change how much I love you. I just want you to be happy, and Garrett makes you happy.”

“You make me happy, baby.”

She giggled and wiped her nose with her sleeve as she studied me. “I know that, but I know you’re lonely, too. You’ve finally let Dad go, and you’ve found someone you love. I’m not going to let you give that up.”

Garrett sighed and dropped a kiss on Holly’s forehead, his eyes meeting mine as he did. “Holly, me and your mom—”

“No,” she wailed. “Don’t say that you can’t be together.”

“I wasn’t,” Garrett said lightly. “I don’t care what people think, sugar. Fourteen years is a long time, and a lot of living goes by in that time. The situation ain’t normal by any means, but no one has the right to judge your mom or me for being together.”

I smiled up at him and took his lead.

“I was so young when I fell in love with your dad, but I will always love him for giving me you. My relationship with Garrett may bother some people initially if they figure our history out, and regretfully that may lead to some bad days at school for you, but we will figure it out.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Garrett answered, meeting my eyes. “Strength in numbers, sugar. If you think I’m giving y’all up now, you’re nuts.”

With a sob, Holly released me and fell into Garrett’s embrace. He looked surprised for a fleeting second but soon fell into the moment, his cheek resting on top of her head as his eyes slid closed with relief. He was already as attached to her as she was to him and my heart swelled with the thought of the future awaiting us. It wasn’t going to be easy, we all knew that, but for the second time in my life, I was figuring out that the best things in life were worth the fight, and I wasn’t going to stop fighting ever again.