College is the fresh start Mackenna Baker is hoping for, but her past follows her from the small town she left behind like a ghost. She does her best to ignore them and no matter how hard she tries, she can never seem to actually let them go. Shovin...
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The next week comes and goes with a lot of work across the property with the incoming snow and cows getting ready to calve soon. I've been getting up to do my part since I'm back home and the extra hand around here is always appreciated, and this morning is no different.
Wesley and I woke up and laid in his bed a little longer than we should have, not wanting to leave the warmth we were wrapped up in, eventually dragging ourselves out to get ready.
"Who do you wanna ride today, Mackey?" Miles asks me when Wesley and I reach the ground level of the barn, hands intertwined between our bodies.
"I want to take Charcoal," I answer, nodding at our dad's ten-year-old paint stallion.
I've been riding Gingersnap as she's my house and since Miles rides Charcoal after letting Wesley have Grizzly. I know he's giving me the choice today because it's New Year's Eve. I want to take my dad's horse out to honor the year changing, the year he passed away coming to an end.
"Alright, I'll take Ginger for you," he smiles..
"Thank you Miles," I smile back at him as he walks past Wesley and I on his way to the tack room.
"You sure you wanna ride him today?" Wesley looks down at me, his darker eyes locking on mine once we're alone as we can be in the barn.
"Mhm," I hum. "It feels right," I continue before pushing myself up onto my tiptoes in my working boots to plant a quick kiss to his lips.
"Okay," he smiles into the kiss. His hold on my hand takes us over to the tack room where we grab the respective tack for our horses.
Within the next few minutes, Wesley and I set up with the tack and grooming the horses outside the stalls they were in overnight.
Brushing out the coarse black and white hair of Charcoal's coat gets me lost in thoughts about my dad. He loved this horse as much as any real cowboy would love their horse, always taking care of it before and after rides unless something came up with Miles or myself.
"You miss him, huh?" I whisper to the stallion when I get back up by his head. I keep my voice low, hoping Wesley won't overhear. I don't want him to worry more than he already does.
Charcoal slightly turns his head in response, my reflection visible in his large, deep brown, almost-black eye.
"I know. I miss him, too." I half-smile, stroking his forelock. "Today is for him, yeah?"
He lets out a little huff before shaking out his uncombed mane.
"Good. Glad we agree." I turn my focus back on getting him ready, knowing we don't have a lot of time since everyone else is finishing up their brush outs to tack up.
Everyone is done and mounted in the next fifteen minutes and we're filing out along one of the many trails we have around the property. Most of them connect at some point, a couple loop the majority of the property.
