Page 3 of It’s Your Love

Noah waved him off. “You were fine.” He tugged a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Your grandma must have been glad you lost your job in Oregon, though. Got you back to Deep Haven.”

“They don’t know. I think they assumed I took the summer off to help out.” Grayson toed a patch of bare ground. “I didn’t want them getting ideas about me coming back here to stay.”

“Do they know about the place you want to buy?”

“Not yet.”

He lingered at the side of the pen, putting off the inevitable, and tried to buoy his confidence. He listened to thekvik-kvikchatter and song of the barn swallows for a moment, and then walked back to the horse trailer he’d left open. He’d known returning to Deep Haven would be hard. Still, the full force of driving in on Highway 61 had rattled him harder than landing flat out from a bull’s buck. The fleeting thought of a U-turn straight back out of town had been crushed by the heavy rumble of his Ram’s diesel engine, the loaded three-horse trailer in tow.

Nope. There’d been no turning his rig around. Especially with the Memorial Day weekend crowd caravanning into Deep Haven right behind him.

He swung the back door on the trailer closed and latched it. Stared at the camp’s faded red barn.

The sight of the hitching posts, corral, and outdoor arena settled over him like the melody of crickets on a summer night. Curious nickers from the new horses were met with a chorus of whinnies from the nearby pastures.

Noah turned from the corral and walked across the gravel. Lines creased his brow. He paced for a few minutes, as if thinking.

Grayson leaned back against the trailer. The breeze through the white pine and spruce didn’t ease the heat that flared from his neck upward. “Your new wrangler, Jesse, broke his leg—but what happened to Walter?” Walter Kreder…the Sam Elliott lookalike who’d let Grayson tag along while he cared for all the camp horses.

“He retired about five years ago. Jesse Schmidt—he’s the one I told you about—broke his leg in a car accident in March. Let me tell you, I’m glad you’re here, because we’re a bit behind on the summer schedule.” Noah placed a hand on Grayson’s shoulder. “The barn apartment is ready for you.” He gave a tap before stepping away. “Get cleaned up, and then you probably should head into town.”

“What about the horses?”

Noah glanced back at the paddock. “We’ll deal with them later.”

“I can stick around to keep an eye on them.” He tipped his face to the deep-blue sky. “It’s a hot day.” He knew with enough time he could work it out with those animals. Even Tally.

A nod from Noah. “They’ve made it this far. I don’t think you staring at them through the fence is going to change much.” He gave him a wry smile. “They’ve got water, shade, and hay. They’ll be fine.”

Grayson let out a laugh. “Right.” He didn’t move.

Noah scratched his beard. “It’s been a long time—we’ve missed seeing you around Deep Haven.”

A tightness coiled around Grayson’s throat. Made it hard to swallow. He nodded and turned away. Everywhere his eyes landed, the past stood with stalwart reminders. The four-stall barn with its gabled roof and hayloft, built of local lumber. The horse paddocks, tall with spring growth.

A few rough-hewn log benches tugged a smile from his lips. Because it wasn’t all bad.

S’mores and songs and the smell of sweat from a hard day of playing in the outdoors.

But he had his reasons for staying away.

Noah stared at him for a moment, his lips pressed together. “Well, you better get into town. You can’t hide out here.”

“Oh, I’m not hiding.” His voice didn’t even convince himself.

“You drove across the country, brought me three drugged-up horses, and hauled them to camp instead of driving straight to see your family, whom you haven’t seen in…years.” Noah leveled Grayson an expression that said every part ofI don’t believe youthat it could.

Grayson shrugged. “It’s too hot a day to leave the horses in the trailer.” He wiped sweat from his brow again, just to make his point. And horses were his work.

“Yeah. Then you unloaded said animals. Felt the need to tack up. Ride.” Noah laughed. “And let’s be honest—we could have sold tickets for that rodeo.”

Grayson held up his hands. “Okay, point taken.”

“I can’t imagine it’s easy, but family matters often aren’t.”

“It’s been so long.” He rolled his shoulders like he could rid himself of the knots that were coiling. It didn’t help.

“Gone so long you didn’t quite know how to come back?”