Riding was apparently not going to help much today, and he did want to make sure Beth was okay after some of Mom’s more pointed barbs. So he steered Brandy down one of the trails that would lead back toward the barn and rolled his tense shoulders as she headed for home.
As he approached the barn, he noticed a white Mercedes parked in the gravel lot in front of the office, and he swore it hadn’t been there before. In fact, he was pretty sure he’d never seen it. Probably a new client.
He pursed his lips. Beth really needed to take a page from his book and stop overworking herself. Her client list was already a mile long, with people bringing their horses and kids to her from six different counties. She didn’t need another one, for God’s sake.
But she knew her limits, and if it made her happy…
At the barn’s entrance, he brought Brandy to a gentle halt, swung his leg over and dropped onto the concrete. He patted Brandy’s neck again, and as they started into the barn, he hooked his sunglasses in his collar.
The place wasn’t terribly busy yet. A few clients and boarders were grooming their horses or heading into the arena, but it was still early on a weekday. Tonight and on the weekend, there wouldn’t be a vacant set of cross ties in the whole place. When it was like that, Matt just tied his horse in her stall and groomed and saddled her there.
Today, though, he had his choice of cross ties, and took the one closest to her stall. After he’d taken off her bridle—when she finally let go of the bit, since she liked playing with it—he clipped the ties to either side of her halter and started on the saddle.
Behind him, he heard his sister laugh. “I just can’t believe how long it’s been!”
The response stopped his hands in midair.
“I know,” an all too familiar female voice said. “Time really does fly, doesn’t it?”
Matt’s mouth went dry. No way.
“Matt?” his sister said. “You’ve got a visitor.”
He cleared his throat. Then he turned around slowly, and his heart stopped.
Standing beside his sister, blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail and only a handful of years added to her face since the last time he’d seen her, his childhood best friend smiled back at him. It had been, what, a decade since he’d seen her? Since that stupid argument and the slammed door? And in all that time, she’d barely changed at all. A few more lines here and there, but she wore them as well as she wore that half-zipped leather jacket.
He finally managed to choke out, “Dara?”
“Hi, Matt.” She smiled. “It’s been a while.”
Chapter Two
Dara wasn’t surprised that Matt looked good. She just hadn’t been prepared for how good. Sure, he’d long ago morphed from a gangly kid into a guy who could’ve modeled his way through college, but he wore his thirties better than he had any right to. And she’d been in Los Angeles for the past ten years—she’d seen her share of attractive men.
She shook herself. Was she really ogling Matt? Of course she was. She’d never even entertained the idea of being more than friends with him, but right now, checking him out was easier than watching his expression, because she wasn’t entirely sure how this was going to play out. If he’d talk to her, or if he was a breath away from a “get the fuck out of here”. And if he talked to her, she had some news—and a question—that might yet bring out that “get the fuck out of here”.
Beside her, Beth cleared her throat. “I’ll, um, let you two catch up.” Gesturing at the horse, she added, “Do you want me to put her away for you?”
He glanced at the dapple gray as if he’d forgotten the horse was there at all. “Um… I…”
“I’ll try not to keep you too long,” Dara said. “There’s something I need to talk to you about. And I figured it would be best to do it in person.”
His eyes widened a little further. “Oh. Um.” He glanced at his horse. “I should really—”
“I’ve got her. Go.” Beth gestured at other end of the barn. “You’re welcome to use my office.”
Matt hesitated. “Sure. Thanks.” He took a step toward Dara, but paused. To his sister, he said, “I think we need to bring Whiskey and Lady in. They both look like they’re going to foal any minute.”
Beth nodded. “I’ll take care of them too. Go.”
“What about—”
“Go.”
Matt glanced at the horse, then nodded and gestured for Dara to come with him.
As they walked, she checked out their surroundings. The barn was bigger now—the loft was new, and Dara could’ve sworn the aisle hadn’t been quite that long before. There definitely hadn’t been quite so many stalls. For that matter, the aisle had been packed dirt before, and it was smooth concrete now, and lined with gleaming metal-edged white cedar doors. No bars on the doors, of course—neither Matt nor Beth would’ve allowed that.