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had grown an aversion to them. But the man of few
     words sure knew how to use them efficiently. Because in only two, the bottom of Jett’s
     stomach dropped out— Katie’s home .
    Jett groaned and dropped his forehead to the steering wheel. Things between Katie
     and Cole were always messy. Hell, anything to do with the Logans was messy. He had
     to hand it to Katie. At least she’d had the smarts to leave. Run away maybe, but the
     Logans were brutal on the ones they loved. He should know. He’d had every opportunity
     to leave, make a life anywhere in the world, and here he had set up house in a small
     cowpoke town just because of one stubborn Logan, and one foolish promise he’d made
     to a girl when he’d still been young and stupid.
    Maybe Katie would leave town again, maybe Cole wouldn’t spiral back into that dark
     place . . . yeah, and maybe Jett would smarten up and realize that there were plenty
     of girls-with-crazy-tattoos and life was too precious for him to waste his time on
     the stubborn ones.
     
     
    As tired as Katie was, she wouldn’t have thought the old habit of waking up at dawn
     would have kicked in. No such luck. At the first sliver of light Katie’s eyes popped
     open, heart beating with anticipation.
    But for what? The stables? Cole? No, that was all in the past. The anxiety that had
     had her tossing and turning most of the night must be worry over her father.
    Rolling over, she grabbed her phone off the nightstand and touched the screen to dial
     the nurses’ station number she’d programmed in earlier. A quick conversation with
     a curt nurse revealed her father had slept peacefully through the night, no changes.
     She disconnected, flopped onto her back, and stared at the yellowing popcorn ceiling.
     When she was younger she’d imagined pictures in the differing shades of off-white—a
     rearing stallion, a woman’s profile. But since coming home, some of the magic of girlhood
     had faded and now the ceiling just looked dirty.
    Katie sighed, and giving sleep up as lost, she stumbled out of bed. She dressed and
     did her teeth and hair, her actions so routine it wasn’t until she was crossing her
     yard toward the stables that she realized where she was heading. But for what? Star,
     her horse, had been sold when she left for college, and Cole had been doing fine without
     her help for years now.
    Not ready for the memories the stable would bring, Katie redirected her steps. She
     ended up at a large fenced-off area where the pastured horses were kept. Katie leaned
     against the peeling fence post and watched the sky lighten to dark blue, navy, and
     then finally fade into degrees of violet. How many times had she walked under this
     wide sky, the stars as her night-light, the breeze through the cypress trees her lullaby?
     New York had been different, colder . . . smaller.
    The brush of boots on the tall winter grass broke the silence. Katie didn’t bother
     turning around. No need really when the spider-tickles floating up her spine made
     her more aware than she wanted to be. She sighed, too tired to be angry anymore, and
     too tired to fight what her body had always known—Cole.
    “I thought I’d find you here. You never could keep away.” The sense of homecoming
     in his voice had her closing her eyes and breathing deep. She was glad her back was
     to him. Cole walked up beside her. “You know, no one has ridden her since you.”
    That got her attention. She turned and threw him a questioning look. In answer, Cole
     nodded his head toward the pasture. She had approached the meadow in the dark, and
     had only given the shadowed horse figures in the distance a cursory glance, but now
     . . . “Sweet Thing?”
    But she already knew. Her horse. The red of Sweet Thing’s coat was diminished by a
     layer of mud, her flaxen mane tangled and wind-swept along her neck. Beside her was
     a foal, darker but with the same blond mane in a short baby tuft.
    “She foaled?” Katie