Chapter 4: Five A.M.

At five the next morning the sky was still black and the barn smelled like hay and horse.

Jace led out a big gray mare with a white blaze down her face.

"This is Dolly," he said. "She's older than you and twice as patient."

"I've never been on a horse."

"I figured."

I looked up at the saddle.

It was a very long way up.

"There's a mounting block," he said. "Or I can lift you."

"Lift me."

He didn't bother hiding his grin.

He stepped behind me, put both hands on my waist, and hoisted me into the saddle in one smooth move.

His fingers lingered on my hips, and he gave them a small squeeze.

"Feet in the stirrups."

I fumbled for them.

He ran a hand down my thigh and my calf, taking his time, and guided my boot into the stirrup.

Then he shortened the strap, and his knuckles brushed the inside of my knee.

"Tight enough?"

"Yes."

"Your voice went up."

"It's cold."

"It's sixty degrees."

I glared at him, and he laughed.

We rode out at a walk across the dark pasture with the mountains turning purple ahead of us.

My thighs were already complaining.

Jace rode a tall bay gelding.

His hat was pulled low, and every now and then he looked back at me.

"Tell me about her," I said.

"Who?"

"Lottie. You knew her. I didn't."

He rode in silence for a while.

"My mother left when I was eight," he said. "Walked out one Tuesday. Granddad did his best, but he's a man who can't say a feeling out loud."

"I'm sorry."

"Lottie started showing up with pies. She said she was lonely. She wasn't. She just knew."

The sun came up over the ridge, pink, then gold.

"She gave me a pony that summer," he said. "Said it was too ornery for her. It wasn't. She just wanted me to have something that was mine."

His voice cracked on the last word.

He looked away at the hills.

I nudged Dolly closer and put my hand on his arm.

"Thank you for telling me."

"I don't tell people."

"I can tell."

He caught my hand and held it against his sleeve for a long moment.

Then he cleared his throat.

"Come on. I want to show you the line shack."

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