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Pulling up to the parking area, she turned off the truck’s engine and climbed out of the driver’s seat, then went around to open the trailer door

“Hey, Cle hindquarters “Are you as tired as I airl?”

Cle quietly

Vivi Ann snapped the lead rope onto Clem’s nylon halter and backed her out of the trailer “Noher horse to the pasture and unhooking the halter After s the quarter horse’s butt, she watched Clerass

Leaving the trailer to be swept out tomorrow, she closed the door and started toward the house, until she noticed that someone had left the barn door open

She went inside, just towas okay, and found a mess The stalls were filthy and several horses were out of water

Vivi Ann cursed beneath her breath and walked up the dirt and grass driveway toward her grandparents’ old cottage For years it had been used as a bunkhouse—for the men they hired to help out around the place She knocked several tiot no answer, so she opened the door

Inside, she found an even bigger disaster than had been in the barn The sh with dirty dishes and pans layered with drying food Empty pizza boxes and beer cans covered the tables, and clothes lay across the sofa and chair

She could hear aarea, she shoved open the bedrooht

Travis lay sprawled across the brass bed, asleep in his clothes He hadn’t even bothered to take off his cowboy boots, so there was dirt srandmother’s chenille bedspread

“Travis,” she snapped “Wake up”

She had to say his name several h bleary, bloodshot eyes

“Hey, Vivi” He ran a hand through his close-cropped hair,it stand up on end His cheeks were chalky pale and dark shadows circled his eyes There was no doubt in herhim at the tail end of a two-day drunk

“The stalls are a mess, Travis, and the horses are out of water Did you even feed them today?”

He struggled to sit up “I’m sorry I jus’Sally has a new boyfriend” He looked as if he were going to start crying and Vivi Ann sat down on the bed beside hiry Travis and Sally had been in love since high school