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“Dakota’s a good mare That Appaloosa Freckles spooks easy Watch out for her”

Derek was already carrying a saddle from the tack room “You almost ready?”

I grinned back “I never took you for a cowboy”

“I’ve been around a few horses”

Minutes later, alked the tall, dark-brown lad I’d worn jeans Looked like ere fast-tracking this recovery operation

“Cabin’s due west” I threw entle flick We’d be there in ten allop

Stuart

Sitting out by the sradually turn fro for naled the start of the worst The days were hard, but the nights were unbearable

I’d been here a week, and I couldn’t tell if anything had changed Two years of escaping the pain and the night sky, but this here I’d see if I could cli It was the only place outside the desert I loved

The fire popped, and I stared at the orange flaes of the wood the way the first of the night’s tres They’d moved from my hands to my lower extremities, and I wanted to believe it one At the sas and withdrawals I wasonto false hop

e

I’d drunk the last of the whiskey Tonight it would just be the caer, and getting through this night I’d have been lying if I’d said I wasn’t nervous Darkness growing, the sound of hoof beats was not what I expected to hear

Looking up, I saw Cheyenne and Dakota headed across the flat landscape inthe I was AWOL and uess Da mouths

The horses slowed as they got closer One dropped back, but the other kept co up at the side of the cabin He swung a leg off, dropped the reins, and walked straight to where I sat watching hiry Or both

Once he’d reached the fire, he stood for a moment and simply looked atup the situation, trying to decide where to begin I didn’t feel like waiting