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That had a sobering effect. Lydia pursed her lips together then asked the question she was terrified to say aloud. “Do you think I should be giving him a second chance?”
Wren laughed, louder this time. “You’re not telling me anything. I’m not going to give you my opinion when I have zero clue what he did.” She nudged her with her shoulder. “That being said, if you’re so broken up about it, then maybe that’s telling enough. Only you can decide if what he did was bad enough to hold a grudge.”
“And that’s just the issue. I don’t want to be angry. It hurts just thinking about our argument. It’s not even about trusting him. This is all about me and what I promised myself the last time I ran into a problem with a guy.”
The understanding look that crossed Wren’s face only made Lydia’s heart hurt that much more. Her sister had helped her through that breakup more than anyone else. “Ugh. Why do relationships have to be so difficult? Why can’t we just say and do the right thing all the time?”
“Because that’d be boring.”
Wren said it so simply that Lydia cut her a sharp look. “You’re telling me that you’d rather have the ups and downs of not knowing how something will turn out rather than having a clear shot to the end of the story?”
“Obviously,” Wren murmured as they reached her truck. “You know what they call a roller coaster without all those ups and downs?”
“What?” Lydia asked.
“A tram ride. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have the thrills even if it ends up hurting me along the way. Because nothing is forever and eventually, you find that person you’re going to go on rides over and over with. Only those ups and downs aren’t going to be filled with arguments or nonsense like that. They’ll be filled with the changes you make to your lives. Your first house. Your first baby. When that baby graduates. Stuff like that.”
Lydia gaped at her sister. “You know, you’re crazy insightful sometimes.”
“I know,” Wren said with a shrug.
“No, it’s actually kind of scary.”
Wren gave her a mischievous smile, then she laughed for good measure.
“Stop it!” Lydia laughed with her.
“If I did that, then you’d go right back to moping. And I think you’ve had enough of that.”
She had no idea.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Misty sidestepped the moment Chet lifted the lead rope.
“Easy, girl. We’ve done this before.”
He moved with her, keeping the rope loose. The mare stopped near the fence and turned her head toward the barn. Chet followed her gaze before he could help himself.
No truck. No dark-haired woman climbing through the rails with a smart remark ready for him.
He rubbed his jaw and faced Misty again. “It’s just us today.”
Lydia had asked for space. He could give her that much without checking the driveway every time the gravel crunched.
Misty flicked an ear toward him.
“Yeah. You caught me.”
He led her away from the fence, stopped, and waited. She stopped beside him. When he asked her to move again, she followed without crowding his shoulder.
There. One task he hadn’t managed to mess up.
He scratched the base of her neck, then glanced toward the folded saddle pad he’d left on the rail. They’d worked on letting him touch her sides. Today, he wanted to see how she handled the pad resting across her back.
He reached for it.
Misty threw up her head. Her hindquarters swung away, and Chet lowered the pad before she could pull the rope tight.
