“She likes horses, I take it,” he said with a laugh and a shake of his head.

I chuckled. “Yeah, she loves them. She grew up in the city and has always dreamed of having a ranch or marrying a rancher.”

Lark’s smile faded for a brief second before it returned again. “Well, with the way that girl cooks, she’s gonna make some rancher one happy and fat guy.”

I laughed and nodded my head.

We got out of the Jeep and headed into the stable. As Lark and I talked about the filly, he kept looking at Azurdee. She was moving from horse to horse—talking to them, scratching them, and hugging them.

He looked back at me and said, “What did you say?”

I threw my head back and laughed. “Distracted?”

He rolled his eyes. “Fuck. I can’t hear you with her going on and on about the horses.” He turned and glared at Azurdee.

She just stopped and looked at Lark.

“Jesus Christ, they are just horses. Do you have to make such a production over them?” Lark snapped at Azurdee.

I watched as she slowly smiled a weak smile.

She said, “I’m sorry. I guess I just get excited when it comes to the horses. I’ll wait in the Jeep for y’all.”

She began walking out, and I just stared at Lark. He closed his eyes and threw his head back as he let out a breath of air.

“Azurdee, wait, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. It’s just that I can’t hear what Scott is saying with you going on and on,” Lark said.

Azurdee walked right past him. “No worries.” She made her way out of the stable.

I narrowed my eyes and looked at my best friend. “You’re a complete fucking asshole, do you know that?” I said.

He looked at me with a surprised expression on his face. “Why? ’Cause I asked her to calm the hell down?”

I shook my head. “She likes you, dickhead. I guess you haven’t been able to figure that out the last few days. She’s a sweet girl, and you just acted like a total douche toward her.”

Lark looked over my shoulder at the filly and then back to where Azurdee had just walked out of the stable. “Well…I don’t like her, and I’m not interested in any kind of a relationship.” He walked over and began running his hand along the filly. “I’ll take her. Can you arrange to have her delivered to my place?”

I just looked at him. “Your dad’s ranch?”

“No, mine,” Lark said.

“When in the hell did you buy a ranch? Where? How much land?” I asked.

Lark smiled. “Dude, I didn’t tell you I bought some land?”

I shook my head. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yeah, about seven months ago. I bought three hundred acres between Johnson City and Marble Falls,” Lark said with a smile. “I’m going to have a small ranch house built on it.”

“No shit. I thought, for sure, you were going to settle in Austin,” I said as I slapped his back.

“Fuck no. I was raised in the country, and I want to die in the country. Besides, I can build a shooting range. I could have Jeff come out and embarrass the shit out of him,” Lark said with a wink.

I couldn’t help but laugh as I shook my head. “Well, congrats, dude. Just make sure I have the address, and I’ll have them bring her out in the next week or two.”

Lark smiled at the filly. Then, he turned, and as he walked out, he said, “No rush. I’m leaving the country for about a week or so.”

I followed Lark out of the stable and laughed. “You ever gonna tell me what it is you really do?”

Lark stopped and looked at me with a serious face. “If I did…I’d have to kill you.”

He started to walk back to the Jeep as I just stood there.

“Wait. Are you kidding? Or are you being serious?” I called out.

He just shrugged his shoulders and began looking around. I glanced over and saw that Azurdee was gone.

Where in the hell did she go?

We both looked around for her, and then I saw her walking in a field behind the stable. The grass was at her waist, and she had her phone out, taking pictures. Lark and I walked up to her.

Lark said, “What in the hell are you doing?”

Azurdee was startled. “Taking pictures. What does it look like I’m doing?”

“You’re lucky it’s cool out today. You can’t be walking around in stuff like this. What if a snake bit you?” Lark said.

Azurdee rolled her eyes. “Why would you care?”

She bumped into his shoulder on her way to the Jeep, and we followed. She hopped in, and Lark climbed into the back. That Jeep ride back to my house was one of the longest rides in my life. As soon as I parked, they both jumped out and headed into the house. No one had said a word since we left the stable.

I walked into the kitchen and noticed the dishes had not been cleaned yet. Jessie was nowhere around. I walked into our room, and she wasn’t in there either.

Where in the hell is she?

I headed out onto the front porch and noticed her car was gone. I instantly began panicking. She left again. Where did she go? I quickly grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and hit her number.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Where are you?” I asked, trying to stay calm.

“Um…don’t be angry. Promise you won’t be angry.”

I took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. “Okay. I promise, I won’t get angry.”

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I got a call from Trey. I didn’t know what to do. He was so upset, and he started talking crazy. He hasn’t gone back to Dallas yet, and he kept saying all this stuff about how he had nowhere to go, he couldn’t go home, he was all alone, and he was going to do something to himself.”

I instantly balled up my fists. That motherfucker. “Okay,” I whispered.

“Well, he was just so upset, Scott, and I felt so bad. He told me he’d spent the holidays alone.”

“And that’s your problem, how, Jessie?” I snapped.

“Scott, he’s still a friend,” Jessie said.

“What are you going to do, Jessie? Comfort him?”

I regretted the words the moment they had come out of my mouth and even more when I heard her suck in a breath of air.

“Scott, he started saying all this crazy stuff about how he didn’t want to live anymore and how he missed me. I just thought if I talked to him, he would—”

“He would, what? Feel better? He wants you, Jessie! He wants you to leave me and go with him. He told me himself that he wasn’t going to give up on you. He is doing this to get you to go to him, to leave me again.”