Skye laughed softly, the sadness gone. “Milky Way? Oh, I love her to death, but I’m never going to use her to rodeo. Not if I want to win.”
“I’ve got a few that might be right for you. One in particular.” Chet motioned with his head toward the barn, and Skye fell into step beside him as he set off in that direction. Grant stayed where he was, feeling like a fifth wheel.
Chet stopped and looked back. “Coming?”
“Sure.” Grant hurried to catch up with them.
To Skye, Chet said, “Grant’s got a great eye for horses.”
The praise felt good coming from the man Grant respected so much. It felt even better that Chet had said it to Skye Foster. Grant felt a need to impress her. And it wasn’t because he liked her looks—which he most definitely did. It was something more than that.
Skye felt her heart skip a beat or two when she saw the blue roan at the far side of the paddock. “Oh, my,” she whispered.
Chet Leonard chuckled. “He’s young yet. Turned three earlier in the spring. But he’s quick. Shows a lot of promise. He’s got speed and great confirmation.”
Skye had been saving up for several years for another horse. Not that she truly needed another. She could retire from competing in rodeos, the same way she’d retired Snickers. After all, she’d taken this summer off and it hadn’t killed her. But oh, my. There was something about taking barrels as fast as a great horse could go that couldn’t be described with words. It had to be experienced. And once it was, it was hard to say Never again.
“Come on.” Chet opened the paddock gate. “Let’s get a closer look at him.”
Skye knew she should ask Chet the selling price for the gelding. Too much and she would need to look elsewhere. But she wanted that closer look he’d offered, so she kept the question to herself.
As they approached, the horse tossed his head and then trotted across the width of the paddock. He was even more beautiful in motion than he’d been standing still. When he reached the far corner, he spun about and trotted toward Chet and the others.
“Hey, fella.” Chet rubbed the gelding’s head.
The horse nickered and bobbed his head.
Skye ran her hand over the gelding’s coat while walking a slow circle around him. She listened as Chet shared some details. The names of the sire and dam. Date of birth. Training received. It was all important information, but Skye’s gut told her everything she needed to know. This guy was meant to be hers. She felt it in her bones. Same way she’d known about Snickers a decade earlier.
“What do you call him?” she asked once she’d made her full circle and now stood looking into the horse’s eyes.
“Nana Anna dubbed him River when he was a yearling. Said he’s the same blue-gray color of the boulders and rocks that line the rivers up here. The name stuck.”
As if knowing the humans were discussing him, River shook his head and snorted.
“He’s glorious.” Skye rubbed his muzzle.
Chet said, “Thought you’d like him.”
“Who wouldn’t?”
Grant spoke. “I remember the first time I saw this guy. That same summer when Ms. McKenna named him River. If he’d been for sale back then, I’d’ve bought him myself. If I could’ve scraped together the money, that is.”
Skye turned, and when her gaze met with Grant’s, she felt the strangest connection with him. Because they both liked the blue roan? Or was it something more?
Chet took a long step back from the horse. “I haven’t listed him for sale yet. For a while I thought one of my boys might want him for rodeo events. He’s championship material. But they’ll both be in college come August, and they won’t be here to take on the training of a new horse. So now it’s time to sell him. I’d just like him to go to someone who knows what they’re doing.” He looked at Skye. “Somebody like you.”
She knew then that Chet was going to offer her an incredible deal for the three-year-old gelding. She wouldn’t have to look elsewhere or settle for a horse she didn’t like quite as much as this beautiful blue roan. She would want to ride him first, put him through his paces, but she knew in her heart what her answer would be.
“Hey,” Grant said. “Skye and River. River and Skye. With those names, I’d say you two were meant to be together.”
The thought hadn’t occurred to her, but it seemed to confirm everything else she’d been feeling. She smiled at Grant, grateful, as if he’d given her some sort of gift.
But she couldn’t begin to describe what the grin he sent back made her feel. It was simply . . . amazing.
Skye opened the last of the blinds on the front windows of her dance studio, letting in the late-afternoon sunlight, then paused for a moment to capture her hair in a ponytail. Before she moved away, she saw Grant pull up to the curb in his Jeep.
It can’t be that time already.