Those clothes she wore seemed right here. Not ill fitting at all. He’d thought of her as plain initially. A little brown wren in comparison to the kind of women he was used to. Her hair straight and always tied back, her face scrubbed clean, her clothes more serviceable than decorative.

But there was an ease to her here, on the back of that horse, out in the wilderness. Not the brash, bold woman who seemed to be spoiling for a fight half the time, or the lost girl he saw haunting her eyes other times.

It was still enough out here that it was easier to really see. Quiet enough that you could really hear. When he’d been younger this was where he’d found his peace, and also where he’d done his thinking. Where he’d been his strongest and most vulnerable.

He could see it in her now because he knew what this place, what these mountains, did. Broke down your walls. Made you feel small.

Not small in a way that made you easy to crush. Small enough to find shelter in these trees.

“I wouldn’t mind a change of scenery for me,” she said finally.

“Oh, yeah?” he asked, thinking it funny she’d said that since he’d just realized how well she fit into the scenery.

The trail carried them upward again, moving in a zigzag pattern at the side of a mountain.

“Yeah. It’s just...they don’t need me now.”

“Who?” he asked.

Gus decided to pick up the pace, bringing him in close to Jamie’s horse, who startled and took a step backward, kicking toward Gus.

“Whoa,” he said. “Whoa, whoa.” He backed Gus up slowly while Jamie’s horse continued to twitch and experiment with the idea of bucking.

Jamie hung in, patting the side of her horse’s neck with firm movements. “Ah, ah,” she said. “Shhh.”

The horse crossed her feet, moving sideways back down the mountain for a couple of steps, but not startling anymore.

They stopped for a moment as Jamie’s horse settled. “She’s okay,” she said. “But apparently, she needs Gus to keep his distance when the terrain gets a little bit uncertain.”

“Apparently.”

“Did he spook?” she asked, her trainer voice firmly in place.

“No, he just took a step back. No bucking. Didn’t seem startled.”

“Good. I think Gus is going to be ready for trail rides for just about anyone pretty quick. I think he’d be good for an inexperienced rider. Doesn’t take a lot of pressure or much strength to get him to go where you want him to.”

“Yeah, that was my real problem with him the other day,” Gabe said, grinning as they moved forward on the trail. “Just a little bit too strong.”

“Spare me,” Jamie said. “All that chest pounding doesn’t impress me.”

“Who said that I was trying to impress you? I’m just stating a fact.”

“Right,” Jamie said, huffing a laugh. The trail merged with the dirt road that was cut into the side of the mountain, and brought them to a lookout point that gave them a view of the pines and mountains before them, plus the patchwork of fields down below. They could see the main street of Gold Valley, and beyond that, the dark green, rolling grapevines. He identified Grassroots Winery easily enough, but there were a handful of others he wasn’t that familiar with.