Six weeks of coming and going had worn the edges off the newness. Bryce still came over for a reason—Grant wanting another set of hands, Elara asking for help with something awkward, dinner after a job ran late—but the reasons were getting easier to find.
Elara had started recognising the sound of his ute before she saw it. Not waiting for it, exactly, but knowing who it was when the engine came up the drive.
That afternoon Grant had asked him over to help shift two portable yard panels. The job had taken less time than expected, and when Elara came through the stables afterward, she found Bryce leaning against the aisle wall while Grant had disappeared somewhere in search of a lead rope.
She drove the pitchfork into the soiled bedding of the stall, leaning on the handle to catch her breath. The afternoon heat had gathered under the tin roof, thick and heavy, and her shirt clung to her back. Hay dust floated in the shafts of light coming through the gaps in the boards, spinning slow and gold.
From the yard, Saige’s voice rang out—counting down the last minutes of a lesson, her tone all authority and barely concealed impatience. Elara smiled at that, at the way her daughter had learned to sound like a trainer without actually being one yet.
Bryce appeared at the stall door.
“You want a hand?”
Elara looked at the remaining bedding.
“If you’re offering.”
He reached for the spare pitchfork.
The rhythm of the work settled between them—his fork scraping the soiled straw, hers turning the clean bedding. They moved around each other without talking, without having to.
That was the thing about Bryce that had surprised her. He didn’t fill silence with noise the way Grant did. He let it sit, comfortable as a worn saddle.
“You don’t talk much,” she said.
Bryce glanced over. “Grant talks enough for both of us.”
A laugh escaped her before she could stop it.
“That he does.”
He went back to the bedding.
The silence returned.
Still comfortable.
Grant appeared in the stable doorway, sweat darkening the collar of his plaid shirt, the missing lead rope now looped over one shoulder.
“You two about done hiding in here?”
“We’re working,” Elara said.
“That’s what I meant.”
Bryce rested the fork against the wall.
Grant gestured toward the yard. “I’ve got that grey mare to load. Wouldn’t mind another pair of hands if she decides to argue about it.”
Bryce looked at Elara.
She shrugged. “Go.”
He followed Grant out.
Elara watched them disappear into the yard before turning back to the stall.
The lesson finished not long afterward. Elara heard the float door close, then a vehicle pull away down the drive.
Saige appeared in the aisle carrying a helmet under one arm.
“Mum.”
“What?”
“Bryce is still here.”
“Your father asked him to help.”
“I know.” Saige leaned against the stall door. “He helps here a lot for someone who lives next door and isn’t actually employed by us.”
Elara straightened and pressed a hand to the small of her back.
“He doesn’t seem to mind.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is the point?”
Saige thought about it.
“I don’t know. Just noticed.”
She pushed away from the door.
“I’ve got to bring the bay in.”
Elara watched her go.
It was nearly twenty minutes before Saige returned.
This time she came in the little farm ute, faster than usual, an empty halter lying across the passenger seat.
Elara was outside before Saige had fully stopped.
“What happened?”
“The bay’s not there.”
Grant came around the corner of the stables. “What do you mean, not there?”
“I mean there’s an empty paddock where there’s supposed to be a horse.”
Bryce looked over from beside Grant.
Saige climbed out.
“Top wire’s broken along the boundary. Looks like he went over it.”
Grant swore.
Elara was already thinking through options.
“How long?”
“No idea. I only went down to bring him in.”
“I’ll saddle Rosie.”
Grant shook his head. “Take the ute. If he’s worked his way into the hills we’ll cover more ground.”
“We’ll need something mounted if he decides to keep moving.”
“I’ll bring both.”
Bryce had gone quiet.
“Where did he cross?”
Saige pointed toward the back of the property.
“The older section past the creek.”
Bryce nodded once.
“Right.”
Grant looked at him. “You coming?”
“I’ll go around.”
“Around where?”
But Bryce was already heading for his ute.
Elara watched him leave through Ironstone’s gate and turn onto the road.
Grant stared after him.
“Helpful.”
“He said he’d go around.”
“That could mean anything.”
Elara picked up the halter.
“Get the ute.”
By the time Grant had loaded what they needed and Elara had Rosie saddled, Saige was at the gate with another lead rope.
They were preparing to head for the broken section when Saige stopped beside the yard.
“Hang on.”
Elara followed her gaze.
Movement showed at the shared trail gate in the distance.
A bay horse.
Walking.
Grant lowered the rope in his hand.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The gelding wandered along the track without any particular enthusiasm, stopping once to pull at the grass before continuing.
A ute appeared farther behind him.
Bryce.
He wasn’t chasing the horse. If anything, he looked as though he was following someone who had nowhere important to be.
The gelding stopped again.
Ate.
Bryce stopped too.
Saige started laughing.
“What?”
“He’s just waiting for him.”
The horse eventually moved on.
Bryce followed.
By the time the gelding reached the open trail gate, Elara had dismounted and was waiting off to one side with the halter.
He came through without argument.
She let him stand for a moment before slipping the rope around his neck.
Grant looked past her at Bryce’s approaching ute, then at Rosie, then at everything they had been preparing to take with them.
Bryce pulled up and climbed out.
Grant spread his hands.
“That’s it?”
Bryce looked at the horse.
“What?”
“What did you do?”
“Shut the other gates.”
Grant waited.
Bryce shrugged. “Left the driveway open and this gate open. Gave him somewhere to go.”
“And he just came back?”
“Eventually.”
Saige looked at the gelding, who had already lowered his head to graze.
“All that planning and he walked himself home.”
Bryce glanced at her.
“Pretty much.”
Elara laughed.
Elara took the gelding back to the stables and checked him over while Grant, Bryce and Saige went with her to inspect the damaged fence.
The horse had broken only the top wire.
Older fence. Older wire. Nothing mysterious about it.
“He must’ve caught it going over,” Grant said.
Elara looked along the strand.
“Lucky that’s all he did.”
Bryce held the loose end while Grant brought the other across. Elara made the join, tightened it and checked the strain herself.
“Done.”
Grant looked at the repaired wire.
“That was considerably less exciting than I expected the afternoon to be.”
“Disappointed?” Bryce asked.
“A little.”
Saige rolled her eyes.
“You were preparing for a cavalry charge.”
“I like to be ready.”
“For what?”
“Anything.”
They packed the fencing gear away.
Grant reached into the esky in the back of the ute and pulled out three beers, then stopped when Saige held out her hand.
“Absolutely not.”
“I was getting one for Mum.”
“Of course you were.”
Saige took the bottle anyway and carried it to Elara.
Grant handed the next one to Bryce.
Bryce accepted it.
Grant looked at him.
“You staying for dinner?”
Bryce took a drink.
“What are we having?”
Grant grinned.
Elara started toward the ute.