Southern Comfort - Natasha Madison Page 0,46

seen in the longest time.

“How’re you feeling?” I ask when she nears me. Her smile lights her whole face up again, and the only thing I can think is that I want to keep that smile on her face all the time.

“Amazing.” Her voice comes out breathless. “I forgot how much I love riding.”

“Then why did you stop?” I ask, curious about everything.

“My mother thought I spent too much time with my horse and not enough time with my pageant lessons.” She shrugs. “It was more important to learn how to walk with a book on my head than to learn how to ride a horse,” she says. At first, I think she’s joking, but her face is serious. The smile is gone, and in its place, is the look she gets when she’s sad. After watching her for the past couple of weeks, I know her happy face, her sad face, and her irritated face. I also know her smiles, and the one that lights up her face is my favorite.

“So after I pouted for three days, she sold my horse to make sure that my pout was gone permanently.” I just watch her as she slows down from a gallop to a trot. “You are the best girl.” She talks to the horse, and I swear the horse turns around and side-eyes me. “You are just perfect.”

“Why don’t we get her back inside, and you can ride her after breakfast? The two of us can go for a ride, and I’ll give you the lay of the land,” I say, and her eyes light up, and I want to laugh.

“Really?” I just nod. She gets off the horse and then holds the reins while she talks to her. “Let’s get you some water and then get you some grub.” She takes her inside, and I’m about to follow her when my phone alerts me that an email has come in.

To: Casey

From: Derek

Subject: You are going to be pissed.

There seems to be some movement in the trees by the barn. I don’t have anything, but it looks like a shadow moving. I’m already ahead of you and getting the monitors up and on screen. I’ll call you in a few.

Derek

“Motherfucker,” I hiss out and then walk to the barn, the whole time looking around to see if I see anything, but I don’t. When I walk into the barn, she is already getting the horse water, and she looks like she’s done this all her life. But I know she hasn’t. She must feel me looking because she looks up, and I see her cheeks are a bit pink.

“Hey, I made you a coffee,” she says, motioning with her head to the kitchen. I watch her the whole time, trying to calm myself down. I want to ask her all the questions, but I know now’s not the time. I want her to tell me about her life while we are sitting face-to-face, but I also don’t want to ask her about her secrets when I’m still not sure I’m willing to share mine.

“Thanks, darlin’.” I nod at her and walk over to grab the coffee when a ping comes out of my phone with pictures. I walk over to my office. “I have to answer an email before we head over to my parents’ house,” I say, and she just looks over her shoulder at me.

“I can go ahead of you if you’re busy,” she says softly. “Help your mom.” I don’t want to freak her out, so I just nod at her and watch her walk from the barn to my parents' house. The minute I see her open the screen door and walk inside, I turn back to my office and call Derek right away while the images load.

“Before you start.” He doesn’t even say hello when he answers. “When we detected this, we weren’t sure if it was an animal or a person.”

“Tell me everything.” The pictures come on screen, and I can see why. The person out there is hugging the trees while he walks from one to the other, so it just looks like a blurred image until you freeze it for one frame and notice his hand on the tree.

“From what I could tell, he was there from three a.m. until five a.m. He stops right at the perimeter where it opens. Right now, I can’t see what he is focusing on, but we are working on trying to clear up the