Have Mercy - Christina Lee Page 0,18

dad gifted him to me when I was ten.

“Do you like horses?” Ainsley asked Julian as if it were a litmus test for her to decide whether she should let down her guard around him. She stroked Rocket’s flank when he bounded to the fence to sniff around for treats. When he realized we had none, he snuffed at us, then promptly returned to grooming Felicity’s withers, as he’d been known to do more recently. Sienna joked that he was romancing her, and for all I knew, she might’ve been right.

“I’m not sure,” Julian replied, standing a distance back from the fence, only observing. “I’ve never really been around them.”

“If you’re ever interested, we can get you started,” Sienna said, patting his shoulder.

He looked a bit wary, and I got it. They were large, imposing animals—majestic, really—but could look intimidating. Once you got to know horses, they were the best, and could be very affectionate. Each had their own personality, and my own had gotten me through the worst of times.

As we continued our walk toward the main road, I listened as Sienna and Julian talked about their mothers and what each aunt was up to. It’d been a hard road between me and my ex-mother-in-law because I’d hurt her daughter—hurt the whole family, really. But she’d begun coming around after countless trips to the hospital with Ainsley. Maybe that’d been when Maggie grasped that I wasn’t going anywhere—no way in hell—and began to accept the idea that Sienna and I were over, but that we’d always be in each other’s lives. Julian also mentioned his sister, Caitlin, whom I’d seen in recent photos from Aunt Melinda on social media and knew she was getting married at the end of summer.

“She’s excited. It’s going to be a small wedding with only immediate family, in the Hamptons, where Tim’s parents have a place on the beach,” he said just as Ainsley reached for my hand and gave me the pleading look she normally did when she was petering out. It always made my heart skip a beat, how fragile her small frame still was from her illness, and when Sienna’s eyes met mine, she knew exactly what was transpiring without anyone saying a word. We’d always have that between us—that shared history that was ours alone. Just one look between us could say it all. And it made my chest ache all over again because I missed that about us and wasn’t sure I’d ever have it again.

I bent down so Ainsley could climb on my back for a piggyback ride. She laughed as her bony knees encircled my waist, her long fingers gripped my shoulders, and I thought I’d never get tired of hearing that high-pitched squeal as I swung her around.

I could feel Julian’s gaze searing into me, and when I glanced in his direction, his eyes had softened as if he understood perfectly well. But it was also that same sort of open curiosity that unnerved me, like he could see right inside me. Though I wasn’t sure how he possibly could.

I noticed his limp again, which seemed a bit more pronounced. Guilt stabbed at me that we didn’t pile in the truck instead, but I would bet he was a stubborn one and would not appreciate being catered to, not one bit.

When we neared the main road, the silos appeared like giant silver bullets rising toward the cerulean-blue sky.

Julian’s steps faltered as he glanced upward. “Whoa, they’re huge this close up.”

“Sort of like them skyscrapers where you live?” I asked.

“You can say that.” He dipped his head. “Good analogy.”

As we came upon the one closest to us, Sienna led him toward the solid steel door. “This one no longer holds feed for the animals, but it’s still messy inside and will need to be cleared out.”

She unlocked the door, and we stepped inside. Had there not been boxes and tools and random shit that had been thrown in there for storage over the years, our voices probably would’ve sounded hollow.

A wary look crossed Sienna’s face, and I knew she was afraid she’d brought Julian all the way out here and he wouldn’t share her vision. “I don’t know… I thought it would be cool. People can see it from the road, and if we got more organized and worked out a solid plan, we could actually make this into a storefront.”

Then she seemed to hold her breath as Julian walked along the walls, touching some of the