Free High Lonesome by Stacey Coverstone

the flashbacks were random pictures or pieces of a puzzle associated with her life. Whatever they meant, they were disconcerting.
    Willow’s round eyes stared. “Are you sick, Beth?”
    She patted her hand. “No, honey. I’m fine now.” She swallowed the tightness in her throat. “Where were we? Oh yes, you were talking about your horse. I’d love to meet Midnight when we’ve finished breakfast.”
    “Goodie!” The child clapped her hands.
    “I’ll go out to the barn with you,” Scott said, watching her carefully. He devoured the eggs, pancakes and potatoes, but Beth noticed his gaze remained on her as she patiently listen to Willow, who continued to chatter like a monkey about her horse and pole bending.
    After breakfast, the three of them strolled to the barn where Willow introduced Beth to her black quarter horse. Scott excused himself by saying he had to scoop poop. Beth fed the bay horse treats as the little girl brushed his mane and combed his tail, and talked non-stop.
    “You’re bending more than poles today, Willow,” Scott joked as he pushed a third wheelbarrow of horse poop past them. “You’re talking poor Beth’s ear off. You can give her a demonstration on your horse another time. As soon as I dump this load, she and I are going in to town.” He unloaded the manure, whipped a kerchief out of his pocket and wiped it across his glistening forehead.
    “We are?”
    “Yesterday I promised you a shopping trip. Remember?”
    “Oh. So you did.”
    “I’m glad to see your short-term memory is intact.”
    “Can I go?” Willow begged.
    “Not today, cowgirl. Maybe next time.” Willow didn’t argue. She put away the brush and comb and kissed her horse on the nose. “Go on now. Scoot,” Scott told his daughter as he patted her bottom. The trio stepped out of the barn into the sunshine. “Please tell Carmen I’ve taken Beth to town. And behave yourself. We’ll be back later.”
    “Okay, Daddy.” Willow gave him a kiss and ran up the hill toward the house. “Bye, Beth!”
    Beth waved and hollered back. “She sure is a doll,” she told Scott as they climbed into the pickup. “I still can’t get over the fact that she races that big horse around poles and doesn’t fall off! What an incredible feat for a girl her age. Or at any age, for that matter. I’m going to have to watch her sometime.”
    Scott’s ocean blue eyes slid toward her and lingered for a moment before he started the truck and left the driveway. Flattered, she’d caught him staring several times. But the thought that he was dating someone wasn’t far from her mind. Or the fact that she might have someone in her life, too.
    The truck bumped along the dirt road toward Ghost Rock. “So, were you comfortable in the guest room last night?” he inquired for the second time.
    Seemed he was fishing for small talk. “No bad dreams?” he asked.
    “No.” There was no way she was going to embarrass herself  in front of him again by mentioning the sensual dream she’d woken to this morning, in which he’d been the leading man.
    When they reached town, he drove down Main Street and parked in front of a women’s clothing store.
    “This is a quaint little town,” she remarked, while exiting the truck and looking up and down the street. Buildings painted vibrant shades of purple, red, orange and yellow lined both sides of the avenue, some with murals on the walls and some with detailed tile work around the doors and windows. At the end of the street, a Mexican-style fountain occupied the space in front of a building with a big clock on top. The water cascaded over the rim and splashed into a circular pool. People on the sidewalks came and went from shops like bees buzzing to and from a hive.
    “After you,” Scott said, holding the store door open. “I don’t know anything about this place except they sell ladies clothing, so I’ll follow you.”
    Racks of clothes filled the cavernous space. Beth glanced around. “It’s