Page 64 of Faultlines

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all week,” I say.

As our laughter fades, I lean forward. “Speaking of progress, you’ll never guess who’s ready to move into your stables.”

Lucy lights up at my words. “I knew it.”

“You knew what?”

Lucy beams with a radiant smile. “You should see her with the vet—she asks a million questions. A couple days ago, she gave me a twenty-minute lecture on wound care. I think she knows more than I do now.”

Heidi has a future she’s beginning to imagine for herself, and this has become my favorite version of her. The horses seem to reach parts of her that people can’t, quieting the constant noise in her head.

As evening settles around us, I find her and Ellie sitting on the rough wooden fence outside one of the barns. I climb onto the fence beside them, the weathered wood warm beneath my palms. One of the younger horses is next to them nudging Heidi while she absentmindedly scratches his neck.

“You’ve officially become a farm kid.”

She rolls her eyes, a faint smile playing on her lips. “I don’t think a few weeks qualify.” The sound of her laugh is soft in the deepening twilight. “I do like it here.” The answer comes so quickly that I know she means it.

“I can tell.”

“My mom wanted me to be a doctor.”

I don’t interrupt, just letting her talk. Her expression softens as she keeps her eyes on the middle distance. “When she was sober, it was always the same. Medical school, good salary.” She pauses. “You’re too smart for this life.”

“Meaning her life?” I ask.

She looks at me, something catching in her expression. “Yeah,” she responds before turning back to the horse. “I just—heard it enough times that I stopped questioning whose dream it was. I know I like this though—being here on the ranch.”

“There’s no rush. You have plenty of time to figure it all out.”

“Lucy let me help when Galloping Thunder got injured last week.”

“Oh?”

Her face lights up, and the transformation is remarkable. “Yeah. When the vet was here last week, she walked me through everything she was doing.”

“What kind of injury?”

“It wasn’t serious. A cut on his leg.” She becomes animated, talking faster, her hands sketching the scene in the air.

“She showed me how to clean the cut, and explained you have to wrap the bandage from the bottom up—something about circulation. I never knew there was so much to it.”

The enthusiasm in her voice is vibrant and clear, the sound of a hidden path opening up right in front of her.

“And you liked that?”

“I loved it.” The answer is immediate, firm.

“I asked a million questions.”

“I’m sure you did.”

“I definitely did.” We both laugh, the sound resonating off the wooden beams.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterward.”

“About the horse?”

“About the vet. What if I go to vet school?”