Home by Nightfall by Alexis Harrington

before she could send any more signals his way, Cole jumped down from the fence and came to take Sally from her.
    Riley turned to look at them, gave her a tentative smile, and lifted a hand in greeting. Her smile in return was as hesitant.
    “Are you okay?” Cole asked quietly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
    She shrugged. “I have, sort of, haven’t I?” As they walked toward the stable, she could feel Tanner’s and Riley’s eyes on them. “I saw Shaw in town. He’s stopping at Mae’s.”
    “I guess that’s a blessing. He’s giving both Riley and Tanner a going-over.” Susannah sighed, and he tipped his head to look into her face. “You too, huh.”
    “Yes. Will you and Jessica come for supper? It would make things less, well, awkward.”
    He led Sally into her stall and took her saddle off. “Okay. I know Jess will appreciate it. She’s had some long days and nights lately. Since the boys came home from the war, she’s delivereda lot of babies. She finally agreed to let me buy her a car to get around in—I’m going to pick it up next week.” Looking at her across Sally’s back, he asked, “Did you have fun in town?”
    “No. I went to see Mr. Par—”
    At that moment, she heard the sound of uneven footfalls on the stable flooring. She turned and saw Riley standing just inside the wide doorway.
    “Hello,” he said. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything. I thought maybe I could help you.” He nodded at Sally. Cole had already taken off her saddle.
    “Sure, Riley,” Cole said. “Come on in. I’ve got to give Tanner a hand with that filly.”
    Susannah swallowed. She pasted on another smile, trying to smother the nagging wish that she could just leave. She hadn’t spent many moments alone with him. “You’ve been here a few days, now. What do you think of the place? Does it look the same as when you left?” She feared it might be an unfair question, but she was tired of asking him how he felt and imagined he was tired of answering it.
    He gave her another smile, this one rueful. “It’s nice, but I don’t remember it. Perhaps the doctors were too optimistic about my condition.”
    She reached for a brush on the shelf and began pulling it through Sally’s chestnut mane. “Maybe not. A few days aren’t enough to know. Things can still change.”
    He took the brush from her and automatically began running it over the horse’s sleek coat in long, familiar, and efficient strokes. Though he leaned on his cane, he handled the brush with a confidence that she hadn’t seen in anything else he did. When he neared Sally’s head, she turned and bumped her nose gently against his chest in recognition.
    “I guess you remember how to groom a horse. And Sally seems to remember you .” A faint wave of hope washed over Susannah. When she looked into his eyes, she saw they were still hazel but they had an empty, haunted appearance.
    Riley slowed and then stopped. He looked at the brush in his hand and it seemed as if it were an alien thing he’d never seen in his life. “I don’t know why…where…I don’t know how to do this.”
    Riley lifted his gaze to Susannah’s. She was so lovely to look upon, but he had no clue, no instinct, about her personality beyond what he’d witnessed in the last few days. “I lived on a farm in France, but it was a small place with poor soil and only a few chickens. The house was built of stone but it had been shelled, and only half of it still stood. This is much grander. The pastures are so green and vast, the trees alive and beginning to turn color with the season…” He closed his eyes for just a moment, taking in the fragrant, earthy scents of horses, wood, and hay. Then he thought of Véronique working beside him to plant a few handfuls of seed in the bomb-cratered earth they had managed to level out—and the skeleton of a mule at the edge of the property, killed by the same shell that had destroyed the ambulance where Véronique found