She smiles, looking like she’s going to cry again. Just wait, Haley. She breaks away and changes, emerging from the tack room with two helmets. I roll my eyes but put it on. Falling and hitting my head again this soon after the accident would be bad. Very bad.
We mount our horses and slowly walk down the driveway.
“Have you seen that new barn?” I ask as I flick my eyes down the road.
Haley huffs. “I have, but I try to avoid it. It just makes me mad.”
I have to look away so she doesn’t see my smile. “Why?”
“It’s so nice! I’m a little jealous,” she admits.
“Let’s go check it out. You might not be that jealous when you see it.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Fine. I’m curious anyway.”
We cross the street and snow starts to flutter down on us. I feel like I’m in a postcard again as I look at the distant Beartooth Mountains, then back at Haley. She slows Shakespeare as we near that barn.
“I don’t get why no one is using it,” she says. “It’s beautiful. And huge.”
“Yeah, it is big,” I say. “I’d guess it has twelve stalls, two washracks with heated water, a lounge with a viewing window looking at the arena. Oh, and radiant heating throughout to keep it warm in the winter.”
Haley scrunches up her nose. “Yeah, and brass fixtures and—wait, since when do you get so technical about barns…or even know what half that stuff is?”
I shrug and reach into my coat pocket and pull out a small, silver box. “I might have been in there a time or two,” I say, extending my arm. “Happy Christmas, Haley.”
Her face blanks in disbelief, and she just stares at the box in my hand. “No,” she says, and she starts smiling. “No way.”
“You’ll never know if you don’t open it.”
She rests Shakespeare’s reins on his neck and opens the box. Her eyes widen and her mouth drops. “You…you built me a barn,” she whispers, her voice tight with emotion. She holds up the key, still processing everything. I cue Benny forward and get off, leading him to the door.
“It’s locked from the inside,” I tell her, and she just nods, still staring at the key. Finally she shakes herself and gets off her horse. I hold on to Shakespeare, still smiling as she goes to the front door. She sticks the key in the lock then stops and runs over to me, ducking under Benny’s neck.
“I love you,” she says before she kisses me.
“I love you too,” I tell her. “Open the door. I want you to see everything.”
She eagerly nods and races away, letting herself in. A minute passes before the large door slides open and I can lead the horses in. I haven’t been in the finished barn before. I’m even taken aback by how beautiful it is.
Haley is standing in the aisle, her hand over her mouth in shock. She slowly turns around, taking it all in.
“How did you do this without telling me?” she asks as she takes Shakespeare’s reins. We put the horses in stalls that are full of fresh, fluffy bedding, and take off their tack.
“It wasn’t that hard,” I say with a laugh. “I guess I bought this place days before the accident. So I forgot about it.”
Haley nods. “There was a sold sign put up that week, and the old barn got torn down shortly after that.”
“The company I’d contacted about building the barn emailed me, and I had to piece things together.”
“Aiden,” she starts, leaving the stall carrying the heavy saddle. “This is incredible. I can’t believe…” She breaks off, looking up and blinking away tears.
I motion her to follow me into the tack room. “What you do is incredible, Haley. This is the least I can do for you.”
I open the tack room door and watch Haley look around in awe. We put the saddles and bridles down, and I give her a tour, ending in the heated and air-conditioned lounge. It’s tiled and drywalled and looks like a little studio apartment. There is a leather couch, a lounge chair, and a love seat set up like a mini living room, complete with a coffee table and a large TV hanging on the wall. Behind that is a table and chairs, a tiny kitchen, and a bathroom with a shower. A large window stretches across the wall behind the table, looking into the arena.
“I could live here,” Haley says, looking around the room.
“That was kinda my thought,” I say. “Not literally living here, I mean, but when you have to spend nights in the barn you can do it comfortably.”
She takes my hands, and suddenly we’re kissing, falling back onto the leather couch. Desire for Haley pulls me under, and I unzip her coat. If I start, I won’t stop, and we’re running out of daylight.
I move my hands back to her face and kiss her forehead. “Let’s go to that spot,” I say softly. “The one by the stream.”
“We could stay here instead,” she says as she runs her hand up my thigh, cupping my balls through my jeans. Fuck, this is going to be difficult. I’m getting hard against her hands.
“We can come back.”
She lets go and hugs me instead. “Do you have more surprises for me?”
I shake my head. “I just want to be there with you.”
“Okay,” she says and kisses me again. “We should hurry, though. The light is fading fast.”
We get back on the horses and head out, Haley leading the way. The snowfall slows to just flurries, and it’s perfect. The snow-covered trees glisten with sinking sunlight, and my heart hammers in my chest, hoping we’ll get there in time.
“I’m in shock,” Haley says, turning around in the saddle. “Is that barn really mine?”
“It is. And I thought we could give your old barn a similar treatment. Ya know, to be fair to the horses.”
Haley’s eyes meet mine, and her smile makes everything worth it. We ride the rest of the way in silence, getting off the horses when we get close to the stream. The ground is slippery with snow, and we can’t get as close as we did before. I tie Benny to a tree and pull another box out of my pocket. Haley’s back is turned; she’s petting Shakespeare and brushing snow out of his mane.
“Haley,” I say, my voice catching in my throat. She turns around, her eyes dropping to the black box. If she thought she was shocked before… “Haley,” I say again. “I love you. You gave me a second chance and stuck by me through the worst times. You are my happily ever after, and I don’t want to live a day without you.” I get down on one knee, snow soaking through my trousers. I open the box. “Will you marry me?”
Tears roll down her face and she moves her head up and down. “Yes,” she breathes. “Yes, Aiden, yes!”
I get up, take her glove off, and slip the ring on her finger. She brings her hand to her face, looking at the large diamonds. “I love you so fucking much,” I tell her, and then we’re kissing. I hold her close, knowing that I will never, ever let her go.
Epilogue
Three years later…
“I have a meeting with a director tomorrow,” I say, speaking loudly so Haley can hear me. I look at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and nod, satisfied with how I look in the tux. Shadowland is over, and I can finally cut my hair. I cut it short last summer and missed the long curls. Haley did too, so now I’m letting it grow back out. “If I get it, I’ll have to cut my hair again,” I say. I’m going over lines for the role of United States Marine Sergeant Underwood in a zombie movie. My agent says I’ve already got the part, but I’m still nervous. Just a little.
“That’s okay,” Haley says, her voice muffled. I look out the bathroom and see her lying on the bed, knees bent up and eyes squeezed shut. “It’ll grow back, and I’m sure you’ll get the part. You are brilliant.”
Even when she’s sick, she’s my biggest fan. I leave the bathroom and give her a kiss on the forehead, going to the fridge to get a can of Sprite. I pop the top and take a sip before I hurry back to her. I sit on the edge of the bed.
“Babe, if you’re sick we can stay home.”