Mayfly Melodies

Sixteen

Stephen

Horses teach you a lot. Very little of it actually has to do with horses—Anthony Lothian

He was out in the forest when he heard it.

Stephen was exercising Jake's horse Rio by taking him for a trail ride in the woods. Normally, Jake was one to look after his horse himself but he'd been called in unexpectedly to a ranch on the other side of the clinic where Dr. Reeves, Jake's boss at the veterinarian hospital, was preparing to vaccinate a herd of cattle.

As Stephen exercised the horses, Travis and Rob were out moving the cattle at the Grant ranch from one field to the other. Maryse had gone along to help out, as had Rhea, leaving Stephen alone to look after the other animals.

He didn't mind. He'd be the first to admit that he was much better with animals than he was with people and so staying behind to care for the horses wasn't that big of a responsibility. It helped that he saw the Grant's like a second family and he knew their home, including all of their animals, just as well as he knew his own.

He was also hoping to see Bailey. There was no point in denying the truth but he was especially anxious to see her today. Mostly because he'd heard from Travis that morning that she'd gone on her date with Noah Hartley the night before.

Travis had thought it'd gone well. He'd stayed up waiting for her to come home and she had...well after midnight.

Stephen wasn't judging Bailey for the hour for which she'd returned home. He didn't care that she'd stayed out late—he was her friend, not her brother—but what bothered him about the late hour was the fact that he knew it meant she'd had a good time.

Bailey wasn't shy. If the date hadn't been living up to her expectations, she would have ended it and come home the moment she realized it wasn't going to work out. But, since she'd been out late and had come home with a giddy disposition, according to Travis, Stephen knew that Noah Hartley had worked his magic on Bailey.

Just like he'd done to all of the other girls in town.

He wasn't jealous of Hartley, per say, but he wasn't pleased that the man only had to enter a room to have all the women swooning over him. He'd seen it happen several times. At Annie's or the bank or the supermarket. All Hartley had to do was walk in and every single pair of females eyes shifted to him, eyes that didn't leave until he was gone.

What was even more infuriating was the fact that Stephen didn't think that Hartley knew he was doing it. He hardly spoke to any of the women except for simple 'hellos' and 'goodbyes'. Stephen had never heard of him asking anyone out on a date except for Bailey. It was part of the reason why Stephen didn't believe that Hartley's intentions were pure. He'd never displayed any interest for the women in town except for when Bailey, rich with fame, returned.

Stephen didn't have proof that Hartley was just using Bailey, of course, but there was a part of him which believed it to be true. He wanted to warn Bailey of his suspicions but the last thing he wanted to do was come off as a protective brother. He'd decided to slyly mention it to Travis and hope that his best friend did the rest of the work.

Stephen told himself that if Hartley's intentions were pure and Bailey really did like him then he would back off and wait, and pray, until the relationship fell apart. And if it never did, well, then he would somehow find a way to get over her.

These were the thoughts that were heavy on his mind as he walked Rio through the trails in the forest. He was behind a clump of trees when he heard the familiar twang of Bailey's guitar. He knew she was probably out here writing—she'd been doing that a lot since she'd come home from Nashville. He wasn't quite sure what she was writing for, she hadn't mentioned a new contract with a label and, as far as he knew, she didn't have any plans for an upcoming album.