Friends to Lovers at Redemption Creek Ranch by Macie St. James

1

There was a strange horse in the horse barn this morning.

Jax Armstrong had visited this barn every day, throughout the day, for the past eight years. At any given time, he could name every horse in the building, along with a few pesky details about each. But the chestnut quarter horse in the stall toward the front was a new one on him.

“Jax Armstrong. Is that you?”

The female voice behind him spun Jax around, putting him face to face with a woman in full jockey getup. Her hair was back in a ponytail and she wore a white, long-sleeved shirt and tan riding breeches with black, knee-high boots. His initial thought was that it was a Halloween costume, but Halloween was three months away.

There was a reason he went straight to “costume” when he looked at this particular woman. He’d never seen her like this before, and he’d seen her many, many times.

“Isabel Sutton?” he asked.

She tilted her head slightly, narrowing her eyes. “Did you just call me ‘Isabel’?”

The smile tugging at the corner of her mouth was contagious. He soon found himself grinning like a goofball. Isabel went by Izzie. Everyone called her that, going all the way back to preschool. And that was exactly how long Jax Armstrong had known her.

His crush on her had started sometime around first grade.

“What exactly is going on with this?” He gestured to indicate the outfit she wore. All she needed was a riding crop, and she’d be ready for the ring.

“Your brother okayed it.” She shrugged, looking to her left, her gaze landing on the strange quarter horse he’d discovered just minutes ago. “He said I could keep Freddie here while I’m preparing for competition.”

She was saying a lot of words, and not one of them made sense. Not in context, anyway. Last he’d seen Izzie and his oldest brother speak was right before Logan left for college. Why would they be speaking now?

Logan, the oldest of the Armstrong siblings, dated Izzie when he was a senior and Izzie and Jax were sophomores. But Logan had cruelly dumped her at the end of the summer after senior year. He’d told Jax he wanted to be free in college. Free to play the field and figure out what he wanted in life.

As it turned out, what Logan Armstrong wanted in life was not to go to college. He dropped out after only one semester and came back home. And now he was in charge of things around here, and Jax lived in his shadow, as always.

“Logan okayed you to keep your horse here?” Jax asked.

That wasn’t just news to him. It was a total surprise. After the way things ended a full decade ago, Jax would have never expected the two of them to even speak again, let alone for him to give her permission to come onto the property.

Not that Logan had any reason to be mad at Izzie. In fact, he should be apologizing. Jax had initially tried to console Izzie, but as junior year started, she began distancing herself from him. He reminded her too much of his brother, he was sure, even though Jax and Logan were polar opposites in just about every way.

“No,” she said. “Dane said it was okay.”

Dane was Jax’s youngest sibling. He was only twenty-two—just a few years out of high school. That made him four years younger than Jax and Izzie, which meant when Izzie had hung around here as Logan’s girlfriend and Jax’s closest friend, Dane had been starting middle school.

“I ran into him at the diner in town.” Izzie shrugged. “We started talking, and I told him my problem. He had the perfect solution—keep Freddie here.”

“Freddie?” Jax looked around.

“My horse.” She walked over and reached up to run her hand over the quarter horse’s mane. “This is the only place in town that boards horses. Plus, your riding trails are ideal for the practice I need. I’m preparing for a competition in August. It’s my dream, remember?”

He’d forgotten all about that. How could he have forgotten? Izzie always had a love for horses, which was why she’d spent so much time here as a teen. She’d helped him with chores on the ranch in exchange for riding time. Her goal had been to race horses when she got older.

Was that what she was doing now? No, she’d said she needed trail experience. What would that have to do with racing?

“They offered to let me set up some jumping fences in one of the pastures you aren’t using,” she said.

They weren’t using any of their pastures right now, so she’d have to be a little more specific. Before Jax could comment, she spoke again.

“Grand prize is ten thousand dollars. That’s more than I make in three months at my day job.”

Her day job. Jax had no idea what she did as a day job. She’d moved to a neighboring town soon after high school graduation, and he’d lost track of her. It had just been easier to forget about her—the girl who had once been his best friend. The girl who’d chosen to date his brother without realizing Jax had been in love with her most of their lives.

“It’s not really a day job.” She laughed. “I log in every day after lunch and take calls until ten at night. But it leaves my mornings free for my real passion.”

She looked at the horse again, and there was no denying what that passion was. That was one thing that hadn’t changed since childhood. In fact, he remembered Logan complaining about her coming to the ranch to ride and not spending time with him. It seemed to annoy him that he wasn’t the center of her universe.

“I’m here for my morning ride,” Izzie said.

“Oh.” Jax blinked. He looked around. It wasn’t like this was an unfamiliar concept to him. In fact, every day, there were people dropping by to check on their horses and even ride them around the property. It was part of his job to keep those owners happy.

He just wasn’t prepared for one of those owners to be Izzie Sutton.

“Sure,” he said. “Do you need my help with anything?”

She shook her head but then stopped, staring at him for a long moment before finally speaking again. “You know, I haven’t seen you in a while. I’d love to catch up.”

Jax hated the way that one statement made him feel. Still, after all this time, she could get to him.

He went through a list of things he could suggest. Coffee, the diner in town, lunch at the ranch… He could even invite her over for dinner with the family.

No, the last two were out of the question. She no doubt wouldn’t want to spend time around Logan, and he was fine with keeping the two of them apart for as long as possible.

“Maybe we can go to breakfast after your ride,” he said.

As he spoke, he was reviewing all his morning appointments. His mornings were usually filled with a steady stream of guests. He could always get Dane to take care of things here at the horse barn for a while, though.

“I was thinking something more outdoorsy,” Izzie said. “Saddle up one of these horses and come with me on my ride.”

That he hadn’t expected. Sure, they’d spent half their youth galloping around this property as she gossiped about classmates or he complained about his dad and big brother. But after Logan worked his charms on her, all of that had stopped.

And it had been sorely missing from his life since.

“You have a deal,” he said, trying not to smile too broadly as he walked to the far end of the barn to grab a saddle.