by Kitty Thomas
“I prefer you without shoes, but when you need them, you can wear them. Will you run from me?”
“Where would I go?”
“Good answer, princess.”
She put the boots on and went outside. The temperature had started to turn warm again, the first hint of spring easing its way into the air. She lay in the grass, looking up at the sky and the clouds that had turned fluffy again. She stared up at it for a long time, her mind going back to that first night on the road when she’d stopped and stared up in awe at the stars, and then the day of the branding, where she’d fallen asleep watching the clouds blend and merge through the euphoria of the endorphin rush. She’d felt open and free.
Luke joined her a few minutes later and lay beside her. “What are you thinking about?”
“You were right, I love this sky. I love this ranch.”
“Thank me for bringing you here,” he said. The day he’d told her she’d politely thank him by the time he was finished with her flashed through her mind.
“Thank you, Master.”
A tear slid down her cheek, but Luke didn’t see it. He seemed preoccupied with pretending he wasn’t crazy—as if he could allow her to be a separate person from his tragic love. But the gestures: the hair, the boots... they meant nothing. When he’d looked at her, after Freida was finished... it hadn’t been with the same intensity as before. There had been a note of disappointment that had registered in his eyes for a moment before quickly flitting away.
No, Veronica saw clearly. Soon her roots would grow out, and Luke would let them. She’d be back to the way she’d looked before, as if today had never happened. She’d traded one slavery for another, one lie for another, no more in control of her destiny than before—no matter how much hedonistic pleasure this version brought her. The irony of it all was that she could have been the gold standard, but now she’d stand in the shadow of a ghost, forever clawing for the love and approval that had so easily been given to the other woman.
She blinked back the tears before they could overwhelm her. If he couldn’t love her, this had to be enough. The pleasure. The clean air and peace. The freedom from her debt. As she looked up, bright blue with dots of cotton candy clouds filled her vision. In the end, the sky was the only thing that was real.
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- Kitty
Acknowledgments for Big Sky:
Betas: Emma, Kimberly, Stephannie, Michelle, Claudia
Editing: Natasha
Cover Art: Robin Ludwig
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