They formed a perfect canopy across the road, making the temperature five degrees cooler underneath them. She heard every piece of gravel that managed to get stuck in the tire tread, as she never exceeded fifteen miles per hour. It gave her time to think of a million reasons of how she could turn around and explain later. The path eventually forked in two directions—one to the stables, and the other to the house. Elise caught sight of Ben outside the barn and steered the car to the right. “Stay here,” she said to the kids, as she put it in park. “I’ll see where he wants me to drop you off, Mason.” She jumped out of the car and jogged in after him, her heart shorting out as flashbacks fought for space in her mind. He was walking a horse into a stall. The smell of hay and feed tickled her nose. And the large four-legged creatures snorting and neighing told her she was definitely back at the farm. “Ben,”
