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of her life, and he ran.
    Fire burned in her chest. Remy’s leaving left her feeling emptier than when her momma had died. Yet Cody still questioned the only being who was left to listen to her. Had she finally lost her last grasp on her faith? A tear slipped between her eyelids. She swiped the moisture from her cheek and bowed her head.
    S’mores shifted and nickered low. Cody snapped her eyes open and glanced around. Nobody approached. Pressing her hand to the mare’s neck, she felt the quivering muscles. S’mores wanted to run.
    Before them stood an open field with no barriers or dangers. Nothing but the ground, the wind, and freedom. Cody settled deep into the saddle and balanced her weight over the mare’s shoulders. Sensing the shift in weight, S’mores jerked her head up and her ears swiveled back. Her mane shivered as a ripple moved up from her withers to the top of her neck.
    Cody curled her fingers around the braided reins and pushed them forward to give the mare her head. “Okay, baby, let ’er rip.”
    From a stand still, the mare burst into a full run at the brush of Cody’s heels. S’mores’s long stride ate up the ground; the hay stubble crackled under her pounding hooves. Cody’s thundering heart and the whistling wind blended in a soothing cadence. Her breathing matched S’mores’s.
    She leaned forward, her toes braced against the stirrups. Her weight now fully over S’mores’s withers was the signal for the mare to crank it up a notch. The wind tore at Cody’s eyes and moisture—whether from the wind or her grief—leaked down her cheeks. S’mores flew across the field to the far end where she curved along the edge and continued eastward. Away from Cody’s troubles and the people concerned about her.
    Up here on the back of a powerful, beautiful horse, she was free. Free of the damage Remy had caused, the PTSD, the alcoholism, and death.
    “Ha!”
    The mare found another gear, and dirt clods flew up and peppered Cody’s backside. She grinned and tried to press her body as close to the mare’s as her saddle allowed. The gradual rise in the ground brought them to the top of a crest. S’mores slowed her gait, then crow-hopped to a dancing halt at the top of the hill. Cody sat up and scanned the field. A line of trees to their left snagged her attention. She swung S’mores’s head in that direction.
    “Let’s go.”
    S’mores raced down the hill and barreled across the field to the trees. The sun was now halfway set, the darkening sky above turning a brilliant shade of indigo. When they were about a hundred yards from the trees, Cody pulled up on the reins. S’mores slowed, her breathing heavy but not labored. Once they entered the trees, a cool burst of damp air buffeted her face. Down the creek embankment, Cody let S’mores wade into the water and splash.
    In the middle of the creek, S’mores stopped and lowered her head to drink. Cody released the reins as she stared up at the stars that peeked through the leaves. From the depths of her soul a scream clawed its way free and burst from her lips. S’mores’s head jerked up, and she nickered. Laying a hand on the mare’s neck, Cody eased the tension by rubbing under her mane. Content once more, S’mores played with the surface of the water.
    Sighing, Cody stared back at the sky. The scream felt good. Like her old self—the Cody before an abusive relationship, before her momma’s death, and Cody’s many close brushes with death. Before a Cajun two-stepped his way into her life and stole her heart.
    Remy’s parting words whispered through her mind.
If there’s a chance for us, I have to do this.
    He’d gone back to New Orleans to face off against the person who’d murdered his wife and nearly killed him.
    He went alone.
    Alone.
    He’d tried to do so many things alone, and it got him nowhere. Did he really think things were going to be different this time?
    The sun faded below the horizon, and darkness crept between the