Chapter 46

Ray got up at five a.m. the next morning. He had only gotten three hours of sleep. Ava’s words and the conversations he had with the boys last night had plagued his mind. Ray put on a pair of dark brown cowboy boots, black jeans, and a turtle neck and sweater over it and hit the kitchen. He fixed himself a turkey sandwich and gobbled it up and left.

What he needed this morning was solitude – and a good hard ride. Ray went to the stables and saddled up Nicklaus and he was off. He trotted the horse for a few minutes, letting him stretch his legs and then he broke out into a hard ride. It was thirty-four degrees. The cold prickled his face as he rode as hard as he could across the land. The leaves on the trees were shades of red, brown, and orange. The grass – not so green as it was this summer. Fall was definitely here. Ray rode across one of the more shallow creeks. The splashing was like music to his ears. A few moments later, he jumped a fence and then slowed