Page 19 of Sweet Courage

Chuckling, Clint turned out of the lot. “Even though that’s his registered name. Doesn’t mean anyone has to call him that.”

“Smokey Joe’s Last Call.” Colleen tested the words out loud and grimaced. “We can’t put that on his stall plate.”

“He needs a barn name.” Hot dog in hand, Alice stared out the window at some distant point. “Something that actually fits him.”

“Sleepy,” Colleen offered immediately.

“Might as well call him Dopey.” Kat shook her head at her friend.

“I suppose.” Colleen stared at a blank page in the binder she’d brought with her.

“Does that mean Grumpy or Sneezy is out of the question?” A satisfied grin rested on Hanson’s lips.

“Comedian.” Unlike before when Kat had bumped shoulders, this time she stuck out her hand and swatted him across the arm. “Not funny.” The smile she failed to bite back belied her smack and harsh words. “Well, maybe a little.”

Names bounced around the remainder of the ride home. Everything from Caramel Treat to Spice of Life to Take it Easy, and the one that seemed to roll easily off the tongue for everyone in relation to this tranquil horse—Steadfast.

With the unhurried precision of a man who’d done it a thousand times, Clint backed the trailer in, and by the time he’d set the brake and climbed out, Alice had already disappeared through the back door of the house shouting something about apples.

From his spot on the back porch, Valor’s head came up, tracking Alice stomping to the back door and turning to where the trailer rested. It had taken Kat a bit to realize the dog wasn’t reacting to sound but to vibrations. He was learning to let his other senses pick up where hearing had fallen away. Now he was up on all fours with his nose reading the air and his ears doing their partial radar sweep, catching fragments of a frequency that meant something large and unfamiliar had just arrived on his territory.

Brady, stretched out in his usual spot since Valor’s arrival, only a few feet away from the struggling dog, lifted his head, assessed the situation, and put it back down, signaling his new buddy that all was well, though his gaze remained keenly focused on the production in front of him. In only a few days, Valor had learned to follow Brady’s cues. The trust the two had developed so quickly fascinated Kat. In only a few seconds, Valor’s tail dropped from alert to neutral and he, like Brady, watched the unloading of the new soon-to-be therapy horse.

The heavy metal ramp of the trailer hit the dirt with a loud, ringing crash.

Brady was up on his feet now, Valor still sniffing the air. Clint’s boots echoed against the aluminum floorboards. A moment later, a pair of white-socked hooves backed slowly and carefully down the incline. The chestnut gelding stepped off the metal ramp and onto the dirt of his new home. The horse didn’t toss his head. He didn’t prance or whinny at the new surroundings. He simply lowered his neck, let out a long breath, and started sniffing a patch of dry grass near the trailer tire.

Tires crunching on gravel, another car pulled up, then doors slammed, and Mason jumped out and ran toward the new horse. The porch door smacked open at that moment as Alice appeared with a bucket of apples. Someone’s cell phone went off, a hand hollered at Clint from the barn door, and poor Valor’s ears swiveled awkwardly, trying to pick up something he could make sense of. The heavy vibration from the myriad of activity had clearly thrown him off. His dark eyes darted frantically around the yard, his tail tucked behind him.

“He’s overwhelmed,” Hanson’s voice dropped an octave.

Kat watched the dog pace. “Too many vibrations and no way to sort them.”

Valor spun in a tight circle, trying to locate the source of the chaos.

The horse looked down at the anxious animal with those heavy-lidded dark eyes and did not move a single muscle.

Valor’s nose worked overtime. His ears swept forward, back, forward again, catching whatever frequencies remained available to him. The horse breathed out through its nose, a long slow exhale that ruffled the air between them.

Slowly, Hanson inched closer to Valor, lowering himself on one knee, he reached forward to scratch the scruff of the dog’s neck. “It’s okay, boy. I know it’s hard, but it’s going to be okay.”

A vise tightened around Kat’s heart. Somehow she knew the man was doing his best to convince himself as well as the dog that leaned into his touch.

Valor let out a heavy sigh of his own and simply sat down in the dirt, right between the horse and man, anchoring himself to the calmest things in the yard.

“Well, look at that.” Alice arrived, extending her arm for Mason to grab an apple. “Show them how it’s done.”

Mason took an apple half, set it flat on his palm, then held his hand out for the horse to take. The new equine gobbled up the fruit, leaving Mason standing proudly at his side with a Cheshire Cat grin that spread to everyone watching.

“You try it.” Alice shoved the bucket in Hanson’s direction.

“No thanks.”

“Chicken?” Kat teased.

One brow shot up over his crystal blue eyes. Without a word, he pushed to his feet, snatched an apple half and did as Mason had done. For some reason, the horse seemed to know he was dealing with a novice horseman and instead of gobbling the apple as he had with Mason, he slowly nibbled, allowing his lips to tickle Hanson’s palm.

The sweet smile that graced the man’s lips and the delighted sparkle in his eyes had that vise around her heart tightening for a whole lot of other reasons. Her gaze dropped down to the dog carefully watching Hanson and the horse. Even Valor seemed moved by the scene. If she wasn’t careful, she just might find both irresistible.