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She waved her hand in the air. “No, no, I’ve got this. That’s what they pay me for.”
I went outside. Not even sure where exactly I was going, but I figured I could start in the barn that had the stables.
Inside the barn, Reese had a horse on the cross ties, picking at her feet.
“Don’t you have full time grooms for this sort of thing?” I asked, though it was none of my business.
He stood up straight, setting the horse’s hoof down gently. He patted the buckskin’s neck. “I do, but every once in a while it’s a nice way to clear my head. Plus I’m taking this one for a ride. If I’m not willing to do the work to get her ready, then I don’t deserve to ride.”
I had heard similar talk in the stables where I had kept Blossom all those years ago, and it was something we had taught the college students when they came to ride the horses at the college stables.
“Sir?” I said.
He shook his head. “Reese. You can call me Reese.”
“I don’t want to impose at all. And, well, I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster ride between finding out Blossom is here and getting to touch her again. And then finding out that my apartment was on fire... I’m worried that at some point I’m going to find out I don’t actually have a job to start.” I laughed, hoping to ease the tension radiating through my body, but it didn’t help.
“You do,” Reese said. “I spoke to your boss.”
I raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
“I wanted to understand your schedule better and what will be expected of you.”
My brow furrowed. “I need to get my hours in. It’s a requirement of my course work in vet school.”
“Looking at that car of yours, it’s not going to make it to and from town too many more times before it breaks down. I have trucks you can use. That’ll work better if you’re hauling equipment around anyway. Marshall’s thinking about buying another vehicle for the clinic soon.”
I shuffled my feet, staring at the concrete floor of the stable, where bits of dirt lay where Reese had cleaned his horse’s hoof.
“I can’t accept all this. I have nothing to give in return. I mean, I have money saved up to take care of Blossom and to pay my rent. But—”
“Listen, you’ve got no reason to trust me. Just my word that you can. We don’t expect anything from you. Sure, if you want to pitch in around here mucking stalls or bucking hay, we’re not going to be opposed. Blossom can stay here. You can stay here until you find a different place and get back on your feet. If you want to move Blossom to another facility, we can talk about that, too.”
“She seems happy here.” My voice was low and quiet. I kept my gaze focused on the ground, too afraid that if I looked in Reese’s eyes I’d burst into tears or throw myself into his arms for a hug.
Reese barked out a laugh. “Oh, don’t let Rory hear you say that. We’ve had a fair bit of trouble with that horse of yours.”
“She’s not mine, sir. You bought her fair and square.”
Reese smiled. “A horse belonging to you and you owning it are two different things. On paper, sure, I own her. But I saw the way she looked at you, the way you responded to her. You belong to each other. No amount of money is going to take that away. No amount of distance, no amount of time.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I finally lifted my gaze to peer into his eyes.
Reese unclipped the horse from the tie, settled his hat on his head. “I suspect it’s the same reason I’ve kept Blossom for this long even though I’ve never been able to get a single person to ride her.”
“And that is?”
“I don’t know.”
Chapter 5
Reese
As I walked into the vet clinic, I pulled off my hat and held it in my hands. Marcy, the lady who kept the office running smoothy, had the phone cradled between her face and shoulder while she worked on her computer. She smiled when she saw me. I still didn’t know quite what was going to come out of my mouth when she was ready to talk to me.
I hardly ever visited the actual vet clinic. They came to me. My operation was large enough that anything I needed was delivered to the barns or if it couldn’t be delivered, then one of my employees picked it up. The vet came to us for weekly visits to do herd health, and when we needed animals seen they came out. The only time I came here was to bring an animal in for surgery. I didn’t have an animal with me today.
“Well, hi there, Reese. It’s good to see you,” Marcy said once she set the phone down.
