Kitty
Molly didn’t know what to make of Kitty’s comments about Bart’s relationship with his family. Molly’s best guess was that after Megan’s tragic accident, Bart hit overload, bailed, and disappeared into the wild. And his family continues to await his return.
The idea of Molly as a savior?
Well, good luck with that.
A week after Jo’s passing, Molly found Silas at the corral on her morning walk around. She still went to the stables first thing every morning but avoided Jo’s vacant stall. This morning, they were looking at horses in the corral.
After the usual exchange of pleasantries, Silas asked, “Can I put you in the rotation?”
The stables owned horses and mules that were rented to outfitter expeditions for backcountry trips, but it also boarded privately-owned horses. Silas had a sliding rate depending on what services the owner wanted. The highest rate, $1,000 a month, was for horses the owners wanted exercised daily. Most boarded horses were put out to pasture by day and got a bucket of grain in their stall at night. The stable workers kept the stalls clean and the horses well groomed. But the exercise horses got a one-hour daily workout according to the owner’s wishes. Silas, Willy, and Buck were experienced horsemen and rotated the exercise assignments.
“Sure. You just trying to humor me?”
“You’re the best horsewoman in the valley. Seems a shame to not take advantage of you. And, it will free up Willy and Buck to get livestock ready for expeditions just as we’re getting into the busy season.”
“You do know, of course, that those are fighting words--saying I’m the best horsewomanin the valley.”
Silas chuckled. “Yes, Molly, I know you can outride any man in the valley.”
“That’s better.”
No self-respecting barrel racer would ever acknowledge that a man could ride better.
“Are you thinking late afternoon when I’d normally ride with Jo?”
“That works. I post a schedule on the door in my office. There’s a notebook on my desk with a page of exercise instructions for each horse.”
“How many do you have now?”
“Four that need daily workouts. If we each take one and rotate them, they’ll get the experience of multiple riders. I think you’ll like it. These are some of the best horses in the valley, and they need a work out.”
“Do you need me today?”
“Today would be great if you can help.”
“Okay. See you at four.”
Jo walked away from the stables with a little bounce in her step. Okay, then. She was going to ride this afternoon. Really ride. Just like the old days with Jo. She’d ridden pretty much every day of her life since she was six, and she didn’t have a horse any more. The last few years riding Jo had been pretty sedentary events. The exercise horses were athletic animals in their prime, most getting trained for some event or another. Molly looked forward to the rotation.
She chuckled, knowing Silas had a mixed agenda. Yeah, he wanted to lighten the workload for Willie and Buck, but he was also helping her to move on from Jo.
Her office was still full of flowers that had been delivered for Jo, some of which were getting tired. She went through the bouquets, pulling the old, and refreshing the others. It was nice being surrounded by flowers. The aftermath of Jo’s passing had been positive. Being surrounded by friends at the cabin that afternoon, the day had had a nice feel to it. Good friends, western music, casual conversation, but, under it all, condolences and support for Molly. She’d wished Bart could have been there.
And flowers, emails, and cards continued arriving for a week after. She got many notes from former riders on the rodeo circuitwho’d seen Jo’s obituary. It felt good to know friends were out there who understood her loss.
Everyone was offering to be a resource for finding a replacement. Her loyalty to Jo was such that she wasn’t interested right now. But Silas’ request to exercise horses was perfect. She could ride every day. If Jo was looking down, that’s exactly what she’d want Molly to be doing. Anticipating a serious ride at the end of the day felt good.
She thought about Bart every day. No, she thought about Bart pretty much every hour. She was glad she had a visual image of his cabin and life. It might not look like that at all. But it was the image that had settled in her mind, and it was now fixed. It was in a secret location, but it didn’t feel so secret any more. He’d told her quite a bit about it, just not where it was, yet.
The secret business was more unsettling. She didn’t like secrets. What did he have going on that he didn’t want to talk about? He hadn’t said it was an internet business, but he needed the internet to check on it. Was he selling something? That’s how you made money. You sold stuff. What could he be selling?
Molly was resolved. She would find out on his next visit. Secrets were no good. If they were going to have a relationship, there’d be no secrets. As for his hideaway, well, she was going to find out about that, too.
She stopped to check on Red and his progress on the outdoor area at the diner. She’d seen it when she did her morning visit with Evelyn, but Red’s crew had not been on site, and shewanted to talk with him. Red and two workers were setting forms for a concrete pour scheduled for later that morning. Concrete pours were exciting. Dirt was instantly converted to clean, fresh, tidy surfaces.
Red was leaning on a shovel when Molly walked up. “How’s it going?”
