“Ah, makes sense.” I chuckled quietly. “Mine was my mom’s best friend, Alice, or one of our hands, this tall and handsome forty-something cowboy.” I realized I had never told anyone that before, and Wy must’ve seen the brief panic in my expression.
She looked at me, acceptance clear in her gaze. “Welcome to the club.” She smiled. “I have a wife and we have a boyfriend. It’s all good.” Then she got serious and added, “And if anyone givesanyoneelse trouble for who they are into as long as it’s legal and whatnot, you tell someone. We don’t tolerate bigots here. We’ll just have to hold back Jenn so she doesn’t try to kick ass.”
I laughed. “Somehow, I can see that.” Looking over at the stalls, I mused, “They seem like good people.”
Wy read my tone correctly and hummed. “Too good to be true?” I made the seesaw motion with my hand, and she laughed. “They’re not. They’re all exactly like they appear. I haven’t met a more wholesome group of people. It’s sickening, really.”
Chuckling, I rubbed my hands together. “Okay. Put me to work, boss.”
“I started on the stalls, but then I had to go check on a horse and someone called and….” She harrumphed. We both knew how that was. “So, if you’ll continue that, I’m gonna go to my so-called office”—she gestured at a stall that had been converted at some point and had a beat-up desk and an armchair for visitors—“and call the farrier.”
“Sounds good. Consider it done.”
“Good man. Oh, and if you want to listen to music, the rule is just one earbud. Not both.”
“Understood. I’ll keep that in mind.” I gave her a two-finger salute and walked down the aisle to the wheelbarrow.
I rolled up the sleeves of my flannel shirt and got to work.
I cleaned all the remaining stalls, and then swept the aisle while there were no horses inside. My dad had always said not to do it when horses were in, just because the dust rose and could irritate their breathing.
There were dozens of little things like that I had in my memory bank, and all of them held bitterness. Not because they were bad advice—although probably there were very outdated ones too—but because of what my dad had done. How we’d ended up after his death.
I sighed as I finished the aisle. Then a couple of hands walked in with horses in tow, and we got to chatting about them for a bit. It was nice to meet them, or meet them again as it might’ve been, because I realized the older one had been at the cookout.
At the end of my workday, I found Wy in her office and sat in the chair.
“Everything good?” she asked, looking at me over some reading glasses.
“Yeah. Perfect. I’m going to go collect my kid and then get home to make dinner and… yeah.” I couldn’t help but smile widely.
Her expression echoed mine. “I’m glad. Seems like you needed a good fresh start.”
It was a statement, so at first I said nothing, but then I sighed. “Yeah. Definitely. Living in a town wasn’t too bad, but I’m just happier on a ranch.”
“And your kiddo?”
I snorted. “I love him more than life itself, but that boy isn’t a ranch kid and I doubt he’ll ever be. He loves Juanpablo though.”
A sharp bark of laughter burst out of her. “Well, he’s one of the few who do. That thing is demonic.”
“Nah, I think he’s just loud and misunderstood.” I winked.
Once she stopped laughing, she asked, “So you don’t have a horse of your own to bring here? I know we have room.”
The joy was sucked out of that tiny office faster than I thought possible.
“Nah. Well, I do. But she’s at…an equine rescue. It was the best place for her when we lost the property.”
Wy’s gaze filled with questions, but she held them back. “That’s shitty. I’m sorry.”
I gave her a small smile and nodded. There were no words for how shitty exactly.
“Hey, did I show you where these go?” she asked, lifting her walkie-talkie off the desk.
“No, you didn’t. Crew said there are some in his office, though.”
“Okay, let me show you ours. We have the most, so we have a station for them here….” She led the way out of the stall office and past the tack room.
