I chuckled. “Ah. Someone’s eager to get outta there.”
“Imelda Staunton is due any day now, yes.” Crew let out a satisfied sigh and stepped away from the stall.
“Did you have anything specific for me today?” I asked before he could start on any other subject.
He squinted at me in a way that was decidedly assessing. “Yeah, actually. Since Jaina has been living a life of leisure lately, you should start her easy. So go check the fences in the back pasture.”
I narrowed my eyes minutely. “You sure that’s the most pressing task for the day?”
It wasn’t. We both knew it. There would always be something more important, because I’d already learned the Harringtons were meticulous about the fences.
Crew drew to his full height and leveled me with a look. “Are you questioning me, Mal?”
Yeah. There it was. He was my boss, and I better fucking remember it.
“Not at all.” I swallowed the “sir” that almost popped out of my mouth. “I’ll get to it.”
“Good.” He turned and walked toward his office.
I gritted my teeth until I made it outside, then I forced myself to exhale. Jesus Christ.
Wy took one look at me when I entered the stock barn and widened her eyes.
“Please don’t.” I went past her to grab a two-way before I forgot. “I’m taking Jaina to the back pasture. Fence check.”
“That sounds like a good way for her to settle back into being a working horse,” Wy said gently and quietly as she followed me to Jaina’s stall.
I grunted. She wasn’t wrong.Crewwasn’t wrong. I just fucking hated being coddled. I could’ve found a way to start Jaina on my day off. Her being here shouldn’t have meant that something else didn’t get done.
I opened the door and greeted my girl who nickered softly. Then I stepped out of her way and she walked out of the stall, stopping once she was fully in the aisle.
“Oh, right. You don’t know where to go yet. Sorry, girl.” I patted her and led the way to the closest cross-ties.
She snorted, and Wy let out a small giggle.
I didn’t clip her in. There was no need. In the extremely unlikely case of Jaina freaking out and tearing herself off the crossties, she’d cause more damage to herself and the stable than she would if she had the freedom to just move away.
There was no need to tell her to stay, so I went to grab some brushes and tossed one to Wy when I got back. She looked at me with one sarcastic eyebrow up, but started to groom the other side.
“She really is a gorgeous horse, Mal. How long have you had her?”
I smiled as I kept checking every inch of the mare for things I needed to know or treat. “She’s nine this year, so seven years, give or take.”
Wy let out a sound of understanding. “Oh, so you really trained her from the ground up?”
“Yeah. I got her from an auction in Iowa. Dirt cheap, too, because she was a late bloomer.”
“I can’t believe she wasn’t this gorgeous from the start. You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you? Yes you are.” She used her fingers to untangle Jaina’s forelock.
It took me ten more minutes to have her tacked up. I could tell she had lost muscle mass, but that was expected. At least the rescue had plenty of space for the horses to stay active, so there was only so much I had to rebuild.
I brushed back my hair and put my ballcap on, then climbed onto my horse for the first time in… I didn’t even want to think about it.
She seemed just as excited as I was, her ears on a swivel, and snorting softly when Juanpablo brayed loud enough to wake the dead.
“That’s a donkey. You remember, right?” We’d had one on the farm for a while when Jaina was younger. We’d sold him off to a friend whose kid wanted it for 4H. No, that donkey had been nothing like Juanpablo.
As I was about to guide Jaina away from the yard, Wy called out to me. “Hey, take this with you.” She held out a water bottle I could clip onto Jaina’s saddle.
