Mike cleared his throat. “If you don’t mind, Mal, I have time. I’m going to be helping Fern at the event barn this week anyway, so when I’m not too busy….”
Not too busy to keep an eye on a kid.
“Yeah, that’s fine. It’ll be good for him to go out a bit more, too.” I stuck my tongue out at Pay who was making a face at me for my statement. It wasn’t like I ever forced him outside if he didn’t want to, but it was also a conversation we’d always been having.
Crew snickered next to me, as did a few of the others who saw my expression.
Pay opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. “First, breakfast. Then research. Then talking to Mr. Mike about your schedule.”
Pay looked at his plate, then nodded. “Okay, Daddy.”
As the conversations around us went on, I leaned closer to Crew. “So, your sister gave you a heads up because she somehow knew we’d be together this morning?”
“Educated guess.” He looked amused.
“Not that I minded, by the way. Just… it’s a lot.”
A wrinkle between his eyebrows became more pronounced. I realized it was his worried face.
“Not too much, though?”
I moved my hand to his knee and squeezed once. “No.”
Then I pulled my hand away and continued to have my noisier-than-average breakfast while trying my best to feel just the right amount of whelmed.
For the next week, I got pretty much daily reports on how Operation Befriend the Magpies was going. It wasn’t, yet, but all the food was gone and Pay had even seen a crow flying over the event barn one day.
Mike had assured me he was having a blast with my boy. Something about having an enthusiastic kid hanging around almost daily being something he’d missed. Jenn had also told me basically the same thing, then she’d added that while Mike was the nicest guy, he wouldn’t just humor Pay if he had other things to do.
After another check by the vet, Ezio was gelded, which meant a couple of more weeks of his solitary confinement while he healed. Then he could go in with geldings for the first couple of months, because there’d been enough cases of freshly gelded horses impregnating mares even without the equipment intact. Biology and all that.
Luckily Ezio was an easygoing colt and didn’t mind being in the small sand paddock attached to his quarantine stall, as long as he had hay to eat and things to watch.
Whoever had planned these spaces had had good foresight into the horse psyche. There were two stalls on each side of the aisle that had these tiny paddocks attached to them. One side gave a much calmer view, while the other had the hustle and bustle of a working ranch.
Ezio was on the side where he could watch people and horses go by, and with a couple of enrichment toys, he was doing well.
Crew and I…. There’d mostly been a lot of quick glances and smiles whenever we crossed paths during the workdays. There’d also been a few touches and one quick kiss, but that was two days ago.
Payton, despite being very active and outdoorsy with Mike on most days, had endless energy in the evenings that didn’t let me get away for a moment.
I was doing groundwork with one of the young horses in the arena, when Russ ambled over.
I had the filly following voice commands like a dream, and when she got interested in him, all I had to do was cluck my tongue and she returned her attention to me.
After two more circles, I let her relax and walk for a bit, before calling her to me and gathering the lunge line as she approached. Then I unclipped her, patted her, and told her to do her thing for a moment.
She shook her whole body, then whinnied and bounced away from me like someone lit a fire under her hooves.
Chuckling, I walked over to Russ.
“She’s doing well,” he commented.
“Learns fast, this one. Much like Jaina did.”
“That mare of yours is one of the best horses I’ve ever seen. You did good. And Hawk did good to snatch you to our side.” He grinned, then snorted at the filly who was bucking for no particular reason.
I waited him out, knowing that he wouldn’t have come over for no reason.
