“When was that?”
“Last night, after I sent her some from the birth.”
“So you emailed her last night?”
“Email’s too slow. I, um, texted them.”
She whirled to face him. “You faker! You know how to text!”
He looked like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Doesn’t mean I like it. Seemed like I had no choice.”
“I’ll bet you surprised the heck out of her.”
He chuckled. “Yeah.”
Ding, ding, ding. It was official. Her uncle had a crush on Raquel, a significant one if he’d taught himself to text. She wanted to tease him but held back.
He might not have admitted it to himself yet. Better to leave it alone. He likely didn’t want to discuss his situation any more than she wanted to discuss hers.
“Well, it was very thoughtful of you to text her instead of calling. Let’s go get those videos so she won’t have to wait any longer.”
“Monty probably showed her some already.” He fell into step beside her.
“But those would be old. You can send her something more recent.”
“That’s my thought.”
A crush, for sure. She hurried into the barn ahead of him so he wouldn’t see her smile. “Mari? Tex? You guys in here?”
No response other than a short whinny from Speckles.
“I guess they’re up at the house.”
She leaned on the stall door and Speckles came over, her gaze expectant.
“Hey, girl, I should’ve stopped by the house and brought carrots.” She reached out and scratched under her mane. “I’ll just take a peek at your son and then go get some.”
“He looks good.” Uncle Graham propped his arms on the stall door and gazed at Monty, who’d followed his mom over but stood a couple of feet back, his stubby tail switching back and forth
“He does look good. Love those markings.”
“Like someone flung paint on his haunches.”
“I wanted to name him Rorschach, but I knew Tex would never go for it.”
“That’s for sure.”
“When did Monty take off Speckles’ tail wrap? Was it gone this morning?”
“I think so. He probably took it off last night.”
She’d been so focused on that cowboy she hadn’t noticed. She also hadn’t absorbed the reality of this foal.
Now that he was here, she had questions. She’d read up on training a foal, but she’d also be in charge of teaching her son the basics. She wanted him involved in those training sessions. Too bad she’d decided to minimize contact with Monty, who’d be a great source of information.
“Want to go in?”
“I don’t need to. It’s nice just watching them.”
