Page 2 of Seeing Harper

“Maybe not all of them, but one of them might want to run it. It’s a thought…”

“True, that is true. You never know how people are going to change when they grow up. But the one thing I do know is that I’ll do both for as long as I can, and hopefully always manage to find a little time for me and the horses.”

Harper turned onto a long drive about half a mile down from her parents’ tree farm and Clay started paying attention to everything outside the car for the first time since he’d gotten in her car. There were white wooden fences as far as the eye could see breaking the rolling hill into separate pastures for the horses grazing in them on both sides of the drive. The pastures were deep green and lush with grass. There were century oaks scattered one or two in each pasture to provide shade if the horses wanted to take advantage of it, and there were three sided shelters that would easily shelter half a dozen horses or more in the far corners of each pasture in case unexpected weather drove the horses to look for shelter before they could be brought back into the main barn. Each of these shelters were placed with their opening facing the barn so anyone looking in their directions could tell at a glance if horses were in them.

The barn was an impressive thing to see. If he didn’t know it was a barn, he’d have thought it was a three story home built of natural stone with a gabled red-tiled roof. There were massive double doors at either end of the huge, chalet sized building, and a regular sized door beside them, as well as on the sides. There were windows every few feet down the sides of the building with heavy wooden shutters closed over them. It sat to the left side of the drive.

At the very back of the property, but on the right side of the drive, was a white two-story country house with a typical wrap around porch sheltered by a sky blue-colored tin half-roof that matched the main roof, and was supported by four 6x6 square wooden columns set equally around the house to support the roof over the porch. The yard was as green and lush as the pastures, but neatly manicured with flowers around the trees and a tire swing hanging from the tree in the front yard.

“This is beautiful. I had no idea this was back here. I mean, I’d seen the signs saying Bigsby Equine Center so I knew it was back here, but, wow,” Clay said.

“It is so beautiful. And so peaceful. When I’m here I feel balanced, at ease, happy. I feel like I belong here.”

“I can see why,” Clay said.

Harper parked out of the way beneath one of the old trees at the back of the parking lot beside the barn and walked around to the trunk of her car.

Clay got out and walked around to meet her at the back of the car. He watched as she opened the trunk and took out a pair of cowboy boots. She kicked off her sneakers and slipped her feet into the boots then leaned over tucking her jeans into the shafts of the boots. She reached into the trunk and took out a pair of suede work gloves and tucked them into the waist band of her jeans.

He got distracted watching the rounded curve of her ass when she was tucking in her pant legs and didn’t realize that she’d caught him.

“You alright back there?” she asked with an amused expression, straightening up and turning to face him.

He nodded slowly, confidently. “Yep. Doing good. I’m liking seeing this side of you.”

“I noticed that,” Harper said with a smirk.

“Huh? No! Not that. I mean you, the real you that nobody ever gets to see. Has anybody else ever been out here with you?”

“Summer. But she’s more interested in the guys that worked here. Or she was, when we were younger. She’s kind of over it now. But that’s fine, this is my special place anyway. I don’t need anyone else to get it.”

“I get it,” Clay said as he fell into step with her as she walked toward the barn.

She looked up at Clay walking beside her. Tall, long legs, slender body but with wide shoulders and a muscular neck and arms. He had the dark hair of both his parents and the naturally olive-toned skin. His eyes were brown, but with a slight hazel tint to them, and his lashes just weren’t fair. They actually brushed his cheekbones when he blinked. Said cheekbones were high and contributed as much to his overall chiseled appearance as his jawline did. His lips weren’t pouty, but they were full and naturally just the right tone and color to put them halfway between dusky pink and red, which against his dark skin was almost as sinful as the deep, baritone voice he spoke so effortlessly with. “You know? I think you might get it.”

He smiled at her. “All it takes is a second to see you here, or to listen to you talking about it and there’s no doubt what it means to you.”

She smiled at him and leaned against him for a second. “Thanks, Clay. You just don’t know how much I appreciate that.”

Clay winked at her as they stepped inside the barn.

“Hello, babies! I’m here!” she called out.

Half a dozen horses whinnied and neighed at her greeting, most of them shoving their heads over the doors of their stalls, some still chewing a mouthful of hay as they vied for her attention.

And he was right. This barn was huge. He quickly glanced up the main walkway between the front and back entrances/exits of the barn and realized the barn could house thirty horses — fifteen stalls on each side. Those housed in the barn at the moment were spread out, scattered up and down each side.

Harper took her time and starting with the closest to the entrance of the barn stopped and spoke to each horse, rubbing their ears, kissing their noses and giving them a treat she’d stopped to take a handful of from one of the metal supply cabinets when they first walked in. She spent a full five or six minutes with each animal, whispering to them as they nickered back to her, before moving to the next.

He watched in awe as these creatures responded to her like she was one of them. They adored her, just as she did them, and there was no doubt about that.

She looked back at Clay. “Want to give them a treat?” she asked, inviting him into her world.

“Do you think they’d take it from me?”

“They might. Only one way to find out.” She held out a couple of treats to him and gestured to the horse whose head she was stroking as she stood at his stall.

Clay accepted the treats from her and stepped up, clicking his tongue to get the horse’s attention.