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Kendra sank into a chair and buried her head in her hands. She sure hoped she could pull this horse thing off; she was starting to feel guilty and not a little scared for the desperate lie she’d told.
Anxiety persisted as she forced down a couple pieces of toast, woke up Noah to send his excited little self over to the main house, and finally, entered the barn five minutes before seven. Despite her apprehension, she was determined to follow through with the situation she’d gotten herself into.
A half-dozen bales of hay littered the cement aisle below an entrance to the second level of the barn. Footsteps above her head drew her attention seconds before Colton appeared in the opening with another bale.
Show time. She pasted a smile on her face and called up, “Good morning.”
The bale he released bounced off the others in the aisle at an odd angle and landed against her legs with enough force to send her sprawling backward onto the cement floor.
“Son of a bitch,” Colton muttered, leaping from the loft onto the other bales.
She was attempting to push the heavy bale off when he grasped the strings holding it together with one hand and tossed it aside. He reached for her arm and hauled her to her feet. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, a bit dazed, but otherwise fine.
“Never know when one will try to escape.”
Was that an actual joke? She brushed her hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ears. “It’s a good thing I was here, then.” As she twisted around to brush off her jeans, she added, “I think.”
Backside free of dust and hay leaves, she turned back to face him. He stared at her with a frown that deepened as his gaze swept the length of her. His mouth tightened and his jaw clenched. Just as her stomach began to sink, his expression cleared and he gave her a surprisingly cordial smile.
“Let’s get you started, shall we?” He turned for the opposite end of the barn without waiting for an answer, leaving her to trail after him. His smile and friendly tone did nothing to alleviate her nervousness. Not only did she worry he’d discover her lie, but his kindness was too much of a one-eighty from the day before. And the groceries made absolutely no sense. He hadn’t stayed to claim responsibility, should she even thank him now?
Before she could decide, he started explaining what he expected her to do. “Each horse has a sheet tacked to their stall. It tells their name, how much grain, and how many flakes of hay.”
He opened the door and stepped inside a stall with a big tannish colored horse. A quick glance at the sheet told her the animal’s name was Nobel. The horse pushed its nose against Colton’s chest as he reached up to rub its forehead. Kendra’s feet rooted to the cement.
Colton turned, eyebrows raised in silent challenge.
Okay. I can do this. One foot in front of the other.
She lifted her chin and stepped inside. The horse stretched its nose out toward her, too. The moment it made contact, it made a loud huffing sound and she took a hasty step back out into the aisle.
“I can see fine from here.”
Thankfully, Colton didn’t push the issue. He indicated a metal contraption with bars and a bin underneath it attached to the wall just inside the door. “Hay goes here, grain here.”
Kendra looked down the aisle to see more than half the animals had their heads extended over their doors and many were looking at her with wide brown eyes. A few of them neighed and bobbed their heads with obvious impatience.
“Can’t I just feed them over the doors?” she asked, remembering Britt’s instructions to Cody the day before.
“Not the grain,” Colton said. Next he showed her a wheelbarrow to use for grain and how to fill it so she could go from stall to stall. “Each barn has its own wheelbarrow. I’ve thrown down enough hay in here, but you’ll need to get eight bales from the hayloft in each of the other two barns—and sweep up when you’re done. It should take you about an hour for all three, so come find me when you’re done, and then I can show you where everything is for cleaning the stalls. Any questions?”
Yeah, what will you be doing?
She shook her head, wondering if she could handle this; she’d barely been able to budge that hay bale before. And, it was bad enough she had to go into the stalls with the huge beasts, but clean them, too?
She couldn’t.
She opened her mouth, fully prepared to tell him to forget it, but one look at his face stalled the words. A gleeful sparkle in his eyes told her he fully expected her to give up before she even began. Game revealed, his expression challenged her more than if he’d told her outright that he didn’t think she could handle it. She swallowed her doubt and strengthened her resolve.
“I’ll see you in an hour.”
The light in his eyes dimmed as he turned to stride away. She sent up a brief prayer for strength—and not just the physical kind, either.
After filling the grain wheelbarrow to a manageable level, she started with…she looked at the sheet again…Nobel. Filling the scoop three quarters full, she fortified herself to open the door.
The horse came forward eagerly, and she forced herself not to back away. He hadn’t hurt Colton. She peered into the stall, only to jerk her head back when the animal blew into her hair. Eyeing him, she muttered, “What? Give me a minute.”
