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Not that I knew what to say to a horse, but I had to think of something. “Hi, horse.”
“Jesus,” Noah huffed. “Name him. That might help.”
“He doesn’t have a name?”
“Nah. Just been calling him boy.”
To name something that was big, at least in my own mind. It was a moniker the horse would always have. “Don’t you all name them weird things, like… I don’t know, Lollipop or something?”
“Lollipop? Good lord, Eli.”
I laughed, realizing that was a bad name. “Okay, okay, how about…” I thought for a minute, and was blank for most of it, but then it came to me, and it came so quickly and forcefully, I knew it had to be the right name. “Spirit.”
“Spirit,” Noah repeated, then said, “I like it. It’s perfect for him.”
I remembered Noah saying to break the horse, but not his spirit. I wasn’t sure how that was done, but I saw it in the horse’s eyes. He had spirit and there was no way I’d break that.
“Okay, so, your name is Spirit, and we’re gonna try to get a saddle on you, but I’m guessing there are a few steps to go before that happens.”
“Yes. Sure are.”
“So, while Noah lets me know what to do first, I’m just gonna be here, for you, hanging out. We’ll… I guess we’ll hopefully become friends. How does that sound?”
He didn’t answer, and I didn’t expect him to, but he was relaxed and that made me relax too. Noah left me with him, but didn’t go far, as he watched and instructed me further, I walked around the outside of the corral with Spirit walking in it, and had a long, one-sided talk with him.
“I guess you liked it where you came from, open field and all that. I was on the open road, so I know that feeling, running free. It’s not bad here, though, more of a home than anything that open.”
I didn’t know what I was saying, but the horse and I walked around together, my two feet, his four, and now and then I’d pet him if he was close enough to the fence, but never got out of his vision.
Noah had me stop him near the gate and he opened it, grabbing a fistful of Spirit’s mane to lead him to the other corral. I watched, confused, thinking I’d done something wrong, but Noah slapped me on the back once I made it over to him as he closed the gate. “Good first day.”
“That was it?”
“You’re gaining the horse’s trust. He’s not gonna let you near him if he doesn’t trust you. You did well. Let’s go have some lunch.”
I lingered there at the fence, looking at Spirit as he neared another of the horses, and I smiled to myself. Trust. That’s all there was, really, between a man and a horse and a man and another man, I thought. Trust came before anything.
When I started for the house, I knew then that Noah was learning to trust me and letting me learn to trust him. It started as simply as I had started with the horse. Calm words and a tender touch.
I knew then something else. I was Noah’s. I was his untamed horse in need of breaking, and he was going to make sure my spirit, when everything was said and done, was intact. That’s all I could really ask of the man…
Chapter Nine
Igotasteakfor supper that night, Noah laughing the entire time he was cooking, but he made sure that I knew he wasn’t laughing at me. “You’re a natural,” he said to me more than once. “That horse was putty in your hand.”
“Wait until my next panic attack, and that won’t be the case.”
“Oh, we’ll fix those, move ‘em right outta you. Here,” he grunted as he pushed my plate in front of me. “Eat. Get some more meat on all those bones.”
“I used to have meat on these bones, muscles too.”
The steak was calling me, juicy and fragrant, but Noah stared at me like he wanted to smack me, and that took my attention. “You idiot. You’re still muscled, you’re just on the thin side.”
“Can’t help it. My new boss works the weight right off me.”
“Yeah, yeah, you ain’t seen work yet,” he threatened. There was a glimmer in his eye that I caught before he turned back to grab his own plate. I had a feeling the threat didn’t only mean actual work, but work one man in the lifestyle did to another…
It was a good night. We ate our steaks while laughing with one another, Noah teasing me about the name Lollipop. “That’s what I should start callingyou.”
