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"Good morning, Harper. How are you today?"
Harper bobbed her head up and down and snorted once more. Everleigh giggled.
Henry unzipped their sleeping bags, and she sat up. He stood, then held his hand down to her and lifted her to her feet. Harper snorted again but before she could reach out and pet her new friend, Henry wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lips fully. She knew she'd never tire of his kisses, because he could kiss like mad. She giggled when he pulled away.
"Why are you laughing at me?"
"I'm not laughing. I was just thinking you have mad kissing skills."
He laughed then and she joined him. The heavy tension of last night had lifted and it felt great.
Harper snorted again and she reached over and patted her jaw. Henry slowly raised his hand and patted Harper's jaw and she let him. The smile on his face was breathtaking.
"She's letting me touch her."
"It's beautiful."
"Hey there, Harper. Thank you for such a great gift this morning. But how did you manage to get out of your stall?"
"I was wondering that too."
Henry opened their stall door and held her hand until she stepped onto the concrete barn floor. Harper followed her to the stall. But she couldn't see anything different. She opened the door all the way and Harper walked right inside.
Everleigh shrugged. "I'll watch her today and see what she does."
"Okay. Mom and Dad brought a coffee pot and supplies. I'll get a pot going while you feed the horses."
"Perfect. Thank you."
She opened the feed bag, found the scoop Dr. Emily had pointed out last night, and began scooping the correct number of scoops into each feeding trough inside each stall. She smiled brightly at each horse as she fed them. "Good morning." She said to each one. Some nodded, a couple were still skittish, which she understood. They had time.
Once all the horses were fed, and she'd checked out Queenie's wounds, she joined Henry for a cup of coffee. He was doing an inventory of the supplies and equipment so he could text his mom.
He found a wooden wire spool that he turned over and they used it as a table. He poured them each a coffee and pulled cheese and cookies from the cooler. As she nibbled, she heard a noise and looked down the barn to see Harper's head over the stall door. With her lips, she managed to play with the latch on her stall door.
She whispered. "Look."
He watched in silence for a few minutes then they both burst out laughing as Harper came trotting toward them.
"You're a Houdini." He chuckled.
He stood and Harper backed up. Her eyes rounded in fear.
Everleigh stood. "I'll bet that's why he beat her. She got out. She's afraid of you now."
He nodded and slowly lifted his hand with half of his cookie left. Harper stared at the cookie, then at Henry. Her eyes came to Everleigh's then back to the cookie. She took a step forward and waited. Then another. She snorted and bobbed her head, but Henry stood perfectly still. Finally, the cookie won, and Harper gently nibbled the cookie from Henry's hand.
He softly said, "I see you like cookies. Not sure how Lara will feel about me giving my cookies to horses, but I'll tell her it was a bonding tool."
He chuckled and so did she. She pet Harper on the neck. "Are you trying to steal my boyfriend?"
Harper nodded and snorted and both she and Henry laughed. What a beautiful morning. Her heart felt close to bursting.
An alarm on Henry’s phone rang and he glanced at it. "I have to pick you up to head to the meeting in an hour."
"Oh, I almost forgot. Holy shit, we have to go."
"Secure the feed. Let's get Harper into her stall. I'll zip-tie her latch until we come back. As soon as your negotiations are over today, we'll come back here."
