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“Yeah. I need someone I can trust.” He pointed a thumb toward the arena. “I’m not sure I can count on that cowgirl over there.”
Eli looked over and scratched his head. “Aunt Beth?”
“Yeah.”
A giggle. “I’m going to tell her you said that.”
Grayson ruffled the boy’s hair. “Thanks a lot.”
Eli lifted his shoulders, still grinning.
“Okay, I still need your help, though. I’ll show you what to do.” He paused. Let his words soak in a bit. “Would you be willing to do that?” He pointed toward a little roan mare. She was a pocket pony if he’d ever met one. She might just be part Labrador. All sweet gentleness. Like Mr. Pickles. “You’ll also get to ride Lexi, one of the best horses in the herd.”
Eli stared at Lexi. “I don’t know.”
“Would you at least come meet her?”
He wanted to take the boy’s hand, but Eli didn’t need that—especially not in front of the all the other kids who were watching. What he needed was Lexi.
“Come on.” Grayson walked toward the horses. Beth had mounted up most of the kids already.
Footsteps pounded the dirt. Eli appeared beside Grayson. “I like her color. She’s red and silvery.”
“I do too.”
They walked up to Lexi, and the horse stretched out her neck and lowered her head so Eli could rub her forehead. He skimmed his fingers across the silky nose, like he’d done with Remy on his last camp visit.
Lexi blew out a soft breath. Eli looked up at Grayson and smiled. A smile so big and wide that it almost made a grown man cry. This.Thiswas why he needed to open a camp in Oregon.
“Ready to hop on?”
He nodded.
Grayson grabbed the nearby mounting block, untied Lexi’s lead, and set the block in place. Eli stepped up and Grayson helped him onto the horse, tied off the lead to the saddle strings, and slipped the reins into the boy’s hands.
He scanned the arena. Beth helped the last kid on and then led Rex to a mounting block for herself. She swung her leg over and rode up the line. Passed him.
“Good job, cowboy.” She leaned in, whispered the words for only him. Her eyes landed on Eli and Lexi, then flitted back to him.
His heart skittered.
“Okay, everyone, stay in line and keep your horses on the trail, single file.” He turned Maverick back and rode to the front of the line. He paused next to Lexi. “Okay, Eli, follow me. Your job is to stay about one-horse length behind me. You’re the leader for all the rest of the group.”
Eli nodded and held his reins against the horn.
He gave the kids instructions on how to guide the horses with direct reining—though for the most part, the trail and the horse in front of them would keep them on track. He led the group in a loop around the entire arena twice, giving him a chance to see how each of the riders was doing, and then stopped at the gate to unlatch it and side-pass Maverick to swing it wide open.
They headed out on the five-mile loop trail, twisting through the spruce and pine trees and catching glimpses of Mink Lake shimmering through the stand.
Every time he turned back and saw Eli smile, it nearly split his heart in two. He couldn’t give Marie the miracle she hoped for, but he was here, in Deep Haven, keeping the camp running. And because of that, Eli might experience some of the same healing power of horses that Grayson had.
That wasn’t so bad.
They snaked through a hairpin turn on the trail, which let him see the other riders behind him. At the end of the line, Beth was pointing out something to the nearby riders. She looked over at him. Smiled.
And having a partner wasn’t so bad either.
* * *
