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I stayed a few steps behind her, trying to calm my rushing heart. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for Moira and me to be spending time alone together like this.
She went inside, and I followed, turning the corner into the living room and stopped short only a step behind Moira as she froze.
“How cute,” she whispered, sneaking forward, and looking down at the couch.
Day was sprawled out, fast asleep, Jenny sleeping beside him with her front leg over his chest.
“Well, the house is in one piece,” I whispered, smiling down at Moira as she looked up at me with a smile on her face. “Let’s not wake them. Do you want a cup of coffee?”
“Sure,” she whispered, following me into the kitchen.
I’d just poured her a cup of coffee when I looked up through the kitchen window to see George stalking over to the back porch covered in dust.
“Ah, shit. What is it now—” I set her coffee in front of her and gave her an apologetic glance before walking out onto the back porch, tipping my hat at George.
“We have a situation,” George griped, then lifted a hand to Moira, who had followed me out and was leaning on the doorframe. “We got a filly in labor.”
“Labor? How—”
“She’s not one of ours. Jumped the fence somehow, but she’s strugglin’—”
“Okay, let’s go,” I said, handing my cup of coffee back to Moira. “I’ll be back in a while. Make yourself at home.”
Moira opened her mouth to say something, but I was off the porch in a flash, running after George toward the stable.
ChapterEight
Moira
“Jenny knows all kinds of tricks,” Day mused over the shabby dining room table in the bunkhouse. “She can sit, and stay, and roll over, and even play dead!” He sipped his milk, his nose crinkling excitedly as I set down a plate of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets with ranch dressing in front of him. He made guns with his fingers. “If you do this, and gopew pew, she lays down and pretends she’s dead!”
“That’s hilarious.” I smiled, sipping from a can of Diet Coke.
Day bit into a nugget, his eyes sparkling. “I like hanging out with Jenny when you’re working.”
“I’m sure Grant will let you play with her again.”
I leaned back in my chair, sighing deeply as I looked around the humble kitchen. Sunlight flittering through the screened-in kitchen window, the curtains drifting in the breeze. After finishing up my tour with Grant, I’d picked up Day and taken him into town to pick up some groceries. That kid was growing like a weed, and he went through an entire gallon of milk over the weekend.
“You have some coursework to do, kiddo,” I reminded him as he picked up the last chicken nugget. Day made a face at me and popped the last nugget in his mouth, chewing slowly. “It’s science today, honey. You love those courses.”
Day gave me a hint of smile before draining the rest of his milk and putting his dishes in the sink.
“Set a timer, Mama. I bet I can finish the unit in thirty minutes.”
“Well, don’t rush through it,” I urged, but he was already running toward his room to get the laptop we shared.
I set the timer on my phone and settled in the living room, flipping through the local channels on the ancient TV while Day rocketed through his coursework.
Day had been homeschooled since day one. He was used to it now, and when we’d lived in Dallas, he’d been part of a homeschool group that had outings throughout the week. Recently, he’d decided he wanted to be an astronaut and had even qualified for a special space camp that would be taking place next summer when he met the age requirement.
But he had to keep up with his school work and keeping him focused had always been my biggest challenge.
He was smart like me, loved math and science. I sometimes called him my little calculator, and the two of us spent a good deal of time playing sudoku or firing off the multiplication table to pass the time.
But there were parts of him I didn’t understand, those little things about him I knew could only come from one place.
I curled my legs under my ass and settled into the couch, watching the weather report as Day hollered in excitement.
