The three of us laughed so hard, we had to hold ourselves up by bending over onto our knees. Lacey punched me in the arm, but it didn’t hurt as much as it usually did because she was laughing so hard. We all straightened up again, wiping at our wet eyes and grinning like the idiots we were. We started in on some more small talking, but didn’t get far before Sawyer had to go.
“I’ll see you both around,” he said, tipping his cowboy hat to Lacey first, then to me. “Maybe next weekend at the barbecue.”
We watched him climb back into his truck, turn around, and drive down the long, dirt driveway to the main country road, kicking up dirt as he went, so much that I couldn’t see his truck by the time he turned off the property.
Lacey turned to me. “Let’s get this little guy out of the trailer before he overheats.” She stepped back so I could open the back of it. “What did you say his name was? Elrod?”
I dropped open the bottom, creating a small ramp, and hoisted up the top. “It’s Elroy, which is just as god awful as Elrod.”
She giggled. “I’m gonna need to do something about that. Aww, he’s precious.” She leaned to get a better look at the colt, her hands resting on the side of the trailer.
I stepped inside slowly. “Easy now,” I mumbled, keeping my voice low as I reached slowly for Elroy’s halter. He shook his ears, but didn’t shy away, his eyes staying steady on me.
I’d spent an hour on the ranch yesterday before I had to take cover at a nearby hotel just standing around on the paddock, letting the colt approach me on his own terms so he could get used to me. This morning, I groomed him slowly, all the while talking to him the way I would a human, but in a low, soothing voice. He was skittish from lack of socialization, but I thought he’d come around nicely once Lacey got her hands on him. He’d just been too much for that old rancher to handle.
I pulled him out by the lead on his halter, still speaking to him nice and low. He came easily enough, his hooves clomping on the trailer floor until he stepped out onto the dirt.
Lacey looked him up and down. He was a small quarter horse, only about thirteen months old, chestnut-colored, with a white patch running from between his eyes all the way down to his nose.
“I thought you said he was hard to handle,” she said. She was fearless around horses, same as I was, which was one of the reasons she was so good training them. She took the lead from me and just let Elroy check out what he could see of his new surroundings. He stepped around in the dirt and shook his head.
“That’s what that old rancher said. Really, I think he just hasn’t been around enough people and other horses. There weren’t many animals on the farm. Little guy warmed up to me well enough.”
Lacey reached to pet Elroy between his big dark eyes, moving slowly. He didn’t flinch as she ran a light hand from his forehead to his nose.
“He’s sweet,” she said. Her hands moved over his neck, giving him a good scratch like she would for Riley. “Young, but sweet. I can start with his training tomorrow. Let’s just get him used to the farm for now; put him out in the paddock with one or two of the calmer horses.” She thought a moment, her dark eyes still traveling over every inch of our new colt.
“Getting him ready for racing is going to take time. I’ll be starting at square one.” She looked from the horse to me, her brown eyes serious. She had a smudge of dirt on her cheek. The girl was always dirty from something, even right after a shower. “With as much as I’m still working with the other horses, and now this guy, we’re gonna need someone at the ranch to tend to the barn and horses’ basic needs. I won’t have time and neither will you.”
I hated to put out the money, but she was right. We should’ve hired someone last fall when we added three extra horses to the stable. We just worked so well together, I didn’t want to upset our happy little applecart by adding some stranger.
I sighed. “I’ll put an ad in the Register.”
She gave me a hard look, her sandy brows high, and I knew what she was thinking without her even saying so. But she also knew enough to just keep quiet, at least about this. There was no way in hell I was putting an ad any damned place on the internet. I didn’t even own a computer. The Round Rock Register wanted pages would just have to do.
Chapter Four
Emma
Tuesday
I walked around the back end of the barn, noting the rotting wood and overgrown weeds choking the rear exit. Most of the farm was overgrown. The fields hadn’t been tilled in ages. A few lonely cows were out to pasture, looking as neglected as the rest of the property. The rest had been sold, according to Mr. Myers, who was watching me assess his old, dilapidated barn with an open amount of suspicion.
He’d made it clear when I arrived that he was against hiring a young lady, as he put it, but he was desperate. No one else had agreed to the terms of employment and low pay after laying eyes on the farm. I needed the job — I had some savings, but was burning through it quickly with paint and furnishings for my new place — but I didn’t think I needed it this bad. Ten dollars an hour for the months of backbreaking labor it would take to whip this place into shape just wasn’t worth it.
“You said you knew how to look after horses,” Mr. Myers said, his words harsh, like he was itching to catch me in a lie.
“I’ve ridden them since I was about three,” I answered.
“I want to start charging to stable horses on the farm. You could help with that.”
I’d already been inside the barn and got out as quickly as I could. No light, no ventilation, and the damp smell of moldy decay, rusting farm equipment, and rotting hay. I hadn’t even wanted to sneeze in there for fear the roof would come down on my head. Mr. Myers had stayed outside, which I thought was telling. I wouldn’t feel comfortable sheltering a stray dog in that deathtrap of a barn, let
alone horses. It would cost thousands of dollars just to get the condition of it from dangerous to poor. From the look of the house and the rest of the property, that was money Mr. Myers didn’t just didn’t have to spend.
“I thank you kindly for your time,” I said, tipping my hat to him. “I’ll give you a call as soon as I sort through my options.”
He grumbled at that, but I just bid him a good day and walked out to where I’d parked my car. I could feel him raking me with his squinty stare the whole way. My cell phone rang as I was getting into my car. I pulled it out of my pocket. It was my sister.