by Wendy Nickel
She watched him go and gave a faint wave as he turned to smile at her. Then he turned for the cashier at the hostess stand to pay for his sandwich.
She ate her mashed potatoes in the comfort of a dream and then got the rest to go. And when the waitress brought the check a few minutes later, Josie found that he had paid for her dinner and left her a note:
This one’s on me. It’ll be a long night. Text me some updates? Or, if you need anything. -Cam
His number, written extra carefully, was also included under his name.
She had what seemed to be a collaborator... a new friend. Did she have something more as well?
“No real activity, not for long anyway. He’d wake, sorta, and move his head, or try to shift around. He’s exhausted, like you said earlier, so mostly sleeping. His breathing seems really steady though. Someone has been with him every minute since you’ve seen him, doc,” shared Pammy. “His name is Enzo. Please use his name.”
“That sounds reasonable. This is probably the first real rest he’s had in a long long time. Let’s see if we can’t interest him in some food, and maybe a coat and a warmer bed. Do you have a coat that will fit him here, or do you need to order one?” asked Dr. Grier, all business, the headache he’d been fighting now fading back with this worthy work.
Josie sucked in her breath at the thought of getting Enzo out of the wheelbarrow and began nodding to boost her attitude and get on board. She and Pammy and Dr. Grier were there to support him, no matter what.
She waited for direction from either Pammy or the vet and looked around the stall to try to anticipate what might be needed next.
“We have a few coats on hand that may fit him,” started Pammy. “Josie, go to the tack room, lowest file cabinet on the left has a few new coats still in the package. Go get them first. Then go get more of the blankets from the bottom of my closet up in the house.”
Pammy and the vet nodded to each other, each in agreement with where the other was going. Since spending so many hours with so many troubled cases, they knew each other’s next thoughts and processes well.
“What?” blurted Josie, reminding them they needed to use some words to help her know what was going on; that she wasn’t in on the eye-conversation happening between them.
“The biggest job is going to be keeping him warm.” Josie didn’t even know who said it, she was only grateful to hear what she should be spending her time and energy on in addition to the rest of her running list at the stables.
She ran for the coat, figuring correctly that Pammy and the vet were going to get Enzo up out of the barrow on their own and that he’d need at least something to cover his thin little body on this November night. It had been getting noticeably colder and colder in the evenings over the last two weeks.
Coming back, she looked at the sizes on the packages, and scrutinized which one looked the warmest. She had her number one pick of the three out of its wrapping and almost all the way shaken out to get around him.
She handed the coat to Pammy, who was at his head. Enzo was awake-ish, but not steady on his legs.
Probably stiff, thought Josie, from the cold and from being in the wheelbarrow so long.
Pammy had that coat on in a flash. Dr. Grier was on his knees in the shavings at Enzo’s side, giving him support to lean on with his chest and arms.
“Let’s see if we can get him interested in some food,” said the vet in a low and calm voice. Josie looked to Pammy for direction.
“Come here with him,” directed Pammy, who was definitely going to be the one to gather what she thought Enzo would need. She was the lifelong horse woman. Josie would be at a loss as to what to prepare, but she was keen to take notes to be sure she’d be better prepared for the next newcomer to the stables.
“Good fit,” said Pammy about the coat as she passed. “It was the one I was thinking of.”
Josie nodded, felt a wave of pride rush through her at being of some real help. She knelt in the shavings at Enzo’s head. She looked him in the eye and directed a beam of love in and through him.
Enzo blew his breath out and shifted his weight.
Josie heard the vet murmur something to Enzo. Or was he talking to her?
“Sorry, doc… what did you say?”
“He’s really lucky to not have a respiratory issue,” repeated the vet. “Given the state of the stall he was found in and his age.”
“His age?” asked Josie.”About how old do you think he is?”
“Mid to late 20s, definitely. He wouldn’t have made it another week. Still not sure he’s gonna make it through the night.”
“I had no idea,” marvelled Josie, genuinely stunned, and already sending up a silent prayer for Enzo to make it to a day where he would feel loved, full, and warm. That he would have at least one day to feel that.
Dr. Grier prescribed a few ounces of food get eaten every three hours. Two feedings later and well into the night, Enzo, covered in blankets, got to his feet, walked a few short steps and put his head in Pammy’s lap, nuzzling her in thanks.
Josie heard Pammy sigh and coo.
This was progress. Huge progress.
She pulled out her phone to check the time, figuring it would be a good add to the vet’s next check. After 11pm.
And she saw a text notification from a new number. Ewan gave me an update. Hope Enzo is okay. Am up late if you have news to share. -Cam
Josie didn’t even think, she began texting her reply.
He just took a few steps... got up on his own! Josie, grateful and excited, couldn’t move her fingers fast enough on the keys.
Really good to hear! I’ll be by in the morning. -C
Josie would’ve whooped for joy if it wouldn’t have disrupted all the rest of the horses, plus the newest addition and Pammy. Instead, she bit her biggest smile in order to stifle a laugh and wrapped her arms around herself, feeling tears of joy spring to her eyes.
3
Cam
He woke up 20 minutes before his alarm was set to go off… again. What was it actually like to sleep until the alarm went off? This had been going on for weeks now, since before he moved from northern California and after he’d gotten to Maple Valley.
Weird, he said to himself. And annoying. He reached for his phone to see if there was a message that might lift his mood from a beautiful woman with a heart for horses.
No new messages.
Only slightly disappointed, he threw his legs out from under the covers and put his feet on the hardwood floors. Geez! Where is the heat in this place?
He pulled the sheet and blanket off the bed, refusing to have the warmth dissipate from his body and bed. He flew to the other side of the room to goose the heat. Seriously? 40 degrees inside? We’re barely even into winter here.
He turned the knob to the right, past 70, and waited for the hum of the heater to kick on.
Nothing.
Further right… past 80.
Still nothing.
Aaghhh. This is so messed up. He reached further out of his blankets to pound on the wall in frustration.
The winters Cam knew in northern California were mild, to say the least. Just northwest of Santa Rosa, there was never any snow, being just close enough to the coast to miss it.
Let’s shoot for hot water then. He stepped into the bathroom and turned on both the sink and the shower hot water, just to see which one would give heat first. Surprisingly, and mercifully, it was the shower. He closed the door, dropped his blankets and shucked his sweatpants and stepped into the steamy spray with gratitude.
The apartment he found available in Maple Valley was definitely a hole. A horrid hole.
The only one that was available where the property manager actually called him back. Well, it is football season, he reasoned again. I can’t even remember if I called during a flippin’ Seahawks game. I called between clients, for cryin’ out loud.
Still he’d made it to Maple Valley; found a place to make a start. And had he made a star
t? Is this what a start looked like? A stand-in for a longtime farrier while he’s away?
Well, there were certainly more horses to work on here than there were near the coast in Sonoma County. He’d been there a couple of years working under a farrier there. Brandon was great, but he was third generation farrier and business wasn’t exactly growing.
Cam and Brandon had a lot in common and worked well together for a few years, until the client load started getting thin. Corners started getting cut in the very wrong places by Brandon and the family… and Cam couldn’t keep on that way.
Time to go means time to go, he told himself. He had hope and the tiniest savings, but that could be wiped out with one minor truck repair. His best work was in his heart and hands. It was a blessing that Brandon had gifted Cam a few extra tools to get him started in his own practice in Washington State.
Most of his kit he had already bought second hand. Sure a few pieces were new, but mostly they were just solid files and snips that needed to be used. They needed to be used the way he needed to use them… for the good and health of the horses he would serve.
It’d been just a few days since he’d arrived and gotten settled.
He turned the faucet off, it lagged to the left with a piercing and somehow lingering squeak.
Coffee. A must. Cam shook the water and what was left of the sleep out of his head.
Fortunately, most of the clients in Maple Valley were well within a few miles of each other. He wouldn’t have to spend a mint in gas getting his truck from farm to farm.
Cam’s phone buzzed from a new text message arriving.
He brushed and spit out his toothpaste and went to his bedroom to get some clothes and see what was up.
Thanks for dinner yesterday. :) -Josie
He smiled down into the screen and the back of his neck warmed at the thought of her. And then it quickly flew from his face.
Oh man.
That’s right. He had picked up the tab for both his day-old sandwich and her meal. He wasn’t planning on spending that and he didn’t have a credit card to use, either.
Maybe he could pick up another client or two in the next few days to bring in a few more dollars. It was going to be really tight until his first check.
Still. He had work to do today. Best get to it. First job would be to check in on the mini up at Serenity and see if he could get his hands on Enzo’s feet.
The sooner that could happen, the better his circulation and chance of recovery would be. Here’s hoping you made it through the night, Enzo.
He guessed there was a good chance of that since Josie just sent a text and didn’t mention anything about him. She was an early riser, too, he thought as his smile stole back to his lips. Maybe he’d see her at the barn.
Grabbing the remaining half of his sandwich from yesterday, he stuffed it into his lined canvas jacket pocket. It’d be great with his coffee. And he made a beeline for the coffee shop.
4
Josie
She tugged the scarf knot tighter around her neck as she left the car, went up the stairs and got through the door to The Ritual coffee shop. Maple Valley’s only coconut mocha. She stood in the short line and made eye contact with the woman making drinks.
“Hey Josie,” called the barista, “Coco-Mo?”
“That’s the one,” smiled Josie. “Thanks May.” And a wink came sailing back in reply.
She looked at her phone to check for word from Pammy… or, hey, a reply from Cam would work too. As she unlocked the screen, she was bumped from behind.
“Watch it,” she started, annoyed to be jostled pre-coffee. The she looked up to find golden flecks in a pair of melty dark chocolate eyes. And a smile that rose up and gave her a bit of a buzz.
“Cam… hey,” suddenly shy, she had no idea what to say and cursed herself for not checking her hair or teeth before getting out of the car.
“A Co-Co-Mo? It sounds more like a place than a drink,” Cam enunciated each syllable of her drink as he picked up his own small black coffee, add 1 shot espresso.
Josie welled up with a smile that just nearly became a laugh at his comment. “Have you ever tried a Coco-Mo? It’ll change your life.”
Cam gave a side smile and with his right dimple shining out, “I’ll keep that in mind. This day is already looking pretty good from here.” Josie’s stomach flipped over and filled with what felt like carbonated sunshine.
“Heading up to Serenity?” she half-inquired, half-invited, and she looked up at him through her eyelashes, self-conscious that she was now legit flirting, but unable to help herself.
“You’re my first stop, all right. Any word on Enzo this morning? Did you stay overnight in the barn?” He held the door for her as they made their way out.
Slightly disappointed that her eyelash thing didn’t seem to produce the desired effect of reciprocal teasing or playing, she answered. “I left at 3am. No word yet on the little man this morning. I couldn’t sleep, so thought to just go ahead and get there, y’know?”
“I do, indeed,” he assured. “I’ll see you there in a minute.”
Was he interested or not? They had some late night messaging last night and he had bought her dinner.
She should have thanked him for dinner last night instead of this morning, but her head was so full of worry and concern for Enzo… and now Cam seemed more business than pleasure.
Did she already blow it?
5
Cam
Cam followed Josie up to Serenity from the coffee shop, still experiencing sticker shock from the small coffee he ordered.
He tried to keep it simple, but thought that adding a shot of espresso would give his cup just a little more of a boost this morning. The whole thing came to just over 5 bucks.
Taxes and tips here might shorten his stay for good if he wasn’t careful. I can learn to make good coffee in The Hole, he told himself, aptly naming his apartment.
That made two things for his list of off-hour to-do’s on the personal side: Call the property manager about the heat and learn how to make coffee worth waking up for at home.
Plus, he saw her this morning… bonus that she was a coffee drinker. Still not exactly sure what she ordered, but he found her confidence in ordering her CoCoLoCo-whatever-it-was…magnetic. Sexy. And she had no idea how good she looked to him.
Cam tried to joke and play a little, but the price of that now very small-looking cup of java also drove him to get to business sooner than later. He really needed to earn.
He did want to make a good impression on Josie, but it’d be the wrong impression all together if he was caught up in her instead of Enzo while he was at Serenity. Not on his watch. No way. This was really his first client in his own practice.
He had more to lose right now than he would be able to gain. Didn’t he?
First stop, Pammy. Always good manners to check in first, when possible. Especially with a new client. And most especially with a boss lady.
In California, owners had sometimes been off their property when his regular visits were scheduled. He had come to know the people and the animals to the point where trust was strong and he had proven his skills and his process around care.
At the very least, he texted when he arrived, texted what he found, and then texted when he left. It was comfortable; the owners felt informed and heard, and the horses and other-specied... “clients” got the regular care they needed.
He made sure the collar on his button-down shirt was looking good and not flapping out in some weird way in the reflection of the cab window, and he made a smoothing final tuck-in of his shirt into his work pants. A final look at his hair, and he was ready to check in and get to work.
He didn’t usually take this much care with his appearance on a site, but the effort helped with his nerves. He assured himself of the advice he’d gotten from his previous job: “You only get to make a first impression once.”
He had seen Josie wave to get his attention and then thumbed down to
ward the barn. He nodded, grabbed his kit, and headed that direction. He dropped his tools at the grooming station just inside the barn and went down the aisle until he found them.
Josie and Pammy were standing watch, each holding a few blankets, as Enzo got to his feet. Cam stood in the door and watched, not wanting to interrupt the stillness or concentration in the stall. When he’d gotten up and seemed to be standing on his own pretty well, he walked in and smiled.
“Hi.” He said. “Cameron Delaney, Ms Reid. I’m subbing in for Knox as farrier while he’s away? We met briefly yesterday.”
Pammy was so focused on Enzo and his movements, she was almost startled to see him walking toward her.
“Yes? Oh, yes! Right! Knox mentioned. Yes, yesterday. Glad you’re early. Doc Grier let you know about Enzo here?”
Josie walked toward the stall door as he was stepping in toward Pammy. He saw a slight smile and caught the wave of her scent... warm coffee, a hint of cocoa and coconut… as she passed him. Off to do other duties, he guessed, partly disappointed and partly relieved.
“Yes, ma’am. I had a look yesterday, and Ewan gave me a call last night after leaving here. I guess it was about 8? No more IV fluids, then? Glad this guy made it through the night! How is he seeming this morning?” Cam checked in and began to gather as much detail as he could, listening hard and looking back and forth between Pammy and Enzo. He couldn’t wait to get to those legs and feet.
“Well, we bundled him under these blankets last night and he got some food every 3 hours,” shared Pammy, glad to have a professional farrier here to discuss some treatment and an action plan. “But I don’t know what’s going to happen with him next… he’s actually not all that interested in food.”
Cam’s eyebrows went up at that last part. For a horse, mini or full-size, to not be interested in food, especially grain, was rare, an indication something was really wrong.
