Falling Again for the Animal Whisperer

by Becky Wicks

  There had been countless times he’d lied to Jodie to protect her. Pretending to her that he hadn’t wanted her in his life any more had been only one of them, even if it had been the biggest lie of all.

  A dog’s bark told him someone was passing the kennels. Cole gathered his hat and the notebook, and halfway towards the house he decided he wouldn’t send the letter. It wasn’t fair to do it now she’d found happiness with someone else.

  Over dinner he changed his mind.

  In the morning, he sealed the letter with an old-fashioned wax stamp in Casper’s study. It looked final, meaningful...ominous.

  Kicking his boots up on the desk he wielded the pen and then realised he didn’t have an address. He would send it...but he’d have to get the exact address from Casper first.

  One week later, he slipped the unaddressed envelope into a box, where the sight of it couldn’t cause his stomach to twist into knots. What would a pregnant woman do with that information anyway? What right did he have to contact Jodie with his excuses now that she was happy, with a good man taking care of her? He should have told her sooner, instead of being such a coward.

  She hadn’t contacted him herself anyway, and she would have heard about his father by now, surely. She probably wanted nothing more to do with him.

  Weeks turned into months and the excuses kept on coming, until eventually the letter went nowhere, and Cole went on with his life without Jodie.

  * * *

  ‘Have you ever worked a snow blower before?’ Cole asked Emmie, wheeling the giant lawnmower-type machine from the shed onto the snowy gravel.

  ‘Not exactly.’

  ‘Well, it’s as good a time as any to learn. We need this pathway clear before Blaze arrives. We have other clients who’ll need to get in with their animals, too. It’s a pretty important job, are you up for it?’

  Emmie shrugged, pushing her freshly brushed hair over her shoulder. ‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

  ‘Less enthusiasm, please. We try to keep things cool around here,’ he teased, and Jodie watched as Emmie bit back a smile.

  It was interesting, watching their interactions. Emmie was sometimes difficult, but he seemed to know instinctively how to handle her. She supposed his intuition was a big part of what had clearly made him so successful. Casper’s financial help had been a boost, but no more than strapping a firework onto a rocket ship.

  She wondered if he’d ever thought about having kids of his own, or whether he’d met anyone else after their break-up. She hadn’t asked him anything about his life after her. She hadn’t exactly had much time yet, but then again she almost didn’t want to know. She was emotional enough already and sleep hadn’t come for her last night till well after three a.m.

  Damn Cole for looking so sexy, she thought yet again as he yanked the starter motor and the snow blower spluttered to life in front of them. He tossed her his coffee flask and put a gloved hand over Emmie’s to guide her as she started to wheel the juddering machine over the thick white snow that had piled up by the stable entrance. ‘Finish up around here, then you can start around the cabin, yes?’

  ‘Yes, sir, whatever you say.’ Emmie mock saluted him, but Jodie could tell she was enjoying herself. Together they watched her set off up the path, blowing snow happily into smaller piles at the sides of the road.

  ‘A woman on a mission,’ she commented, mostly to herself.

  ‘I can see where she gets that from.’ Cole grinned. ‘If she wants to ride later, she’ll work for it, like we both had to.’

  Jodie stifled a laugh, even as discomfort settled in at his proximity now they were alone. Usually she’d be concerned about her daughter operating machinery she’d never used, but Cole oozed confidence in everything he did and it seemed to be rubbing off on Emmie like it had her once.

  There was something about Everleigh that had always made her feel quite safe. Good energy in the air, she realised, even though Casper wasn’t here. It didn’t mean she’d be uprooting herself to make a base here, though. Far from it.

  They’d be meeting with the solicitor, Ms Tanner, as soon as she could make it to discuss the options. Jodie was hoping there would be a way around the caveat. Coming all the way back down here so often, as Casper had stipulated, would be hugely inconvenient for everyone, especially Emmie.

  And me, she thought, eyeing Cole.

  Her insides shifted, thinking about the rescue horse and his plans for starting a rescue centre here. The horses needed Cole and his own special way of dealing with their physical and emotional needs. If she sold her share to someone else, they might not have as much enthusiasm for his...methods. They wouldn’t have a clue what Everleigh meant to him either.

  Not your problem, she reminded herself.

  ‘Casper made you work for everything,’ Cole remembered out loud, catching her eye from under another woolly hat and taking the coffee flask she’d forgotten she was holding. ‘You hated it at first, but you still got up at five a.m. when there was something important to do.’

  ‘The coffee always helped,’ she admitted as Emmie shrieked in delight again up ahead.

  ‘Black, no milk, no sugar.’

  ‘I’m surprised you remember how I like my coffee,’ she replied. ‘It seemed a lot to me like you wanted to forget everything about me.’

  He shook his head slowly. From the corner of her eye she saw him scuff one boot into the snow, disgruntled. ‘I gave you the wrong impression then. I do regret that, Jodie. I regret a lot of things from back then. I was sorry to hear you got divorced.’

  Jodie bristled. She’d been after some kind of explanation as to why he’d changed his mind about her, and Edinburgh, not to hear him admit he’d felt sorry for her circumstances after sending her off, albeit unwittingly, into a marriage she and Ethan had both known would be over before Emmie had even reached her teens.

  ‘It was never going to last for ever,’ she admitted quietly. ‘Me and Ethan.’

  He raised an eyebrow in interest. ‘Casper said you got divorced right after you graduated.’

  She kept her head high. She didn’t want his pity and she certainly didn’t owe him any explanations about the quiet untethering she and Ethan had agreed to once they’d both completed their studies successfully and all prying eyes had stopped paying much attention. But it wasn’t like Ethan’s name wouldn’t keep coming up.

  ‘That’s right, we did. We decided we were much better as friends.’

  She couldn’t read him, but she continued matter-of-factly, ‘We’re a good team, you know? We make everything work for Emmie. They spend a lot of time together with Saxon, her horse. Ethan’s as mad about horses as you.’

  ‘Is that right?’ Cole’s lips curved. She thought he looked smug. They both knew that probably wasn’t true.

  She realised her heart had quickened under her ribs. ‘Emmie doesn’t know about us. You and me, I never told her about our history, Cole. I haven’t tried to hide anything but at the same time I didn’t think she needed to know. She hasn’t been herself lately, since Ethan moved in with Saskia. I think she’s still processing it.’

  Cole held his hands up. ‘She won’t hear anything from me.’

  Jodie let the pent-up air leave her mouth. She probably shouldn’t even care, but it was her duty to protect Emmie from any information that might make her feel awkward while they were here. She hadn’t mentioned the inheritance to her yet, let alone any of the ‘rules’ Casper had made.

  A tall, skinny kid in a flat cap, thick black-rimmed glasses and bright blue welly boots wandered out from the storeroom. He’d been talking to Emmie at the funeral. ‘Cole, I’m done with the dog food delivery, it’s all stacked up. What else can I do?’

  Cole pointed with his flask at Emmie. ‘Can you help Emmie over there with the snow blower?’

  ‘Sure thing. Oh, hi, Ms Everleigh, I saw you yesterday in the hous
e. I’m Toby. The kid held out a hand to her and Jodie shook it in mild amusement before he set off purposefully up the path after Emmie.

  ‘Toby lives up at Forster’s Nursery,’ Cole explained. ‘He started showing up every day last summer to help out in the kennels. He walks and feeds the dogs, and we let him ride the horses.’

  ‘Sounds like a fair trade.’ It hadn’t escaped her attention the way Cole was handling everything here so stoically, knowing he was grieving for Casper. Then again, he’d always been good at keeping his emotions in check—even when he’d broken up with her, he hadn’t flinched. Had he ever really loved her?

  ‘He’s here most weekends and holidays,’ he told her, picking up a thick black hose off the ground and coiling it around his arm. ‘Keeps him out of trouble while school’s out. He loves his school.’

  ‘Nice for Toby. Emmie stays with her dad most holidays, or with her friend Claire. We go riding with Saxon together sometimes...when I have time.’

  ‘You can bring Saxon here when you come,’ Cole offered.

  ‘That might be nice,’ she admitted. ‘I’m not sure what Ethan would think about that, though. He loves that horse as much as Emmie.’

  Cole’s jaw was spasming now. She thought for a second he was going to say something else about how her busy schedule might impinge on the requirements of Casper’s will because she was already thinking it herself. But he didn’t.

  ‘He sounds like a great father.’

  ‘He is.’

  Cole looked like he was about to ask her something else but his phone pinged. He looped the heavy hose over its hook on the stable wall as if it weighed nothing. As he talked on the phone she studied the shape of him, the way his shoulders had broadened and his muscles filled out. She found herself remembering a water fight right here that had dissolved into furious lovemaking. Her cheeks reddened. So many memories.

  ‘Do you want the good news or the bad news?’ Cole asked, sliding his phone back into his jeans pocket and running a hand across his beard.

  Jodie pulled a face at him. ‘The good news?’

  ‘The Ship Inn’s heating system is fixed. Your rooms are ready if you still want them. I can drive you up there later as Barry still needs a part for your car. The way it is, I wouldn’t trust it to get you very far.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she said, wondering who the heck Barry was. Cole knew so many people. She hadn’t even realised he had taken it on himself to get her car fixed already, but she was grateful. ‘What’s the bad news?’

  ‘The solicitor left a message. Her daughter picked up some bug and she needs to stay home with her a bit longer.’

  Jodie frowned.

  ‘We can reschedule,’ Cole said, shrugging.

  She tried not to look like she was unravelling. ‘I have to get Emmie home for school, and I’m due back at West Bow on Monday.’

  Emmie emitted another shriek of laughter in the distance, and Toby’s own voice travelled indistinguishably up the driveway. Their happiness didn’t match her mood. This messed up her whole schedule.

  She followed a silent Cole into the stables. ‘I guess I could still leave, and we could have the meeting on the phone,’ she started, watching him pull two pitchforks from their hooks on the wall. ‘But, then, what if we need to sign papers? I don’t know, Cole, I think we should both be present for this. I’ve come all the way here.’ She turned for the door. ‘I’ll go and make some calls...’

  ‘Jodie,’ he said calmly, catching her elbow. ‘There’s nothing we can do about any of this now.’ He held out one of the pitchforks. ‘Let’s just focus on Blaze. He’s going to need us.’

  CHAPTER SIX

  COLE HAD RATHER enjoyed the sight of Jodie wielding the pitchfork in the hay in the stalls, shoving her hair behind her ears every ten seconds and trying to look like she still enjoyed getting this dirty.

  She was watching him now from outside the horse trailer, standing on the snow-free gravel, keeping both Toby and Emmie at a safe distance. Cole and Russell, his stablehand, were attempting to move Blaze out of the trailer into the outdoor enclosure, but so far he wasn’t budging.

  ‘He’s extra fired up after being in here,’ he called back to Jodie. ‘Stay well back, all of you.’

  He slid around to the side of the trailer with his back flat to the wall. He had to move slowly so the horse would know he didn’t pose a threat. But Blaze seemed to be going out of his way not to make his job easy and kept shuffling away from his eye contact.

  ‘You’ve met me before, boy.’ He offered a chunk of apple as a peace offering. The horse refused to so much as sniff it.

  Cole stood stock still, studying the deep, black flesh wounds around Blaze’s left eye socket. He was on meds, but still losing weight after the barn fire. His ribs were almost jutting through the flesh and the horse was a whirlwind of emotions. Cole could almost see the tension rippling through every muscle. ‘What you must have been through, buddy...’

  He saw it coming half a second before it happened. With a wild sound the horse reared up and almost slammed his own head on the trailer roof.

  ‘Watch out!’ Russell leapt from the back doors to the ground to avoid being kicked, leaving Blaze’s reins swinging.

  ‘Enough,’ Cole ordered, reaching for the reins. Blaze was too fast. The horse startled back, whinnying in fear, and darted from the trailer half a second before Cole could reach him. As he watched, Jodie urged the kids away and moved towards Blaze.

  ‘Jodie, move!’ Cole was on the ground now. ‘What are you doing?’

  Blaze bypassed the gate to the enclosure and reared up again, right in front of Jodie. ‘It’s OK,’ she said, holding out a hand.

  ‘Mum!’ Emmie looked panicked, and Jodie made a valiant grab for the reins before Cole skidded across a freshly iced-over patch of grass and yanked her away, shielding her with his own body.

  ‘Don’t move,’ he told her, one arm wrapped tightly around her heaving chest, beneath her breasts. He held the other up at Blaze, who snorted indignantly. If Cole hadn’t stood six feet two, the horse might have attempted to jump over his head; Blaze looked determined as hell.

  ‘I almost had it,’ Jodie panted indignantly when he released her. She hurried to Emmie behind the enclosure and Cole cracked his long leather lash on the ground in front of Blaze’s forelegs, forcing the horse backwards into the enclosure before he could lunge again. Russell was quick on his feet. He slammed the gate shut behind them.

  ‘Better we just have me in here for now, Russ,’ Cole told him, checking Jodie was safe behind the fence. ‘Can you go prep the stall, make sure the others are calm when we bring him in?’

  ‘His face,’ Emmie said in horror. He had to agree Blaze’s injuries looked bad. He was scuffing at the ground with one bandaged hoof then the other. His red-raw ears were pointed high and alert. His blackened nose twitched as he snorted at them both, swishing what was left of his thick brown tail.

  Cole knew the horse felt cornered and defensive, and both he and Blaze loathed the lash, but right now it was necessary for everyone’s safety.

  ‘The poor thing,’ he heard Emmie say. ‘He looks so...scared.’

  Blaze started snorting in fury, giving him a look like he was going to charge. Cole cracked the lash on the ground at his side, whipping up the snow.

  ‘Mum, what’s he doing?’

  ‘It’s OK, Emmie, Cole’s just showing Blaze who’s in control.’

  ‘But he’s hurt!’

  ‘He needs to learn some respect. Cole can only help him if they can trust each other.’

  Cole got to his knees in the snow, a metre from Blaze, half listening to Jodie. The way she was explaining things to Emmie was just like how Casper used to speak to her back when she’d known nothing about horses.

  He sat there in silence, letting Blaze know he wasn’t moving, but wasn’t there to harm him
either. The horse was starting to understand.

  ‘When Mustang first arrived, Cole sat there for three hours in a face-off. He had to wait till Mustang came to him,’ Jodie explained quietly.

  ‘He’ll look like a snowman soon if neither of them moves,’ Emmie replied, though Cole hadn’t really noticed the snowflakes settling on his jacket. He was trying to stay still and maintain eye contact with Blaze.

  Eventually, after what felt like a long time, Blaze walked tentatively forward and nuzzled his hat. ‘There you go,’ he said calmly, placing a hand gently on the horse’s forelock. ‘Are you OK with this?’

  The horse met his eyes, and finally Cole was able to stroke around the burns on his face without the animal startling. He murmured in reassurance.

  ‘How did he do that?’ Emmie sounded incredulous as they watched Cole mount Blaze and canter around the circumference of the enclosure, the horse kicking up the snow as the driver of the trailer rattled off up the pathway.

  ‘It’s just what Cole does, sweetheart,’ Jodie replied. ‘It’s what makes him...’

  Cole heard her pause. He knew she’d been about to say something like ‘special’ but had stopped herself.

  ‘I think Blaze knows no more harm will come to him here,’ he said, exchanging a look with Jodie on his walk over to the fence. ‘He’s OK, but he’s still a little apprehensive. We can’t blame him.’

  ‘He’s just like Mustang used to be, so I know you’ll get there,’ she told him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder before removing it and looking away.

  He nodded thoughtfully, his thoughts focused solely on Blaze again. He had a big job ahead of him with this one. Jodie knew as well as he did that connecting with this horse enough to help him make a full emotional and physical recovery was going to take time.

  There was so much to do in Casper’s absence. The last thing he needed was for some other buyer to come in and change the way they’d always done things. If Jodie sold her share, changes were imminent. The thought made his breath catch in his chest. He didn’t like change. Only the two of them knew how Casper had worked, and the faith he’d had in Cole.