by Jodi Payne
Angel was frantic. She kicked at the wall of her stall and tossed her head. Her eyes were wide, nostrils flared, ears back. She rushed her stall door, her head thrusting out into the aisle and her chest up against the wood. He tried not to panic, but she was giving every indication that she’d been bitten. He’d never seen her so flipped out, and he needed to help her get under control before she hurt herself. He grabbed a rope lead and stood a few paces from her stall door, talking to her, trying to see if she could calm down on her own before he had to intervene.
“Hey, Angel. Easy, lady.” He spoke in a calm voice and drew his words out, noting the little bit of South Carolina that came out when he did that. He didn’t sound much like his people anymore except when he was talking to horses or angry.
Angel wasn’t having it. She tossed her head and huffed at him, striking at her stall door with a pissed-off hoof.
“Okay, beautiful.” He took a step closer, a little to one side, watching her, keeping his tone calm and even and his movements slow and fluid. He didn’t want to spook her. “That’s a girl. Good girl.”
He wasn’t afraid of her. He’d calmed more crazy horses and taken more hard hits than he knew how to count. Everyone in the barn had been vaccinated, but he was still a little anxious for her, worried she’d hurt herself, worried for what the next few hours might bring. He did his best to set all of that aside and took a deep breath. In one smooth, quick motion, he reached up, tossed the lead over her neck, crossed it under her jaw, looped it up over her nose and finally crossed it under her chin in a makeshift halter. He gripped the ends of the rope together as she started to tug against the rope in protest, but he hauled on it, holding her head down until she finally figured out he wasn’t letting go.
“There you go. That’s it. I got you, girl.”
“Little fucker took off for the rafters.” Miles’s words were soft so he didn’t upset Angel, but they held a whole lot of pissed off anyway.
“Damn.” Angel tried to tug her nose up, but he held her down. “That’s a girl. Just let it go, lady. I got you. Shhhh….”
“He didn’t head for the door. He scrambled his punk ass up to the loft.”
“Well, Jesus fuck.” He sighed. This was going to be a pain in the ass and a long night. “Call Hank. Tell him what’s going on and ask him to come out ASAP. Ask him if he has a couple of traps. I got this.”
“If he doesn’t, my brother might. I’ll handle it.”
“Thanks, man.”
Miles pulled out his cell and walked away from them. Angel’s eyes were starting to look more normal, and she’d stopped fighting him, but he knew he had some time before he could let her go. She could spook at anything right now.
“Oh, Angel. I hope that asshole didn’t bite you.” He went up on his toes and eyeballed what he could of her, and everything looked fine. She wasn’t acting so much like she was hurt right now either. Maybe she’d just been thoroughly pissed off at that raccoon.
An hour or so later, Hank arrived with two traps that Miles went and set up in the loft, and Russ had managed to get Angel out of her stall and into a fresh one.
“I gave her a booster,” Hank told him, closing the stall door. “You’ll just need to keep an eye on her. When you catch that raccoon, we’ll see what the tests say. I don’t see a bite, but you can’t be too careful.”
Oh, thank God. “I didn’t see one either, but I’m really glad you got a second look to confirm it. It’s hard to believe the way she just lost it. I’d never seen her like that.”
“Well, she had that tangle with a raccoon before.”
He looked at Hank. “No kidding? When the Griggstons owned her?” Jonas bought Angel off Carl Griggston. Hank knew all the horse people in the area.
“Yep. She was curious, the raccoon wasn’t having it, and she ended up with a nasty scratch on her nose. That’s where that crooked scar came from.”
He’d noticed the scar of course, but he hadn’t given it much thought. “Huh. That explained why she went bananas in the stall. She was pissed.”
“She was probably trying to kill the damn thing.”
He chuckled. “Yep, maybe.”
“All right, Russ. You keep an eye out for that raccoon and call me when you catch it.”
“I will. Thanks, Hank. I really appreciate you coming out at this unholy hour.”
Hank laughed. “You’re welcome, Russ. Seems like emergencies only ever happen in the middle of the night. You take care.”
He watched Hank drive off, and then headed back into the barn. His work was nowhere near done. He needed to clean Angel’s stall in case that raccoon was sick. He needed to see about Miles and those traps. He needed some clothes and some coffee.
“He’s up there for sure.” Miles came dragging up behind him and collapsed in one of the folding chairs.
He reached over and turned on the little heater. “You saw him?”
“Yep. Got as close as I dared with one of the traps and the other is near the ladder.”
He sighed. “I need to clean Angel’s stall and—”
“I’m gonna put on some coffee, man. You go put on some real clothes.”
He grinned at Miles and nodded. “You want me to bring you some eggs?”
“Sounds great. I’ll get started on that stall. We can’t leave this crew alone until we know that raccoon’s caught anyway.”
“Jeans and breakfast. I’ll be back in a flash.”
The sun was coming up as he crossed the yard to the house. He ducked inside and took a super-fast shower to get warm, then pulled on clothes and made egg sandwiches for him and Miles.
So what if sometimes crazy shit got him up in the middle of the night? This was still a damn good life. He had good help, great lovers, everything was solid. For now. Losing the damn farm….
Shit, he needed to stop thinking about Stable Hill as his place. He’d spent the last two years settling in, the old farm sinking into his bones, but it just wasn’t meant to be. There was a good possibility the new owners would let him go, bring their own barn manager, and then he’d be jobless and homeless again. He had Jeff and Oscar, but what did he have to offer them without being the one keeping Stable Hill running? He couldn’t be sure he could get another job around here.
Jesus, that was enough. He was tired was all, he wasn’t really this anxious about everything. He’d be fine. He always had been, even when he had nobody. He stomped into his boots, pulled on his coat, scooped up breakfast, and headed back out to the barn.
Chapter Twenty-Two
ANGEL WAS happy once they got her back in her own stall. She seemed tired, otherwise fine, but Russ stayed close all day anyway. He’d been keeping an eye out for the raccoon, but no one had seen it yet. Miles kept checking the traps in the loft—Russ was pretty confident they’d have the little fucker come nightfall.
He hadn’t been expecting Jeffrey to show up with that potential buyer. Maybe they thought he wasn’t really required to know? It was Oscar’s place; he and Jeffrey could make whatever arrangements they needed to, he supposed.
They never even went in the house, but it still would have been polite to let him know they were coming.
His phone chirped at him, and he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it. Speaking of Oscar….
Hey, Russ. Bringing Sophie over.
Uh? Russ stared at his phone. Ok…?
God, he was tired. Today wasn’t a great day for Oscar to decide to bring the girl by, but Russ had suggested it, so what was he going to say? Again, Oscar’s property. He was just going to have to find some patience.
Sophie didn’t go to school, huh? Jeff texted back. This three-way thing rocked—nobody missed anything. Did she tell you what was going on?
No. Russ—she had a bad day yesterday and won’t tell me what happened. Jeffrey happened to call about the property in the middle of it, that’s why he knows. So, I’ve tried to tempt her out of her room today—going to the barn was the only thing she would agree to. So
rry about the notice.
Oh, poor thing. Well, he got it. The barn was the only place he felt safe as a kid too. He thought about Jeff, and all the time his lover had already spent with Oscar’s girls. This was his shot, right?
All good. I hope I can help.
Me too. CU soon.
He snorted. That was spoken—or texted—like a man who had teenagers.
Hope all goes well, I’ll check in with you guys later.
He put his phone away. Oscar wanted him to entertain a teenager who didn’t feel like talking. Well? Shit, he’d had a bad day too. And so had Angel. Maybe that would mean something to Sophie.
“Caught the little asshole!”
“No way. For real?”
“He’s in one of the traps up here!” Miles shouted. “Bringing him down!”
He waited at the ladder to help. “Don’t bring him over that way. Maybe take the trap around and out the far door? I don’t want Angel to see him.”
“I hear that. It’s no wonder he came flying out of her stall, you know. She probably wanted to crush him. This son of a bitch is lucky to be alive.”
“Hopefully he’s healthy so he can stay that way. Hank told me she had a history. I had no idea.” He pulled out his phone and texted Hank.
“I’ll stick him out back.”
He nodded. “Thanks.” Great. His day just got better. Now all he needed was a good report from the vet. The rigmarole if the thing was sick was more than he really wanted to deal with—cleaning all the stalls, replacing feed, another round of vaccinations—all of it was time consuming and expensive, and it could be a long while before they could be sure everyone was healthy too.
Okay, so what to do with Sophie? He thought about a pony ride, about lunging her out in the ring, about teaching her something about confirmation or care. In the end he decided to keep it simple. He had work to do. She could help him with it—or not—as she pleased. Something about not trying too hard felt better to him.
When they showed up, he was finishing raking out stalls with Davy.
“Are we interrupting?”
“Nothing but a good day’s work,” he said, coming out of the final stall, rake in hand. “Hey, Oscar.”
Sophie was in jeans and rubber boots and had an earbud in one ear with a cord that led to what was likely an iPod squirreled away in her coat somewhere. Oscar was looking great in jeans and a field coat and work boots. Oh man, he wanted a kiss.
Now wasn’t the time, though.
“You remember Sophie, don’t you?”
“I do. Been a while, though. It’s nice to see you again, Sophie.”
She nodded at him, gave him a little hint of a smile.
“I’ve got some errands I need to run. We thought maybe she could hang out with you for a little while, Russ. Is that cool? We figured she could have a look around.”
“Oh. Yeah, sure.” Oscar was leaving her? “That’s fine. I’ve got work to do, though. You up for helping me out?”
Sophie looked a little surprised. “Oh.”
“Great. Thanks, Russ. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” Oscar shook his hand with a soft smile, holding on just a second longer than he really needed to. “I appreciate it.”
“Sure, Oscar.” He made sure to smile back, though the fact that Oscar still hadn’t told his girls wasn’t sitting well with him.
Now was not the time for that either.
He and Sophie both watched Oscar head out, and then he just walked away from her, leaving her standing there. “Davy, you ready?” He scooped the last of the straw up into the spreader.
“Yeah.” Davy started up the spreader, gave him a wave, and headed out of the barn.
“All right, Sophie. Come on.” He headed down the aisle to the first stall on the end. It was clean and had a neatly bundled bale of straw sitting in the middle of the floor. He pulled out his wire cutters and snipped the wires holding it together, handed it to her, and then got to work, spreading the straw around the stall. Sophie watched, her expression hard to read. “That’s it. You think you can handle that?”
“Me?”
“Well, yeah. Miles is out dealing with a raccoon, so I’m short a set of hands. You came by at just the right time.” He handed her the rake and took the wire. “Pile the wires out here. Make sure you pull both wires out of each stall so the horses don’t hurt themselves on it.”
“Uh. Okay.”
“I’ll make my way down and clip them all for you.” He did just that, leaving her standing there again. It didn’t take long to cut all the wires, and then he came back around, intending to start filling water buckets that Davy had scrubbed out earlier, but Sophie started talking.
“You do this every day?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“It’s a lot of work.” Sophie kept moving while she was talking, spreading the straw around.
“Yeah, well. We ask a lot of them letting us ride them, working them, breeding them. It’s our job to make sure they stay healthy and content. It’s funny how fragile they can be for something so big and powerful. They need a lot of care.”
“You enjoy that part?”
“Taking care of them?”
“Yeah.” She scooted around him and into the next stall, and he followed her.
“I do. I mean, do I love mucking stalls? No. But I do love the horses.”
“They’re pretty cool, huh?”
He nodded. “Yep. Hey, I’m going to get them fed. When you’re done, you want to help me water?”
“Sure, okay.”
“Great. Thank you.” He left her to her work and her thinking and got back to his. An hour later, stalls were done, everyone was fed and had fresh water, and he and Sophie were having some coffee and cocoa.
“So… where are the horses?”
“They’re in turnout up in the big pasture.”
“How long are they out?”
“Depends on the weather mostly, sometimes how much daylight. A cold winter day, it might be just the afternoon. A really hot summer day, they’ll stay in out of the sun and go out at night instead. And sometimes on a nice spring or fall day, we might let them stay out all night if we can.”
“Wow.”
“They need to be out, you know? They’re like kids. Like your little sisters. They need exercise and fresh air. If you keep them cooped up, they get bored and then they can get destructive or form bad habits. They need to be outside where they belong.”
Sophie nodded, listening. “So how come that one is inside?”
“Angel?” Russ sipped his coffee and answered slowly. “Well, she had bad night.”
“Horses have bad nights?”
“Sure. They have good days and bad days just like we do. They have different personalities like all animals do. A raccoon got into her stall last night, and she is afraid of them, so she flipped out. She was kicking and rushing the stall door.”
“Whoa. Is she okay?”
“Yeah, we think she is. But she needed some calm, so I kept her inside today. She’ll get out with everyone else tomorrow.”
Sophie put her mug down and wandered down the aisle toward Angel. He started to follow but changed his mind, kicked back in his chair and sipped his coffee. He kept an eye on her, but there wasn’t much trouble she could get into with Angel in her stall. He could see Sophie talking to the mare, stroking her nose, and finally Angel stretched her neck out long, and Sophie scritched along Angel’s neck to her shoulders and up behind her ears.
Angel started nipping at Sophie’s jacket, poking her nose at Sophie’s pockets.
“She doesn’t have what you’re looking for, sweetheart,” he said, walking up behind them.
Sophie was grinning and lightly pushing at Angel’s nose. “What does she want?”
“Peppermints.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” He took a few out of his pocket and slipped them into Sophie’s hand. “Give her one at a time, hold your hand out flat.”
Sophie took the
wrapper off one and laid it flat on her palm.
“Good. Hold it out.”
Gingerly, Sophie held it out toward Angel. Russ grinned as the horse daintily reached out with her upper lip and slurped the candy off Sophie’s hand.
“Oh!” Sophie laughed. “Can I give her another?”
“You want to spoil her, huh? Sure.” Hell, he spoiled Angel on the daily.
Sophie had a lovely smile and looked genuinely happy. There was something about her he really liked, and it seemed like Angel was taking a shine to Sophie too. Just when he was wondering what could possibly have the girl so down, she spoke up on her own.
“I know how she feels, kind of. I’m sort of stuck inside today too. I didn’t go to school.”
“No?”
“Stuff happened yesterday.” She shrugged. “I just need to think about what I’m going to do about it.”
“Can I help?”
She looked at him. “I… I don’t know?”
“Well, I guess the worst that happens is I can’t, right? Fire away if you want to.”
“I came out to a girl I like.”
Oh, come on. Really? He’d known the girl a couple of hours and… this? “Oh, wow,” he said carefully.
Holy shit. Does Oscar know?
He needed something to do with his hands, so he got out Angel’s grooming kit. “I was about to groom her. Want to help?”
“Oh. Uh. Yeah, okay. Sure.” She looked about as thrown as he felt. He was trying so hard not to show it.
“So how did she take it?” He led Angel out of her stall and hooked her up on crossties, then showed Sophie how to hold the rubber curry comb and handed it to her. “Like this, small circles. Start up here… and work your way back. Got it? Don’t be afraid to use a little pressure. Be careful to stay off her legs.”
“She… I don’t know. She got kind of mad. She said I was crazy.” Angel leaned into the curry comb, loving the attention.
“Love is crazy.” Boy, did he know that or what?
“I didn’t say I loved her!” Sophie blushed and switched to the other side of the horse, where he couldn’t see her.
He rolled his eyes and winced. “Sorry. Sorry.”
“I said I liked her. That’s all.”
