by Leigh Hearon
Checking on her own horses was pretty much pro forma tonight. As she pulled into her stables, she saw Lisa’s yellow VW bug already parked by the tack room and heard her friend humming inside. Annie nudged the door open and slithered inside.
“Wow! You cleaned up good!”
Annie grinned back at her friend, who was stuffing two massive flakes of Timothy into Trooper’s hayrack. Trooper was a Thoroughbred and required more hay each day than her youngest horse, a fourteen-hand Saddlebred, consumed practically all week.
“Well, I did have a lot of help.”
“And they sure knew what they were doing. You look incredible, Annie! Marcus is going to think he’s met a totally new woman!”
Fat chance of that, Annie thought. Miracle workers might enhance her exterior, but she doubted anyone could change her personality, which had been described as stubborn, willful, and annoyingly averse to accepting advice. And those were her friends’ opinions. At least everyone stipulated to her fine sense of humor.
“Are you set for tonight?” Annie asked anxiously. Lisa had been Annie’s right-hand stable hand for nearly two months now and knew the horses’ schedules, needs, and personalities almost as well as she did. But this was the first time Lisa was going to spend the night in her farmhouse, alone, unless you counted the dogs, Sasha and Wolf, and Max the kitten.
“Absolutely. The dogs and I are looking forward to staying up late watching zombie movies and eating all your popcorn. And I don’t have to be back at my place until ten a.m. tomorrow, so I’ve got plenty of time to feed, muck, and make sure everything’s set for tomorrow night.”
Annie truly relaxed for the first time that day. She was certain everything would be fine and wondered why it had taken her so long to realize that, as her mother used to say, “many hands make light work.” For fifteen years, as long as Annie had owned Carson Stables, she’d summarily dismissed any suggestion of bringing help on board, even while her herd grew, and her horse-training business became a demanding year-round job. When Sheriff Dan Stetson, a friend from high school and now a close colleague, had convinced her to invest in a flock of sheep to bring in wool income, she’d still managed to do everything herself. After all, she’d had her horses’ help with herding and maintaining the flock’s fence line.
But with the arrival of Trooper, her newest horse and a gift from Marcus, plus a sudden surge in income when Marcus had asked for her help in divesting his late wife’s equine estate, there seemed no reason not to bring in someone to share the workload. Meeting Lisa a few months ago had been fortuitous, indeed.
“Thanks, Lisa. Well, I’ve got to go—I still have to dress.” Annie grabbed her purse and started to jog toward her farmhouse, fifty feet away.
“Go for it, girl! What are you wearing? Something slinky and easy to slip out of, I hope! And don’t forget your makeup!”
Laughter was the only answer her new stable hand was going to get.
