What a Texas Girl Dreams (Crimson Romance) (15 page)

Trick grinned and patted the horse’s hip. “Good boy, Jinx. Almost done. I need you to walk him, Monica. Tight circles, normal gait,” he said, straightening and taking a step back.

Monica didn’t want to. She didn’t need Trick to see how badly Jinx was walking to know his time racing was over. “He’s not ready. I don’t think he’ll ever be ready.” The words were a mere whisper, but Trick reached out, put his arm around her shoulders, and squeezed.

“Just walk him. I need to see him move.” He offered another squeeze and then pressed against her lower back.

She walked Jinx in counter-clockwise circles, not fast, not slow. He responded by walking along with her.

“Now backwards.”

Monica did as requested. Jinx hesitated. She pushed harder, and he took a jolting step back.

“Okay, stop. Clockwise circles. Same gait. Don’t baby him.”

Monica started him forward again, this time walking in a wide circle to the right. Jinx slowed, and she pulled gently on the lead. He continued along with her but at a slower pace than when they circled the other direction. Trick instructed her to straighten out, and she did. They walked like that, circling, straight lines, circling again, for what seemed like hours. Sweat rolled down Monica’s back, and she was glad she’d pulled her hair up under her hat.

Finally, Trick told her to stop. He wrote something in his notebook and replaced the papers in his back pocket. “He’s coming along.”

Monica unclipped the lead and patted Jinx gently on his hindquarters, sending him off into the pasture. “Don’t sugarcoat it.”

They walked to the fence where her family waited, all eyes on Trick as if he had all the answers.

Unfortunately, he had only one. “Okay, he’s slow. It was a bad fall, but I expected a little more flexibility by now and less tenderness around his knee.” He watched the worried expressions on the faces of her family, but then focused on her. She folded her arms over her chest as if it might change the meaning of his words. “He can’t tell me how he feels, he can only show it, and what I saw just now tells me he isn’t ready to compete. He isn’t ready to train. He might never be.” Trick held his hands loosely at his sides as if waiting for a sign that she truly heard his words. She heard them, but she didn’t know how to respond and so she only nodded.

“What about extra time in the therapy pool? I can clear the schedule if it will help.” Kathleen spoke from the other side of the fence. Monica wanted to laugh. Jinx was already rehabbing in the morning and walking the pool in the afternoon. They could leave him in the water all day, and it wouldn’t make a difference. Her sister knew it, but Miss Fix-It Kathleen could never take no for an answer.

“No. Trick’s right. He needs time and rest first.” Monica’s voice sounded funny to her ears, like she spoke from a long distance. She shouldn’t have begged Kath for the extra sessions. A smarter horsewoman would have followed the vet’s instructions to the letter. Maybe the extra time in the pool was causing his slow recovery by tiring him.

“It won’t hurt. It might even help, but I think the big change for Jinx isn’t therapy. It’s that he isn’t a competition horse now. He’s a casual-rider, time-in-the-pasture horse.”

Monica looked over her shoulder to watch Jinx limp around the pasture. He lowered his head to munch a little grass, ignoring the humans discussing his future.

Mitchum pushed away from the fence first. He looked at the sky and then focused on Monica. “I’d say lunch is in order. Let’s go see what Gui has planned for us.”

Everyone started for the house, everyone except Monica and Trick.

“I’m sorry. I wanted it to be different.” His words floated by her on the air. She wanted to believe he didn’t, that he was lying. But the Trick she’d recently come to know wouldn’t shave the truth just to get what he wanted.

“I know. It’s not your fault.”

“It’s no one’s fault. Accidents happen, in the arena and out.” He shrugged and reached for her hand, his touch sending heat into her cold body. “The extra session Kathleen mentioned won’t hurt him.”

She offered him a twisted smile. “I’ve already got him rehabbing in the mornings and walking in the therapy pool in the afternoons.”

“I know.” He squeezed her fingers.

“You do?”

“Okay, technically, I only suspected. As much as you love riding Jinx, I knew you’d convince Kath to give him a little more attention. That isn’t what’s causing the slow healing,” he said when she leaned her head against his chest. “He’s twelve, not two, and that bull was a monster.”

“I should have taken him out of harm’s way before the steers broke through the fence. I heard the bulls getting antsy. I knew things were turning, but I kept him working.”

Trick put his arms around her, pulling her against him and rubbing her back. “He was doing his job. Jinx was a cow horse before you started racing him. I’ve seen him work cattle and I’ve seen him race. He’s an amazing horse; he just has a different destiny now.”

“I ruined him.” She’d ruined her horse and for what? More attention. Every other barrel racer at the arena ran for cover, protected their mounts. She pushed Jinx into culling cattle, a job no horse liked, in the middle of a firecracker extravaganza that was sending all the other animals into a frenzy.

“The bull ruined him, not you.”

“If I’d left the arena … ”

“The stampede might not have been contained. People could have been hurt. You did the right thing.” He rubbed her back for a long moment as Monica relaxed against him.

“I brought someone out to see you.” He put his arm around her and led her to the truck. Inside, in a tiny travel carrier filled with a flannel-covered hot water bottle sat Vern’s kitten. Mewling softly, half-asleep in the late-morning air. “He goes home today.”

Monica petted the little kitten through the wire door. “Isn’t it too soon?”

He shook his head. “Vern’s been a cat-daddy most of his life. He knows what to do, and I printed off detailed instructions on feeding, keeping the kitten warm and general care. Just in case.”

A stomp rang out from the trailer. “Surprise number two,” he said and pulled her away from the kitten to the back of the trailer. “They told me this was your number two.” He opened the back gate and inside was Piebaby, the horse she’d trained off and on over the last year.

His chocolate-brown coat gleamed in the noon sunshine, and he turned curious eyes to her, munching a bit of straw between his massive teeth. Piebaby didn’t have parentage to speak of, and he was slightly shorter than Jinx, but he cornered like a race car. He tossed his head, as if to say hello and turned back to his snack.

“Piebaby!” Her heart swelled with gladness. “You brought Piebaby to me.”

“You named your horse Piebaby?” His eyes widened. “Jinx I get. Piebaby?”

“It’s better than his given name.” Monica stepped inside the trailer, unhooked the horse, and led him out into the ranch yard. Trick stood to the side, watching and waiting. “He was the thirteenth birthday present for a girl in Virginia. She named him Mr. Pettibone in Euchre, for reasons I will never understand, and lost interest in him within a month. He was eating her father out of too many Benjamins, and he put out a notice.”

“That’s not really an answer. Although I totally get why you’re not training Mr. Pettibone in Euchre for life in the rodeo. He’d be laughed out of the trailer park.” Trick patted the horse, and together they walked toward the pasture. Monica turned him out.

“He was a test case. I wanted to train him as a cow horse, but it would have resulted in the same laughter from the other stock. ‘Mr.’ should only be attached to frilly, girly dogs and cats. Or maybe a hamster. Pettibone, gawd, I just have nothing there. And he’s so far from the color Euchre it’s not even funny. But, take off the Mr. and you’re left with P-I-E. His coat is chocolate, my favorite kind of pie, and the white stripe on his face kind of looks like meringue, and his mane and tail are caramel colored. Caramel is the best chocolate meringue pie topping there is.” She shrugged at the incredulous look on his face, knowing she was babbling but too emotional over what he’d done to shut up. “Going through the hassle of changing his official name was silly when his initials would work. So, he’s Piebaby.”

“I had no idea you were this obsessed with pie.”

“I like to keep a few surprises up my sleeve, even when I’m not wearing sleeves.” Monica brushed her fingers across her bare shoulders. She turned to him, reached up on her tiptoes, and placed a kiss on his lips. “Thank you for bringing Piebaby here.”

“He seemed like a good distraction. Look.” He pointed across the pasture where Piebaby and Jinx seemed to be huddled in conference. “I think they’re glad to be back together.”

“Are you staying for lunch?”

“Are you asking?”

She nodded.

“Then I’m staying.” They started toward the house. “You said you wanted to train him as a cow horse. Is that what you’re doing?”

“I’m still not sure. He has good instincts for herding and he doesn’t seem to mind the work terribly, although no horse really wants to herd when he can run. But he corners well and that might make up for his lack of speed. Now that Jinx isn’t running, I’m not sure.”

She led him inside the house, through the kitchen, and into the dining room where five sets of eyes trained on them immediately. Monica’s stomach clenched. She’d seen Grandfather interrogate Jackson, Kathleen’s husband, when they were first married. She’d heard about the conversations he’d had with Mat. Please, God, don’t let him play the protective patriarch with Trick, she prayed.

Platters of sandwiches sat on the sideboard along with fruit, cottage cheese, and a salad. Monica filled a plate and sat next to Kathleen at the table. Trick sat next to her, with Mitchum on his left.

“No flowers today, Trickett?” Mitchum took a bite of sandwich and sent a pointed look across the table. Was it only a week ago Trick had shown up with flowers? It seemed longer and shorter, all at once.

“No, sir. I thought Monica needed something better.” He pressed his thigh against hers under the table.

The flowers were lovely, but he knew her well. She’d take a horse over flowers any day of the week. She grinned at him. “He brought Piebaby out. He’s in the pasture with Jinx. Do we have room for him, Kath?”

Her sister nodded. “Of course, I’ll have a stall set up for him this afternoon.”

“What’s a piebaby?” Vanessa asked from across the table. Monica told her about the horse. “So you’re going to race Piebaby now?”

Monica shrugged. “I don’t think so. He’s a good horse, but so far, he’s timed slow. He makes up for that with cornering ability, but it might not be enough.”

“So you brought our sister a project.” Kathleen nodded as if she’d known this all along. She finished her sandwich and sipped iced tea.

Yeah, he had. Something to distract her from Jinx? Or something intended to show her life in Lockhardt might be what she wanted? Monica wasn’t sure which question disturbed her the most.

“Purely mercenary reasons. She’s already informed me she doesn’t file, and the male dog I had in to be neutered went home with a bow on his head. I need to keep her out of my clinic.”

“My filing skills are alphabetical. That dog needed a pick me up and a pink bit of ribbon was the best thing I could find. And you need a professional office manager, not a part-timer or a high-school kid.”

“I placed an ad this morning.”

“Pamela Martin might be a good contact,” Vanessa offered from across the table. “I hired her to work with me on the bull sale this year, and I think she’s looking for something permanent with flexible hours. Assuming you’re looking for office work and not a vet tech.”

Trick good-naturedly elbowed Monica. “You’re off the hook.” He turned to Vanessa. “Office work. Dr. Vaughn and I can handle the animals.”

“I’ll give you her number.”

The table fell silent as everyone finished their meals. Kathleen elbowed Monica and mouthed “barbecue.” Jackson returned Saturday from New York, and Kathleen wanted everyone to be home. Apparently everyone included Trick. The thought warmed Monica.

“We’re barbecuing Saturday, to welcome Jackson home,” she said to him.

Mitchum leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, a pleased expression on his face. Nathaniel cast a worried look in their direction, but Monica didn’t stop. In for a penny, in for a pound. If they were dating, building a relationship, why not go all the way.

“Would you like to come?”

• • •

The following afternoon, Monica pulled herself out of the therapy pool to grab a bite of the ham sandwich Guillermo had left on a little table next to the pool for her. Jinx stood quietly, enjoying the feel of pulsating water jets against his leg.

“Jinx is looking better.” Her father spoke from behind her, startling Monica. He held up a hand and sat down at the table. “Sorry, thought you knew I was here.”

She took another bite and shook her head.

“Your other horse, he looks like a good runner.”

Runner, yes. Racer? Still undecided. “He’s strong, corners well. Likes to run. We’ll see how it goes.”

Nathaniel sat beside her for a long moment. Watching the horse, looking off into space. Acting as if he had something on his mind. He cleared his throat.

Oh, God, here it came. The latest reason she shouldn’t go back to barrel racing.

Maybe worse, reasons that she should.

“I, um, need to tell you I’m sorry.”

This was an unexpected conversational turn. Monica couldn’t remember Nathaniel apologizing, for anything, in her life. Not when he came home drunk and knocked over the Christmas tree. Not in sympathy when her mother died. Not ever.

“I’m in the program, doing the steps. I haven’t had a drink since three months before Kathleen and Jackson eloped in Mexico.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call their drunken nuptials an elopement.”

He smiled a crooked smile. “True. Maybe I have a problem thinking about what led your sister to get married.”

Monica didn’t doubt that. Nathaniel had spent most of her life drinking or drunk. Leaving her mother to raise all three of his daughters. Leaving Mitchum as the only father figure they had. Not that things were horribly bad, but his absence had left a mark on all of them.