Page 5 of Stables Spurs Suits
“There’s a first time for everything. You managed to pet the most skittish horse on Beaker Brothers, I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” I say, and then I head over to grab hay for the new stables.
I’m about halfway through filling the stalls when Dean walks in.
“Looking good,” he says, grabbing a bale off the pile at the doorway and immediately helping. That’s the thing in this place, not one of these guys would stand by and just watch while someone else was working.
“Yeah, it’s coming together. But you didn’t come down here just to check on the new stables, did you?”
“I have a favor to ask.”
“You’re still struggling to understand the concept of being the boss, aren’t you?”
He laughs, something he’s done a hell of a lot more of since he and Preston got together. It’s nice seeing him so happy. I don’t exactly understand it, but it’s nice all the same.
“I understand the concept, just never been good at holdin’ to it,” he says, and I close up the last stall on this side, ready for the horse’s arrival.
“Well, whatever it is, I’ll do my best. What do you need?”
“The riding trail mapped and cut through the woods, ready for summer.”
“That’s not a small job.”
“I know. But I just got off the phone with Ironbark Academy up in Boston. They normally take their seniors to Camp Karriwood each year, but a fire just destroyed all the lodgings.”
“That’s horrible,” I interject, my stomach sinking at the mental image of that beautiful place turned to ruins. “They keep horses at Karriwood, are they okay?”
He nods. “The staff and horses are all fine. They’re closing up, though, so now the school needs to relocate for their trip, and it turns out we had nothing booked in that week, soooo…”
“Where are the horses going?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Can you?”
“I guess. But we’re pretty full up already, don’t you think?”
“We’ve got some space.”
“Where?” he asks, turning on the spot, arms out, gesturing to the vacant stalls. “Most of these are reserved for the latest adoptees, remember?”
“But not all of them. What if they’ve got nowhere else to go?”
Dean rubs the back of his neck with one hand, and I can tell he’s actually considering my request. As he should. That is the whole idea of Beaker Brothers. It’s a place where anyone can find the home they need.
“I’ll check in with the camp about the horses.”
“Yes,” I cheer, fist pumping the air.
“And my trail?” he asks.
“Consider it done. I’ll start mapping it out tomorrow. Thanks, boss.”
He shakes his head, letting out a sigh that sounds more like a soft chuckle, and I know he’s wondering how he just agreed to possibly take on even more animals to this menagerie.
***
I sip my morning coffee, the sunrise cresting over the horizon and glimmering through the branches of the trees that surround my small piece of perfection. They’ve grown from tiny saplings to several feet above me over the years, creating a natural wall between my slice of heaven and the outside world. But now that the horse trail is going to lead through the land surrounding Beaker Brothers, it will likely have to pass close enough to my trailer to maybe see through the branches, so I might need more than just a few trees to shield me, or the guests from me. I can’t go back to being naked only inside my trailer.
If I don’t sort out the trail, Dean will get one of the other guys to do it, and they might not care how close the guests are getting to my place. Better that I get it mapped out. I’ll be the one leading them down it after all. Not that I mind. The horses love it. The ones we use for guest rides do anyway. There are a few that will never be fit for riding, though, like Loki. The memory of Matthew petting him like he was just any old horse flashes in my mind. Loki is skittish with everyone but me, or at least he was, until now. Maybe he’s just getting used to people. The work I’ve been doing with him has probably just started to pay off. I bet if Dean or one of the other guys went into the stables right now, he’d just stand there and let them pet him too. He feelssafe in there, that’s it, I tell myself, and then down the last of my coffee and head inside to get ready. I can’t put off getting dressed forever.
