Page 35 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

Josh scrolled on his phone.“I’ll see who’s on equine overnight call today.I can ask them to come out here as soon as they can.”

Please, not Dr.Green.

Erika pulled Josh into a quick, desperate hug.“I love you.If she’s in dystocia…” Her voice cracked.“Every ten minutes like that raises the risk of losing the foal.Or her.”

“It’ll go fine.”Josh blanched.But he wasn’t looking at the barn.He was looking at his wife with those statistics running through his head.

“I’m not in dystocia, Whiskey.”Erika kissed him.“We’re all good.”

“I got it,” I announced.“Josh you text whoever’s on call.I’ll be in the barn.I got Sof to sleep, so I’ve got to be here anyway.Mom and Dad can take Vinny with them to the hospital.”

A half hour later, the baby monitor was propped against the mare’s stall, its tiny screen glowing with the stillness of Sofia’s room.Asleep and quiet was good.No bad dreams yet.

I couldn’t stop looking at the monitor.I hated not being in the house.I worried if I blinked, something would go wrong.

Behind me, the mare thudded back to her feet again, hooves grinding into fresh shavings.She circled, tight and restless, with her sides quivering.I’d bandaged her tail, laid down clean bedding, done everything right, and still expected something to go wrong.

My phone buzzed.

Josh.

Another update request.Every ten minutes.Like clockwork.If I stopped answering, everything might unravel on his end too.

I typed back with stiff fingers.Still pacing.No foal yet.

Another contraction hit the mare, and she dropped hard, a grunt ripping out of her.

“I know,” I whispered.“I know, girl.Come on.Come on…”

I paced with her when she pushed back upright, matching her circles.My chest was too tight, breaths coming shallow and fast.There was nothing todo.That was the worst part.Nothing I could easily fix.There was nowhere to put my hands that would make this better.

Erika in labor.Josh waiting on me.Sofia alone in her room.The mare going down again.Too many things that could go wrong.

“What we got going on, Rye?”

I flinched hard enough that my vision sparked.

Relief hit so fast that my head went light for a moment.

“I thought you had a date with wine tonight?”My voice came out thin, frayed.

She shrugged, but I could see the exhaustion around her eyes.“I got the bath and cookies part before the call.Wine will have to wait.Josh asked me to come out since Dr.Tori was going into a colic surgery which might take most of the night and Dr.Green is out of town.”

“Erika’s at the hospital in labor and we can’t lose her favorite mare.”

“Who said anything about losing the mare?”She shrugged out of her scrub top to the undershirt beneath and pulled coveralls out of the duffle bag of supplies.The motion pulled my attention—against my will—to the bruises still blooming across her skin.They had bled into a more yellowing color.

She lifted her arms slightly, like she knew exactly where my eyes had landed, then swallowed.“They’re still there.”Her voice tightened for half a second before she forced it steady.“We can both take a good look at themlater.Right now…”

I peeled my gaze off the damage.

“I need you to do me a favor,” she said, holding my eyes until I couldn’t look anywhere else.“We’re going to table all the hellacious shit this stirs up in both of us.Okay?We get this mare through this first.”She zipped closed the navy blue coveralls.

Another thud as the mare hit the ground again.My pulse jumped with it.

“Afterward,” she added, her voice dipping, something raw slipping through, “if you want to go back to it, then okay.”

I swallowed, throat dry, the taste of dread still sitting sharp on my tongue.“Okay.”