Page 106 of Then You Happened
“It’s the personal touch they are looking for. You doing this will give that to them.”
The two monolith-sized horse trailers look so out of place and, yet, so perfect parked in the drive. I watch Jack and Will assist Pete’s employees unload the horses and bring them to the stables opposite of our mares.
The constant dancing on their feet and the brays, which are loud and vibrant, tell me that the studs can smell the females.
“Your horses are beautiful,” I murmur as I lean down and pet Gracie’s head beside me.
“As are yours.”
Across the distance of the pasture, I meet Jack’s gaze. It’s only for a fleeting second, but there’s something in his expression—pride, maybe—that makes me stand a little taller.
“Shall we?” I ask.
We continue the tour around the ranch as the others finish unloading the studs and park the equine carriers in the empty field for storage. I patiently answer every question Pete has. I diligently find the answers to the ones I don’t know without trying to be defensive.
The whistle that we’re about to officially start this union pulls our attention to where the workers have gathered near the breeding pens, and we move in their direction.
“Everything to your liking?” Jack asks as we approach.
“Just like you promised,” Pete says and then smiles when Will leads Cali into the breeding pen. She’s antsy and fights him some, but only because she’s caught a whiff of the scent of one of the stallions that Cory, one of the workers from Steely Brothers, is walking across the distance.
“Nothing like jumping right into things, huh?” Pete says with a laugh.
“Cali presented,” Jack says as she dances some more on her feet before squatting a bit and urinating.
“Yes, she sure is,” Pete says while Cory fights to control the sire, who had taken note of Cali. Pete reaches out and shakes Jack’s hand and then mine as the gate is shut so the two horses are locked in together. “Here we go.”
It’s a delicate dance as the horses move around each other.
It’s carnal and animalistic and, at the same time, clinical.
I catch Jack’s glance and his slight nod as the stallion approaches Cali and she bucks away.
Almost as if she knows what is coming next.
Almost as if she knows she can’t escape him.
Almost as if she knows after him, she’ll never be the same.
Her life will forever be changed.
38
TATE
The lights burn bright in the bunkhouse. Laughter rings out more often than not and floats through the still night air.
It’s as welcome of a sound as it is lonely.
Because so long as it’s happening, Jack’s there. He’s doing his job schmoozing and entertaining the men from Steely instead of being here at the house with me.
He’s doing what I hired him to do.
I take a sip of wine and close my eyes as the cool breeze hits my cheeks.
I miss him.
It’s why I’m sitting on the porch swing at eleven o’clock at night instead of sleeping.
