The sound of hoofbeats reached him as he drew closer to the open double doors. Well, damn. Either he could put on his cheerful face and brave it through or take his horse back to the barn.
Sparky was prancing with eagerness, so that settled it. He couldn’t disappoint his horse. As for small talk, he’d say Mila and Claudie were making Christmas fudge today so he was using the time to give Sparky some exercise. Both things were true, as far as they went.
As he reached the doorway and peered inside, he chuckled. Should’ve known.
Jordie slowed Fudge from a trot to a walk as she rode over to greet him. “Hey, big brother! Great minds, huh?”
“Guess so. How come you’re out here alone?”
“I’m not alone. I have Fudgie.” She leaned down and patted the horse’s neck.
“Good point.”
“Come on in. I’ve only been here about fifteen minutes. I must’ve just missed you at the barn.”
“Yep. I didn’t notice Fudge was gone when I fetched Sparky.” He swung into the saddle. “I would’ve taken a trail ride, but I don’t have any snow pads.”
“I do, if you want to change your mind.”
“Nah, this looks like more fun.” She was the one person he could stand to be with right now. “We can go faster.”
“That’s what I decided.” She smiled. “Besides, I like this place.”
“Because of your wedding?”
“Definitely that, but also because you built it. Every time I come in here I think of how hard you worked on it.”
“Not just me.” But he loved hearing that she connected him to this building.
“Mostly you.”
He gave her a smile. “So where’s Luis?”
“He’s working on the sleigh with Rio. They think the snow will still be good enough on Christmas Day to take it out.”
“You didn’t want to help get it ready?”
“They invited me, but they need some brotherly time together. And I could use a break from hearing about all the fun they’ve had in past Christmases.”
“Yeah, I heard a lot of those stories yesterday during the poker game. It gets old.”
She gazed at him. “How’re you doing?”
“Fine.”
“Hm.” She studied him for a moment. Then she glanced at Sparky, who continued to prance. “He’s getting impatient. We should do this. How fast do you want to go?”
“I thought I’d switch off between a lope and a trot, but you were here first. Your call. And you get to lead.”
She laughed. “That was never up for debate. Let’s go.” She reined Fudge around and nudged him with her heels. The black gelding took off at a brisk trot.
His heart lifted as he mounted up and followed on Sparky, holding him back a little to give her plenty of room to maneuver. They couldn’t race in this confined space, but it reminded him of how they used to on their rusty old bikes. She’d been a scrappy competitor.
He could still picture those races, her blonde hair pulled through the back of her baseball cap like a pennant flapping in the wind as she leaned forward and pedaled like crazy. He hadn’t let her win every time, but a lot of the time.
Watching Fudge circling the arena was a pleasure, too. Thanks to Monty’s doctoring, he’d completely recovered from the hoof abscess he’d developed in July. Having a vet in the family was a big perk of living at Laughing Creek Ranch.
Hell, there were so many perks he couldn’t count them all. Like today for instance, he had the privilege of hanging out with Jordie while riding a great horse he’d been given by her generous husband.
