She packed us a light lunch with cheese, crackers, and cold cuts. There was a creek nearby, and it was a good spot to look out at the open fields and imagine our characters and their mindsets.
Josh took us on a horseback ride later that afternoon, and it was by far my favorite part of the day. I had ridden horses before, and I knew I would love it. Josh was great company. He was friendly and approachable, and my horse was sweet, too.
Josh took us back inside the barn when we finished our trail ride, and we dismounted. We knew that after horseback riding, we had some time off before meeting at the owner's house for dinner that evening. My sister was anxious to get back to our apartment, and I told her to take the ATV and I would walk.
I planned on helping Josh put the horses in their stalls. That would allow me to hang out with the horses more, which was a win for me. Josh had two of the horses, and he went along withit when I acted like I wanted to tend to my own. I followed his example and kept hold of my horse's lead as we walked inside the barn.
He talked to me the whole time, and I responded to him, but I was missing my dog, and loving on the horse had at least half of my attention. He led his own horse into the stall and then he did the same with the one my sister had been on.
"You were on the owner's horse," Josh said, seeing me love on mine. "Isn't she sweet?"
"She's so sweet," I said, running my hand down her broad neck. "Is she Jen Sutter's horse?"
"No. Henry's. I should have specified which owner. Elanor is his main horse, but they all sort of belong to him in a way. He's the one in charge of all this. He has the magic touch with horses." Josh took Elanor from me and led her across the open area toward her stall, and I followed him. "Mrs. Sutter's horse is Sunday, the one your sister was riding. They're all sort of Henry's, but Jen, Hank, me, and my dad, we all have ones that we call our own. We have a few others in the barn who are here for the film. We'll sell them after. Henry's giving me part ownership in his business. He's teaching me about breeding and training. He's got this new one right here, Candice. She's a piece of work. Henry got her recently, and he's been here every day for weeks, working with her. He's amazing at breaking horses, but she's a tough one. I barely go into her stall without him. He's been coming in on his day off for her. I think he came by today while we were out on the trail. Yeah, it looks like he did. He said he wasn't going to, and he still did. Because you're high maintenance, aren't you?" Josh added, speaking to the horse that was in the stall on the end.
He led Elanor into her stall.
"Is this Candice you're talking to?" I asked. "The one on the end?"
"Yep. Big baby. She's beautiful, and she's a good girl sometimes, but she is a real firecracker too. She's jumpy. Henry's the only one she lets go over there. And she definitely won't let anybody new touch her. Henry's the only one who… ohhh… what are you…" Josh glanced my way and then his head snapped and he made a look of horror. He trailed off in a strained, whispering sound when he saw that my hand was in her stall. He froze and widened his eyes at me like there was a bomb about to go off. My hand was currently on Candice's neck. From his perspective, he couldn't see much of her, but he could see that my arm was extended into her stall.
"I didn't see you go over there. Are you touching her?" he asked stiffly.
I nodded. "Just barely."
"Sh-she bites." He spoke in a quiet, strained whisper. "She'll nip you, and Henry would not be happy with me if you got hurt."
Josh was genuinely scared, and I gave him a reassuring smile before I glanced at Candice. She was looking me in the eyes with a calm, peaceful expression. "She's a good girl," I said quietly. "She's a sweet girl and a pretty girl," I added in a slow, low, sing-song voice. I didn't take my eyes off of her when I spoke quietly again to Josh. "She's okay," I assured him. "She's comfortable, and I'm okay here. You can go ahead and put Elanor up. I take full responsibility if she bites me. I'm watching out for any sudden movements."
Josh continued to stare at me with concern. He shook his head like he thought it was a mistake, but I could tell he was relenting. I had been talking to him about my love for animals while we got to know each other this afternoon, and I could tell he was going to let me stay next to her. I couldn't tell if he actually trusted me or if he just didn't feel like arguing. Either way, he shook his head at me and went to the job of putting up Henry's other horse.
I could tell that Candice liked me. I could sense her calmness and permission to be next to her. Otherwise, I never would have approached her and reached into her stall. She was fine with my hand on her. I wasn't tentative, and I wasn't aggressive. I touched her with gentle assurance. I continued to pet her neck, and she leaned into it.
Josh finished with Elanor, and he came out of her stall, moving slowly and looking at me, not going far enough for Candice to see him.
"Take your hand off of her for a second, and stand back. I'll show you something."
I pulled my hand from her neck and took a slow step back. I could see that Josh was about to step forward, into her line of vision. He did, and she instantly let out a sound of warning, blowing air from her nostrils. She flung her head to the side in a sharp movement. He said some nice things to her from where he was standing, and she stomped and made another noise in her nose before calming down somewhat.
She completely relaxed as soon as he stepped back.
"That's a lot of progress," he said, shaking his head. "I won't do it right now, but I can coax her into letting me touch her if I stand there for a minute. I can't believe you just reached in there and did it. I didn't even see you go over there. Otherwise, I would have told you not to reach into her stall.
"Sorry I did it. I could just tell she was okay with me. She looks like Spirit, the horse from the movie."
"That's what everybody says, but I've never seen it. It's a cartoon, right?"
I nodded at him, but I stared at the gorgeous horse. Candice. I was completely infatuated with her.
Josh let me stand there for the next twenty minutes. He had some other chores to tend to, and he allowed me to visit with Candice. He said it was significant progress for Candice totolerate a human being. He mentioned how he was going to tell Henry all about it and how pleased Henry would be. He called me a natural, and that made me feel good. I loved that she would accept my attention, and I loved how much it shocked Josh.
He said he had to walk to one of the cow barns, and that he would walk me part of the way to my apartment at that time. I hung out with my new best friend while he worked. There was an office in the open part of the barn, and I made my way over to it when he called out for me, saying he had finished and was ready.
It was a charming office area with a small desk and a chest of drawers, along with two large bookshelves. It was all made of wood—simple and neatly designed. It went with the rustic feel of the barn while being clean and tidy. There were a few photos in frames, and a special little table off to the side with two chairs and a nice chessboard. I walked over to it and imagined sitting there, playing a game. The whole space was warm and welcoming but also gritty and masculine.
I scanned the bookshelf and noticed that there were a few toys intermingled with some of the books. I smiled at the little Hotwheels set of Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, and the rest of the lineup from the movie Cars. I was still checking out all his stuff when Josh walked up.
"Who's is this?" I asked. I was standing near the little table with the chessboard, and I reached out to gesture to it.
