He stays still, refusing to look away from me for even a second, not trusting whether I’ll come at him. Defeat nips at me, but I ignore it.
“We’ll try this again tomorrow,” I declare.
Standing, I turn my back to him and walk away. It takes a sense of trust that I don’t have with him yet to not run out ofhere. He needs to see that I’m not afraid of him, though. Horses are the smartest animals I’ve ever known, and they deserve the same respect we offer humans.
In my case, I tend to give them more.
In a blink, I’m back over the railing. My boots sink into the dirt as I walk away from the pen and to the stable. Diesel’s been patient with me these last few days, and I know he’s itching to go for a ride. I am too, more than I’ll admit.
The door is cracked open now, unlike how it was earlier. I pull it the rest of the way and head inside. It’s silent, save for the random crunch of hooves on hay. The lights above the aisle are on, keeping it just bright enough that I don’t trip on my way to Diesel’s pen.
“Did you win?”
I tense up, my palm running down the length of my thigh. “Yes.”
“Good. I knew you would,” Dad grunts. He steps out from his horse’s stall, his saddle slung over his arms. “It’s late for a ride.”
“That why you’re just getting back from one?”
“Getting back, not going out,” he says pointedly.
“I ride best at night.”
He stalks past me to the hooks on the wall and hangs his saddle. I open Diesel’s gate and then take my saddle and blanket from the spot two down from my father’s. The old man watches me with a sharp curiosity. It’s his typical gaze when he’s not eyeing me with disapproval.
Diesel whinnies when he spots what I’ve got in my arms, his excitement overshadowing the annoyance that was just there.Took you long enough, his tapping feet say. Balancing the saddle on my knee, I toss the blanket onto his back. He shuffles, unable to keep still when I fit the saddle onto him.
“When’s that angry bastard going to be out of the pen? Sawyer’s got the other one in here already.”
I wet my lips, testing my words in my head before saying them. “His was easier. This one’s broken, not just mean. It’s going to take a while.”
“How long is that? I’ve got to give an update to his owner soon before he comes all the way over here just to demand one.”
“A couple of months at least.”
A pause, then a rough “Months?”
I focus on getting Diesel’s saddle on right, keeping my back to my father so he can’t see the tightening of my lips. This shouldn’t be all that surprising to a man like him. This is far from the first time we’ve had a horse like that one here.
“Yeah. Four of them at a minimum. He’s not some green colt needing a firm hand.”
“You’ll be the one to explain that to the owner, then.”
“Who talks to him isn’t going to change the facts.”
“Maybe not. But I won’t be the one he has it out with when he realizes how much this is going to cost him.”
Diesel butts his nose to my shoulder, and I scratch him behind the ear. “I’ll talk to him.”
The last thing I want is the two of them to make some backdoor deal that’s going to screw both me and the horse outside. And knowing my dad, that’s exactly what he’d do.
8
TILLY
“Get out of the car,”Ash pleads, tugging once again at my seat belt.
It digs into my neck as I wiggle away from him, downright refusing. “Not a chance. I can’t believe you’d take me here. This isnotMaggie’s diner.”
