“Well, looks like we’re the proud owners of two new horses. Hopefully Henry won’t be too mad when we tell him why. If he is mad, I’ll just buy her for myself.” Murray gives me a sad look.
“I’ll do half with you. We couldn’t let her go to anyone else.”
Now that we have our wins, Murray and I go get our trailer ready for the two newcomers and pass the time until the auction ends. We need to get the dividers up, not knowing how they’ll react. Especially after seeing the mare’s behaviors.
Dropping the divider in, I make the rookie mistake of leaving my finger in the way.
“Fuck!” Ripping my hand away I inspect the damage. I probably need fucking stitches but superglue is going to have to do today.
Stomping my way over to the toolbox in my truck I pull out the superglue and a rag. Dabbing at the cut and then covering it with superglue. Blue collar medical care at its finest.
“What’s up with you today? You’re grouchier than usual. You’re distracted. And I haven’t seen you look at your phone this much the entire time I’ve worked for you.” Murray’s eyes take me in, full of scrutiny.
I blow out the breath I’m holding waiting for the superglue to do its job. “Juliette’s pissed at me. I didn’t clean up my boots last night. Or this morning. And then she told me she didn’t want to be my mom, whatever that means. Now she hasn’t answered me all day.”
“Ah. Of course. Woman troubles. Don’t sweat it, man. You and Juliette are solid. No better couple in my opinion.”
Right, solid.I scoff at my own thought. We’ve been doing more fightin’ than kissin’ lately.
“Yeah. I’m just over the day, ya know? And it’s not even half over. All the hard stuff is left.”
“Want me to get one of the other guys to help?” He snaps the last piece into place and stands to wipe his hands on his pants.
“Naw, I got it.”
The end of the auction is announced so we shut up the trailer and head over to the ticket table. Handing our number over to the worker they get us all the paperwork and within an hour we’re ready to go.
“Bring the Arabian first?” I ask.
They nod and head back to find our new horses.
Leaning against the trailer, I close my eyes trying to stave off the headache I can feel coming. Pulling out my phone I send another message to Juliette. She’s usually just getting up from a nap to get ready for work.
Me: You okay? I’m really sorry. I’ll get the boots as soon as I get home.
I watch as the message sends, but it doesn’t. It turns green. I hit her number calling her, but it goes immediately to voicemail.
What the fuck?
I try again. Same result. Either she blocked me or her phone is off.Fuck.
The Arabian gets loaded without issue. But the mare is a different story. She’s bucking the whole way, thrashing her head, and flat refusing to move.
None of these assholes are acting like they’ve spent one day around a horse. I intervene to get this shit show moving again.
Approaching the worker I hold out my hand for the lead. “What the fuck are you doing to her?”
He rolls his eyes, handing over the lead and I rip it out of his hand.
I stand stock still, letting the horse calm down a minute. “Hey girl. We’re going to get ya out of here, but I need you to walk to the trailer. Think you can do that for me?”
I step forward, but when I do she starts whinnying again. “Okay, you win. I won’t come closer.”
The man, if you can call him that, who was here with her approaches us with his whip in hand.
“I’ll get her for you two. You’re bein’ too easy on her.” He raises the whip over his head.
Murray steps in front of him. “The fuck you will. She’s ours now. We’ll handle it.”
