“Sounds good right about now,” he said. The temperature had dropped now that the sun had set, and the promise of filling his belly with something hot sounded perfect.
“I thought so too.” She lifted two thermoses out of the basket and handed him one. “There’s fresh bread in here too, and a whole stash of peanut butter cookies. Beatrice said we’d need fuel to make it through the night.”
“You don’t have to stay the night,” he told her.
“I know.” Her eyes flicked to his. “But I don’t think I’d sleep a wink if I went back up to the castle, worrying about her.”
“I know that feeling.” He screwed the top off his thermos and snagged a spoon from the open basket. A rich, slightly spicy scent filled the air. “It smells good.”
They slurped soup in silence, both of them hunched over their thermoses to keep from making a mess. Behind them, Bug watched, head down, eyes droopy. Across the aisle, Twister hung his head over his stall door, giving them a curious look. When they’d finished the soup and the bread, they dug into the cookies.
“I saw you out with Duchess this morning,” Megan said as she brushed cookie crumbs off her lap. “She looks like she’s coming along nicely.”
As if she’d heard her name, Duchess hung her head out of the stall next to Twister’s, and they nipped at each other playfully. Although the horses usually stayed outside overnight, Jake had brought them in tonight to help keep Bug company in the barn.
That morning, he’d worked Duchess on the lunge line in a bridle and saddle with the stirrups removed. “She’s almost ready for me to get on her back. She’s so steady, I don’t think it’ll take her long to get used to it. Plus, I’ve been letting her watch me tack up Twister and ride him, so she knows what’s coming.”
Megan leaned back against Bug’s stall. “I have a feeling we’ll both be exhausted tomorrow, but another day, let me know when you’re going to work with her, and I’ll come down and take some pictures for your website.”
“That would be great. Thank you.”
“Of course. She’s absolutely gorgeous. She should photograph really well. Yeah, I’m complimenting you,” she said to Duchess, who was watching them with wide, curious eyes. “You look like a million bucks.”
“You’re not far off,” Jake told her. “She’s by far the most valuable horse in the barn.”
“Damn, girl,” Megan said to the filly. “Well, only fitting you should live at a castle, then.”
“Until she goes back to the mansion she came from.”
Megan shook her head with a smile. “I guess I never thought about horses having value before. That’s kind of weird, isn’t it? To say she’s worth more than Dusty and Bug, who’ll get adopted for a hundred bucks or so?”
“Horses are property, an asset to people like the Nichols who own Duchess. She’s insured, as are all their horses, in case anything happens to her.”
Megan’s eyebrows lifted. “Wow. I had no idea.”
“People spend a lot of money in the horse industry.”
“How did you get started in it?” she asked. “You told me before you kind of fell into it by accident.”
“Needed a way to earn cash when I was too young to work anywhere legally.” It felt like a lifetime ago, when he’d mucked stalls to help his mother pay the bills, not realizing he was actually supporting her drug habit. “Alana rode at the stable where I worked. That’s how we met.”
“Aw,” Megan said softly, reaching over to squeeze his hand. “Is her family wealthy, then?”
“A lot wealthier than mine, but they’re not rich. Upper middle class, I’d say.”
“What happened?” she asked, scooting closer to him on the blanket. “If you don’t mind me asking. I know she fell soon after your wedding.”
“During the wedding reception,” he corrected her. “It was just one of those freak things. She tripped on her dress and fell down some steps behind the VFW hall, hit her head on the concrete. She never regained consciousness.”
“During the wedding reception,” Megan repeated, pressing a hand over her mouth. “Oh, Jake, I’m so sorry. That’s awful.”
“That first night, it was all so terrifying. I begged, and I prayed for her to survive. We all prayed so hard, and we thought our prayers had been answered when she made it through the night.”
Megan was silent, her hand on his arm in support.
“But I didn’t realize the real nightmare had just begun, watching her waste away in that hospital bed. I don’t think she would have wanted what her life became.”
“Those decisions must be the very hardest to make,” she said quietly.
