6
Megan shivered as she and Jake walked out of the barn with Bug between them. “Imagine if we’d taken Bug and Dusty in without having rented the stables and were trying to do this by ourselves?”
“Your instincts were spot on tonight. You’d have known to call the vet.”
They walked another loop around the property. It was past midnight now, and her fingers were numb inside her gloves by the time they made it back to the barn.
“I’m going to go put on a pot of coffee,” Jake said after he’d gotten Bug settled in her stall. “If you don’t mind watching her for a few minutes.”
“Not at all. I think coffee is definitely going to be necessary tonight.”
“Lots of it.” With a quick smile, he strode off in the direction of the farmhouse.
Megan sat on their bed of horse blankets, drawing her knees against her chest. She watched as Bug shifted her weight from one hoof to another, hoping the little horse would be okay. In the time she’d spent at Rosemont Castle, Bug had clearly put on weight. Her ribs were far less prominent now than they had been when she arrived. Her wounds looked better too, although they were still stained a bright purple from the disinfectant spray. Surely, she would pull through this setback…
Naively, Megan had imagined taking in a couple of low-maintenance horses and fostering them for a few weeks before they went on to new homes. In reality, it would be weeks before Bug and Dusty were even available for adoption. First, they both had a whole lot of getting healthy to do, although Bug was clearly the more delicate of the two.
“You feeling any better yet?” she asked the horse.
Bug spun, hanging her head over the open top of the stall door, her soft muzzle nudging the top of Megan’s head where she sat on the floor. She lifted a hand and rubbed Bug’s nose. The skin there was so much softer than it looked, and fuzzy, almost like velvet.
“I like you too,” she said, hoping Bug’s gesture meant what she thought it did. “I think we’ll be good friends once you’re feeling better.”
“I’d say you already are,” Jake said from the doorway, a travel mug of coffee in each hand. Bug raised her head to look at him but didn’t step away from the doorway to her stall. Jake walked over, handing one of the mugs to Megan before stroking Bug’s face. She bobbed her head up and down a few times before moving off to the far side of her stall.
“Feel free to use the farmhouse for anything you need, kitchen, bathroom, or just a place to warm up for a few minutes,” Jake said.
“Actually, I’ll take you up on that.” She sipped her coffee and set it on the floor. “I could use a bathroom, and it’s a lot closer than the castle.”
He nodded. “Take your time.”
She stood and walked out of the barn toward the little white house at the other end of the driveway. The front door was unlocked so she let herself in, heading for the half bath just inside the front door. She used the facilities and then wandered into the living room, where she flicked on the gas fireplace and stood for a few minutes warming her fingers and toes.
She’d been in the farmhouse a lot while they got it fixed up to rent, and the difference now was striking. With Jake’s stuff here, it looked like a home. His furniture was minimalistic, no pictures on the walls—or none yet anyway—but he’d left out enough things to make the place look lived in, a book here, coffee mug there.
She imagined him kicked back on the couch, jean-clad legs stretched along the cushions, a beer in one hand. Or maybe the beer would be on the coffee table while he held his laptop, busily writing the next chapter of his latest novel. There was a whole lot more to Jake Reardon than she’d first realized, and she liked all of it.
A lot.
Deciding she’d dawdled in his house long enough, she shut off the fireplace and walked to the stable. Jake sat on the pile of horse blankets in the aisle, much as she’d just been picturing him in his home—legs stretched out in front of him and a coffee mug in one hand. He was turned away from her, talking over his shoulder to Bug, whose head was hanging over her stall door, watching him intently.
If only Megan had her camera with her. She would have given anything to capture that moment, the image of this big, strong man sitting on the floor with the sickly, scarred rescue horse gazing down at him, a trusting, affectionate look on her face.
Megan’s heart melted into a puddle of lovesick goo in her chest.
“Looks like you’re all settled into the farmhouse,” she said quietly to alert him to her presence.
He turned his head, a relaxed smile on his face. “Easy to do when you don’t bring much with you.”
“I suppose that’s true.” She sat beside him, reaching for her coffee, then gestured at Bug. “She looks like she’s feeling better.”
“She does. I checked her over while you were inside, and her vitals are good, although I’m still not hearing much activity in her gut. We may just be seeing the effects of the pain medication making her more comfortable.”
Megan sobered. “Damn.”
Jake rested a hand on hers. “I still think she’s going to be fine, but we’re not out of the woods yet.”
“How will we know?”
