“Oh, thank God,” Megan murmured. “Do you think she’ll let us catch her?”
“I sure do. She doesn’t generally play hard to catch. The trick is not to remind her that she has the freedom to run off. Just approach with confidence.” He walked right up to Bug, rubbing her neck as offered her a handful of grain before reaching down to grab her lead shank. “Hey there, girl.”
“Phew.” Megan joined him beside Bug. “You gave me quite a scare.” She rubbed the horse, and Bug nuzzled her affectionately.
“She’s gotten pretty fond of you,” Jake observed.
“The feeling is mutual.” Megan took the lead from his hand, guiding Bug confidently down the lane toward the barn. The horse looked like a different animal than the one who’d arrived a month and a half ago, skinny, ragged, and covered in dog bites. The wounds had healed now, leaving fresh pink scars against her dappled white coat. “She’ll be sad if Dusty gets adopted tomorrow, I think.”
“She might be, yeah,” he agreed. “They’re nicely bonded. It’s too bad the adopter isn’t interested in the pair of them.”
“It is.” Megan looked up at Bug’s face. “I hope she’ll be okay.”
“She will be. She’s pretty resilient. Most animals are,” he commented. “People too.”
Megan glanced over at him with a smile. “I suppose that’s true.”
Yesterday, she’d brought down the rest of her things from the castle. Maybe it should feel like a big deal that he was living with a woman for the first time in his life. Probably, it should. But it didn’t. Everything with Megan felt easy and comfortable, like he’d been waiting his whole life for it. He hadn’t put a label on it, but as soon as she’d blurted out her declaration of love last night, he knew he felt the same way.
He loved her. It was a different kind of love than he’d felt for Alana, a deeper, more mature love. The kind of love that demanded nothing but offered everything. With Megan at his side, the world felt lighter and brighter, full of all the warm, wonderful things he’d watched other people experience for so much of his life.
“I can take her from here if you need to get back to your client,” Megan said as they approached the barn. Dusty whinnied from her stall, and Bug returned her call, head up and ears pricked, her step quickening as she approached her friend.
“All right. Holler if you need any help.” He knew she’d be fine, but he kept an eye on her all the same. Jake could only hope he’d be fine too, because he’d been on the verge of earning Mr. Nichols’ seal of approval before he’d run off and left him with Duchess. Not ideal, to say the least.
“Oh, good,” Mr. Nichols said as he walked out of the barn, smiling at them. “Glad she didn’t go too far.”
“So am I,” Megan told him with a warm smile. “Sorry for losing her in the first place and interrupting you and Jake during your training session.”
“Not at all,” Mr. Nichols told her. “It gave me a chance to spend a little time with Duchess, and to see Jake in action.”
“I have yet to see him get flustered, and these rescue horses have given us plenty of trouble,” she said as she led Bug into her stall. “Jake always knows exactly what to do.”
He rocked back on his heels, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. “I wouldn’t say I always know what to do, but this is my job, after all.”
“I have to agree with Megan,” Mr. Nichols said. “I was impressed with how calmly you handled everything just now. A friend of mine has a horse he’s looking for some help with. She’s a scraper, among other things.”
“A what?” Megan furrowed her brow as she closed and latched Bug’s stall door.
“She takes riders under low-hanging branches to try to get rid of them,” Mr. Nichols explained with a smile. “You up for a job like that, Jake?”
“Absolutely. I’ve had plenty of experience with difficult horses.”
Mr. Nichols clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll put in a good word for you.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate that.” With any luck, he was on the cusp of bigger and better things, on several fronts.
