“I’ll keep your lunch warm if you’re not back,” Lily added.
Gunner patted my leg, urging me up. “We’ll be back in time and don’t worry guys, we’ve got this.”
As we walked away from the house toward the temporary paddock, I could feel the tension radiating from him. “Do you think it’s connected to the development?” I asked quietly.
He shook his head. “Who knows, sweetheart. They had to know starting it in the hay would be most effective, but they also had to know that just the other side of the dividing wall were horses.”
“But who would do that? Knowing that the horses would probably be killed?”
“And that’s what keeps me up at night,” he admitted. “It had to be someone who either knows the layout and doesn’t give a shit about the horses, or someone who doesn’t know the layout so had no idea.”
“It wasn’t hard to see that there were stables attached to it, though. Even someone who’d never been here before must have known that. They’d have heard the horses, surely.” A chill ran down my spine at the idea that they did what they did knowing there were living creatures there.
“Yeah, sweetheart, it’s evil, right.” He blew out his cheeks, disbelief in his eyes. “I’m finding it hard to understand this damn world more and more.”
With the warm smell of hay and hints of the sun in the air we walked to the paddock, and I was surprised to see Dream Maker had been separated from the other horses.
“Why is he in here alone?” I asked as Gunner picked two apples from a bucket on our side of the fence.
“Tally did it this morning. She said he’s getting spooked at sudden movements and sounds. The changes we’ve had to make seem to have affected him more than the actual fire.” He sounded almost defeated, but I knew it would be momentary because he was a strong, stubborn man. “It feels like we’re back to square one with him rebuilding the trust we’d established.”
As we slowly approached, Gunner bounced the apple from his forearm and into his hand a couple of times before holding it out to Dream Maker.
“Hey, Dreamy, there’s my good boy,” he murmured, his voice gentler than I’d heard it all day. “You’re doing so great. That’s it. You’re such a brave boy.
Watching him with Dream Maker, the tenderness in his touch, the patience in his eyes, revealed everything his swagger tried to hide. He was a good man who just wanted to love and be loved. A man who was gentle, kind, and compassionate. A man who made me realize that our future was all about second chances and starting over. Despite everything we were all learning to trust again, to rebuild what had been lost.
Dream Maker nuzzled Gunner’s palm for more treats, and for the first time in days I saw a genuine smile. It didn’t reach his eyes completely, but it was a start.
“I was thinking,” I said cautiously, “about the camp.”
Gunner looked over at me, his expression guarded. “What about it?”
“What if we don’t wait for the stables to be finished? What if we start smaller, with just a few kids? Lucas and maybe two or three others?”
He leaned his hip against the fence, letting Dream Maker nuzzle his nose. “We don’t have the facilities yet though, sweetheart.”
“We could use the old hay barn for now,” I suggested. “I know you didn’t want to use it for safety reasons, but short-term it might be a good place to start testing our program. Work out any kinks before we go bigger.”
Gunner was quiet for a moment, his hand stroking Dream Maker’s nose in a rhythmical way that seemed to calm them both.
“We’d need to adapt our plans,” he said finally. “Safety would be our priority so no overnight stays for now.” He breathed in, straightening his spine. “Non-negotiable.”
“Of course,” I agreed. “But maybe this is exactly what we all need right now, something positive to focus on.”
Dream Maker nudged Gunner’s shoulder as if offering his own endorsement of the plan.
“Can I think about it?” Gunner asked, but I could see his mind was already working through the possibilities. “It would be good to have something to look forward to, though.”
We stood in silence for a moment. The three of us, Gunner, me and a horse who’d been through his own trauma and was still finding his way forward.
“Whatever happens,” I said, slipping my around his waist, “whoever did this, well, we’ll get through it together.”
He turned to me and the intensity in his eyes took my breath away. “You know what’s strange? As terrible as this has been, I’ve never felt more certain about what matters.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his focused gaze finally dropping to my lips. “About you. About us.”
“Is that your way of telling me again that you love me?” I teased gently.
“Haven’t I told you about five times a day, every day since the first time?” He narrowed his eyes and gave me a playful smirk. “Need me to punctuate it with my dick each time, because I can if you want me to.”
