“Yep,” Tony said with a laugh and made them both a cup of coffee, but not before pouring one for Faith.
At the knock on the door, Shay called for them to come in, and Faith stood back as a man and a woman walked in. They stopped short when they spotted her.
“Who are you?” they asked at the same time.
“I’m Faith Webber. I’m the new resident jockey for New Double.”
“Great,” the man said as he stepped forward and held his hand out. “I’m Tom Stolls, I’m a veterinarian. I have my own practice in town, but I also work for Erin and all her ranches. This is my girlfriend, Lorissa Gibson.”
“Hi, I’m Lorissa, like Tom said. I’m also a veterinarian, but I’m also a registered farrier. Shay was helping me with an unruly horse and he didn’t jump out of the way in time.” She grinned at Shay’s snort. She dug into the bag she brought and handed him a bottle. “This is liniment you should rub on the spot. Did the horse get your knee?”
“No, just above it and to the outside.” Shay pointed to his leg and everyone winced when they saw the black imprint of a horseshoe on his leg.
“Damn,” Tom said as he squatted down to look at it. “Can you bear any weight on it?” He stood and watched as Shay stood, then reached out and helped Tony put him back in his chairwhen it looked like he would face plant when he bore weight on it.
The door opened, with only one knock, and Cole walked in. “Talk to me, what happened? Ann said you got kicked?” He looked down at Shay’s leg, swore and whistled at the same time. “Can you put weight on it?”
“No.”
“Do you think it’s broken?”
“Not that I know of.”
Faith watched the people check the man named Shay out, and the entire time the man named Tony was texting. He looked up and cleared his throat. When everyone looked at him, he nodded. “Caleb said to bring Shay to him to run x-rays.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Son,” Cole said. “I’m not about to lose you to an injury. Let’s go get an x-ray, and we can take it from there.” Cole looked up and saw Faith over by the counter, then nodded. “Did Naomi tell you about The Broken Wheel, or Broken Two?”
“Briefly, we mainly talking about New Double.”
“Well, Broken Two has two office buildings. You’ll learn the more you stay here, but one of the doctors there is a licensed physical therapist, as well as a chiropractor. The other person working with him is a gal that builds prosthetic limbs from scratch.”
“That’s my girlfriend,” Tony said with pride. “Staci has a government contract to build them for veterans. Broken Wheel has both male and female military veterans that work there, and she’s helping them.”
“Oh.” Faith felt her mind turning to mush as she was learning everything. She hoped when she returned that she would be better equipped to understand it all. Tuning back into Shay’s grumbling, she stepped forward so she was to his side. When he looked over, she realized that with him sitting, he was eye levelwith her standing. She knew that at five foot nothing, she was short, but he must be tall.
“I don’t know you,” she began, “But it sounds like these people care about you. Why not go get checked out? Do you want to get a doctor’s opinion and then take care of yourself, or would you like to be laid up for days or weeks with a bum knee, unable to do anything to help out around here?”
“Who are you again?”
“Faith Webber, Cole and Naomi interviewed me today, and I’m only here tonight, then I’m heading back home to pack up and move here. I’m going to be the resident jockey.” At his expression, she grinned. “That means that I’m the one that gets to ride on the backs of the horses and ride them around the track. I’ll be training the ones that are ready to be put through their paces.” She saw his expression and cocked her head to the side. “What? No comment about me being a woman and doing this?”
“Nope, I’m familiar with women doing their jobs in my former job.”
“What was your former job?”
“Commander of a National Guard unit.”
“Oh.” When they continued to stare at one another, she made a quick decision. “I know you don’t know me from Eve, but I promise I’m not a psychopath or anything. If you go to this Broken Two place to get looked at and worked on, I will cook a meal for you. Do you have any food allergies?”
“No, and you don’t have to.”
“I know, but I want to. I had to cook for myself anyway, what’s one more person?”
Again, before anyone could say anything, the door flew open and in walked two women. Faith recognized Naomi right away, but didn’t know the other woman, and she was the one that took charge of the entire situation. She dropped to her knee beforeShay, reached up to touch his leg, and when he jerked away from her, Faith saw she thumped his thigh with a stump.
“Let me see it,” the woman demanded, and Shay sighed, closed his eyes, and let her.
