But Winnie just keeps smiling at me, like the idea of trail rides with me actually excites her. “That would be great! Which horse do you usually ride here?”
“Whichever Candice can spare. It’s been a while since I’ve ridden, because I’ve been so busy with work but now that, I, uh…”
“Now that you’ve got my money in the bank and no more medical bills, you can take some weekends off!” Winnie finishes my thoughts for me.
“We’ll go on one as soon as you’re ready and the weather is decent,” I confirm.
“I’ll start riding every day, then.”
“Tell that to your sore muscles tomorrow, babe,” Candice chimes in from behind us. “And you also need to get Rosie untacked and brushed.” She passes Winnie Rosie’s reins.
“Oh, I doubt I’ll be sore. We just walked.”
Candice and I look at one another, and both start laughing.
“When you’re limping to the bath later, I’ll try not to say I told you so,” I tell Winnie.
“Ass,” she mutters. “C’mon Rosie.” She marches off and out of the ring, the thoroughbred prancing next to her.
It makes me proud, seeing her like this. Confident in herself. I know that it’s partially due to her work here at the barn. Learning to handle a horse can do a lot for one’s self confidence and courage. When I first apprenticed as a farrier, I wasn’t sure how to manage the horses that didn’t like me right away—the ones who needed a bit of extra time before they gave me their trust. But once I mastered how to bond with them and put them at ease, my perception of myself changed, too.
Horses trusted me, so I could trust me, too: my decisions, my heart, my own mind.
“Alright Jonah, give it to me straight,” Candice says, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Are you head over heels for her yet?”
“Who wouldn’t be?” I say. “She’s perfect.”
Candice makes a tsking noise. “That’s not an answer, and you know it. Yes, Winnie is gorgeous and kind and always has asmile on her face. But those are the things that made her Miss Alabama, they aren’t all that she is. I want to know how you feel about the other parts of her.”
“And I’m a smart enough man to know that anything I tell you will make it back to her immediately after. I want to tell Winnie how I feel in my own time, and not before.”
“So there’s something to tell, then?” Candice has a knowing smile on her face.
“We sang together the other night.” I throw her a bone because I don’t think she’ll stop prying until I do.
“And?” Candice asks.
“And, it was good. We had a good time.” I don’t say anything else, especially not about Winnie breaking down in tears at the end and sobbing in my arms. Some things are private.
“Good? You really are a man of few words, aren’t you?”
“No better than you.” Candice starts to protest but I continue and say, “Come on, how often before you and Nathan were officially together did you talk about your feelings for him?”
“You have a point,” she relents. “Just don’t break her heart.”
That would require her to feel the same way about me as I do for her. And I’m not sure Winnie wants anything serious beyond the expiration date of this marriage.
I nod anyway.
“Come on,” Candice says. “Nathan’s new horse Lily needs some hoof care, and Fuzz needs a checkup.”
We continue chatting about the horses as we walk from the training ring to Fuzz’s paddock. He’s healed enough that he seems happy to stand up and walk around, a marked change from when he first came in, and spent a lot of time lying down out of pain.
Candice fits a halter on him, and together we walk over to the stables. We’re greeted by the sound of Winnie singing a country song. We turn the corner down one of the aisles, and find hergiving Rosie a brush. The horse seems completely at ease and clearly loves the combination of the curry comb massage and Winnie’s lovely voice.
She doesn’t notice us, and neither Candice nor I interrupt her private moment with Rosie.
“That’s basically her horse now,” I say quietly to Candice.
