I laughed. “Yeah, but she’s our bitch.” Then I added, “Jules visited once and got the full Ursula treatment when we were saddling the horses for a ride.”
Lake chuckled. “I can picture that. But hey, at least she’s not boring.”
Jules rolled their eyes. “This one needs more attention than I have time to give, and none of my horses have the temperament for his antics.”
“Well, if you want us to take him, we will. I can make the trailer work. Put the donkey in the middle so he can’t harass the mare, and we should be fine.”
“He travels fine for some reason. Fearless bastard.” Jules grunted. “He’s calmed down around mares as well, so it’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
“All right!” Lake rubbed his hands together as he smiled widely. “Anyone else?”
“Need a dog?” Jules raised a brow at him.
Lake shook his head. “I think five is enough.” Then he raised a brow at me for confirmation. “Right?”
“I mean, we have room, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”
Jules shrugged. “I don’t even think I have anything that fits your place. I have a few in the shelter side, but I’m fine keeping them.” They sighed and rolled their shoulders. “If you take Izzy, the donkey, the mare, and the kittens, that’ll already be more than I hoped for.”
“Don’t worry, this is what we came here for,” I told them, hugging them briefly.
I took the horses and the donkey into the trailer with Jules, while one of their volunteers helped Lake with the kittens. We’d brought a crate for them, and once we’d secured it in the backseat with the seatbelt, I peered in.
The kittens were all bundled up inside a fleece blanket and looked mildly terrified. Since our crate was big enough, there was a small litterbox just in case. I appreciated that, but I wasn’t sure if they’d actually use it whether they needed to or not, timid as they were.
“All right, I’ll go pee again and then we can go,” Lake said, then briskly marched to the toilet.
Jules leaned against the hood of the truck next to me. “He’s different.”
I hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah, he is. I can’t help but wonder if he’ll keep Twin Star or end up selling it.” I sighed, then glanced at Jules. “Between us?”
They nodded seriously. “Of course.”
“Ruth left it to him. He got three months to figure it out. If he doesn’t want to keep it and chooses to sell, I’ll get most of the money from the sale.”
Jules’s eyes widened comically. “Wow.”
“Yep.” I rubbed a palm over my face. “I’m not happy about it. All I really want is everything to stay the same. Well, as same as it can without her.”
Jules hugged me tightly. “I miss her, too.”
“We all do.”
I went to use the bathroom and came back to Lake and Jules talking with their heads put together. I got a feeling they were talking about me, but I didn’t mind. Not after the way Jules had looked at Lake and me in the stable.
“Okay! Let’s get you coffee to go, and you’re ready!” Jules said brightly, then they went inside with Lake to fill some travel mugs.
Laughing, I remembered I had a couple of Jules’s mugs back in my cabin. They’d gotten a couple of large cardboard boxes of them with the rescue’s logo on them some years back. They tended to give them to visitors and I knew some brought theirs back every visit. I rarely remembered, but I made a mental note to do it the next time.
Reusable was the way to go anyway, and I know they’d get a kick out of it if I remembered.
After another round of hugs and one last check of the trailer and the animals inside, we started the drive back home.
“They’re really nice.” Lake sipped at his coffee, humming happily. “And they have excellent coffee.”
“Yeah, they do.” As soon as we were on a road where I could take a hand off the wheel for a bit, I took my own mug and made a happy sound.
“Jules and River would get along great with their coffee snobbery.”
