“I don’t want to make Cam feel any worse.”
“Yeah, I don’t think any of us want that. How about we go find Mark? I need to talk to him about this horse situation.”
“Okay, Daddy.” They all gave in with relative grace, and he was grateful. He knew they were impatient to see Cam. God knows he was ready for Cam to be out of the hospital. And he’d only been here two days waiting. But they couldn’t chance taking it too fast.
He got the girls rounded up and then headed off to Mark’s room. He knew the guy probably was happy to have a break because he had been taking a shower and maybe even fixing tolie down for a nap. But he really needed to ask about this horse thing.
Mark had been the one to go out to check on Fire at the rodeo arena, and then found a cowboy to deal with everything. He was the one taking care of Fire right now, as Mitch went to the hospital off-and-on.
So he knocked on Mark’s door while the girls did some sort of strange TikTok dance in the hallway and waited. It took Mark about five minutes to answer, so he had a feeling his friend had to get dressed, but that was okay. He could wait. While he was still waking up from his nap.
“Hey.” Mark’s eyebrows gyrated wildly when he opened the door, his white-blond hair spiky and going every which way from the shower. “I hope it’s okay that I sent the girls to you to get dressed and everything.”
“Of course it’s okay, they’re my kids. If I didn’t look after them once in a while people would think it was weird.” He winked. “Can I talk to you about something now?”
“Sure, you want to come in?”
“Actually, I was thinking the lobby.” He winked. “I’m fixin’ to head out and take him some food here in a minute.”
“Cool. Let me get my key and my shoes.” Mark disappeared for a second, then came back, walking him out toward the lobby, the girls trailing along.
He waited until the girls were busily inspecting the board games and books, even though he knew they’d looked at all of them, and then grinned at Mark. “So Sarah tells me there are two horses sleeping in Cam’s trailer.”
“Yeah, there are. I guess it’s the one that he got hurt on?”
Mitch frowned. “So he wasn’t riding Fire?”
Mark looked at him and shrugged. “How the hell should I know? Do I look like a rodeo fan?”
He looked Mark up and down with his shiny shoes and his oh-so-perfect peg-legged jeans. “You’re adorable. I know lots of guys that look just like you that come for…” He glanced at the girls. “Nefarious reasons.”
“‘Nefarious’?”
Oops. “Okay, uh, sensual?”
“Better.” Mark rolled his eyes, then winked at him. “Seriously, from what I understand—and I don’t know exactly—he was riding this horse, the one that’s sleeping in the trailer with the black one, and they threw in the fireworks. The poor thing got really, really scared and a little bit hurt, and so, the original owner, who I don’t know because I’ve never even met him signed her over to Cam.”
Mitch blinked at Mark. That was a backasswards way of telling a story…
“Well, that doesn’t make any sense. Why would somebody do that?” Horses were expensive. “Is she hurt bad enough to need a vet?”
Because that would piss him right off, if there were a bunch of cowboys dealing with the horse that needed a vet and it hadn’t gotten attention.
“Dude, what is it you want me to say? I know kids, I can pay for just about anything you want me to pay for. I’m not a horse guy.” Mark seemed a little put out. “I took the kids out there; I made sure that the horse you told me that was supposed to be there was safe.” Mark held out his hands and stared at him, and Mitch took a deep, deep breath.
“You know what? You’re right. You’re so right. I’m sorry. I’m just confused and?—”
“Tired. You’ve had a long couple of days, and I wish you could have napped a little more, but like there’s only so much long I can stand in a hot tub. My balls were shriveling up.” Mark winked at him, and he took a quick, hard hug.
“No, it’s cool. I have to run out there and check everything out. I will tell you what, I will take the girls, give you some time off, and?—”
“Oh, bullshit. You’re taking me with you. I want to hear whatever stories you’ve got to tell, and we haven’t got to see each other hardly at all. So let’s do this.”
God, he had the best fucking friends on earth.
“Come on, girls. We’re going to drive out with Mark to see the horses.” Mitch held out a hand for Rachel, who grabbed it. And then Sarah grabbed his other hand, Bekka taking her other side.
“What am I, a chopped liver?” Mark asked.
