This time, I get it. I gasp in surprise.
“That’s it, you’ve got it.” He sounds so proud. “Again, Hope.”
I scrabble at the rope, untying it, then deftly knotting it again, making a fixed loop.
“Perfect. You’re a natural ranch hand, City Girl.”
We move through a few more, and some of them I get quickly, and some of them I have to try four or five times, and he never once makes me feel stupid about any of it. He just helps me practice, and when I get one right, he heaps praise on me.
Derek taught me things, too, back at the beginning. But every lesson was a test. Every lesson was a setup for the moment I'd fail, and he'd sigh, and he'd sayit's okay, I know you're trying, in the voice he used when he meant the opposite.
Zane’s genuine praise is the complete opposite, and it makes my eyes sting to think about, so I shove the comparison away.
"All right," he says, after I've tied a clove hitch three times in a row without help. "Show me what you'd do with it."
I glance at the diagram on the wall, as if that’s going to help me. It’s zero help, so I have to confess to Zane that I don’t know. "WhatwouldI do with it?"
“Excellent question.” He spreads his arms, the rope looped loose in one hand. “Pretend you’ve got a horse attached to this. I’m your horse.”
“Oooh, okay.” I grab the loose end of the rope and hitch it around the door knob. “Easy.”
He chuckles. “A natural. And what would you do with a Prusik knot?”
I bite my lip. “Which one’s that?”
“The one that slides up and down the line.”
“Oh!” I swear I’ve seen that one in action over the last two days. I search my memory. “Is that for hanging things from the rafters? Anything you want at a variable height?”
“Exactly.” He opens the door and gestures for me to follow him. “You saw it in Shadow’s stall.”
As we go back to visit my new friend, he tells me about the different ropes that they use in the barn and elsewhere on the ranch.
But the lesson slides to the back burner as soon as I can get my hands on the horse again. She nuzzles me and I press my face into her fur.
“Sorry,” I mumble, but I don’t mean it. I’m not sorry at all about stealing this unexpected joy.
“Don’t be,” Zane murmurs.
I twist my face to the side so I can stay cuddling with Shadow and look at him, too.
He’s staring at me with undisguised affection, so sweet it takes my breath away. So sweet it should feel dangerous, but…it doesn’t.
“You’re very kind to me,” I say.
He looks vaguely amused at that. “It’s easy to be nice to someone who likes my horse this much.”
“I’ve heard of equine therapy, but I didn’t realize it was as simple as just smooshing cheeks together.”
“Do you want to feed her?”
I take a deep breath and nod.
He gets me a bucket of grain and a carrot, and then shows me how to refill her water, too.
“She gets hay throughout the day, too. You don’t need to worry about her chores, but if you ever want to take care of her, you can. It is good therapy. It’s why we bought the ranch. We all needed this.”
The downside of feeding her is then she’s busy eating, and I have no busy work to distract me from the pulsing awareness of Zane being so close—and the two of us being all alone.
