“Ready to go riding?” Taraasked.
Dixie took her hand and dragged her towards the massive animals. They looked so much bigger up close. “Let me introduce you!” shecried.
With Beau as the silent spectator – again – Dixie presented Tara with the horses they would be taking out into thepastures.
“This one,” she said, pointing to a black and white speckled mare, “is Magpie. She’s really sweet and loves sugar cube treats.” She moved to the brown and tan stallion that seemed a little taller than the other two by a couple of hands. “This is Rex. He’s my daddy’shorse.”
The white mare nuzzled its muzzle at Dixie’s shoulder and snorted. “This is Star. She’s my horse. Daddy gave her to me on my sixthbirthday.”
“Fifth,” Beau corrected. “Remember, that was the same year you got thedollhouse.”
Dixie’s smile faltered a bit and then she nodded. “Oh, right. I knew that. Mom painted that dollhouse for me. Wannaseeit?”
Tara bit her lip, completely unsure how to respond to her effusiveness. She wanted to smack Beau for bringing up Dixie’s mom when the little girl was so excited. But she refrained and kept her hands tucked away in her back pockets, hoping Beau’s attention would be drawnthere.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see the dollhouse – she did. It had more to do with the fact that she was still trying to get a handle on the idea that they would be going out horseback riding. “Maybe after we’re done riding. Notrightnow.”
Dixie ushered the two adults into the barn and proceeded to introduce Tara to all the other horses that were being stabled there by some of the occupants of Brooksdale, those who didn’t have the space to properly house a horse. She raddled on and on about their feeding schedules, what they do to clean them, and all the little things in between that Tara wouldn’t have normally cared about. Because it mattered to Dixie, she paid attention and tried to remembereverything.
A pair of boots shuffled through the hay at the open double doors that led out of the barn and Tara turned to see Daniel Bremor approach. He was strong and well built, but Tara couldn’t get past the slightly sour look that seemed to be permanently fixed on his face. From what she remembered of him in high school, he never looked this unpleasant. She wondered if it had anything to do with losing his wife or the stress of running a ranch. It could even have been losing his parents, which made him have to move back aftercollege.
He was polite enough from the few times he had come to the dentist and Tara thought he was all right, but certainly not the same man he had been in high school. Beau wasn’t either and it made her wonder what others could seeinher.
Daniel tipped his cowboy hat in the same way that Beau had. He looked cleaner than his brother, his clothes free of stains or any sign that he had stepped out of the house all day. He probablyhadn’t.
“I see Dixie’s talking your ear off,” he said and his lips gently curled into a softsmile.
Tara shook her head. “Not at all. It’s amazing to see a kid so excited aboutsomething.”
Daniel nodded and stuck his hands in his pockets before regarding his brother. “At least someone around here is,” he said rather pointedly. “We readytogo?”
She looked from Beau to Daniel and back again and saw a silent exchange of looks that told her there must have been some sort of brotherly teasing taking place that she wasn’t privy to. Maybe if she could get one of them alone, shecouldask.
“Dixie’s not done with her tour yet,” Beau replied. “She still has to name all thechickens.”
At the mention of chickens, Dixie bolted out of the barn. “Yeah!” she squealed. “Come see thechickens!”
Tara giggled and followed at a jogging pace, glad she at least wore her sneakers. The complete tour of the barn and chicken coup continued and soon, Tara met the other residents of the ranch. A basset hound and black lab came bounding in from wherever it was they had beenhiding.
Barking up a storm of excitement, they greeted Tara with slobbery nuzzles and the lab tried to prop his paws on her chest. It was a good thing she brought the extra change of clothes, even if she wasn’t going riding later. The mud and dirt from the dogs transferred onto her light blue blouse and the moment Beau saw, he made a face of regret. He then proceeded to try and order the pup down, but the lab didn’t hear a word since Tara encouraged the show of canineaffection.
“We’ll put that through the wash when you change later,” he saidapologetically.
Tara laughed and scratched behind the dog’s ears. “No worries. It’s dry clean only,anyway.”
Dixie squatted to wrap her arms around the fleshy neck of the basset hound. “This is Sherlock and that’sWatson.”
She nodded her approval of the names, though she wouldn’t have named the black lab after the short pudgy sidekick to the beloved literaturegenius.
Daniel came up and as soon as Watson caught sight of him, he jumped down from Tara. “I’m sorry about him. He gets a little over excited withstrangers.”
Once more, Tara brushed it off – and the paw prints on her blouse - and turned to Dixie. “Who else haven’tImet?”
Dixie thought for a moment and then looked to her dad and uncle. “Can we show her thecowsnow?”
Beau clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Ready to go whenyouare!”
Dixie gave another shout and ran off to where the horses were tied up, the two dogs hurrying after her and barking again. Sherlock had a hard time keeping up, though, and it was rather comical to watch. Tara fell in between the two men as theyfollowed.
