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Clueless about her schedule, I felt bad for asking for a simple favor. I also wanted to apologize for ignoring her commitments. The last thing I wanted was for us to end up on the wrong foot.
So, I waited near her stall and offered some help. “I can put your tack back.”
Chloe opened her stall guard and dropped her saddle and pad on the rack.
“I’m good.”
“No, it’s fine, really,” I promised. “Let me help.”
“Fine.” Chloe snapped the stall guard back and returned to her horse to remove his polo wraps.
Zee remained oblivious to her toiling, preferring to focus on the $50.00 worth of hay before him. The cost of hay in Florida was highway robbery!
I took her tack back to the tack room, quickly finding where it belonged. Chloe’s pink grooming tote was perfectly positioned below the post Zee’s saddle nested. Everything with this woman was candy-coded, but I would never mind. I flipped the saddle pad upside down to let it breathe and returned to Zee’s stall with a curry comb. Chloe filled his water bucket.
“I thought you might want this,” I offered the comb.
She looked over. “Sure, yeah. I was going to grab it, but—”
“I am glad to do it.” I sat the brush inside the stall. “And I can take your wraps.”
“You really don’t have to.”
“I do.” I noted that the bucket was nearly spilling and instinctively looked for the spigot. It was only two stalls up. I turned it off and returned for the wraps. Chloe curried her horse with fervor, seemingly ignoring me.
I packed her wraps into their spot and returned, confused.
“Chloe, are we okay?” I stood in the stall opening.
She looked over. “Yeah. Why?”
“Well, I get here and you’re basically ignoring me. You don’t want to ride the other horse and that’s fine. I am sorry I asked you. Riley told me your book stuff is busy and complicated, but… I thought we were… I dunno…”
“We’re business partners and friends?”
“Are we friends?” I asked.
“Well, I mean, maybe you don’t think we are.”
I wanted to scream, “Okay, but what about the amazing sex we had that night of the second storm? Or the tack room?”
Instead, I said, “I just get the feeling you don’t want to talk to me.”
Chloe stopped, softening her stance and turning her whole body to me. “It’s not that. I’ve been busy, okay?”
“I can tell.”
“Oh, is that because Dodge was here?” She asked.
In truth, I didn’t mean it that way.
“No, Chloe. I heard about your books. I don’t care about him. That guy isn’t worth your time. And he’s not worth mine, either, so I won’t belabor—”
“He’s very popular,” Chloe protested.
She refashioned the stall guard and headed to the tack room with her curry comb.
“Yes, I know. Piper has made me aware.”
