“But you know what I mean.”
“I do, I just don’t want you to sell yourself short, Buck. You got this.”
“If I stay, like forever, maybe I can tell Britnay the truth and I can come work for her.”
“She’d love to have you.”
“You called me Buck and I didn’t start crying.”
“See? That’s progress. You wanna meet a horse?”
“Oh my God. More than anything,” she teased. “Let’s go.”
* * *
For some reason she expected the barn to be dark. After a quick conversation with Oliver, one of the three night guards who patrolled this portion of the property, he opened the door for her and Zach and they slipped inside. The space was dimly lit, but light enough for Evie to see. A few seconds later though, the lighting design was the last thing on Evie’s mind.
She had no idea what she expected a barn to smell like, but this wasn’t it. She couldn’t describe it. It was a weird smell that made her nose twinge and made her want to inhale to convince her mind that it wasn’t smelling things. It was weird.
“Come on. Steve’s down here.”
They walked down the center of the dirt-covered floor and stopped at a stall about halfway down. Some of the horses poked their heads up to inspect their nighttime visitors. A few horses greeted them with their backsides. Another weird thing Evie remembered from her dream.
“They’re all awake.”
“Yeah, horses don’t sleep that much. They just rock and roll all night and party most of the day. Hey, boy,” he said softly, then made an odd clicking noise. The large head of a beautiful gray horse with black patches that almost looked smudged popped his head over the stall door. Zach dropped Evie’s hand and started stroking the animal’s big jaw.
“Evie, this is Steve. Steve, Evie met you once, but she doesn’t remember you, but that’s alright. Isn’t it, buddy?”
The horse moved his head to the side almost like he was nodding. Evie almost didn’t believe it.
“Can I pet him?”
“Sure you can. Here.” Zach took her hand and guided it up to the same spot he’d just been stroking.
“Hi, Steve.” She copied Zach’s gentle tone. “You’re softer than I imagined.”
“Gotta stay fresh for the ladies,” Zach said. “Give me your hand. Evie turned back to him and let him arrange her hand chest high, with her fingers together and her palm flat. He pulled a carrot out of his pocket, broke it in half, and placed the smaller pieces in her upturned palm. “Hold your hand just like that.”
Sure enough, Steve took the carrot right out of Evie’s hand, his lips tickling her palm. “Oh, that’s weird.” She giggled as Steve pulled back to chew his treat.
Zach pulled a few more carrots out of his bottomless pockets and they took turns feeding the horse his treats.
“Do you ride him during the exhibition?” Evie asked.
“You bet your boots I do.” It was Evie’s turn to roll her eyes. “Had him about twelve years. Before that I had a horse named Flex. Won all those trophies with that beast. God, he was the best.” Zach let out a little laugh. “You hated him.”
“Why?”
“You know that scar on your forearm?”
“Yeah, I was wondering about that.”
“That was you thinking you should ride Flex out to the ravine. He threw you and you broke the hell out of your arm. I got in so much trouble.”
“Good,” Evie said with her own chuckle. “That scar is not small. It must have hurt like hell.”
“When you were high on painkillers, you told me you loved me for the first time. You said we had to get married because it’s what the baby Jesus would have wanted and I didn’t want to disappoint the baby Jesus.”