Page 29 of Caleb's Cause
“No.”
“Okay, I’m not being mean, but you need to work your way up to riding.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you’re going to muck out the stalls. Not by yourself, you can help the others. Then you’ll have to learn the different types of tack.” Naomi held up her hand to stop Katherine from speaking. “Trust me, you’re going to want to keep your eyes and ears wide open when you are told about the horses. One thing I will not tolerate is any mistreatment of my animals. Whether through negligence, or stupidity, that won’t be allowed here.”
“I understand.”
“Good, now, you can follow Marcia around this morning.” Naomi pointed to the only woman left standing there, and Katherine had a quick flash of what Caleb had mentioned that morning about the other woman, and watched as she walked away. If she hadn’t been looking for it, she never would have noticed the subtle stiffness of her movements. She followed the other woman, and had to shake her head several times to try to grasp what was being said. For some reason, her brain couldn’t connect with the physical activity she was doing, so though she listened, and didn’t complain, she did the work, but it felt like she was only going through the motions. There was no emotional connection to what she was doing.
Hours later, Katherine entered the break room, but before she could do anything, she heard someone call her name and she turned to see Caleb standing there.
“Here.”
“What’s this?”
“Your lunch. I forgot to tell you to pack one this morning. I’ve been running around all day to get my business off the ground, and when I got hungry, I picked this up for you.”
Katherine took the bag, looked inside, then at him with a grin. “What kind?” she asked of the sub she saw there.
“Roast beef, lettuce, and tomato. I know there are condiments in the refrigerator here, and I left the onions off. I didn’t know whether you liked them or not.”
“I do, but that’s okay. Did you have cheese put on it?”
“No,” Caleb said with a shake of his head. “I didn’t know what kind you liked, so I left it off.”
“That’s okay, I don’t really like cheese in the first place.” She did that cute thing with her nose and Caleb couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her next actions shocked the shit out of him as she rushed forward, stood on tiptoes, and kissed his cheek. By the time it registered, she was entering the break room. He stood there staring after her when he stumbled forward. With a scowl, he whipped around and grinned when he saw his uncle standing there. Neither said anything, and Caleb nodded then turned on his heel and left to go back to what he had been doing.
In the breakroom, Katherine washed her hands, then settled down to eat her lunch. She sat at a table with several others and at one point she looked up and frowned. She used her foot to nudge Ryan’s beneath the table and when he whipped his head up to scowl at her, she only used her head to indicate that he should look at Pru, who sat next to him, but she had been staring into space with a completely blank look on her face. Ryan nodded to Katherine, then slowly turned his head to look at Pru.
“Prudora?”
When Katherine started to say something, Marcia, who sat beside her gently laid her hand on her forearm and shook her head at her. She leaned in to whisper. “We’ll explain later, but that’s one of Pru’s challenges. She gets like this. Let Ryan handle it.”
“Okay,” Katherine agreed as she continued to eat, but didn’t take her eyes off the couple across from her.
“Prudora?” Ryan asked again, then reached over and began rubbing her back. It took a few minutes for Pru to shake her head and her expression cleared that she was back with them.
“Holy shit, Ryan!” Pru called out, causing everyone in the room to look at her in concern.
“What is it, Prudora? You were a million miles away, can you talk about that?”
“Holy shit, Ryan!” she repeated, then turned to him fully and Katherine saw utter shock on her face.
“What is it, Prudora?” Ryan’s tone never changed, he was cool, calm, and collected.
“We’re getting married!” Katherine saw the look of pure love come across Ryan’s face and looked at Marcia and the others to see them grin.
“We are.”
“But, but, but…”
“But what?”
“I don’t have a dress! We need flowers! What about the cake? The food? What will we do?”
Before Ryan could speak, Opal spoke into the panic, she too had a calm voice. “We’re handling that, remember Pru? We’re going to have our regular BBQ, you and Ryan already went to town and ordered the cake from Kora’s bakery, and we’re all going to Colorado Springs on Saturday to get your outfit.” She turned to Katherine to explain, “It’s in two weeks. The only outside people that were invited are Pru’s parents, Caleb, and his father. All the other guests work for Erin’s Way, Broken, or New Double.”
