Page 57 of Gotta Dig Deep
“I’m good for it, Retro. I’m good for it.”
“I know you are, asshole. Plus, Blackie wouldn’t have it any other way. I guarantee he don’t want you in debt to me, so if you can’t settle things, he for fuckin’ sure will.”
Before Horse could respond the line disconnected, the secure app they used for communication offering a summary of the call.
He killed the app and stared down at the phone for a minute, then locked the screen and shoved it into a pocket. Glenna was outside and he wanted to be with her. He didn’t try to lie to himself now. The want was a need, and not just so he’d be on the front lines if Moorcock or his muscle showed, but also because he liked working shoulder to shoulder with the woman.
“She’s it for me.” He repeated his words and liked how they settled into his gut, warming him from the inside out. “One way or another, once things are sorted, her and me’ll have something.”
Bolstered by his own encouragement, he walked outside to see her playing with Shamu. The dog had something in his mouth, and he was doing a good job of keeping out of her reach. Glenna was laughing, and when she looked at Horse, she smiled wider.
“Help me. He’s being a jerk.” She lunged at the dog and Shamu twisted neatly away. “Asshole. Give it to me, Shammy.”
Horse walked up to where Shamu stood and patted the dog on the head, then held his hand under Shamu’s mouth. “Drop it.” At his calm urging, the dog deposited a gnawed-on bristle brush in his palm.
“How’d you do that? He wouldn’t give it to me, even when I said the same command.” She was next to Horse, staring down at the dog. “Traitor dog.”
“He’s not a traitor. He just knew you needed to laugh a little bit.” Horse patted the dog on the head again. “Worked, didn’t it?” He handed it over. “What is it?”
“Horse brush. I was in the stables, and he decided he needed in the tack room.” She snapped the bristles against her thigh. “Nothing in there’s been used for a long, long time.”
“Show me.” He took her hand, curling his fingers around, loose enough she could have easily broken his hold. When she didn’t, he tightened his grip slightly and tugged her closer to his side. “I’ve only been inside the once.”
“Not much to see,” she muttered as her feet started moving. “It’s been empty for years now.”
“Why? You had horses before, right?” At his question, she lagged a bit, then leaned against him as she caught up. “If it’s too hard to talk about, just tell me, Glenna.”
“No.” She huffed a broken laugh. “It shouldn’t be, anyway. The horses were something Penn wanted. Once they were affordable, I’d always used ATVs to work the cattle, but he had a picture in his head. It didn’t hurt anything to make it happen, so we had a few working horses. He got good enough to ride in competitions and did pretty well.”
They entered the shadow cast by the long barn and Glenna shivered. Horse pulled her tight against his side. It wasn’t cold, per se, so it had to be memories making her react.
“How many horses did you have?”
She steered them, drifting to one side of the main aisle where a large stall stood empty. “Just five here at this end. We’d gotten up to seven at one point, but it didn’t make any sense at all to have so many. Even five was a lot, but he had his three favorites. I had two so I could alternate days with them whenever I wanted to ride.” Resting a hand on top of the stall door, she rattled it in the frame. “This was his side of the barn. And yes, we had sides. He liked the more aggressive horses that liked to battle, and I kept the easy ones who’d do what was asked without arguing.”
“According to your different personalities, then?”
“Yeah, Penn always did like a challenge.”
Horse held back what he wanted to say, about Glenna probably being Penn’s favorite challenge. Now wasn’t the time to interrupt her memories.
She sighed. “When we knew he had a short time, we sold them. Placed them with people who’d treat them well and use them the way they needed. Horses are like dogs, happiest when they have a job. We held onto Penn’s favorite longest, and the day the rancher showed up to pick up the horse, Penn was in the hospital bed. He hadn’t been upright in days, but he made it to the door to watch the truck and trailer drive away. That was a hard day.”
Horse urged her to cuddle closer and she went easily, resting her cheek against his chest.
“Would you have done anything different, knowing what you know now?”
“Yes.” Her response was immediate. “I’ve have kept Penn’s three. Not mine, because given a choice, I’d ride the ATV any day, but if I still had his horses, it’d be like I had a little bit more of him around.”
“And the idea about making this a boarding facility? What’s the barrier to that happening? The barn looks in good shape, no needed repairs jumping out at me.” He looked around. “It’s dusty, and has a musty smell, but that’s just old hay. It doesn’t smell wet or like anything’s rotten.”
“No, the stables itself is in good shape. I’d need to build some more turnouts, eventually. The only stalls that have them now are the five we used the most. Maybe expand the tack room, depending on the actual demand. Put in a round pen large enough for folks to ride in, for warm-ups or if they had a green horse.” She shook her head. “It’s the smaller things, which are still hella expensive. Plumbing routed to each stall for automatic waterers. New corner feeders and hay bags. We just had eyebolts in the wall to hold up buckets, and wooden hay mangers. They’d need to be removed too. So it’s time and money. Those are the barriers.”
“Show me,” he said, reaching for the latch on the stall door. She stopped his hand and pointed across the aisle.
“Let’s… look at those instead, okay?”
“Whatever you need, darlin’.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss against the side of her head.
