Page 76 of Gotta Dig Deep
Horse gripped his hand and pumped it twice, then used it to drag him into a one-armed clinch. “Call me Horse, man. Thanks for all your help, Reggie.”
“It’s Cooter,” the man choked out, his arm tight around Horse’s shoulder before pulling away. “See you guys around.”
He turned and fled the building. Horse watched him working at the side of the trailer for a moment, then turned his attention back to Glenna. She was walking through the stables slowly, looking in each of the stalls. When she got to the last two, she looked at Horse. “Supplies to finish things out?”
“Yep. Ran outta time.” He spread his hands. “I coulda finished it all, but I spent more time lovin’ on you than I’d calculated.”
She flashed him a grin, wild and free. “You did this for me.” Not a question, but he treated it as such.
“Yeah, but also for me, like I said before.”
“I think the same way. There’s an us that overweighs the me.” Angling her head to the side, she pointed to the empty stalls. “He said he’s got my two horses too?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know if you’d want them back. When we talked about it earlier, you didn’t sound entirely eager.”
“It doesn’t make sense.” She drifted back up the aisle, detouring to the first stall with a horse and taking her time petting it. “I’ve got three to ride now, which’ll take up a lot of my time.”
“Doesn’t have to make sense.” His argument went unanswered.
She traveled from horse to horse, promising treats and rides, as soon as she could organize it. Turning to Horse, she nodded towards the stable entrance where Shamu stood, his ears flicking back and forth. “We’ll see how Mr. Possessive takes to having to share more of me. He really likes his ATV rides.”
“He can have that with me.” Horse slapped his leg and the dog trotted to him, leaning his shoulder heavily against Horse. “I don’t ride.”
“The hell you don’t,” Glenna shot back. “No way am I having a boyfriend named Horse who doesn’t know how to ride his namesakes.”
“That’s not where the name came from.” This argument didn’t earn a response either as Glenna turned back to Golden, brushing his forelock off his face. “Glenna, I can do the ATV and Shammy can ride with me.”
“We’ll see,” she responded finally, turning away from Golden to grab Horse’s hand. “Let’s go find out what Cooter left us.”
The truck and trailer were gone from the driveway when they came out into the sunshine, a small pile of blankets, bags, and buckets next to the kitchen door. Glenna reached back to grab the handle of a wagon he’d noticed inside the stables, dragging it behind them. She stumbled and uttered a soft oof and he turned to see Shammy sitting regally inside the wagon, ready for a ride.
“He’s adaptable, see?” Horse was laughing as Glenna turned around, pulling the wagon backwards with both hands. “Boy’s gonna do what’s necessary to stay with his momma.”
“He’s being an asshole.”
“We could change his name to Gunny, and it’d make more sense.”
“Gunny’s a good namesake.”
“Yeah,” Horse agreed, “but Shamu still fits him better. That or moo cow.” She laughed softly. “Maybe hairless rat.”
Glenna laughed the rest of the way to the house, harder when Horse reached over and took the wagon handle out of her hands. Harder still when he bent to one knee, and she climbed on his back, clinging to him like a monkey as they went the last few yards.
***
Glenna
In bed, snuggled against Horse’s back as the sun turned the sky to pinks and blues, Glenna sighed softly as she thought about the changes in her life. Penn dying wasn’t something she could have anticipated, and neither was Horse coming into her life at the exact time she was open to something new. If she’d met him a year earlier, things would have ended totally different, involving an ambulance and tow truck, instead of her couch and Cooter.
It hurt to think things might happen for a reason, because what was good about losing Penn?Nothing at all.She couldn’t argue with herself on that one. But if Penn was still alive, she wouldn’t be lying here in bed with a different man she now loved with all her heart.
“Life’s a mystery, and sometimes we just gotta take things as they come.”That was something her grammy had said more than once. She’d lost her husband early, too, but never found someone she wanted to spend the rest of her days with. Instead, she’d filled her house with Glenna, and then with Glenna and Penn.
“I think you’d like this one too, Grammy.” Glenna pressed a kiss to Horse’s back, fingers trailing a path from his neck to where his skin disappeared behind the waistband of his boxers. He had freckles dotted here and there, and she dragged a fingertip from one to the other, then wrote the word “love” with a smile.
“You havin’ fun back there?” His voice was gruff, raspy with sleep, but also laced through with humor.
“Just thinking about how life changes in a minute, and how much my grandmother would have liked you,” Glenna answered honestly, laying her lips on his skin, trying to cover as many freckles as she could before he got tired of her playing and rolled over. She’d made it to ten kisses before he turned in the bed, arms wrapping around her gently as he pulled her close.
