Page 36 of The Front Runner
“No men in your life?” he inquires gently.
I take a sip of the fizzy golden lager and smack my lips together. “Nope.” I sound very sure when I say it, but inside I’m in turmoil. My arrangement with Stefan may not be real, but I don’t like feeling like I’m lying to Hank either. “Too busy with work.”
“I know how that goes.” He sips his beer and nods his head. “Happy I’ve got Trixie in the picture now, though. She’s the best surprise in my life lately. You’ll get one eventually, too.”
I grunt. “I’m not really a big fan of surprises to be honest. I like a nicely laid out plan. A clear path.”
The older man chuckles kindly, like I’ve just said something desperately naive. “Oh, Mira. All the best things in my life have come as an absolute surprise. Didn’t expect an eighteen-year-old girl to show up on my doorstep demanding I give her a job, but I’m glad I did. Billie is the daughter I never got to have. Didn’t expect my best friend to scandalize the racing world and then die of a heart attack. But here I am, helping his grandsons run his farm.” He shakes his head thoughtfully. “I mean, shit, I didn’t even expect to have the job I do now. I used to bartend here, did you know that?”
I smile and rear back a tad. “I didn’t. But I can totally picture it. I bet you were a real lady-killer in Ruby Creek.”
A shadow of the past flits across his eyes, but he chuckles all the same.
“If Cole and Vaughn’s grandfather, Dermot, hadn’t waltzed in here on a wild goose chase after a girl, I’d have never met him. I’d have never started working for him and Ada. I’d have never been out East to meet Billie. And I’d have never met Trixie at Cole’s wedding in Chestnut Springs.” Hank takes a swig of his beer. “Sometimes unexpected surprises change the course of our life in the most irrevocable of ways. In the best ways. Life is one big adventure, Mira, don’t let it pass you by while you’re stuck on a boring old path.”
I laugh, but it rings hollow. What he’s just said hits a little too close to home. He didn’t tell me I belong barefoot in the kitchen with a baby on my hip. He just told me to be open to new possibilities. I think he just told me to take my blinders off. But my blinders keep me safe and focused and achieving all the goals I set for myself as a younger woman.
“Thank you for sharing your wisdom, Hank,” I say right as the server swings by with our burgers. “You want a good surprise?”
He nods and his lips tip up when he winks at me. “Always.”
“I hired Stefan Dalca’s younger sister to work in the clinic.”
His eyes go wide, and his beer goes down the wrong tube. He coughs and pounds a fist against his chest. I feel bad for making him choke, so I keep talking, trying to fill the lull. “Her name is Nadia. She’s had a tough go. But I think you’ll really like her. She reminds me of Billie. Well, younger Billie.”
“Lord have mercy on us all,” he coughs out with a laugh. And I join him too. “Listen, Mira, if you like her, I’m sure the rest of us will as well. You’re a good judge of character.”
God. Am I though?
We dig into our meal and conversations about different horses on the ranch flow easily. But I’d be lying if I said my thoughts weren’t constantly veering off the path. Heading in a direction that I desperately don’t want them to go.
* * *
“Don’t be such a baby.”
Stefan has his arms wrapped around Loki’s neck and is looking down at the foal like he’s a stuffed animal, not a future athlete and animal that needs space to frolic and run.
“Are you serious right now?” I prod him. “I thought you were a big, tough man, but you’re too chicken to let this little guy romp around outside?”
“Mira. I’m not a big, tough man. I’m just a dick. Remember?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I wave my hand at him dismissively. Stefan is a lot of things, but the more I get to know him, the less I think a dick is one of them. “Let’s go. Outside. Fresh air is good for everyone.” I slip the leather halter onto Farrah’s head and buckle it near her ear. She looks excited. Ready to get out of the barn.
“What if he hurts himself?”
“Can’t live life that way, Stefan. Bad things happen all the time. Buck up. Let’s go.”
With a firm cluck, I walk Farrah out into the barn alleyway and head toward the big, wide-open sliding door. Today was beautiful and sunny and dry. And now, under the quiet charm of the evening, it’s the perfect time to let them take their maiden voyage outside with no tractors, no staff milling about, just calm and privacy for this colt and the mare who’s taken him under her wing.
Within a few moments, I hear the clopping of Loki’s hooves against the concrete and the scuff of Stefan’s boots. I smile to myself. The big bad wolf has certainly developed quite the soft spot for Loki.
Out under the setting sun, we head toward the paddock that’s already waiting and open. It’s a big grass field on the opposite side of the lake from the willow tree where Stefan and I buried the other foal a few weeks ago. I pull Farrah’s halter off, and she’s through the gate. Loki follows her, like the sweet little colt that he is.
Until Stefan lets him go.
Beneath the pink and orange sky, the sweet little colt blows a gasket. He’s got his head down between his knees and is trying to buck. Mile-long legs fly out all over the place while Farrah takes off for a leisurely trot down the fence line. Loki goes with her but doesn’t stop his antics. I shut the gate quickly and lean against the fence, chuckling.
Stefan steps up beside me and presses his elbows against the railing. “He looks like Elaine doing that godawful dance onSeinfeld.”
