Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
CASSIDY
W ell, I’ll be damned.
That wasn’t something I thought I would ever see. Rouge didn’t let anyone near her unless it was me, standing there to keep her calm. Rouge trusted me and would let some people get close if I gave her my word they would be good to her. I never imagined Rouge would let Karen stroke her like they’d been best friends forever.
When I walked into the barn, I couldn’t have guessed what I would see. I often checked on Rouge in the middle of the night. I felt a strange mix of pride and disbelief seeing Karen with my favorite horse. I was proud of Karen for reasons I couldn’t quite explain.
She’d been here less than a week. She was the farthest thing from a horse woman that I had ever seen. And now she was standing in Rouge’s stall, soothing her like the two of them had been friends for years. Rouge looked like she was settling in for a long nap.
The fact Karen came out here alone in the dark and the cold? That was something else. I had her pegged as more delicate, the type who might run off back to the city at the first sign of trouble. But now I was starting to think I might have been wrong about her.
Shit .
“She likes you,” I said. “That’s a good sign.”
“I wasn’t sure what I was doing.” Karen leaned her cheek against Rouge’s neck. “But she seemed… I don’t know. Lonely?”
I nodded, rubbing my hand over Rouge’s side. “She gets like that in the winter. She’s in her golden years, you know? Slows down when the cold sets in. But she perks up come spring.”
At least, I hoped she would. That was what I kept telling myself. I wasn’t ready to let her go. She was a huge part of my life. Losing her would be the equivalent of losing a grandmother or elderly relative.
“Does she see well?” Karen asked. “I know you can’t ask her that, but I was thinking she might be losing her eyesight since she’s getting older. Maybe she can’t see in the dark.”
I tilted my head slightly to the side, studying the horse. It was something I hadn’t considered before but now that she mentioned it, it made sense. Rouge had been bumping into things more often lately and seemed more hesitant when it came to moving in unfamiliar terrain.
“It’s possible,” I said finally, running a hand over Rouge’s neck. “I’ll get the vet to take a look at her next time he comes around.”
“Can she have a nightlight in her stall?” Karen asked.
“Of course. I’ll put one in for tomorrow night. I guess technically tonight.”
Karen smiled and rubbed Rouge’s nose. “Do you hear that? Cassidy is going to get you a nightlight. I bet that will help.”
“Let me show you something,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”
I left the stall and grabbed the brush off the hook on the wall. I handed it to Karen and stepped back into the stall. “She likes to be brushed. It relaxes her. Sometimes when she’s having a rough day, I’ll give her a good onceover. It soothes her.”
I tried to give her the brush but she shook her head. “I don’t know how to do it. I don’t want to hurt her.”
“I’ll show you.”
I moved closer to Rouge, carefully taking the brush in my hand. Karen needed to see how it was done so she wouldn’t be too forceful or not forceful enough. Too much force and Rouge could get angry. Not enough and she might think Karen was playing a game with her.
“This is the brush,” I said, holding it up for Karen to see. “It’s made to gently remove dirt and loose hair from her coat.”
Karen nodded, watching as I ran it along Rouge’s side. “You want to go in the same direction as her coat and use gentle but firm strokes. Feel the rhythm? It’s like a slow dance.” I demonstrated how to sweep the brush in long strokes. “You try.”
Karen reached out and took the brush. She placed the brush on Rouge’s flank and started to mimic my motions. Her strokes were cautious and hesitant at first.
“Like this?” she asked, glancing in my direction.
“Yes, exactly,” I said. I could tell that Rouge was enjoying the attention as she swished her tail softly and tilted her head to get a better look at Karen.
Karen smiled as she continued to groom Rouge.
“You’re a natural,” I said after a few minutes.
Karen laughed softly, shaking her head. “I don’t know about that. I’ve never been good with animals. But this feels right. Like she knows I mean well.”
“Animals sense that,” I said and stepped back. “You’re doing well.”
“She’s calm.”
“Not always,” I said. “You good? I’m going to get her an apple. It’s our secret. She gets a few extra treats.”
“I’m good.”
I left the stall again and went to the big bucket of apples one of the farmers gave us. The apples weren’t great for humans, but the horses weren’t nearly as picky. I pulled out my pocketknife and walked back to the stall, slicing the apple into a few chunks.
I handed Karen the first piece. “She likes them cut up, not whole,” I explained. “She’s earned a bit of spoiling.”
Karen took the apple slice hesitantly, holding it out in her flat hand as I had taught her earlier. Rouge sniffed at it for a moment before taking it gently from Karen’s hand, her lips brushing against Karen’s skin.
“See? She likes you,” I said again.
Karen laughed again. “I guess she does.”
We spent a good thirty minutes with Rouge.
“I think she’s ready to get some sleep,” I said. “She’s calm now.”
Karen leaned into the horse and snuggled against her once again. “She’s really something.”
“That she is,” I agreed. “Have you ever ridden before?”
She shook her head, then paused. “Well, once. When I was a kid, the last time I was here. But it didn’t go so well. Uncle Don let me ride one of the ponies, and I was terrified. I spooked easy. I ended up falling off on one of the trails, hurt my ankle pretty bad, and ever since then I haven’t really been too keen on getting back in the saddle.”
I raised an eyebrow, smirking. “You don’t seem all that scared now.”
Karen smiled up at Rouge, running her hand along the mare’s nose. “She’s different. And I’m petting her, not riding her.”
“I remember you from back then,” I said. “When you were last here.”
Her head snapped up. “No way.”
“Yep. You were just a kid back then. They paired you up with me, made me watch you while you looked for barn kittens or something.”
Karen burst into laughter, startling some of the sleeping horses. “That was you?”
“Sure was,” I said with a grin. “I wasted hours following you around, looking under every bale of hay for those kittens you were convinced were hiding somewhere.”
“Oh my God, I remember that! I thought for sure there were kittens hiding in the barn. And there weren’t any, were there?”
“Not a single one. You’d be hard-pressed to find any around here these days too. We used to have barn cats, but they’ve moved to better hiding spots.”
“Probably so they don’t get trampled by the horses.”
“Maybe.”
Rouge nudged Karen again, reminding her to keep petting her.
“You’ve really taken care of her, haven’t you?” Karen asked, her voice soft as she stroked Rouge’s neck.
I nodded. “She’s been with me a long time but she’s still got plenty of life left in her. At least, I’m hopeful she does. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she sticks around another few years.”
“I think she’ll be okay. She seems like a fighter.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “Yeah, she is.”
“I should probably go back to bed,” she said. “But I feel bad leaving her out here by herself.”
I shook my head, waving off her concern. “She won’t be alone. I’ll stay with her tonight.”
Karen looked surprised. “You’re going to sleep in the barn?”
“Yep. Done it plenty of times before. I’ll just throw together a bed here in the hay. It’s no big deal. It’s actually pretty comfortable if you can ignore the hay poking you.”
She looked at me like I was crazy. “I think you’re messing with me.”
“Not at all. Come on, I’ll walk you back to the lodge.”
“Where do you sleep?” she asked.
We left the stall. The stack of clean hay was next to Rouge’s stall. I pulled some from the bale and spread it out. I stretched out on the hay and pulled my hat over my eyes. “See? Nice and cozy.”
For a second, she stared at me like she was trying to figure me out. “Cozy, huh?”
I pushed my hat up a little more. “It is.”
“Okay. Scoot over.”
To my surprise, she lay down beside me in the hay.
Startled, I sat up. “Wait, what are you doing?”
She smiled up at me as she wiggled into the hay. “I couldn’t let you stay out here all alone, could I? Plus, I think she wants me around.”
I was taken aback by her spontaneity. At first I thought she might be joking, but she was already comfortably settled in the hay next to me.
Rouge stuck her head over the stall to look down at us like we had both lost our minds.
“Well, if you’re sure,” I said and lay down again. The familiar scent of straw filled my nostrils, followed by the unfamiliar scent of Karen. Her hair smelled like flowers and I fought the urge to bury my face in it and breathe her in.
“I’ll hang out here for a while,” she said. “And then go back in. I want to make sure she’s settled.”
“How did you know she needed you?” I asked, trying to focus on anything besides how close her body was.
“I heard a noise. I was dead asleep but the noise woke me up. I can’t explain it, but I could feel a pull. I just knew I had to check on whatever animal it was. I didn’t know it was her.”
I nodded. “Sounds like you’ve got that sixth sense.”
“What sixth sense?” she asked.
“The one that lets you connect with animals, understand what they need without words.” I turned to look at her in the faint light from the barn lamps.
She laughed softly. “I don’t know about that. It’s probably something less mystical. She was making such a fuss. I doubt anyone could’ve slept through it.”
“Yet no one else woke up, only you,” I countered.
Karen seemed to ponder my words for a moment. “Maybe it’s just because I’m a light sleeper.”
We talked a bit more. I told her about some of Rouge’s antics. She listened and asked questions. The conversation was strange. Not strange, but it just felt surreal to be having it with her.
At some point, Karen got very quiet. I glanced over to see she had fallen asleep. For a moment, I watched her. I knew she had to be exhausted. She got her ass kicked doing chores. She had to be sore. But she’d come out to check on my horse despite all of that.
She’s more than just pretty, she’s beautiful.
I’ve been wrong about Karen all along.