CHAPTER 6
As spring trickled into summer, Victor’s life stayed quiet and steady, just the way he liked it.
Johnny visited often out of the blue and without warning.
The only time he called Victor to ask if he was available was when he was bringing Taylor for a lesson.
After a while, Victor started to feel endeared to Johnny’s cluelessness around typical social conventions, like showing up unannounced to distract someone from their work.
But he didn’t always want to chat. Sometimes he was perfectly willing to stand at the rail of the round pen and watch Victor work.
In just a few lessons, Taylor had already progressed in her balance and the lightness of her hands.
Much of teaching children to ride was teaching them how to deal with fear, but Taylor had none of that.
Even when the horse she was on spooked at a flapping tarp by the open barn door, Taylor kept her seat and reached out to soothe the horse when it snorted and twitched.
She’d find any excuse to extend her stay, always asking Victor if he needed help cleaning stalls, brushing horses, or filling water buckets.
She’d run down to visit the cows, then chase the dogs around in a few circles before Johnny called her back to the truck.
“She always this energetic?” Victor asked as they watched her dash from one end of the steers’ paddock to the other. The steers were still young enough to be playful, because they hopped and bucked along after her.
“You got no idea,” Johnny said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think her mama gave her crack cocaine.”
Victor snorted. “Is that why she gives her over to you so much?”
“Probably. I shouldn’t say this, but Taylor’s my favorite niece. The other kids are alright, I guess, but none of them are interested in the horses like she is, at least not yet.”
“How many kids does your sister have?”
“Four.”
“She’s got her hands full.”
“Five if you count her boyfriend,” Johnny said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. “Kayla would date a billy goat if he called her purty enough.”
“Are Taylor and the others from the boyfriend?”
Johnny snorted. “Fuck no. Two are from her ex-husband. The youngest is her current boyfriend’s.”
“So she’s got four kids from three different men.”
“Ain’t none of them worth a damn. The ex and the current boyfriend, I mean.”
“Who is Taylor’s father?”
“That’s complicated,” Johnny said, his stern expression making it quite clear he wouldn’t be getting into it. “But I’m the only man who’s ever given one fuck about Taylor, and Kayla knows it.”
“Sounds like you two aren’t super close.”
Johnny shrugged. “It is what it is.”
Victor had no clue what that was supposed to mean, but he had personal experience with a frosty sibling relationship, so he didn’t need to pry to understand.
Taylor finished playing with the steers and trotted back up the driveway, twin braids flopping as she beamed. “Uncle Johnny, you ever gonna get a cow?”
“I deal with enough cows at the feedlot. I don’t need no cow to look after in my free time.”
“Can I rope some cows for my next lesson?” Taylor asked Victor.
“Sure, but I’ll start you on a plastic cow first.”
“Let’s start headin’ on home,” Johnny said, placing a hand on top of Taylor’s head. “We don’t need to be takin’ up all of Victor’s time.”
Taylor sighed, her smile fading. “Yeah, okay.”
“We’ll be back next week, don’t you worry.”
Taylor whipped around to face Victor, then suddenly hugged him around the waist. Victor didn’t know what to do or say, so he settled for a light hug in return before she pulled back.
“Thank you!” she said, then darted away toward Johnny’s truck.
“She don’t know what personal space is all that much,” Johnny joked. “I’ll see you next week then?”
“Sure, I’ll be here.”
Johnny tipped his hat in acknowledgement and strode off behind Taylor on the way to the truck.
* * *
Victor didn’t see Johnny next week, because when Taylor showed up for her lesson, it was in an SUV Victor didn’t recognize.
Taylor jumped out the moment the vehicle came to a stop and gave Victor a huge smile and wave.
When the driver’s door opened, out stepped the woman Victor assumed was Taylor’s mother, Kayla.
She was tall like Johnny but not quite as thin, carrying most of her weight in her chest and stomach than in her legs, which poked out of her jean shorts like toothpicks.
Her dyed blonde hair was in a messy bun at the back of her head, tied just beneath the rim of her camouflage-colored baseball cap.
Victor could feel himself tensing upon her approach, as she had the thin-lipped expression of a woman about to ask for the manager.
She may not have had Johnny’s cheery nature, his strawberry blond hair or his skinny stature, but she had his bright blue eyes and the thick Oklahoma accent.
“So you’re the guy Tay won’t shut up about,” she said, hand stashed on a hip. She then thrust her hand toward Victor. “I’m Kayla, her mother.”
“Nice to meet you,” Victor replied, shaking her hand. “I’m glad you found the place.”
“Johnny gave me the address. He seems to like you a lot. So does Tay.” Kayla looked past Victor at Taylor, who was already heading up toward the barn. “Hey! Don’t you go runnin’ off like that. Get back here.”
Taylor sulked back, pouting slightly.
“You got kids?” Kayla asked.
“Only the horses.”
One side of Kayla’s mouth twitched upwards as she gestured at Taylor. “I’d take a horse over this one any day.”
“Hey!” Taylor protested.
“You into rodeo? Is that how you met Johnny?”
“No. I just sold him a horse.” At this point Johnny had sold the horse to the feedlot owners, though he still rode her plenty while at work. Apparently having a job cured her of her desire to buck, though Victor bet it was also the fact she couldn’t get Johnny off with her usual tricks.
“Taylor’s been tellin’ me she wants to be a horse trainer now.”
“I could work here!” Taylor blurted. “Maybe I can clean stalls and stuff.”
“You’re a nine-year-old. I’d rather you put that effort into school instead.”
“School’s boring though.”
“Ain’t no way your ass is doin’ anythin’ unless you graduate middle school.” Kayla turned back to Victor. “I don’t wanna hold you up too long. I’m sure you got other things to be doin’.”
“I’m just getting ready to go to an auction with some folks tonight after Taylor’s lesson.”
“A horse auction?” Taylor exclaimed.
“Yeah. It starts at seven.”
Taylor’s mouth dropped open, and she turned to her mother with pleading eyes. Kayla pursed her lips, looking prepared to say no.
“Can I go?” Taylor asked. “Please please please?”
“He don’t wanna be hauling your skinny butt along with him to no damn horse auction,” Kayla told her daughter.
“I wanna go! Please?” Taylor turned to Victor, hands clasped. “I really really really wanna go!”
Kayla rolled her eyes, clearly prepared to tell her no again. Victor decided to cut her off before she could get there.
“I wouldn’t mind her tagging along, if she really wants to come. I’m going with my assistant trainer and another woman who has a lot of contacts with local rescues. I’m there to be the experienced horse person and she’s there to scope out horses we can possibly pull for rescue purposes.”
“How late’s it go?” Kayla asked.
“Midnight, about. I know that’s pretty late for a child, but—”
“It’s not too late! I can stay up all night if I have to!” Taylor interjected.
“Yeah, and who is gonna pick you up after?” Kayla asked Taylor. “I’m workin’ night shift, and Mike’s got work at five, so he ain’t gonna be up until midnight to pick you up either.”
“Maybe Uncle Johnny could pick me up.”
“On a Friday night? Good luck with that. He’ll be four bottles deep at a bar by then.”
“Uncle Johnny will pick me up if I ask him.”
“Fine, then you call him.” Kayla handed Taylor her phone. “And make it quick. This is running into your lesson time.”
Taylor walked off to call her uncle, her mother’s phone looking comically large in her small hand.
Kayla dug into her back pocket to pull out a cigarette, then lit it with a flick from her lighter.
Victor thought it odd she was expecting her child to set up arrangements with her own brother, but he wasn’t about to say anything about it.
“It’s fine if you don’t wanna take her,” Kayla said, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “I ain’t expectin’ you to be a babysitter.”
“I don’t mind, truly. If she wants to be a horse trainer when she grows up, it helps to get her feet wet.”
Kayla rolled her eyes. “Taylor’s got a lot of ideas about what she wants to be when she grows up. Pay it no mind. She can barely manage a B average in 3rd grade, so my expectations are low.”
“Sometimes schoolwork isn’t a kid’s strength. She’s an exceptional rider for her age.”
“Hopefully she don’t do what Johnny did and get into rodeo, cuz after that horse knocked his head in the last time, he ain’t fully there.” She tapped her temple. “He was always dumb, but now his memory is complete shit, and the drinkin’ don’t help.”
Victor felt obligated to defend Johnny, but Taylor showed up with her mother’s phone, holding it out for Kayla to take.
“Johnny says he can pick me up.”
“Fine. You can go to the horse auction—”
“Yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Taylor dashed up to her mother and hugged her tightly. “Thank you!”
Kayla patted her daughter’s head briefly, then waved her away. “Hurry up then. Get ready for your lesson.”
Taylor bolted away, and Kayla rooted around in her wallet for money to pay Victor for the lesson, cigarette dangling from between her lips. “Guess I’ll leave her with you then. Best call Johnny when the auction is over so he has time to get here.”
“Sure thing.”
“Lemme get you her tablet, in case she gets too annoying.” Kayla headed back to her SUV, dug around inside for a bit, then returned with tablet in hand. “I make her play games when she gets too chatty.”
“I don’t mind her chattiness.”