Chapter 12 #2
“Thanks, I think,” Tony said with a laugh, and felt what she described.
“No offense, I actually do feel better. For the last few years I felt stuck in my small home at the mercy of the doctor’s restrictions after each surgery I had.
Don’t do this, don’t do that, restrict your movements when you do this, it was so frustrating. ”
“I can imagine.” She shook her head and pointed to the bandana around her neck.
This one was imprinted with the American Flag.
“I had the same thing told to me when I was recovering.” She removed the bandana and lifted her neck.
It lasted for about twenty seconds, then she lowered her chin and tied the bandana back on.
She looked at him and when she didn’t see any repulsion she explained how she had received the massive scar.
“Please, tell me that guy got his ass kicked out of the service.”
“He did, and he’s currently in Leavenworth. Part of his sentencing was to be seen by the mental health workers during his entire stay there.”
“How long?”
“Twenty years.”
“Wow, may I ask why so long?”
“Because when he told the men who ambushed our unit to take me, he started screaming the reason we were there, giving away military secrets in the process. Because of my injury, the rest of my team got me to safety and medical help, but on the way, my team leader was scrambling to report the asshole’s actions to our commanders back home.
I didn’t experience it because I was in the hospital, but when I went back to base it was in a tizzy because of what he did. ”
“Damn, you probably don’t know this, but did the bad guys act on what your teammate revealed?”
“They tried to, but because my team leader was on it, we had the heads up and were able to change things. When the insurgents came, we were waiting for them. Let’s just say that all of our people walked away with nary a scratch. I can’t say that for the other side.”
“Good.” Tony nodded and looked past Ann with a grin. Ann turned and nodded.
“Go, I’ll finish up here.”
“No, I’m paid to do a job, I’ll finish up.
” He lifted his hand and called out to Staci.
“Come meet, Champ.” He waited until she came closer and smiled when she stayed in the center of the walkway.
As she approached, he held out his hand to her.
“Let me guess, you’ve never been around horses before? ”
“No, heck, I’ve never even been around animals before. Both my parents were allergic. Dad to cats, Mom to dogs.”
“I’m sorry,” Tony said, and with her hand in his, walked her to the stall that Champ had just entered. He talked soothingly to both the horse and Staci as he worked. He removed the blanket, and nodded when Ann approached with a small bucket.
“Carrots?” Staci asked.
“Yes, that’s what we feed them. Champ is a three-year-old that come spring, we’ll have a jockey come out and start to train him more than what he’s getting now.”
“Train?” Staci asked Ann, but her eyes were on Tony as he worked with the horse. Not thinking about it, she reached into the small container and withdrew a carrot stick, stepped forward and held it out to the horse. She laughed when his soft muzzle tickled her hand.
“All the horses here on New Double are race horses. We finally got a track put in, and we’ve been running them as much as we can. However, if we want these horses to earn their keep, then we’ll need to bring professionals in to help train them.”
“Meaning the jockey?”
“Yes, Cole and Clem have been working with these horses for decades. Well, not these particular horses, but their ancestors, if that makes sense.”
“It does. Have any of them won any races?”
“Champ’s grandfather won the Triple Crown in his prime. Three years running.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Yeah, and we’re bringing in the help because the human grandson of the owner of that horse wants Champ, but not before he knows what his potential is.”
“Ah, I understand, he’s not going to blindly purchase a horse based on his lineage. He wants to see if he has what it takes.”
“Correct.” Ann nodded and left the two of them alone.
As Staci fed the horse carrots, Tony made sure he was rubbed down, and that he had feed, hay, and water before he patted the horse’s neck before stepping out of the stall.
He smiled when Champ stretched his neck toward Staci, and he showed her how to pet him.
They stayed with the horse for a few more minutes before Tony turned to look at her.
“Not that I don’t mind, but why are you here?”
“Oh,” she said with a laugh, and gave the last carrot in the container to the horse, then turned her full attention onto Tony.
“I had an excellent day at the office, and I wanted to celebrate by inviting you to my place for dinner. I have this recipe I’m dying to try.”
“But…” Tony looked at her with a smirk when her cheeks turned bright pink.
“But, I don’t have the ingredients, and I don’t know how to cook it. I came here to ask you if you wanted to run into town with me to pick up the ingredients.”
“I can, did you bring the recipe with you?”
“I did,” she said with a laugh as she pulled it from the back pocket of her jeans. Tony took it, read it, and nodded.
“This is doable, let me check out, I’m done for the day, and we can go to my cabin so I can clean up.”
“You don’t mind?”
“No, not as long as you don’t mind that it will be a long night.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means that it’s an hour’s drive into town, figure thirty minutes in the grocery store, then an hour’s drive back. Then you have to consider how long it will take to make what you want.”
“Crap, so it could be four hours before we eat?”
“It could.” He saw her disappointment and made a quick decision. “How about this instead?”
“What?”
“What if we go to my cabin, I’ll cook us dinner, I have steak, baked potatoes, and fixings for a salad.
I’m off on Sunday, we can spend the rest of the week getting our grocery lists together, and we can go to town then.
” He saw her thinking, then smiled. “You know, you don’t have to only cook one meal at a time.
If you have a couple of recipes you’d like to try, we can get the ingredients for them, then batch cook them Sunday. ”
“What’s that?”
“It means you cook more than one item. You’d cook a batch of things, and you can freeze them for the rest of the week.”
“I like that idea. I agree with everything you said, I only have one more question.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you know how to make cookies?”
“Not from scratch,” he laughed. “That’s something you’re going to want to talk to Lois about.”
“Why?”
“That’s baking, and baking is different from cooking.” He saw the frustration in her expression and wrapped his arms around her. “We’ll figure this out.” They left the barn, and he led the way to his cabin. As soon as they entered, he told her to make herself at home and he went to shower.
They spent the next few hours cooking the meal he said he had, and Tony let her do most of the work, and she only burned one edge of one of the steaks.
He grinned when she said she would eat it, because she was the one who had burnt it.
They talked as they worked, getting to know each other better.
By the time Staci left for the night, they both admitted how much they had enjoyed their time together and looked forward to spending more time together on Sunday.
Tony said he would be there bright and early to take her to the grocery store.