Chapter 6
SIX
Once Rae had a new pair of shoes and gave Jonah a new order to go to a “sweep” of the house, we continued the tour to the stable. I tugged the wooden bar off the two-door entry and pushed the doors open. “Careful where you step.”
Esther and I did a decent job of keeping the stable clean. But things inevitably slipped through the cracks. The smell of manure and horses greeted us.
Kat immediately popped her head over her stable door, blowing out a breath as if she was pissed we’d taken so long to drop in and say hi. Her gray coat was patchy with spots of white, the colors like the mix of the storm and the calm morning after. She acted as such, too.
Frog backed into his stable, turning around so all that greeted us was his dark brown ass and thick, swaying black tail.
“Who is this?” Rae smiled and went right up to Kat, stopping for a second before touching her. “Are they alright with petting?”
“Go for it.” I nodded and went over to our storage bins where we kept extra snacks. “They’re both as docile as they come. But Kat’s more energetic. She’s the younger one. Six years old. Her companion’s Frog. He’s fifteen and wary of strangers.”
Rae ran her hand up and down Kat’s neck. Esther had brushed her until she shone and braided a few parts of her mane.
“Hey there,” Rae whispered as if it were just her and Kat in the stable. “I’m Rae Mary Jones, and you’re absolutely stunning.”
I smiled, amused at Rae’s full-name introduction.
She continued gently petting the horse, her fingers catching in the mane a few times.
The wide smile on her face was reminiscent of the one I wore when I met my first horse.
I’d fallen in love with them the year my mom got a job working as an accountant for stables.
The owners were generous enough to offer me discounted riding lessons.
These large and sometimes dangerous creatures offered the patience my peers never considered giving me.
As a bullied pre-teen with stunted social skills and cystic acne, acceptance was scarce. The horse I got to ride and care for warmed up to me in a heartbeat. He’d nudge me for head pats, thrilled to see me every day I showed up.
For the first time in my life, I considered that maybe I could be interesting and worthy of companionship.
Maybe I had something to offer. I didn’t feel useless around horses.
My shame, appearance, and quiet meant nothing to them.
So, while I was in their presence, those things meant nothing to me. And damn, what a relief that’d been.
Rae spoke to Kat with clear respect, but also with as much confidence as she had when addressing that crowd on stage.
Kat nudged her nose into Rae’s palm, sniffing for hints of subterfuge.
When she couldn’t find any, she bowed her head, desperate for the attention she craved.
Rae’s laugh was beautifully airy, claiming the oxygen in my lungs.
My gaze didn’t know where to land, frantically trying to take in the mesmerizing curve of her smile, the delicate tilt of her head, and the way she popped her heel up when she was amused with Kat sniffing her hair.
“They’re precious,” Rae said. “Are they related?”
I went to Rae’s side and offered her a carrot. As she gave it to an excited Kat, I rested my elbow against the stall door, watching Rae laugh as Kat tugged the snack from her hand.
“Not by blood,” I said. “But they don’t enjoy being apart. Kat refused to eat when Frog had to stay at an animal hospital overnight after surgery. And Frog gets moody any time Kat runs a bit too far away from him when we let them out for exercise.”
“The co-dependent babies,” she teased, rubbing circles on Kat’s forehead. “How long have you had them?”
“Six months. A retired rancher put them up for sale the same day I came down to sign the deed for Elmwood. I went to see them just for curiosity’s sake. I wanted to…dream. Fantasize about the life I could build here. But as soon as I saw them, I wanted to make it all real.”
I paused for a second to clear my throat. Emotion was a sneaky thing I often struggled to get a handle on.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to afford a ranch and horses so early on,” I continued, concentrating hard to make sure my words came out steady. “But it all fell into place almost as if it was…Well, I guess you could say that was the last bit of my luck.”
Rae smiled, nudging her chin toward me. “I like that.”
I frowned, shifting my weight, now conscious of every muscle in my body. “What?”
“The look in your eyes when you talk about them and this place,” she said. “You look like a proud mother. Someone who wants to be good and brave for them. It takes at least five years off your face.”
I tried not to laugh, but it spilled out of me in a steady wave. “Are you serious?”
“I didn’t mean anything negative by it.” Rae’s eyes danced. “I actually have a thing for older women.”
My stomach flipped. “I’m only two years older than you.”
“The glaring added at least five,” she reminded me. “Regardless, I think you’re beautiful in how you care for them. In how you want to build something for others.”
I swallowed. “Well, they’ve done so much for me, the least I could do for them is provide a stable home and share that with others.”
“Ha,” Rae chuckled. “I get it. Stable.”
I frowned.
“That’s not what you meant.” Her smile faded. “Right, well.”
Rae studied me for a second longer before giving Kat a couple more pets and reaching for her EMF. I winced at the sight of it.
“Sorry,” Rae said. “But I have to check her and the rest of the stable.”
I waited in silence for the EMF to rip apart my sanity. But as soon as Rae turned it on, there wasn’t even the slightest click. No sign of the headache-inducing power it’d exhibited earlier.
“What’s it supposed to be testing?” I asked when Rae’s brow furrowed.
“Activity,” she said in a low voice, her attention far from me. She moved away from Kat, holding the EMF next to Frog. He kept his back turned, munching on hay as if we weren’t even there.
“Activity?” Such a thin, vague explanation. If we were going to do this song and dance, I was going to make her work for every penny.
“Paranormal activity.” She continued walking around the stable, adjusting the EMF’s height every so often.
“You don’t say,” I said sarcastically.
“You said you sleepwalked to the stable?” Rae asked.
I buried my hand in Kat’s thick mane. She leaned into me, sensing my discomfort in having to think about that night. “I did.”
“Where did you end up?” She frowned at something in a dark corner of an empty stall but didn’t move any closer. Her EMF remained silent.
“In the middle.” I let go of Kat and moved to the middle of the hallway. “Here.”
“Did you hear anything?” Rae started back toward me, and it was then that I noticed she had a slight limp. “Either in your dream or outside of it?”
I frowned at the foot she was favoring. “No, nothing I can remember.”
“Do you ever remember your dreams?” she asked.
“Not all the time.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Did that sinkhole twist your ankle?”
Rae paused, lowering the EMF to waist height. “Sorry?”
“You’re limping.”
She looked down at her leather boots (which were more of a fashion statement than a practical upgrade from the sneakers). I had said nothing when she tugged them on because, despite the block heel, they were in the right direction.
“I’m fine.” Rae shrugged and passed me to check near the entryway. I noted how straighter her back had become. She took each step slowly, trying to hide her injury.
I sighed. “We should look at it.”
“I said, I’m fine,” she murmured, frowning down at the EMF. Rae popped open the back, tugging out the batteries, blowing into them before pressing them back in. “Trust me, I’ve sustained injuries worse than this.”
“If it’s swelling and you’re in those kinds of shoes, it’ll only get worse,” I said. “You’ll be on your feet for a little while longer. The house has both a basement and an attic.”
Rae took a deep breath. When she let it out, her shoulders dropped. “This thing stings like a mofo.”
I pressed my lips together, trying not to smile.
The injury wasn’t amusing; it was the way she scrunched up her nose.
Those tiny wrinkles on her skin cracked her smooth surface.
Her jaw ticked as she took a seat on a rusted stool and snatched off the boot.
Her sock went next. She froze when I kneeled in front of her.
“May I?” I was first-aid certified and the person who’d brought her out here. Examining the injury was the least I could do.
“Sure.” Rae nodded.
I gently wrapped one hand behind her ankle. She held so still I thought she might have stopped breathing. It wasn’t until I applied a bit of testing pressure that she took a sharp inhale.
“Circle it for me?” I asked.
Rae raised a brow. “For you? Of course.”
I sighed, an attempt to mask my amusement. Rae did what she was told. The movement was achingly slow. I could already feel the first signs of swelling.
“Nice to know you can take directions,” I murmured.
Rae laughed. “I normally don’t, but I like being on my best behavior around you.”
I directed my gaze up to her. She’d already been watching me. From this angle, her inhales were distracting. Each one of her breaths was deep, expanding her chest so the top she wore stretched across her breasts. My eyes traveled down her body, catching on the curve of her waist.
“You can’t take direction, though.” Her lowered voice emphasized her natural, deep tone. “But I don’t mind that. Curiosity’s always cute.”
I nearly choked. She parted her lips, letting out a light laugh.
“There’s a first-aid kit back here.” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder. “We should…um, tape it up for now. You’ll have to ice and elevate it later.”
Rae nodded, and I went to retrieve the kit. When I got back, she had taken her coat off and tied it around her waist. I kneeled again, doing my best to focus on the ankle and not the better view of her breasts.
“How would that thing test for ‘activity’?” I asked, trying to feed my mind with something besides intrusive thoughts.
“Long story or short?”
“Both?” I placed the tape above the bit of muscle that’d begun swelling and slowly worked my way down.
“There are small, nearly undetectable—” She hissed, and I froze.
“Sorry, too much?” I pulled back.
Rae shook her head, but her jaw was tight as she said, “No, it’s fine.”
I started again, going even slower this time. “Keep talking; it’ll help distract you.”
She hummed as if she disagreed, but continued anyway. “Undetectable fluctuations in the atmosphere that show something from the other side. Basically, they leave behind breadcrumbs.”
I held onto my disbelieving snort. “And how did y’all figure that out?”
“A researcher developed a method decades ago. Arnold Harrison. He started hunting around the same time my folks did. His first breakthrough was when he captured a ghost and—”
“Hold on.” I shook my head. “Someone captured a ghost?”
“That’s what I said.”
“I thought the point of ghosts was that they’re intangible? You can’t capture something you can’t touch.”
Rae raised a brow. “The point of a ghost varies to whatever each sees fit. And who says you can’t touch one?”
“Most of every ghost story I’ve ever read.”
She laughed. “Well, this isn’t a ghost story.”