Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jason ran the lesson schedule through his head while he mucked out Sage’s stall, and the math came out the same as it had every day lately. Too many clients, not enough hands.
Tate and Rylee were back from the honeymoon, tanned and useless.
That wasn’t fair. Rylee wasn’t useless. She’d sent over a casserole and taken the one-eyed rooster back off his chore list. But Tate had been hauling boxes into the farmhouse next door and standing in the doorway of his new life grinning as if he’d won a prize, and every day he said the same thing on his way past the barn.
“I’ll be back in the swing of it tomorrow.”
Tomorrow kept moving.
Jason didn’t begrudge his brother the happiness.
He’d stood beside him at the altar and meant every word of the toast, all nine of them.
What he minded was quieter than that. Nobody had asked.
The lessons, the feed orders, Brent’s overtime, the client in Billings who wanted a call back.
It had all just slid onto Jason’s side of the ledger, the way things always slid, because Jason would catch them.
He always caught them.
A truck rolled up the drive while he was topping off water buckets. Rylee’s. She climbed down with two pizza boxes balanced on one arm and lifted the other hand in a wave.
“Please tell me you haven’t eaten,” she called.
“I haven’t eaten.”
“Good. Because I owe you about forty dinners and I’m starting today.” She set the boxes on the workbench by the tack room and looked around the barn she was checking it for damage. “Tate says you’ve got everything under control.”
“Tate would know. He drives past it twice a day.”
Rylee winced. “That bad?”
“It’s fine.”
“Jason.”
He set down the bucket. His sister-in-law had a way of saying his name that his actual sisters could take lessons from. “It’s two men’s work and one man doing it,” he said. “I’m not complaining. I’m telling you what it is.”
“That sounds like complaining. You’ve earned it. Complain away.”
“I just did. That was it.”
She laughed, and he eased a little. They ate standing up, as barn meals went, and she told him about the pig Tate had brought home from auction, who had opinions about the goats, and about the boxes still stacked in her hallway with no plan behind them.
He waited until she was folding up her paper towel. “Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything. I’m family now. You’re stuck with me.”
“If a man wanted to impress a woman.” He kept his eyes on Onyx’s stall door instead of her face. “What would make a first date something to remember?”
The silence lasted exactly as long as it took her grin to arrive. “Jason Dennison.”
“Forget it.”
“No, no, no. You don’t get to un-ask that.” She hopped up to sit on the workbench, delighted. “Who is she?”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“It’s my question.”
“Flowers, dancing, dinner?” he pressed on. “A movie? What works?”
Rylee studied him for a long moment, and was merciful.
“Honestly? None of that matters. If you really want to impress her, all you have to do is be yourself. Do what makes you comfortable, what makes you happy. That’s what girls are attracted to.
” She reached over and flicked the brim of his hat.
“And for the record? Whoever she is, she’s doing better than she knows. ”
“That’s not information you need.”
“I’ll find out. Everything in this town finds its way to me eventually.”
“Doesn’t mean I have to speed it up.”
She was still laughing when she drove off, and Jason went back to the water buckets with the strangest feeling that he’d just been given permission for something he’d already decided to do.
“When I said name a time and place, I didn’t think it would be in the middle of the night at a barn,” Cece whispered.
Jason reached for her hand and tugged her into the barn. This was his favorite place. It was where he was most himself. If Rylee was right, this was where he’d be able to show Cece who he was.
He led her toward the back of the barn where their horses were kept.
There were five horses they cared for. And for the most part, all but one was very well behaved.
The fifth horse was one Tate had saved a while back.
His owners couldn’t handle him anymore, and Tate had thought Jason could work his magic.
Cece gasped when they stopped at the last stall. The horse in question was solid black. His coat normally glimmered in the sunlight, and he’d been purchased as a show horse. But when he couldn’t be controlled, everything went sideways. “She’s beautiful,” Cece murmured.
Jason smiled at her. “Yes, he really is.”
She dipped her chin with a laugh. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You didn’t know.” He nodded toward the beast. “This is Onyx.” Jason clicked at the animal but Onyx bobbed his head, huffing at the intrusion.
When Cece reached toward him, Jason snatched her wrist. He shook his head. “Careful,” he whispered, “he bites.”
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull away from Jason. “Really? Then how do you keep your fingers?”
He glanced at Onyx again. “I’m working with him. He’s a little mean-spirited, but I think he’s just misunderstood.”
She nodded, turning her attention to the animal. “Aren’t we all?”
Jason went still and let that sink in. She was right. On some level, everyone was misunderstood. That was the reason for wars that started over what could be considered nothing. It was the reason hatred existed. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
Cece smiled and spoke low, with a soothing lilt. “Hey, pretty boy. Aren’t you the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.”
Onyx watched her warily, but he didn’t move. He snorted and chuffed, but he didn’t show his threatening side at all. Jason couldn’t be prouder of the animal. He’d been working with him more lately and his efforts were paying off.
“So, who else do we have here?” Cece pulled free of his grasp only to slide her fingers between his and tug him toward another stall.
“This is Angel. She belongs to my sister.”
Her eyes flitted up to meet his. “That’s right. You have siblings. Remind me how many?”
“A brother and three sisters.”
“Wow,” she murmured. “That’s a big family.”
“Is it?”
“Seeing as I’m an only child, I’d say so.
” Her amusement drew him in, tugged at the least familiar part of him.
Everything about being around her was new and exciting.
“Please tell me these other beauties don’t bite.
” She leaned against the stall to face him and the way she looked up at him from beneath her lashes was intoxicating.
He rested his forearm against the post to her back and smiled down at her.
The air between them was electrifying. It was far too easy to forget what she’d been saying.
They might have only spent a little time in each other’s company, but he knew her better than most of the people in town.
He lowered his face closer to her, his eyes fixated on her mouth when she curved it into a delicious-looking smile.
All thoughts of holding back fell by the wayside as he drew closer to her. Cece’s lashes fluttered closed. She exhaled and her warm breath fanned his face. He wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them fully.
Then Sage’s head poked out of the stall directly to Cece’s right.
She gasped and scrambled away from the excited horse who attempted to nudge her even as she escaped.
Jason chuckled and rubbed Sage’s nose, but Cece’s arms had wrapped around his middle while she peered out at the angelic creature who had interrupted their moment.
She must have caught on at the same time because she immediately extricated herself from his body and released a nervous chuckle. “And who is this?” It came out wavering, but she stepped forward to pet the horse anyway.
He gently wrapped his hand around her wrist and brought her closer. Jason only released her when her palm landed against Sage’s neck. Cece relaxed and a soft smile pulled at her lips. Her eyes snagged on Jason and her smile widened. “She’s amazing,” Cece whispered.
The woman he was fascinated with was finding a connection similar to his own.
He moved to her side and opened the stall door so he could enter.
She followed him, hanging back as he reached for a brush and ran it along Sage’s back.
“This is Sage,” he finally answered. “She’s mine.
And she’s the gentlest horse there is. I could put a child in this saddle and I’d feel more confident they’d be just as safe as they are with their parents. ”
Cece smiled and nodded. “How long have you had her?”
“Since I was a teenager. I got her when she was a filly and I trained her myself.”
That had Cece showing more surprise than she’d demonstrated since they’d met.
“You’re kidding.” She turned her focus on the horse again, probably taking in Sage’s chestnut coat and her darker mane.
She was perfectly still, not showing any signs of distress.
A stray cat could pounce on her, and she wouldn’t react.
“Jason, that’s really impressive. Right? ”
He chuckled. “I suppose so.”
“You suppose so? Training animals isn’t easy. Otherwise, everyone would do it. You said you train riders, but I didn’t realize you train animals, too.”
Jason shook his head and his hand stalled mid-brush.
“I don’t, actually. But I can’t say I haven’t thought about it.
” Then he told her what he’d only ever said to one other person, and even then, only barely.
“I think I could be really good at it. Horse whispering.” He didn’t dare look at her.
The thought of pulling back from his family’s business made him wary.
He didn’t want to leave his brother in the lurch without him.
Not even after they’d taken Brent on to help with the influx of clients.
“I think that’s an amazing idea,” she whispered.
His head snapped up and he met her eyes. He didn’t have to ask her if she believed what she was saying because he could read it in her face.
“And I think you should go for it.”
That was the jolt of lightning that changed everything. She barely knew him and yet she believed in him. He might not have dated a lot, but he did know a good thing when he saw it.
And Cece was proving to be just that.