CHAPTER 6 #3
“These came in together,” the auctioneer said. “The black one’s a mare. The other’s a geldin’. Buyer’s choice.”
Taylor grabbed Victor’s hand, turning to him with wide, pleading eyes.
Victor didn’t know what to tell her. The bidding started at a thousand and quickly dropped to three hundred.
By now, everyone but the most determined dealers had left, and one of the men Melissa had pointed out as a notorious kill buyer was nodding in the auctioneer’s direction.
The price jumped up to four hundred, then five.
With a sigh, Victor raised his number. The auctioneer jumped on it, and the other bidder wasn’t willing to go past six hundred, so Victor secured the bid with six hundred and fifty dollars.
“Which one you want?” the auctioneer asked.
Victor glanced at Taylor again, who was beaming.
“Both,” Victor said, and the deal was done when Victor gave them his bidding number.
Taylor threw both of her arms around him and hugged him tight. “Thank you thank you thank you!”
“Alright,” Victor chuckled, patting her head. “Let me get up so I can go pay for them.”
Taylor was absolutely brimming with joy as she followed Victor into the auction office to pay, and she practically skipped on their way back to the pens.
Melissa had already gathered up the yearling, the bay mare with the pussy eye, and the skinny elderly horse.
The donkeys would have to be chased on later, as they were not halter broke.
“Gotta get two more,” Victor told Melissa, but then didn’t explain because Taylor was already charging past them.
It was no small feat, loading seven horses at midnight, but thankfully the horses seemed eager to get the hell out of there. By 12:30, they were fully loaded and on their way home. Taylor’s adrenaline had finally crashed, and within minutes she was sound asleep curled up against the truck window.
Victor tried calling Johnny, but he was not picking up, and Kayla had never given Victor her number, so he couldn’t call her either.
Victor called several times on the way home with no luck as everyone else slept.
Fucking fantastic. What was he supposed to do now?
Obviously Taylor could sleep over at his place, but Victor was more than aware of what people thought of single men when it came to childcare, and he didn’t want to end up on a government watch list. He really had no other choice though, since Johnny was not responsive.
When they got home, it was about 1:15 am, and they still had another hour to spend unloading the horses.
After ensuring the horses were comfortable, Melissa left.
Jade offered to stay the night to look after the horses, but Victor insisted she go home, too.
Hannah would be around to check on the horses if that was needed.
“You sure you’ll be okay with the kid?” Jade asked, brow puckered with concern.
“Yeah, I’ll just put her in the guest room and try to get a hold of Johnny in the morning.” Well, later in the morning. It was already morning.
Jade glanced toward the truck, where Taylor was still asleep. “Why’d you buy those two horses?”
“I’m a sucker, I guess.”
Jade chuckled. “You’re too soft.”
“I guess she reminds me a lot of myself at that age.” Victor sighed. “Get outta here and get some rest. We can figure this all out later.”
Jade nodded and headed for her car. Victor went to the truck and reached across the back seat to shake Taylor’s leg. She woke with a start, then blearily looked around.
“Is Johnny here?” she mumbled.
“Nope. I couldn’t get a hold of him, so you’ll be sleeping in the house. I’ll try to reach him tomorrow. Well, today. Later today.”
With a sleepy groan, Taylor pushed herself across the seat and carefully descended from the truck.
“What about the horses? Are they okay?”
“Yup, they’re all unloaded and eating. Don’t worry about them, they’ll be fine.”
“Can I go see?”
“I think you need to get some sleep. Come on.”
Taylor yawned and nodded, and she followed Victor to the house. The dogs on the porch greeted him with much licking and tail wagging, then provided the same to Taylor, who giggled and pushed them away. Victor led her through the house and to the guest bedroom.
“I’m sleeping here?” Taylor asked.
“Yup. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“I’ll keep trying to get a hold of Johnny. Do you know your mother’s number?”
Taylor gave it to him, and Victor plugged it in.
It went to voicemail, so he left a message, explaining exactly what had happened.
He assumed she might call him back quickly, but his phone remained silent, and Victor was out of ideas.
So he gave Taylor a new toothbrush from his stash and after she brushed her teeth, he put the dogs in the room with her to keep her company through the night.
Once she was all set up, he went to his own room, tossed off his dusty shirt and dirt-smeared jeans, and collapsed into bed.
The last thing he saw were the red numbers of his clock reading 2:30 am before he fell asleep.