CHAPTER 36
The next day, Johnny brought Taylor to the farm.
They saddled up the horses—Victor on Saturn, Johnny on Blitz, and Taylor on Midnight—and rode around the edge of the property and then across the hundred acres of fields owned by the neighbor.
Taylor was in an unusually sedate mood, and Victor wondered if she could sense something was up.
Eventually Johnny pulled up Blitz and grabbed the water bottle hanging from the bag on the horn of his saddle.
He took a swig, then passed it to Taylor.
“I’m not thirsty,” she said.
“You been out in this heat for two hours now. Drink.”
With a heavy, world weary sigh, Taylor took the bottle and sipped it.
“You in some kinda mood, huh?” Johnny asked.
Taylor shrugged as Midnight jerked her forward in an attempt to eat some grass. Taylor pulled her back, then circled her once to refocus her as Victor had taught.
“We brought you out here to give you some good news.”
Taylor gave him a skeptical look. “Like what?”
“I talked—we talked—to your mama about you.”
“Am I in trouble?” Taylor asked. “Cuz I’m already grounded for like two hundred years.”
“She said she’s willing to lower it to a hundred years if you behave yourself when you stay with me on the weekends.”
Taylor opened her mouth to complain, then stopped, reconsidering what Johnny had said. “What?”
Johnny’s attempt to hold back a smile failed. “I get you Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays now. Your mama cleared it.”
Taylor blinked at him in shock before a grin split her face wide open. “Really? I can come here?”
“If you behave yourself,” Johnny replied.
“I will! I promise! Is it every weekend?”
“Every weekend unless your mama says otherwise.”
Taylor tried to reach over to hug Johnny, but Midnight shied at the shift of weight and stepped away, putting too much space between them. Johnny laughed, then pushed Blitz over so he could rest a hand on the top of Taylor’s helmet.
“This is what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
“Yes! Definitely! Oh my God, thank you! Thank you, thank you!”
“Don’t just thank me. Thank Vic, too. He’s the one lettin’ you stay over.”
“Thank you, Victor! Thank you so much!”
“No problem,” Victor said, unable to keep a straight face. Taylor looked fit to burst, she was smiling so wide.
“Can I go to horse shows with you, too?”
“Sure, if your mother approves.”
Taylor ran out of words, so she threw her arms around Midnight’s neck instead, burying her face into her mane. Midnight stretched her head around to sniff Taylor’s foot, almost like she was hugging her back. Seconds later, Taylor was wiping her face on her sleeve, her eyes wet with tears.
“Aww, come on now.” Johnny squeezed her shoulder. “Ain’t nothin’ to cry over.”
“You can cry if you want,” Victor countered. “But there are conditions to you staying over.”
“Like what?” she asked with a sniff and blinking back tears.
“First, you gotta keep your grades up. Don’t be startin’ no fights with the kids in school,” Johnny said.
“What if they pick fights with me first?”
“Taylor.”
“Okay,” she conceded with an expression of defeat. “I promise to behave and study and all that.”
“You’re gonna graduate whether I gotta drag you to that podium myself. I know it’s a ways off for ya, but you’re smart, and I want you to act like it.”
“I’m gonna do my best.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
“Anything else?” she asked, voice wobbly.
“One more thing.” Victor pushed Saturn closer and leaned in conspiratorially, making Taylor do the same. “And this is the most important, so listen closely.”
“What?”
“You’re going to eat my dust when I race you back to the barn.
” At that, Victor wheeled Saturn around and pushed her into a gallop, grabbing his hat before his momentum could take it.
Johnny let out a whoop and followed, with Taylor shouting, “Hey, no fair!” as Midnight leapt into action.
Johnny pulled into view next to Victor, using his hat like a whip to sweep across Blitz’s hindquarters.
In between them surged Midnight, legs churning and nostrils flared wide, snorting like a dragon about to take off into flight.
Victor knew Midnight would never let a horse win for long.
She was as willful and fierce as the girl riding her.
When Victor pulled Saturn back and let Taylor surge ahead, he watched Midnight’s lifted tail wave in the breeze like a flag, Taylor shrieking with glee as her horse took her for a ride on the wind.
* * *
Victor was up before sunrise like always, but when he drove the farm ATV out to the back of a pasture to call the horses in and check the fence, he had to stand a moment at the top of the hill and admire the pink-laced clouds against the dark silhouette of the trees at the property line.
The only sounds this early in the morning were birdsong and frogs croaking in the neighbor’s pond, and the serenity of the scene struck him with such profundity that he blinked back tears.
It was something his father would have cried over; he’d been much more emotional than Victor’s mother.
Victor used to cry easily, too, and when that faded after his transition, it felt like losing a small connection he had to his father.
It was good to know that the beauty of a quiet country morning could still bring it out of him.
After Victor wiped his eyes with a sleeve, the horses started trotting over, and he knew they’d follow him back to the barn because that was where they were fed their morning grain.
He straddled the ATV and headed back down the dirt tracks worn through the grass, and he heard the pounding of running hoofbeats behind him.
When he turned to look, he saw one of Johnny’s mares tossing her head and bucking with abandon, arthritis be damned.
Several horses frolicked along with her, hopping and skipping their way back to the barn.
Victor had to laugh at their antics, pleased to find everyone in such good spirits.
Hannah was off today, which meant that Victor could play whatever music he liked in the barn and talk to himself (and the horses) as he went about his morning chores.
He changed the bandages on Whiskey’s left right hind from a blown hoof abscess a day ago.
He grabbed some stool samples from Penny’s and Rembrandt’s stall to send to the vet for parasitic load analysis.
He gave Jetson, Cooper, and Honey their morning pills, and Blitz, Oregon, Dreamy, Caramel, and JJ their daily supplements.
He soaked beet pulp for Lieutenant’s, Calliope’s and Poseidon’s morning mash.
He found Diamond had thrown a shoe overnight, so Victor texted her owner and asked if she wanted to schedule a visit from the farrier.
He also texted Roman’s owner to tell her that the summer sore on his mouth was healing up after the Quest treatment.
This was just the work he had to do before the actual work of pulling horses out for training and working with students who arrived for lessons.
He’d scheduled a break after lunch to head over to the lumberyard to pick up some posts and rails, because he was hoping he could fix the arena himself without hiring someone.
He’d already dealt with the expense of roofers, and he was light on cash until the insurance payment came through.
Johnny had promised to come by after work to help, because of course he’d done it before, though he hadn’t clarified when or how.
Knowing him, he’d done it once and was going to bullshit his way through the job.
Perhaps that should have caused Victor some hesitation, but Victor couldn’t help but like that sort of thing about Johnny.
Johnny was game for anything, even if it ended up worse than how he’d found it.
Victor already had the tractor out and was assessing the arena fence by the time Johnny showed up around three, wearing work gloves and a pair of stained jeans that looked like they’d been through battle.
The force of the tornado had pulled up or pushed a few posts to the side, so those would need to be dug up and straightened or replaced, along with nearly all the boards on the right side of the arena.
They took a few minutes to go over their game plan, then spent the next couple of hours working, sometimes with Victor in the tractor and Johnny hollering orders or with both of them exchanging tools and relying on one another to get a post straight or a board level.
As much as Victor had loved the friends he’d made in LA, there was something about doing manual labor on a fence with a man that made Victor feel in his bones that he was in the right place.
Living here had its challenges and risks, but this is what he wanted his life to be.
And Johnny was the one he wanted to spend it with.
After Victor put the tractor away, they headed back to the house for a cold shower and dinner.
“What do you wanna eat tonight?” Victor asked.
“I ain’t picky, but I’m hungry as hell.”
“I got some steaks in the fridge. That work for you?”
“I will eat whatever you put in front of me.”
“Alright. I’ll start in on dinner and you go freshen up. You’re pretty damn ripe.”
In response, Johnny wrapped his arm around Victor’s neck and jerked his face into his armpit, which made Victor laugh and playfully struggle his way out of the grip. Johnny cackled as he released him, then bounced away to the bathroom before Victor could enact any payback.
Victor pulled out the steaks, his own personal steak rub, a can of baked beans, and a bunch of russet potatoes that he cleaned with a scrub brush in the sink.
Johnny must have been quick with his shower, because he emerged wet and half-dressed five minutes later, wearing sweatpants and one of Victor’s tank tops.
Considering the height difference, Victor’s clothes didn’t look half bad on him.
“You need any help with dinner?” Johnny asked.
“If you want to cut up potatoes, I’d appreciate it.”