reached up and touched her face. “I’m not laughing at you.”
“Then why, may I ask, are you laughing?” She put her hands on her hips.
“I don’t know.” He wanted to say he felt happy, but he couldn’t. “Maybe I should go.”
“Go?”
She sounded disappointed. Maybe even a little panicked.
“Just to the RV. We have work to do tomorrow, unless you’re going to fire me.”
Her shoulders relaxed. “No.” She kicked into business mode. “Okay, um, let’s meet in the morning at eight. You can shadow me throughout the day and see what it’s like working the horses and stuff. But of course you have to keep in mind that when the clients start coming, everything will change.”
Joiner nodded. “Eight it is.” He tipped his hat to her as he headed for the steps. “Stella?” He paused on the second one. The corners of her mouth turned up when he said her name. “I think everything might have already changed.”
STELLA THREW SOME yogurt and granola down her throat and was out the door at sunrise the next morning. It was rare that she beat Buster to the kitchen, but she hadn’t slept too well the night before. Thoughts of Joiner buzzed around in her head like hummingbirds in a bed of zinnias. She had to get outside.
Vega seemed a little agitated, too. She was already up and eyeing her new stable partner from across the way. She tossed her snowy white mane when Stella greeted her.
Joiner’s horse, however, snorted when Stella came near. She didn’t open the door to his stall, but took the moment alone to size him up. Every inch of him evoked power. An Argentine Thoroughbred stallion. She had to admit he was pretty incredible. “You’re a beautiful boy.”
A door creaked. “Thanks. But who are you calling a boy?”
Stella turned to see Joiner standing at the opposite end of the stable where she’d stood just yesterday, ready to duel him.
“Do you have X-ray ears or something?”
He walked toward her. “I don’t think that’s a thing.”
He’d tucked a white T-shirt into distressed Levi’s that she couldn’t call loose, and wore a flannel shirt the color of twilight open like a jacket. Brown belt, brown work boots. Wavy hair as dark as his horse peeked out from under his cowboy hat, and Stella willed herself not to remember how soft his hair had been against her cheek last night.
“What are you doing up so early? You don’t have to clock in till eight.”
“I figured I’d try to impress my boss.”
There were lots of ways Stella could have replied to that. Instead, she said, “Well, I’m not on the clock yet, either. Vega and I are going for a ride.”
“Care if Pistol and I join you?”
“Suit yourself.”
They saddled the horses and walked them slowly through the gate. Once out in the pasture, Stella and Vega took the lead, riding swiftly but surely. Joiner had to contain Pistol to keep from passing them. He followed for a while, and then pulled up beside her.
“Where are we going?”
“The north forty. There’s a lake...”
“We’ll see you there.”
Pistol shot forward, kicking up plugs of grass and dirt behind him, reminding Stella of just the type of dangerous horse—and rider—she was dealing with.
Vega kept the pace Stella had set earlier, as if in silent understanding with her rider. They arrived at the shore of the lake to find Joiner sitting on a rock, and Pistol getting a drink from the clear, cool water.
Stella dismounted. She led Vega to drink several steps away from Pistol. When Pistol had drunk his fill, Joiner tied him to a tree. Stella let Vega go but the horse stayed close by her master.
“Want to sit?” Joiner motioned to the rock and Stella sat down on it with him.
The sight was so peaceful and so filled with memories, Stella’s irritation melted away. They lounged side by side, looking out over the lake as the sun spilled its warmth across it. Ducks dived for their breakfast, creating golden ripples, and a heron peered at them from down the bank. Water bugs zigzagged in a pattern at the edge, right in front of the rock. A fish flopped, then another.
“My mom and I used to come here a lot when I was a little girl. It was our favorite place.” Stella fingered her silver necklace and then brought it to her lips, touching it to them as though it was some religious relic. “There are all kinds of lily pads down at the other end—I named it Lake Lily.”
“Your dad told me that she homeschooled you. She must have been really great.”
“She was a great mom. Taught me so many things. I just wish...”
Joiner stared at her intently. In his eyes Stella thought she saw tenderness, as well as compassion mixed with a certain curiosity. When he spoke his voice was kind. “What do you wish?”
“I wish she’d been more careful.”
They sat in heavy silence for a few moments, then Stella tried to explain what she still didn’t really understand herself, even after eight years. “I’m not angry with her, not anymore. And I don’t mean she was reckless. It’s just that, well, the free spirit that made her so amazing also made her sometimes—”
“Not safe?”
“Yeah. Or not careful enough to keep herself safe.”
“And that’s why you want to teach people riding lessons. To keep them safe.”
Stella nodded. “That’s also why I want to emphasize safety in my therapy sessions. So my disabled clients won’t come to any harm on my watch. I want Star Stables to be a place of healing.”
“Well...” Joiner sighed. “My expertise is more of the ride fast, play hard variety. But I do know how to muck out stables.”
“That’s a plus.” Stella laughed, grateful for his effort at a lighter mood, even though his comment about riding fast and playing hard bothered her.
“Do you have any kind of schedule in mind for me?”
She thought out loud. “We’re opening the doors in a week. I already have several clients signed up, but I need to finalize the schedule with my occupational therapist assistant and speech therapist. Funding is a huge issue there but after the donation I got yesterday I can budget enough to contract them each for a few months.”
“That sounds good.”
“Yes. It was really a relief getting that money.”
“So what do you want my role to be?”
“This
