more scared than anything.”
“Scared? Why is she scared of me?”
“She’s not scared of you. I think that she’s scared that you won’t like her.” Mackenzie pushed some wayward strands of hair away from her face.
“Well, then, that makes two of us, because I’ve been really worried that she won’t like me, too.” Dylan looked down at his outfit. “I changed my clothes three times before I finally put this together.”
Mackenzie’s eyebrows rose. Dylan was wearing a pressed Ralph Lauren button-down dress shirt, new dark-wash jeans and his spotless boots.
“I did mention that you were going to be doing barn work...didn’t I?” Mackenzie asked.
“You mentioned it. I just wanted to look nice for Hope.” Dylan frowned down at his outfit. “I look ridiculous, don’t I?”
“No. You don’t look ridiculous, Dylan. You just look...kind of dressy for the barn. That’s all,” Mackenzie tried to reassure him. “But stop worrying. Trust me. Hope doesn’t care what you’re wearing. So...are you ready?”
“Nope.” Dylan’s stomach started to feel a little queasy.
“What happened to the fearless Dylan Axel I used to know?” Mackenzie tried to tease his nerves away.
“He was too young to know better.”
“Come on, Dylan.” Mackenzie offered him her hand. “The best way to get something done is to start...”
Dylan took her hand, soft and warm, and let her gently tug him in the right direction. Their hands naturally slipped apart as they walked side by side through the barn’s dusty center aisle. As they walked along, Mackenzie greeted the ragtag bunch of secondhand horses and the handful of volunteers working that day. With thirty geriatric horses to care for, Dylan understood why Aggie was so eager to sign him up. Organizations that relied entirely on donations, grants and volunteers were in a constant state of borderline panic and flux. Pegasus was no different.
“This way.” Mackenzie tucked her fingers into the front pocket of her jeans. “Hope’s out back washing feed buckets.”
Dylan could hear the water running from the hose and he stopped walking. “Wait.”
“What’s wrong?”
Dylan backed up a step. “Maybe this isn’t the best place for this to happen.”
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You’re not backing out.” Mackenzie’s demeanor changed. She walked over to him and grabbed his hand. “This is happening right now.”
Mackenzie pulled Dylan forward a couple of steps, into an open area with concrete slabs set up for washing the horses.
“Hey, kiddo!” Mackenzie slapped a bright smile on her face. “Look who I found...”
Under her breath, and only for Dylan’s ears, Mackenzie said, “You’re up.”
Hope looked up from her task of washing out a large group of blue feed buckets. She looked at him directly and what he saw in her eyes was something he hadn’t experienced with anyone other than his aunt Gerri: total acceptance. Hope’s pretty face lit up with excitement as she smiled nervously at him. She dropped the hose and wiped her hands off on her jeans while she headed over to where they were standing. Hope wrapped her arm around her mom’s waist for security. She looked up at Mackenzie, Mackenzie looked at Dylan, and Dylan looked at Hope.
“Awwwkward.” Hope was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.
Dylan liked how Hope broke the ice. “You’re right. It is.”
Mackenzie ran her hand over the top of Hope’s head. “Sometimes this one doesn’t have a filter.”
“That’s okay.” Dylan was immediately hooked by Hope’s shy, brief smile. “I have that same problem sometimes.”
“Do you know who I am?” Hope asked him.
“Hope...” Mackenzie started to correct her.
“No. That’s okay,” Dylan said to Mackenzie before he looked down at Hope. “Yes. I do know who you are. You’re my Hope.”
“Here...” Hope slipped a blue-and-yellow rubber-band bracelet off her wrist and handed it to him. “I made this for you.”
“Hey...thanks.” Dylan slipped it over his hand onto his wrist. He held it out for Hope to see. “Does it look good on me?”
Hope nodded. “It’s a friendship bracelet.”
It took the child of the group to ease the tension, but it took the mom in the group to get things moving along.
“Come on...” Mackenzie squeezed Hope’s shoulder. “Let’s get back to work. Aggie would have a fit if she saw us all standing around getting nothing done.”
The three of them put their nervous energy into finishing Hope’s chore together. And it turned out that having a common goal to accomplish eased the tension between them. Of course, it wasn’t perfect and there were some odd lulls in conversation. And Dylan caught Hope in the act of studying him when she thought it was safe. Dylan understood her fascination, because he had to resist the urge to stare at his daughter. Mackenzie, on the other hand, made no bones about blatantly watching the two of them interact. But by the time all of the feed buckets were washed and drying in the sun, the tension between them had slowly given way to a more relaxed, fun vibe.
“What next?” Dylan unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves. His shirt was soaked, his boots were already caked with mud, and it made him feel less out of place than when he had arrived.
“Now we have to put all the feed buckets back into the stalls.” Hope grabbed some buckets. “Carry as many as you can so we can get done quicker. Then, I get to ride Gypsy.”
“Her favorite horse,” Mackenzie explained.
Dylan grabbed as many buckets as his fingers could hold. “Lead the way, boss.”
His words made Hope laugh, spontaneously and loudly. She smiled at him again, this time without the nervousness. Hope’s smile, Dylan decided, was a million-dollar smile. It was addictive. He wanted to see it again and again.
“While you guys do this, I’m going to help Aggie in the office,” Mackenzie said. She looked at Hope specifically. “Is that okay?”
When Hope gave a small nod to her mom, Dylan felt as if he had managed to accomplish something pretty major: Hope felt comfortable enough with him to spend time alone. One by one, Hope introduced Dylan formally to the horses and it was obvious that Hope had a special connection with each and every one of them. The horses, some of whom pinned their ears back and gnashed their teeth at him, all came to Hope for some love and attention. It made him feel proud that, at such a young age, she had a special way with these horses. They weren’t pretty. They weren’t
