BARN BULLETIN
We’re out of milk in the office fridge. Lila also wants me to add that we’re out of cookies, too.
-Jenny
Anything for Lila. I’ll get some milk AND cookies at the store later.
-Beau
Am I allowed to write on this board?
-Nate
Absolutely not. This is for employees only.
-Candice
That seems discriminatory, Viper.
-Nate
Well, get used to it.
-Candice
You’re both banned from using the bulletin board now, okay?
-Jenny
This is my board! I say who gets to use it.
-Candice
If she gets this board, I want my own, too.
-Nate
I hope you two finally kill one another today so that the rest of us can live in PEACE.
-Jenny
9
CANDICE
Nathanand I start really working with Brown Sugar a few days after the night he comes over for dinner. She’s ready—she tolerates both of us to a reasonable degree, and she’s done with her quarantine, so I’m slowly introducing her to the rest of the herd. Maggie has already accepted her, which bodes well for the others. I hope that she makes a few friends, too. Jazz Apple and Buckles are fast friends and likely won’t let anyone else into their little group. But Nico is looking for a new buddy after Tiana was adopted last month, and I think his boisterous personality might help Brown Sugar find her feet—hooves, that is.
All in all, we have twenty-two horses at Star Mountain at the moment, though we’ve got space for a few more—if not the actual funds to support them. Some, like Jazz Apple, are just waiting to find their forever home. Others, like Christabel and Wally, will probably spend the rest of their days here. They’re both old and in poor health because of previous mistreatment, and we’re just trying to give them a few more happy years. In truth, I wish Star Mountain had enough money to provide sanctuary to more horses—to the aging, yes, but also to the ones who just wouldn’t benefit from being re-trained and adopted.
Maybe with Nathan’s help, though, I’ll finally be able to earn some money for that. We already have over five thousand followers on the barn’s social media, though I suspect most of them are female fans of Nathan’s, hoping to see more of what he’s up to. There have also been some snide comments about the bar fight he got into left on my most recent post, but I haven’t responded to any of them.
I walk through the stables and over to where Nathan is standing with Brown Sugar. She’s got a halter on for doing some basic groundwork.
“First things first,” I say. “We need to see how she feels about going into the ring. I’m not sure what her level of comfort is at this point.”
“Well, hello to you too, Candice,” Nathan says.
“We’re training horses, not serving tea. It doesn’t matter if I say hello or not.” I fight the urge to flip him off as I say this.
