“About what?” Candice asks.
“Beau told me when I started here that working with rescues would be the most rewarding thing I ever did. And he was right.”
“More rewarding than winning belt buckles?” she says with a smirk.
“I haven’t been winning many of those lately,” I mutter, the happiness draining out of me at the mention of competing.
“It was one competition, Nathan, I’m sure you’ll be back on top again,” Candice says, looking genuinely concerned for me.
The part of me that longs to smooth things over, to be the mediator, wants to erase the frown from her face and put her at ease.
“You’re right,” I say cheerfully. “Back on top in no time is my new motto.” The words feel hollow though, especially because there’s definitely more bad news waiting for me in my unread emails.
“Tell me what happened that night,” Candice says, a note of pleading in her voice. “Tell me why you punched Brad. I can tell that you’re not okay and I want to know what’s going on.”
Next to me, Brown Sugar pushes her muzzle into my palm, clearly searching for more treats. I give her one and then turn my attention back to Candice.
“Why do you care?” I ask.
“I don’t,” she says. “It’s just that we work together. We train together. If there’s something going on with you then I need to know.”
“No you don’t,” I hear myself say. I wince immediately, because the words are harsher than I mean them to be. I just—I’m not ready to talk about it yet, especially not with Candice. Maybe with Beau but…Candice will look at me completely differently when she finds out what happened.
“Fine,” she grits out. “I have to go meet Jonah anyways.”
She slips a halter onto Brown Sugar quickly and then marches out of the paddock, trying as always to leave me in the dust. But not this time.
“I’m not done talking to you,” I call out.
“Too bad,” she throws over her shoulder.
I hurry after her and manage to keep pace with her all the way to the barn.
“Where did you learn to walk so damn fast?” I pant.
“I have long legs,” she says. “And you must be out of shape.”
I ignore her snarky comment because an image of those legs of hers wrapped aroundmefills my head.
“But I wasn’t lying. I really do need to see Jonah,” Candice says. “We have a lot of horses that need new shoes. Including Brownie.”
“I want to meet him, too,” I say.
“Alright, whatever you want.”
I follow Candice further into the stables, where the sound of scraping is filling the air. A man who I assume must be Jonah has Jazz Apple’s hoof between his thighs. Even from here I can tell that he’s not old and he doesn’t have a bald spot. He’s got a full head of hair, and I’ve seen my sister scroll through enough farrier posts on social media to know that a man like him is kryptonite for many women.
Candice waits until he’s done with the hoof he’s working on and then she goes over to greet him. Because she’s Candice, she shakes his hand rather than hugging him, but it’s a warmer greeting than I ever get.
“I’m Nate,” I say, coming up to stand next to her with my arms crossed.
“Okay,” the other man says slowly. “I’m Jonah.” He turns to Candice and says, “As I was saying, I started on Jazz Apple first because Tomás let me know she threw a shoe. But I thought we could do Buckles next, because I’ll need you here to keep him calm.”
“Sure thing,” Candice says.
They talk through the rest of the horses that need work, and then Jonah asks Candice how she and Beau are doing.
“Oh, fine,” she says, a bit sadly. “Things around here are going as well as they can.”
