before. That’s why I live out here, minding my business. I’m a kind of throwback, a mistake.”
She nodded that she understood. It sounded a lonely life, yet somehow she knew that for Zak it wasn’t. “Today was special,” she confided quietly, one hand gently stroking Lucky’s face. She answered Zak’s widening smile with one of her own, there in the heart of the tiny piece of paradise where he’d built his life. “This morning you did something for the two of us that we’ll never ever forget!”
10
“Hey, Kirstie,” Matt muttered.
“Yeah?” She was half asleep in the passenger seat, a day and a half into the journey home to Half Moon Ranch. A white road ran between ripening corn as far as the eye could see. In the back of the trailer, Lucky was tucking into his hay, resting and building up his strength.
“About Zak …” he began, then hesitated.
Kirstie glanced sideways at her brother’s profile: dark hair falling forward over a flat forehead, straight nose, square chin. He was so like their dad in the photographs in the family album, taken when Dad had been a college student, too. “Yeah, what about Zak?”
“I’ve been thinking—maybe I was a little tough on him.”
“Did you give him a hard time? What did you say?” Kirstie took her feet down from the dashboard and swiveled around.
“Nothing.” Matt shrugged, then frowned. “Exactly that. Nothing, zilch! Like if I’m dealing with a person’s sick horse, the least I expect is a word of thanks, a handshake.”
“Too late now.” Kirstie thought of the hundreds of miles between them and Rainbow Mountain. “I guess this is why Zak likes to be alone up there. Maybe he grew tired of trying to explain the way he did things to guys like you!” For a few moments, Kirstie enjoyed making Matt feel guilty. Then she decided to let him off the hook. “Hey, he understood where you were coming from, OK.”
Matt glanced at her. “He did?”
“Yeah. He called you a twenty-first-century man.”
Kirstie remembered her own good-bye to Zak Stone in the small corral at Thunder Lodge. He’d been working with the little bay foal, doing join-up work while the sorrel mare looked on. When he’d realized that Kirstie, Lucky, and Matt were loaded up and ready to go, he’d come slowly to the fence.
“Look after that palomino when you get him home,” he’d told her, the rare smile creasing his broad features. “He’s a horse worth taking care of.”
She’d nodded, unable to reply.
“May the Spirit go with you,” Zak had murmured, turning back to his horses.
Broad shoulders in a denim jacket, gentle hands caressing the sorrel mare—that had been Kirstie’s last view of Zak Stone.
“… Hey, Matt,” she said now. They were clear of the fields of corn, heading into mountains, thinking of home.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
She smiled and looked ahead to Longs Peak. “Just thanks, that’s all!”
* * *
Lucky got two weeks of rest in Red Fox Meadow, and the best care Kirstie could give. Each day he put on weight; each day his coat when she brushed it grew softer, healthier, more shiny.
“Come up to the ranch for the Midsummer Barbecue,” Kirstie said to Lisa over the phone. “Afterward we can ride out on Five Mile Creek Trail.”
It would be the first time she’d put a saddle on Lucky since he’d fallen sick. She would take things easy, be sure not to ask too much of him by riding up the steeper trails. Riverside would be best.
“Nervous?” Sandy asked, coming away from a bunch of guests gathered around the barbecue when she saw the girls taking saddles and bridles out to the meadow.
Kirstie nodded, glad when her mom walked along with them. The sun had sunk low in the sky, but the summer air was still warm, the blue irises and other marsh flowers growing by the creek giving off a heavy scent.
“Well, Lucky sure looks fine to me,” Lisa said as they came to the fence. The palomino was easy to pick out from
She nodded that she understood. It sounded a lonely life, yet somehow she knew that for Zak it wasn’t. “Today was special,” she confided quietly, one hand gently stroking Lucky’s face. She answered Zak’s widening smile with one of her own, there in the heart of the tiny piece of paradise where he’d built his life. “This morning you did something for the two of us that we’ll never ever forget!”
10
“Hey, Kirstie,” Matt muttered.
“Yeah?” She was half asleep in the passenger seat, a day and a half into the journey home to Half Moon Ranch. A white road ran between ripening corn as far as the eye could see. In the back of the trailer, Lucky was tucking into his hay, resting and building up his strength.
“About Zak …” he began, then hesitated.
Kirstie glanced sideways at her brother’s profile: dark hair falling forward over a flat forehead, straight nose, square chin. He was so like their dad in the photographs in the family album, taken when Dad had been a college student, too. “Yeah, what about Zak?”
“I’ve been thinking—maybe I was a little tough on him.”
“Did you give him a hard time? What did you say?” Kirstie took her feet down from the dashboard and swiveled around.
“Nothing.” Matt shrugged, then frowned. “Exactly that. Nothing, zilch! Like if I’m dealing with a person’s sick horse, the least I expect is a word of thanks, a handshake.”
“Too late now.” Kirstie thought of the hundreds of miles between them and Rainbow Mountain. “I guess this is why Zak likes to be alone up there. Maybe he grew tired of trying to explain the way he did things to guys like you!” For a few moments, Kirstie enjoyed making Matt feel guilty. Then she decided to let him off the hook. “Hey, he understood where you were coming from, OK.”
Matt glanced at her. “He did?”
“Yeah. He called you a twenty-first-century man.”
Kirstie remembered her own good-bye to Zak Stone in the small corral at Thunder Lodge. He’d been working with the little bay foal, doing join-up work while the sorrel mare looked on. When he’d realized that Kirstie, Lucky, and Matt were loaded up and ready to go, he’d come slowly to the fence.
“Look after that palomino when you get him home,” he’d told her, the rare smile creasing his broad features. “He’s a horse worth taking care of.”
She’d nodded, unable to reply.
“May the Spirit go with you,” Zak had murmured, turning back to his horses.
Broad shoulders in a denim jacket, gentle hands caressing the sorrel mare—that had been Kirstie’s last view of Zak Stone.
“… Hey, Matt,” she said now. They were clear of the fields of corn, heading into mountains, thinking of home.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
She smiled and looked ahead to Longs Peak. “Just thanks, that’s all!”
* * *
Lucky got two weeks of rest in Red Fox Meadow, and the best care Kirstie could give. Each day he put on weight; each day his coat when she brushed it grew softer, healthier, more shiny.
“Come up to the ranch for the Midsummer Barbecue,” Kirstie said to Lisa over the phone. “Afterward we can ride out on Five Mile Creek Trail.”
It would be the first time she’d put a saddle on Lucky since he’d fallen sick. She would take things easy, be sure not to ask too much of him by riding up the steeper trails. Riverside would be best.
“Nervous?” Sandy asked, coming away from a bunch of guests gathered around the barbecue when she saw the girls taking saddles and bridles out to the meadow.
Kirstie nodded, glad when her mom walked along with them. The sun had sunk low in the sky, but the summer air was still warm, the blue irises and other marsh flowers growing by the creek giving off a heavy scent.
“Well, Lucky sure looks fine to me,” Lisa said as they came to the fence. The palomino was easy to pick out from
Similar Books
