Nova (12 page)

He seemed to be done
when he glanced at me,
so I said, “Wow.
How many horses does just your family own?”

“As of now there are
eighteen
.” He turned around and faced the field behind the main house. “There are
two
of them
in
Field Five
with their colts. We have two
studs on the other side of the arena. They’re kept in pretty secure quarters,” he smiled.

I returned the smile. “Yeah, wouldn’t want that energy let loose.”

He laughed and nodded his head. “So did you see the inside of the arena, or just the
clinic
?”

“Uh, just the
clinic
.”

“Okay, follow me.”

We entered through the stables and I looked up and down at the rows of stalls.
It was very professional, wood and wrought iron, and each gate had a plaque with a name slid into it.

“Wow, how many horses can you board in here?”

“There are forty stalls in this building, and then there are a few smaller barns out in two fields that can hold a total of ten more. We don’t have them all filled year-round, but this place
here
is usually pretty busy.”

I glanced at some of the names on the stall doors as we walked by. Some of them were pretty interesting.

“Yeah, naming horses is a big deal,” Austin said when I chuckled at “
Your Highness, Cute as a Button
”
and “Your Antique Rolls Royce.”

I looked at another and read, “ ‘Wing and a Prayer for a Slothful Soul’? Do they call him ‘Wing’, ‘Prayer’, or ‘Sloth’?”

He smiled. “Uh, I think I’ve only heard ‘Wing and a Prayer.’ ”

“So where’s
your
pony?” I teased.

W
ith a
smile and a gesture of his hand he replied, “Aisle Two.”

“Seriously?”

“I see you’re shocked that I own
a horsey,” he replied with feigned disbelief.

“You said that the rest of your family does the horse-thing.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t own one.”

We stopped in front of a stall and I faced a beast of a
horse
.
He was probably the tallest horse in the
barn
, and his stall was even larger than the others
.

“Holy crap, what do you feed this thing?”

“Nova Reynolds, meet Need F
or Speed.”

“Hmm, well hello Speed,” I said to him.

“Yeah, you got this nickname thing down,” Austin said, reaching over the stall to pat Speed’s head.

“Is he a race horse?”

“Yep. A pretty good one, too.”

“Wow, I’m afraid to tell my grandfather about this because he’ll want to hit the
tracks
again.”

Austin laughed. “Well maybe you should take him sometime anyway.”

“He’s sworn off racetracks,” I replied. I tried to pet the horse but he
threw
his head away from me and it made me jump.

“Sorry, he’s pretty fussy. He’s probably on the top of the high-maintenance list here.” He reached for the horse again and patted the side of his face. “Watch it, buddy. She may give you a tranquilizer one of these days.” He turned to me and said, “You’ll like my other
kid
;
s
he’s a lot friendlier.”

“You have two?”

“Yep. Sh
e’s out back with my dad’s two horses.”

He led me out past the riding arena, and then we headed toward the guesthouse. We walked to Field Four and stood at the fence, and Austin let out a little whistle that carried just right. One of the horses responded right away, and a group of five others
trotted
behind
it
.

“This is
Down
an
d Dirty,” Austin said, petting
the lead horse
.
She appeared to be just as tall as Speed was.

I smiled and pet the side of
her
face. “Do they j
ust call you Dirty?” I asked
.

“
Yep, pretty much.
Dirty Girl
paid for my first two years of college,
”
he smiled. “She’s retired now, but does great on the trails with these other guys.”
He snapped his fingers and another one came closer. “This
is Bad Whiskey, my dad’s horse. She’s a pretty good girl. A
nd this
big guy
is his other one,
Okey
Dokey
.
He’s also a retired racer.
”

I was really enthralled with all the horse names. I didn’t think for the life of me I would remember them all, and I told Austin that, but
he
assured me it wouldn’t take long.

He shrugged and said,
“I don’t remember a lot of the ones that
aren’t here all the time, but
I’m familiar with a name a
fter I’ve seen it in the office
.
”

“Who are these two?” I asked, patting
the other pair
that had come to the fence.

“Those are Katie’s horses. That’s Happy
Appy
and that one is Inky Black.”

“So…Happy and Inky, right?” I tried.

“Yes,” he smiled.

“Does Katie compete, too?”

“Nope, she just likes to ride. These are trail horses.
My mom and Sami are the only competitors in the family. My sister used to do a lot of the dressage and jumping competitions, but now she’s been doing more of the rodeo stuff, like barrel racing and pole bending. She’s pretty good in both English and
Western, but I think she has
more fun at the rodeos.
I think she’s entirely converted by now.
”

“Wow, I think I’d like to see her compete sometime.”

“Rodeo season is
always
just around the corner,” he smiled. “She loves an audience, so I suggest you attend one. A lot of the employees around here will go and watch her compete. They’re kind of like our extended family. Some of the people here ha
ve been here from the beginning
.
Heath was my parents’ first hired hand. He’s the stable manager. And his wife, Clara, runs the guesthouse. Have you met either of them?”

I shook my head. “I’ve only met Jack, your mom, and Sam.”

“Oh, you met Sam? I didn’t know she was here today.”

“She said something about going riding later,” I cringed. “I’m not an experienced rider.”

He smiled and said, “Really? You’ve been on a horse, though?”

“Yeah, a few times. But just to sit on it while it walked around, basically.”

He chuckled. “Really? You’re not afraid of riding, are you?”

“No, I don’t think so. I just haven’t really done it enough to know anything.”

“Well Sam
will have a hay day with you. She’s a great teacher.”

“And what about you? You’ve got a trail horse
now
, does that mean you ride
her
?”

He gave me a mysterious smile at first, but then he nodded and said, “Sometimes we go up to the mountains and do the whole horseback/camping thing. It can be fun, but that’s the only horse sport I put up with.
I’ve gone out with my dad to search for animals for other people—other horses that got loose in the mountains, or cattle—but that’s about it for me. I have other interests that I—
”

“Hey, Austin!” someone hollered from the guesthouse.
“Jack’s looking for you!”

I glanced at my watch and it read eleven-fifty.

Austin smiled at me and said, “Sounds like it’s autopsy time.” We began heading for the arena and he added, “By the way, can you stay for
dinner
? My mom wanted a head count.”

“Uh… Yeah I think so.”

Austin walked me back to Jack’s office and then left. I took a deep breath and switched gears as I entered the back room.
Marlo
was in there tending to Goldie and the puppies, and Jack had everything set up to begin on the necropsy. I washed my hands and then put on a pair of sterile gloves as I returned
Marlo
’s
greeting.

“Are you done touring the ranch?” she added.

“Uh, I think I saw quite a lot. The horses are beautiful. I can remember a lot of the names, but I think it might take a while to match them to an equine.”

She smiled and replied, “You’ll figure it out after a while. There are a few other animals around here that you’ll have to get used to as well. Did you meet
Tilly
and Max?”

“Uh, no I don’t think so.”

“Those are our other dogs. And there’s a housecat in the guesthouse, Rivera, and I have a cat in the main house, Tinker. The two barn cats are Tuffs and Swamp Grass.”

I smiled and said, “The names around here are fascinating.”

“Did you meet Kick in the Ass
?” Jack wondered.

I laughed and said, “Uh, no. Is that a horse?”

“That’s
my
horse,” he replied with a nod. He set a tray of tools on the counter and adjusted the overhead light to rest over our subject. “Well let’s get started, Nova. I’ll let you get to it, and you walk me through what you’re doing.”

I glanced at
Marlo
, but apparently she was planning to stay. She finished up with the puppies and washed her hands, and then stood next to the counter
just in time
to watch me make
my
first
cut
.

“Everything go okay?” Austin later asked.

I’d finished up with Jack, wrote up my work for the day, and walked over to the house with
Marlo
. Austin was apparently doing some work in t
he office
and he came out when he heard us enter the house.

“Yeah, everything went as planned,” I replied
as
Marlo
headed for the kitchen
.

“And?”

“And the results? He didn’t have any fluids in his lungs, so it’s safe to assume that he was just in the birthing canal for too long. Number five took a while coming out and I think
he
backed up traffic.”

Austin smiled and asked, “Is that official vet terminology?”

I chuckled and shook my head.

“Nova,
can
you
eat lunch with us?”
Marlo
asked from the back of the house. She appeared in the living room and waited for my answer.

“Um, sure. I mean I have a sandwich in the car but—”

“Oh, I’d much rather you try my bean soup.”

“Oh. Uh, sure, I’d love to.”

“Good,” she smiled. “It’s ready to
eat whenever you two are ready; it’s just in the
slow cooker
.
”

“I’m ready now,” Austin told me. “That fritter barely made a dent.”

I met Katie for the first time when she appeared for lunch. She was a cute girl, a miniature of her sister, but she didn’t seem too friendly. I just accredited it towards being a teenager and brushed it off. Sam came in a few minutes later and she was a lot easier to talk to. Between his mom and sister
s
, Austin didn’t say much during lunch, but I got the feeling that he was at least happy. I mean he didn’t seem fazed by eating with a bunch of girls and being exclude
d from most of the conversation, and I just assumed that was part of his easygoing personality.

Sam took me to the stables after lunch. Austin went back to work in the office, so the separation from him was both good and bad. When I was with Austin I felt like I was his guest, there
to meet
his family for the first time. When I wasn’t with him I felt like I was at the ranch to get familiar with my new job, which is why I was really there. But spending time with Sam was almost like spending time with Austin. She was his sister, but I still felt like I was getting to know her on a personal level and not a professional one.

“I’ll have you ride Joker,” she said, leading me to the arena. There were already two horses saddled and ready to go in a small “waiting
pen,”
as Sam called it.

On the walk over I’d already warned her about my lack of riding skills. She didn’t seem bothered by it and promised that we wouldn’t be doing anything too extensive. There were already two girls on the far end o
f the arena working with horses
and it made me feel a little self-conscience. But Sam had me mount Joker as she mounted
Ridley
, and as soon as
Ridley
entered the arena, Joker followed right after without my
encouragement
. That was kind of the routine for a while, and I could see why Sam put me on that particular horse.