Page 11 of Seeing Harper

“Seriously? You know I won’t tell.”

“Tell you what… as soon as I know for sure, you’ll be the first one I tell.”

“Promise?” Harper asked.

“Absolutely,” Clay said. Then he thought about it for a few more seconds. “Or maybe second, after my parents.”

“I can live with second if they’re first,” Harper said, smiling his way.

They rode along quietly for a few miles.

“I’m really glad you came with me today. I had fun. I don’t know why we never really hung out before,” Harper said.

“We did at family stuff.”

“Yeah, but not any other time. We should have. It was nice.”

“It really was. I hope we can do it more often,” Clay said.

“Me, too. I don’t want it to end,” she said, laughingly.

“Who knows, maybe you’ll see me tomorrow, too. I had an amazingly good day, and it was all because of you. Thank you for letting me tag along.”

“Anytime.”

“You going back to the center tomorrow?”

“Yes. Sundays I get to spend all day there. Sunday is the day we are all off from working at the farm. All we do is check the water lines and make sure the irrigation is good, and we’re done for the day. So I get to spend all day with the horses.”

“Miss Millie will be happy about that,” Clay said.

“Yes, she will. She’s gorgeous isn’t she?”

“She is. Is she a particular breed of horse?”

“She’s an Andalusian. They’re a little more hot-blooded than most of the others boarded there.”

“Hot-blooded?”

“Spicier. More passionate and easily worked up.”

“Makes sense. She certainly can’t be ignored.”

“No, she can’t,” Harper said as she pulled into the trailer park and pulled up beside his parents’ mobile home.

“Hey, mind if I ask about the horse that started all this? The one you caught at your house when he got loose.”

“Festus,” she said as the memory softened her smile.

“Festus?” he asked.

“Well, his name was Hephaestus. But I called him Festus.”

“Like the Greek god of fire and forge?”

“Yes!” she said, surprised he knew that. “He was a draft horse, a Percheron. And despite their usually easy going and mild temperament, Festus was fiery.”

Clay laughed. “You seem to be drawn to fiery horses.”