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FIFTEEN
Cole
The second weekon the job did go better than the first week, that was for sure.
I was thrilled with the way Romeo was responding to me, and I could tell Raya was also happy with his progress. It felt good to impress her with my abilities after she had been so doubtful at first, but there was another side of me that was looking forward to getting out of here and being done with it entirely.
It was Friday, so I would be heading home for the weekend after I was done feeding the horses, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. It wasn’t that it had been a bad day, but the entire week had been rather awkward after the night I had gone over to Raya’s to have that drink.
I don’t know what I was thinking trying to kiss her.
The mood had been set, and the way the evening had gone, I was getting the impression she would be fine with it. But, she’d not only pulled back, she’d actually told me it was because of the fact we were working together. She was technically my boss. And that would make it a conflict of interest.
But, the way the evening had gone with her, by every account she was leading up to that. I understood there were plenty of times when men and women hung out and nothing happened, but it wasn’t the mood of the room, and I was certain I hadn’t misread it.
Now, I felt uncertain.
What was she after? Why had she invited me over to her place, had a couple beers and good conversation, then pulled away at the last minute? Then, to follow it up, she was distanced herself on Tuesday. It only further solidified in my mind that I had fucked up with the move, and I was looking to get this job done and get the hell outta Dodge sooner rather than later.
My phone rang, and since it was Ham, I went ahead and answered it.
“Just wondering where you were at,” he said. “You coming home tonight?”
“I’ll be there, but I’m not done with the horses here yet. It’s going to be a few hours before I’m there,” I told him.
“I’m going to go ahead and put up the horses for the night then,” Ham told me. “I was going to wait until you got here so you had a chance to see how Maveric is doing, but we can put him up for the night and worry about that tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I’m too tired to deal with him tonight anyway,” I said. Even if the horse was doing better, I didn’t feel I had it in me to put up with his attitude. Let alone his size with my broken leg. Not that I hadn’t forgiven him for throwing me, but still. It was going to take time for this to heal, and I didn’t want to make it worse while I waited for that to happen.
“You okay?” Ham asked. He knew me well enough to read my tones. “Something go wrong with Raya?”
“I’m just ready to get out of here for the weekend,” I said. “You know how it goes when you’re working for someone else on their land and their dollar. I want to be back to being the one calling the shots.”
“Understandable.” My friend laughed. “Hang in there, buddy. You’ve only got a week or two left.”
“Maybe. Depending on how this goes,” I said. I had seen horses do fine with most of their training, then right at the end they fall back into their old ways. I had to make sure this horse was bomb proof before I was going to leave it in the hands of therapists with patients who were coming to the facility to heal by the horses.
“Well, at any rate, you’re going to be home tonight, so there’s that,” he said.
“True,” I replied. “I’m going to finish this up so I can get out of here. Call you when I’m on the road.”
“Sounds good, bud. I’m going to hang at your place until you’re back, so don’t worry about missing me,” he said.
“Crash there tonight if you want. I know it’s a couple hours for you to get back to the city from there,” I said.
“I’ll do just that. Talk soon.” Ham hung up.
Just as I was putting my phone back in my pocket, I heard a commotion and turned in time to see Raya picking a little girl up off the ground. She was crying, and the horse she had been riding trotted to the other side of the arena. Raya was picking the little girl up, consoling her after the fall.
I walked over.
“And next time, you’ll know just what to do,” Raya was saying as I reached the pair.
“What’s up?” I asked. “You okay, lil sis?”
“I fell off the horse,” the little girl whimpered.
“That’s what happened to me, too,” I said, showing her my leg. “But not all of us are able to just get up and brush ourselves off.”
