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I arrived in Bakersfield just before nine the next morning. I left Santa Clarita early, just in case I had trouble finding the ranch. But Harmony Acres was very easy to find, just as Dr. Stevens had said. I passed acres of white-fenced fields as I drove up the drive. The guesthouse was on my left and the arena and stables were next to it. I parked in front of a wooden sign on the arena that read office.
As I got out of the car, I glanced ahead where the road continued to the main house, and had to pause. It was beautiful—a two-story Craftsman-style—and the driveway made a gigantic loop in front of it with professional landscaping surrounding it.
A girl was leading a horse into the stables and two men were loading another one into a horse trailer. There were at least fifteen horses that I could count in the fields across the driveway, and I was sure there were even more than that behind the stables.
“Can I help you with something?” a young woman asked as she came out of the arena. She looked to be my age or maybe younger, with medium-length brown hair that was tied into a ponytail, and dusty boots that barely stuck out from her faded jeans.
“Oh, uh, no I don’t think so. I’m here to meet with Dr. Stevens and he said to just find him in the office.” I pointed to the sign in front of me for some reason; maybe I was waiting for her permission.
“Yep, he’s in there,” she smiled. “Are you Nova?”
I was a surprised that she knew about me but answered, “Yes, I am.”
“Hi, I’m Sam. Austin’s sister.”
I could see the resemblance. And when she stepped closer to me to politely shake my hand, I could tell they had the same mossy green eye color. It unnerved me because I realized how much I wanted to see him, and the reminder caught me off-guard.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, shaking her hand.
“Come on, I’ll walk you inside.” She motioned for me to follow.
Horses were being worked in the enormous arena ahead of us when we walked through an open breezeway. They were beautiful and regal, and a chill of excitement blanketed my skin.
“Well, that’s the main office,” Sam told me, pointing to our left. “And Jack’s office is right here,” she added, turning to the right. His name was on the door, and she pushed right through it. “Hey, Jack?” she called.
A man immediately produced himself from the back room. He stopped when he saw us, seeming a bit surprised. Then he checked the clock and said, “Oh, where did the time go?” He chuckled and stepped forward with his hand extended. “Hello, you must be Nova? I’m Jack Stevens.”
“It’s very nice to meet you,” I replied. He looked to be in his mid-thirties. He had sandy colored hair and blue eyes, and his smile was friendly.
“Well, I’ll let you two get to work,” Sam said. “Just come find me later and we can go riding together,” she smiled at me.
After she left, I asked Dr. Stevens, “Is that a requirement?”
“Riding?” he chuckled. “You don’t know how to ride a horse?”
I was instantly embarrassed but shook my head no.
“Well, no worries,” he said, seeming to wave it off. “It’s not going to hurt your chances to intern,” he added with a wink. “Come here, let me show you something.”
He gestured to the back room, and as we entered, I smiled at what I saw. In the corner was a Golden Retriever giving birth to puppies.
“This is Goldie,” he told me. “I know, totally unoriginal for a name, but what can I say.”
“Is she your dog?”
“No, she belongs to Marlo. Mrs. Gaines,” he clarified. “We all prefer to be called by first names here, by the way, so please call me Jack. But one of the camp kids named the dog when she was a puppy, so Marlo just went with it. Goldie is two years old; this is her first litter, and it’ll also be her last. We’ll fix that when the time is right.”
We spent a few minutes discussing the birthing, and then we left Goldie alone to talk over my options. I was already in complete euphoria after only being on the ranch for a few minutes. Austin’s sister was nice, and so was Dr. Stevens. So far, things were going so well!
I spent almost two hours in Jack’s office. He not only answered every question I had, but he also answered questions I didn’t know I wanted to ask. We discussed my schooling again, and he told me about his own college experiences.
By the time Goldie had her fourth pup, it was decided I would come up to Bakersfield just for the weekends until I was done with my current semester. And since there was only one class I could take during the summer, and it happened to be online, Jack suggested I move to the ranch to work full-time during that period.
I was so excited and had the best feeling. I knew my life was headed in the right direction that very moment. It was the first time I’d ever felt sure of anything in a very long time.
A woman came into the office just before eleven with a beautiful smile on her face. I knew right away it was Mrs. Gaines, Marlo, because she looked like an older version of Sam—dark hair and beautiful green eyes. When she entered, she asked, “Well? How’s my baby girl doing?” Then she noticed me and said, “Oh! You must be Nova, right? I’m Marlo, Austin’s mom.”
“It’s very nice to meet you,” I said, shaking her hand.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, too. So, will we be seeing you every day?”
She seemed eager for an affirmative answer, and that made me feel good. I felt wanted, and there was no better feeling than that. “Probably when I’m done with this semester of school. For now, it will just be Friday to Sunday.”
“Oh, that will be a good start.” She looked at Jack. “Does Clara know?”
“Nope, haven’t gotten that far,” he replied.
“Well let me take care of it, okay?”
Jack nodded, and then the two of them began discussing Goldie. After five minutes, Marlo asked, “Are you done with Nova?”
Glancing at me, he answered, “Well, I believe so. But we were going to take a walk around the grounds so she can meet some of her new patients.”
“Could you do that later? I can make sure she gets a tour, and when you’re done with Goldie, you can go over the other things with Nova.”
“Sounds fine to me,” he shrugged.
Marlo looked to me for agreement, so I nodded.
I followed her outside and made a comment about how much I loved her ranch.
“We love it here,” she replied as we walked. “We started the business when we lived in Texas years back, but then my sister’s brother-in-law had this land for sale and we just couldn’t pass up the deal. Eventually the business just kind of...grew.”
“I like the name.”
“Harmony was the name of my very first horse. I was fifteen and fell in love with horses the first time I saw her. She was the start to all of this” –she motioned to her surroundings— “So I only felt it suiting to name my business after her.”
While we walked toward the main house, I could only assume Marlo wanted to start there with the tour. When we got closer, I saw the tail end of a car parked on the side of the house next to the garage. I got a funny tickle in my stomach when I realized who it belonged to.
It was the Camaro.