Jess carried Sophie out to the barn with Bella at his heels and set her down in the heated tack-room office.
It was utter chaos—but what else was new?
Clients coming to buy horses, drop off mares for breeding or bring their own in for training came in here to do their paperwork with Jess at the desk in the corner.
Those with training horses here stood at the big counter along the window with a cup of coffee or a Coke and watched him working their horses out in the arena. He prided himself on the tack room being a professional workspace.
Today, however, the girls’ toy closet had to be empty, because there were dolls and doll clothes and crayons and paper everywhere, along with tiaras and sparkly princess gowns for dress-up.
“I guess we didn’t get this cleaned up when you girls were out here last.” He glanced at his cell phone to check the time. “Do you think you can get it all picked up in a hurry?”
“But we’re gonna play, Uncle Jess,” Bella pleaded. “We can put it away later.”
“Actually, you need to do it right now.” At the sound of a distant, high-pitched whine of a motor, he shook his head. “And we need to hurry.”
Both girls heaved a dramatic sigh but grabbed their toys and dolls and helped him put everything into the baskets and on the shelves in the closet. In a few minutes the room was clean once again.
The sound grew louder, then stopped just outside the barn.
“Who could that be?” Jess mused. “It must be Fred. Do you remember him?”
“He’s the one who took away our puppy when Gramma got sick,” Bella said glumly.
“Well, guess what?” Jess opened the tack-room door and went out to help Fred unstrap a small, blanket-covered carrier from the rear half of the snowmobile seat, then brought it inside. “Who do you think this is?”
Sophie’s eyes rounded. “Poofy! Is it Poofy?”
The girls excitedly knelt next to the cage and squealed with joy when Jess lifted away the blankets. When he opened the cage door, a puffball of golden retriever fur burst out of the cage and headed straight for the girls, climbing all over them with sloppy puppy kisses.
Fred shuffled in and closed the door behind him. Almost indistinguishable in a heavy snowmobile suit, boots and a helmet, he pulled off his mittens and slapped them against his thigh, then removed his helmet, revealing a shock of white hair and his jolly face. “Looks like everyone is happy.”
“Perfect timing.” Jess reached out to shake the older man’s hand. “Betty’s home and we have a temporary housekeeper. I could’ve come to get him, though.”
“Nah. You wouldn’t have made it through those drifts with your truck or four-wheeler. Anyways, it felt kinda good to get out on the snowmobile before we head south for a week.”
“Florida?”
“If the weather holds and the highways are cleared, we fly out on Monday.”
“If your son has any trouble at your ranch while you’re gone, just have him give me a call.”
“Will do.” Fred chuckled. “By the way, I heard about that new housekeeper of yours. An old girlfriend, eh?”
The rumor mill in Pine Bend was apparently alive and well.
“Abby and I dated a long time ago. But she’ll only be here until I can find someone permanent.”
“Hhmmpf.” Fred gave him a knowing look. “I hear she’s quite a gal.”
The puppy began racing around the tack room, the girls laughing and chasing after him.
The door reopened and Abby stepped inside, her blond hair fanned over her bright red jacket and her cheeks rosy from the cold. The puppy darted for the escape route past her ankles but she swooped down and caught him just in time.
“Abby, this is Fred Baker, our neighbor,” Jess said. “Fred, this is Abby Halliday.”
“Mighty pleased to meet you.” Fred winked at Abby as he pulled on his helmet and his heavy snowmobile mittens. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again, young lady—unless that pup drives you crazy.”
* * *
Feeling a blush climb up her cheeks, Abby held the wriggling puppy as she watched the elderly man go outside to his snowmobile. She was pretty sure Jess and his friend had been talking about her and she was just glad she hadn’t arrived any sooner.
She held the adorable puppy at arm’s length and looked into its shiny, black eyes. “Who is this—and what breed is he? He looks like a lamb in need of shearing.”
“This is Poofy,” Jess said. “His mom was a golden retriever, father unknown. That’s what we were told at the animal shelter, anyway. His littermates were all different colors and some even had spots.”
She turned the pup this way and that, admiring him. “Whatever he is, he’s a sweetie, and quite young, I think.”
“Ten weeks. We got him a couple weeks ago.”
“I’m so impressed that you adopted him from a shelter.” She eyed Jess over the puppy’s downy head and suppressed a laugh. “And I think you figured out the perfect name for him, Jess. Good job.”
He gave her a pained look. “The girls had that honor and I couldn’t say no.”
Yet another glimpse at what a kind and loving man he’d become. Bringing a new puppy into a family was never easy, and he’d already had his hands full as it was with the ranch and the twins. And it couldn’t be easy calling the pup by name when other ranchers were around either.
Abby gently set the pup down and he took off again, playing some sort of puppy tag with the girls and skidding on the hardwood flooring beyond the area rug.
“So the neighbors have been taking care of him?”
“They came over to get him after Betty got hurt. It was just too difficult to give him enough attention.” He looked as if he wanted to say something more, but then he turned away. “Girls, I need to start working the horses in the arena now, so I’m leaving you with Abby. Be good, okay?”
They were on the floor now, laughing as the puppy climbed all over them, and probably didn’t register a word he said.
“They’ll be fine.”
He tipped his head in acknowledgment. “They have lots of toys in the closet, but the puppy will probably chew them all if he has a chance. There’s a hay stall just down the aisle that the girls like to climb in, or you can take them back up to the house. The pup can go into his kennel in the laundry room if he needs a break from the girls for a while.”
“No problem. Wait—can the girls be in any other parts of the barn, or just here?”
He hesitated at the door leading into the aisle. “Their pony is in the second stall down, and you can cross tie him in the aisle. They like to brush him and braid his tail and...uh...put pink ribbons in his mane.”
“So he’s a very patient pony, then.”
“What my mom called a yard pony. A confidence builder. You could turn him loose in the yard with a kid on his back and he wouldn’t stray more than a dozen feet in any direction. Only a nuclear bomb could make him move faster than a walk.”
“Do they ride him?”
“In the arena, but always with helmets and close supervision. This spring I’m going to look for some ponies that are a bit more mobile than Lollipops.”
Lollipops? Abby tried to suppress a laugh and failed. In all the time she’d known him, Jess had been a strong, resolute man’s man who stood up for what he believed in and worked harder than anyone she knew. From his thick dark hair to the toes of his cowboy boots, he was more masculine and appealing than any guy she’d ever met, bar none.
And now his ranch was turning into a pink fairy castle, thanks to two five-year-old girls. It made her laugh—and it touched her heart in a way nothing had for a very long time.
“Before I forget—I need you to fill out a W-4 tax form in my office tonight, if you have a minute.” After Jess shut the door behind him, she turned back to the girls, who were now sitting together in one of the club chairs, cuddling Poofy on their laps.
Yesterday she’d come through this room in a hurry. But now, with the twins happily occupied, she took time to look around.
The room was the size of a two-stall garage, with solid wood paneling. In the center lay a black-and-white-spotted cowhide area rug, with leather club chairs arranged around a large round coffee table. Trophy shelves filled one wall, flanking both sides of the large picture window looking out into the indoor arena.
She took it all in, realizing just how much she’d missed this world of horses, cattle and wide-open spaces during her years in Chicago.
The back wall was covered with saddle racks stacked four high and pegs for halters, bridles and myriad types of tack, all clean and neatly arranged. The glittering silver show saddles were on the top racks, protected by clear vinyl covers. The everyday working equipment was stored lower, within easy reach.
Moving to the window, she inhaled the familiar scents of fine leather and horse, and the fainter scents of hay and pine sawdust bedding that had drifted in from the barn aisle when Jess left through that door.
Enjoy this while you can, a small voice whispered through her thoughts.
She braced her hands on the granite counter installed under the length of the window and watched Jess work a young paint gelding with his usual patience.
The colt moved with a jog so slow it was nearly a walk, his head low and relaxed as he moved in smaller and smaller figure eights, then circles. Then a larger circle in an easy lope nearly as slow as his jog. A rollback. Off in the opposite direction in the correct lead.
Nicely done. Very nice.
Once upon a time it had been her in the saddle, bringing two-year-olds from gangly awkwardness to polished show horses.
A wave of nostalgia and regret over all the years she’d lost slid through her.
After Jess abruptly walked away from their relationship, she’d been heartbroken. Bereft was a better word—it had been like he’d ripped out her heart, and she’d felt an overwhelming emptiness.
But Alan had been there for her then—kind, steady Alan, who had stepped forward with a comforting shoulder, but none of the intense, passionate emotions that she’d felt for Jess.
And so she’d married Alan and moved to Chicago. Knowing that she couldn’t bear ever seeing Jess again with his arm around someone else. Loving someone else.
But agreeing to a life with Alan had been shortsighted. Alan deserved better and she had, too.
The irony was that now Alan had found someone he loved deeply, and she was done taking chances. She’d decided she would rather be alone than ever go through that pain again.
Yet being around Jess—and being back in this world again—was starting to make her rethink her life...