Marysville, Washington
Wednesday, February 5th, 8:20 pm
Leading Twaziem from Jack’s Thoroughbred worked even if the rescue horse didn’t poop or fart. I trotted the two geldings in twenty minute stretches, then we walked a while before we trotted again. Jack and Bill carried in two buckets of water. This time Twaziem actually drank some. The liquid would definitely help him feel better since horses always needed to hydrate. I saw headlights on the driveway and then a truck pulled up by the barn.
Tom went to meet the new arrival and came back carrying a huge tote-box behind Dr. Cathy. “Reinforcements have arrived, Sierra.”
I reined Nitro to a stop. “Thank goodness. I’m glad you’re here.”
“And I’m glad you are.” She smiled up at me while I sat on the huge, light gray, former race-horse. “Bring me up to speed.”
Jack came over and held Nitro. Bill took Twaziem’s rope and led him to the veterinarian. As if she was the signal, the young bay lifted his tail and proceeded to take a major dump right by her boot. Then, he cut loose with a string of foul-smelling farts.
I swung out of the saddle and passed the reins to Jack. “For the love of heaven, Twaz. If you’d just done that hours ago, you’d have saved us a ton of aggravation and emotion.”
Lots of laughter from the onlookers and Robin flung her arms around the colt’s neck and hugged him. “Oh, Twaz. You’re going to be okay.”
“Hey, let me be the veterinarian and say that.” Dr. Cathy gestured to me. “Come talk to me, Sierra. I don’t want to give him anything that counteracts what you have.”
John pulled out the list he’d kept. “Sierra had me write down all the meds, the time and the dosages.”
“I needed to focus on him,” I said. “So, John helped me out with the record-keeping.”
“It looks like all of you did a great job.” Dr. Cathy read through the notes. “Okay, I want to check his vital signs, listen for gut sounds, get some fluids into him. This is going to be a super easy call. Next time, the other vets go away for two days, I’ll tell them to make sure Sierra’s available to cover.”
An hour later, Tom walked me to my car. “Now, that’s what I call an exciting date. I don’t know if the Spring Fling can match it.”
“It will be a thousand times better. We won’t be dealing with a sick horse.” I sighed and shook my head. “By the way, how can you call tonight a date?”
“Because when I offered to come along, you didn’t refuse.” He caught my shoulders, turned me to face him. “I got the chance to see Sierra shine. I call that a real date. I’ve always wanted a hero.”
“Yeah?” I stared up at him. “You were pretty amazing too. Not a lot of guys would take a night off work to jump in and help. Or defend me when somebody thought I was a total freak.”
“Harry’s trying to figure out why Dani dumped him. She gave him the “it’s not you, it’s me,” line and everybody knows that one means just the opposite.” Tom lowered his head. “I don’t want to talk about them.”
“Neither do I.”
And he kissed me. Warm, gentle, a super soft pressure as if I’d break if he came on too strong. It felt like I’d finally come home when he slowly put his arms around me. I wanted to stay right there, in his arms forever and I kissed him back.
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