Mike jumped on him and licked every part of his face. Cody hugged him with both arms. “I’ve missed you too.”
The stocky dog barked as if he understood every word.
“They tell me you’ve been keeping an eye on my things down here. That’s a good boy. Just as soon as I can catch one of these horses we’ll load him up and be on our way. What do you say?”
Mike barked again and ran alongside Cody into the corral.
Cody shook out the bridle and tried for the nearest horse. It danced sideways, easily staying out of his reach.
“Something tells me this could be harder than it looks, boy. You wait outside. I think you’re scaring them.”
Mike obediently went to the edge of the fence and sat down. Cody shook out the bridle again and edged up to a large sorrel. He put his hand out and the horse snorted, whirled and kicked, narrowly missing him.
“Need some help with that?” Rachel called from behind him.
Cody’s shoulders slumped. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw you trying to run out on me and I thought I’d follow along to see how far you could make it without my help. From here it doesn’t look like you’ve gotten too far.”
“I wasn’t running out on you. It’s better for you if you stay here.”
“Listen, macho man. I’m a big girl and I’ll decide what’s best for me.” Rachel stepped into the corral and took the bridle. “My parents used to run a horse farm, remember?”
Effortlessly she wrapped one end of a rein around the sorrel’s neck. Then she slid the headstall over his face and fastened it. “Here.” She held the reins out to Cody and then ducked under the bottom fence rail and ran back to the ladder. “You could have at least said goodbye.”
Cody dropped the reins and trotted after her. “Rachel, wait.” He took hold of her arm. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have just left like that. I’m sorry.”
Rachel looked past him. “You’re forgiven. And Cody …?”
“Yeah?”
“I kind of got used to having you around.” She looked away. “It would be awful if you got killed.”
She moved quickly up the ladder and Cody watched her until she was out of sight and he thought, You’ve got that right, Rachel. It would be just awful.