By Chance (3 page)

While Jane waited outside, he walked to the bathroom door. He didn’t hear any water running, so he knocked and called, “There’s clothes out here for you. When you’re ready, you can come out to the barn but take your time. There’s no hurry.”

From the other side of the door, he heard a muffed, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

He walked back toward the door, stopping to put the key to the cabin on the small table beside the door, before stepping out and locking the door behind him.

“So are you looking forward to Mandy’s wedding?” Jane asked.

Vince shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’m not a party person; I think you know that. But Jeff’s a good guy to have for a brother, I guess. Keeps this place looking good.”

He didn’t want to mention the fact that his sister’s impending marriage made him think about how he was expected to do the same thing as her—go off and get married and have kids and all of that. He really liked Jane, and they’d been together for two years, but the thought of marrying her just felt weird. Two months ago, he’d gone to the mall and picked out a ring, but he hadn’t had the courage or even the real desire to propose. It was just something he knew he had to do at some point, before she got sick of waiting and he was left on his own for probably a very long time. If he had a chance at a future that wasn’t lonely, he should take it, even if part of him said he was settling for what he could easily have but didn’t really, truly want. So until he got the nerve to ask her, the ring would stay buried at the bottom of Xander’s tack box, where Jane never looked for anything.

“Yeah, for much less than he would charge if he wasn’t dating the owner’s daughter,” Jane agreed. “That’s what matters. Your dad saves a ton of money there.”

“And you know just how much,” Vince added. They had met when Wes hired Jane to be the farm’s bookkeeper, and she had made it a point to get to know how the place was run and not only who the people were, but the horses, too.

“Basically,” she replied with a grin.

He shook his head as they entered the barn. “I’m going to lunge Star, if you want to watch. Just keep an eye out for Dustin for me.”

Star was the newest horse before Justin, and she was still trying to settle in. The big gray mare was jittery all the time, so Vince was trying to do something with her everyday to get her used to working in her new environment.

The mare was finally starting to settle down and trot more calmly around the ring when Vince noticed Dustin standing at the rail talking to Jane. Vince halted Star and took her over to the fence.

He was stunned by how different Dustin looked. His hair was more red than brown, and he’d found a razor to shave the scruffy beard from his face. Scrubbed clean and dressed in clothes that lacked holes, he looked good.

“Guess I should have given you some boots,” Vince commented, glancing at Dustin’s very beat-up sneakers.

Dustin shrugged. “That’s okay.”

“You need boots to work, though,” Vince replied. “We’ll get you some tonight.”

“Dustin’s joining us for dinner, too,” Jane told him with a smile.

Vince nodded. “Sounds good.” He noticed Dustin looking up at Star, who was looking around with her ears pricked forward and her nostrils flared. He patted her neck and explained, “This is Star. She’s a bit more high-strung than Justin.”

Dustin admired her for a bit longer, then held out a hand for her to sniff. Star sniffed him, then decided he definitely wasn’t worth the effort and went back to surveying her surroundings.

“I can show you the other horses if you want,” Vince offered.

Dustin smiled. “That would be cool.”

So Vince let Star out into the pasture, where she took off running like she was still on a racetrack, and headed to the barn with Dustin. After watching how interested Dustin clearly was in meeting and learning about the horses, Vince officially decided that he liked the kid.

They got to Xander’s stall last, and Vince rubbed the gelding’s nose to get him to relax when he saw Dustin. “This guy’s mine. His name is Sir Galaxy, but we all call him Xander. He’s a little nervous about meeting new people, especially men.”

“Why’s that?” Dustin asked as he held out a hand for Xander to sniff.

“We’re pretty sure he was abused,” Vince answered, watching as Xander cautiously sniffed Dustin, who gave him one of the treats Vince had slipped him when they’d first entered the barn. “Dad and I found him at the track six years ago. Someone had left him in one of the stalls Dad had for his own horses; I don’t know if they knew he took horses that couldn’t race or what, but they never told him they had left the horse there. We have no idea how he survived, because he was obviously there all winter. The humane society came and seized him, but they didn’t have much hope for him. He could hardly stand, he was horribly thin, dehydrated… I was eighteen, and Dad told me I could have my first project horse at eighteen, which is what we call the horses we retrain. I was adamant that I wanted this horse. I kept going to the rescue place where they had him. He was obviously terrified of people, but I had this feeling I could help him. Dad kept telling me that my first project should be an easy one, but I kept telling him I needed this horse. So he’s what I got for my nineteenth birthday. I’d say he’s improved since then. I spent all my spare time with him. Sometimes, I would just sit in his stall with him. He was never violent toward people, and by that time, he knew me well enough not to be as afraid of me as he was everyone else. I brought him food, after all, and he appreciated that after a winter of starvation.”

Vince laughed as he went on, “One night, I actually fell asleep in his stall, and everyone panicked when they couldn’t find me. They knew I had to be with Xander, but they were afraid he’d killed me or something. My mom actually managed to take a picture when she realized I wasn’t dead; I was sitting on the floor with my back against the wall and this great big horse was lying next to me with his head on my lap. The camera flash didn’t even wake him up, just me.”

“Sounds like a cute picture,” Dustin commented absently, rubbing Xander’s forehead.

“It’s sitting on a shelf in Dad’s house,” Vince replied. “That and lots of other ‘farm history’ pictures. You’ll be over there at some point.”

Dustin kept rubbing Xander’s face, and Vince was impressed by how easily the horse accepted the new guy in his space. Even with Vince standing there, it usually took much longer for Xander to fully relax like he was now.

“Do you name all these horses?” Dustin asked after another quiet moment.

“Not usually,” Vince answered. “They all have their racing names, which we didn’t give them. Most of them have their own nicknames when they come to us. I gave Xander his nickname, but the rescue he went to first found out his racing name.”

Dustin looked genuinely curious when he looked at him. “How?”

“In order to race, horses have to be registered, and they get a tattoo under their upper lips. I’d show you his, but it’s probably too dark in here to see it. The lip tattoos identify each horse, and you can use it to look them up with the Jockey Club.”

Dustin gave Xander another treat and rubbed the white star on the horse’s forehead. “You know, I lied. I’ve always wanted to be around horses. I always liked driving by farms and seeing them. I always wondered what it would be like to be close to them. Now I know, and I like it.”

Vince grinned at him. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“Y
OU
KNOW
,
that kid has been here less than twenty-four hours, and already you guys have a budding bromance.”

Vince rolled over in bed to face Jane and snorted. “Bromance? He’s a good kid. He’s really interested in the horses and what we do. He’s got potential. Of course, I’m going to take him under my wing if he’s that interested.”

“You just spent three hundred dollars buying him food and clothes, even when he kept saying he didn’t need it all,” she pointed out as she got settled in bed. “He probably feels like he owes you now.”

“I told him working hard is paying me back enough,” Vince argued. “And that next week, once he’s been paid, he has to buy his own stuff, but I’ll gladly take him anywhere.”

She poked his shoulder. “Bromance.”

“Nomance,” he replied, giving her a mock glare.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Nomance?”

He scowled at her. “No.”

She just laughed. “Admit it.”

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, then admitted, “I have no idea where this conversation is supposed to be going, but okay, you win.”

She grinned. “Good answer. Now we just have to put some weight on your bro-friend, and he’ll be perfect.”

“I’m done,” Vince stated, rolling away from her. “I have to get up in five hours. Good night.”

“Good night,” she said with a laugh. She leaned over him, and he turned long enough for a light good-night kiss before rolling over again.

And fighting to clear his mind before falling asleep. It seemed like it was becoming increasingly harder to stop himself from overthinking his life on a daily basis, and he hated it.

A
T
SIX
,
he was out of bed and on his way to the barn. He found Dustin standing outside the barn, watching the horses in the pasture while he waited for him. When he heard Vince approaching, he looked over and smiled.

“Sleep well?” Vince asked.

Dustin nodded. “I almost didn’t want to get out of bed.”

Vince grinned. “Good. Come on, I’ll show you how we do morning feedings. It’s basically like what we did last night, except some of the horses stay outside longer. You’ll get the swing of it pretty quick.”

“When will you start working with Justin?” Dustin asked as they walked into the barn.

“I’ll probably check him out today,” Vince replied. “You can help if you want. I don’t usually let anyone but myself and my dad actually train horses, but I’m always glad to have someone who can work on more minor things with them. Like, if he had issues with his ground manners, I’d usually get everyone who handles him to work on it when they are with him. Once I’ve been on him and gotten some of that training done, I’d ask someone to ride him periodically so he gets used to other riders, and someone else can work on whatever issues he might have there. I take it you’ve never ridden?”

Dustin shook his head. “When I was little, I always wanted to do those pony rides, but my parents told me it was too dangerous.”

Vince snorted. “Well, your first ride will be on a member of a breed with the reputation of being hard to handle. Not that a pony ride would have given you much riding experience. I’ll get you on my dad’s horse, Zeus. He’s almost twenty and very easy to ride. We’ll move you up from there. How’s that sound?”

Dustin grinned. “When do I start?”

V
INCE
STOOD
at the fence watching Xander graze off the little shoots of grass that were beginning to appear; he’d already eaten the flake of hay Vince had tossed in with him, but he seemed to be enjoying the scarce grass. As Vince watched him, he thought about his new stable hand and how maybe Jane was right, that he really was taking the kid in closer than most of the others he’d worked with. Maybe it was the real, honest interest he could see in Dustin, with his questions and his desire to work with these animals that he’d never been close to before. Maybe it was that he saw a combination of himself and Xander in that kid, a need to be with these animals and a need to have Vince help him. He didn’t want Dustin to feel like he was a charity case, but he wanted him to feel like he was an important part of the farm. If that took special treatment at first so he could do his job, so be it. He always trained the new hands personally, and he had a decent relationship with all of them for it.

To see how plain
happy
Dustin was when he got on Zeus’s back and was able to ride him on his own gave him an amazing feeling. The only other person he’d ever introduced to horses and riding was Jane, and that had been years ago. He loved it.

Then his thoughts started getting mixed up again. Comparing Jane and Dustin and their attitudes toward the horses, their first riding lessons, and more—their smiles, their voices, their hair, their eyes, their bodies….

Vince abruptly climbed up the fence and whistled for Xander, who came trotting up to him. Vince moved easily from the fence onto the horse’s back, where he sat—no saddle, bridle, or even a lead rope—and patted Xander’s neck. Xander looked back at him, then shook his head and went back to grazing.

“That’s my Xanny Boy,” Vince said with a smile, then slowly leaned back until he was lying on his back and gazing at the spring sky. This was something he never suggested anyone doing, but he trusted Xander completely and knew he wasn’t going to do anything crazy when his human was on his back. Vince closed his eyes and let himself relax, letting his body move whenever the big bay gelding took a step.

It was a half an hour later when he felt Xander lift his head, and he glanced over at the fence. His dad leaned there and shook his head.

“Your mom would kill you if she saw you,” he commented.

Vince slowly sat up and used his legs to direct Xander to the fence, where Wes rubbed his forehead. “I think she’d be impressed by how far we’ve come in the last five years.”

Wes smiled sadly and continued rubbing the gelding’s face. “I watched Dustin’s riding lesson. Have you thought about doing lessons for clients?”

“What do you mean?” Vince asked curiously.

“Well, like some owners buy these guys pretty fresh off the track and send them here for training, but what if you actually worked with the horse
and
the owner?” Wes explained. “You’ve commented before that you wished you knew if the owners would handle them the same way you do.”

Vince patted Xander’s neck thoughtfully. “We’d be investing more time in each horse’s training if I work with them both. That means we can take less horses.”