Shared By the Cowboys by Cassie Cole

17

Rebecca

I tried to stay up, but Mason and Blake chatted for too long and I was too exhausted. I turned off my light and fell asleep almost immediately.

“Sorry about that,” Mason said the next morning over coffee.

“It’s okay. It happens,” I replied.

Mason leaned against the kitchen counter and smirked. “I kind of think he was cock-blocking me. But he did have a good idea about the fence.”

“Next time I’ll come to your room and we’ll close the door,” I said. “Or we can wander off to the barn again.”

Mason sipped his coffee. “Yes ma’am. It’s a date.”

A girl could fall in love with that drawl, I thought.

The chickens were starting to like me. As soon as I opened their coop they rushed out, circling me happily. I knew it was because I was the person feeding them, but it still brightened my mood.

Except for Mister Pam, who strutted around the chicken yard like he was looking for a fight.

Mason showed me where he wanted the drainage ditches to run. I grabbed a shovel and began digging a little trench. Like they had said, it was back-breaking work. I was covered with sweat and my shoulders ached by the time I finished the first of two ditches.

Cody spent the morning repairing the roof of the stable. Then he wandered over to Wildfire’s pen and went inside. The black Mustang snorted angrily as soon as Cody approached. I watched as he spent the next hour trying to lure the horse with a carrot. By the end, Cody looked as frustrated as I had ever seen him.

“Tough time?” I called as he left the pen.

He shook his head. “Toughest I’ve ever seen. Usually I’ve made some progress by now. But I’m starting to doubt myself.”

I dug my shovel into the dirt and stepped on the back of the spade. “If only there was someone who could help you…”

“You really got the halter on him? You’re not foolin’?”

“I did. I’m not fooling.”

He sighed. “All right. I’ll take the help. If you don’t mind.”

I continued digging the ditch. “Only if you ask me nicely.”

Cody swept his hat off with a flourish and held it against his chest. “Oh, please Miss Becca, please grant me the blessing of your help! It’d be right kind of you, and I surely would be grateful.”

I laughed at his exaggerated accent and rested my shovel against the chicken coop. “As long as Mason doesn’t get mad.”

“It’s different because I asked you. But if you break your arm, then I’m pretending like I didn’t know.”

“Stay outside,” I said. “Let me go in alone.”

“It’s your funeral…”

Wildfire watched with curiosity as I entered the pen. I pretended not to notice him as I wafted my hat in my face to cool myself off. Then I casually picked out a carrot from the feed bag on the fence. A big fat one. Wildfire immediately walked over to me.

“Son of a bitch,” Cody breathed.

I grinned at him while feeding Wildfire a little bit of the carrot. Then I walked around the pen, forcing the horse to follow alongside me. Once per minute I stopped and let him take another nibble of the carrot. Soon he was as obedient as a puppy.

When the carrot was gone I picked up the leather halter from the fence. I held it up to Wildfire so he could sniff it. He snorted with unhappiness once he realized it wasn’t a carrot, so I grabbed another carrot from the bag and began feeding him again. I alternated with the carrot and the halter until he was used to both.

While he was chewing on the last bit of the carrot, I gently slipped the halter around his head. I buckled the back and tightened it gently, then got another carrot.

“Good boy! You’re such a good boy.”

Cody hung his head in shame. “I’ll be damned.”

“My dad could break almost any horse,” I explained while feeding Wildfire his reward carrot. “But every now and then he’d have one that was extra difficult. Sometimes those horses would immediately warm up to a woman instead. So he asked me to help. It was embarrassing for a grown man to struggle to get near a horse, and then for a scrawny fifteen-year-old to walk up and start feeding it like it was a golden retriever.”

“Hell, it’s embarrassing now.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Because I’m a woman?”

“Because you’re makin’ it look easy!” he replied. “Maybe I’m losing my touch.”

“You’ll be fine. Can you get the honey from the kitchen? I think we can work on the bridle next.”

When he returned with the honey, I let him inside the pen. Just to stand nearby and get Wildfire used to his presence too. I spent half an hour getting the horse used to my voice and the touch of my hand.

Blake rode in from the field. He tied his horse, Bucket, to a post by the porch and attached a feed bag to his mouth. He watched me working with Wildfire for a while, then went inside the house, shaking his head.

When Wildfire was good and used to me, I poured a little bit of honey onto a carrot. After he ate that I coated the bridle with honey. He accepted it into his mouth eagerly, allowing me to connect the bridle to the halter straps.

Cody laughed happily when it was in. He held up his hand for a high five, and I slapped it with a huge smile on my face.

“Gonna be honest with you, Becca. I thought you’d end up with a nasty horse bite when you tried that.”

“Honey on the bit works every time!” I said. “Was that local honey? From our hive?”

“It was indeed.”

“You’ll have to show me how to collect it. That chore is on my list but I don’t really know how.”

“I’m a good teacher. Should need collecting in a couple days. I’ll show you then.” He shook his head with wonder. “All right, I’m man enough to admit when I was wrong. I should’ve let you try this the first day.”

“Yeah, you should have.”

Cody removed his hat, scratched his blond hair, and put it back. “I reckon that’s enough progress for one day. We’ll let him get used to the bridle today before we put the saddle on. Don’t want to rush into tryin’ to ride him.”

“Yeah, that would be a huge mistake,” I said sarcastically. “How long do you want to leave the bridle on?”

“We’ll take it off tonight. Don’t want it to catch on anything while we’re asleep. Gonna need your help takin’ it off, of course.”

“I’d be happy to help.”

I held up my palm. Cody gave me another high five, but he laced his fingers into mine at the same time. When we lowered our arms, we were holding hands.

I don’t know who initiated it. Maybe it was both of us at the same time. But the next thing I knew, we were kissing.

And oh baby, was it a good kiss.

Cody was taller than me so I had to tilt my head back to kiss him. He continued holding my hand, and he wrapped his other arm around me. Gently, letting me know he didn’t want me to go anywhere.

Suddenly I heard a snorting sound, and a horse head lunged between us. Wildfire tossed his head sideways, knocking Cody away from me. He stumbled backwards, hit the fence, and fell to the ground.

Wildfire let out a pleased little whinny, then walked away. I rushed to Cody and fell at his side.

“Oh my God! Are you okay?”

His eyes were closed, but he started laughing. “Knocked the wind out of me, is all. I think he’s jealous!”

I tried to help him up, but he hopped up like it was no big deal. We exited the pen, and he tipped his hat to me and gave me a wink.

“Appreciate the help, ma’am.”

Maybe this polyamorous thing can work after all, I thought while smiling at him.

Blake came out of the house with something white in his hand. “This new cheese is good.”

“Becca made it,” Cody said.

“Oh.” Blake frowned down at his little slice of cheese. Then he shrugged and untied his horse.

“You think he’ll ever come around?” I whispered.

“To you, or to sharing another woman after Penny?”

“Either.”

Cody cocked his head while watching his brother load more fence tools across the saddle. “Back when we were kids, six or seven years old, Blake got a toy tractor for Christmas. It was green, and had tiny little pulleys and levers that controlled the wheels and stuff. He loved it. He took that toy tractor everywhere. When mom went to the grocery store, he brought it with him and played with it in the aisles.”

I pictured a small, tattooed child playing with a tractor. The image made me laugh.

“Until one day, Mason accidentally rode over it with his bike. This thing was made of cheap plastic, so it broke into a whole mess of pieces. Mason felt real bad about it, and said he was sorry. Promised to buy Blake a new tractor. But Blake? He didn’t cry. He just shook his head and said he didn’t want it.

“Of course, we didn’t believe him,” Cody said. “Mason and I pooled the little money we had and bought him a new tractor. Exact same as the old one, even down to the color. Blake refused to play with it. At Christmas, our parents bought him a new one—a better model, made with metal instead of plastic. More expensive. But Blake acted like he didn’t see it. He played with his other toys.”

Over by the house, Blake mounted the horse and headed out to the property.

“Fast forward ten years,” Cody said. “Mason was the first one of us to have a girlfriend, and the two of them had a picnic on Valentine’s Day. His girlfriend was in a pottery class, and made Mason a little bowl. Painted his name on it and everything.”

I saw where this was going. “Oh no…”

Cody grimaced at me. “As soon as their backs were turned, Blake rode his bike over the picnic. Smashed the bowl in half. And what did he shout over his shoulder? That’s for my tractor.

“The point of this long story is that it takes Blake a long time to get over things. So when you ask if he’ll ever warm up to you, and if he’ll ever get over Penny…” He shrugged.

I thought about that as I watched Blake ride his horse away from the ranch.