Page 22 of Operation: Return

Pete slowly rode around the edge by the fence, keeping the gelding to a walk. He seemed both bored and in awe whenever the horse made an unfamiliar move, which was exactly why Cole had him keeping the horse to a walk. When he learned that horses could be one big surprise wrapped in hundreds of pounds of energy, then they could work on a trot.

Trace approached him with loud, sliding footsteps. Cole had learned within a day that he walked that way, possibly so people knew he was coming since he couldn’t call a hello. Brendon had told him that morning at their meeting that Trace wasn’t willing to write down anything in their sessions, so the one meeting Brendon had with Trace had been fundamentally worthless.

Pete waved excitedly to Trace and the man gave a close-lipped smile that made him look younger than Cole had thought. Being in a life that trampled your soul could age you, that was certain, but he wondered just how young Trace really was.

“Want to try riding today, watching, or would you just like to meet your horse?” Trace had no trouble talking to him through text when they’d been on their way to the ranch. He’d forgotten that until that minute. Next time he talked to Brendon, he’d pass that along.

Trace shook his head and held up three fingers. Cole nodded, understanding that he only wanted to meet the horse. That was the normal way of things, but without any information from the client like they usually had, he had to ask.

While he took Trace to the stables, he kept an eye on Pete. Six years was still a little young to be left unattended for more than a minute. Especially on a horse that could spook, get a mind of its own, or allow Pete to go faster than he should.

Cole slid in, down the side of the stall, and backed out a gentle gelding named Venison. His original owner had thought the name was humorous and any attempt to change his name had been met with stubborn refusal. It was, in fact, the only thing the horse was stubborn about. He would not come to or acknowledge any other.

“This is Venison. He’s a ten-year-old and pretty steady and calm. He likes to sniff and snuffle your chest and ankles before he’ll give his approval to let you ride him. That’s just his way.” Cole led the horse toward the corral so he could easily watch both boy and man, plus the two horses.

Once they were inside the small fence, Pete tugged the reins and came alongside Cole.

“Whoa!” he yelled to get the horse to stop where he wanted.

Cole made a pulling motion to remind him to give the reins a very slight tug since his horse was pretty good about following cues.

“That’s a pretty horse you get to ride, Trace! Want to ride with me? It’s fun. ‘Cept Cole only lets us walk.” He beamed and bounced slightly, making his horse side-step. Pete grabbed the pommel and his mouth dropped open. “Sorry!”

Cole laughed and gently patted the horse’s flank to calm him. “You’re fine. Why don’t you keep riding for a while and give me a chance to introduce Trace to his mount like I did with you yesterday?”

Pete nodded like he was an old hat at this, and that thought reminded him he needed to go to the hat shack and get all of the new arrivals hats to protect them from the wind and sun. The boy gave the reins a flick and continued his trek around the circle.

Trace held out his hands to Venison, but the horse nudged his hands away and nuzzled to Trace’s chest. He snuffled his lips over the front of Trace’s coat, finally finding his zipper and tugging it up and down. Trace laughed for all of a second, then seemed angry with himself and pulled away from the horse. He fully turned his back on both of them.

“He was trying to cheer you up. Venison is our comedian. He likes to be a little silly and make people laugh. If he doesn’t cheer you, he’ll try harder until it bums him out.”

“I’m going to bet that Trace won’t get the full benefit of that horse,” Scarlet said from the other side of the fence.

Cole glanced over his shoulder, unnerved that someone had crept up on them and he hadn’t noticed. “Why is that?”

“Let him take the reins.”

Trace reached out for them, but kept his back to Cole as if he was protecting himself from something. Cole reminded himself that living somewhere Trace wouldn’t lose everything was still new to him. Living where people cared would take time to understand.

He backed away and let Pete ride while Trace slowly walked Venison to the middle of the corral and scratched under his chin. He wanted insight into Trace, anything that could help him. So much of what they did was verbal. Listening was a big part of the therapy at Wayside. What could they do when the client couldn’t speak?

“Trace was very excited to see you yesterday. That was the happiest I’d seen him.” Cole stepped back out of the corral to keep an eye on the entire situation.

“Yes, and I was excited to see him.”

Cole bit the inside of his cheek. Normally, they would never talk about a client with another client, but this situation was different in about every way. “Has he ever spoken?”

She took a deep breath and glanced down at her booted feet. Gabby had taken her shopping one afternoon and Scarlet had changed into a relaxed version of herself that day. After that, her healing and meeting goals had rapidly increased. “That’s a long story. I’m not sure I have the right to tell it, but he won’t.”

“I noticed you said ‘won’t’ and not can’t.” He’d learned to be observant of things that had slipped under his radar before.

“I did. I’m not so sure he couldn’t speak right now if he had a reason to. I think he’s forgotten how.” She gripped the metal rail of the fencing and closed her eyes. “Trace was younger than me by a few years when he was convinced to come. Not everyone trapped in trafficking can say they were kidnapped, some come willingly, not understanding what they are getting into.”

Cole nodded, he’d met a few, though they seemed more rare than those taken.

“When he first came, he fought back against his circumstances a lot, but he had the look they wanted. They were willing to put up with his aggression because he could make them money, but they had to make sure he couldn’t hurt any of their clients. So they knocked his teeth out.”

Cole swallowed the bile that immediately filled his mouth. Even military situations couldn’t fully steel his mind to what these people had faced.

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