Page 104 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

Daddy released him and looked at him. “You are?”

“Yeah.” He nodded as he and Daddy stepped over to the sink and started washing up. “I think Angel and I are pretty serious. We started talking about looking at places somewhere like Stinnett on the eastern outskirts of Three Rivers, and we’ll commute to Lone Star.”

“She’s going to commute to the ranch she owns?” Daddy pushed his sleeves up and scrubbed to his elbow.

“Well,” Henry said, “I think it’ll kill her if she doesn’t.”

Daddy studied him for a moment, then started rinsing all the suds away. “Ranches have a way of consuming a person, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah,” Henry said dryly. “Look at you, working twenty hours a day.”

Daddy didn’t chuckle, because he had been working a lot lately. Grams’ illness had come at a terrible time when he’d had men quit and they’d been short-handed.

“Sometimes you have to rely on the angels,” Daddy said. “That’s how we’ve gotten through the past week. I don’t know how the work’s gotten done, I don’t know whose hands did it, but somehow it gets done.”

“Yeah.” Henry pumped the handle on the paper towel dispenser and ripped off the brown paper. “I can agree with that. But I’ve seen Angel when Lone Star is eating her alive, and it’s not pretty. I’m not going to let that happen to her.”

Daddy smiled at him. “I sure like seeing you in love, Henry.”

“I’m not—” Henry cut himself off. “I mean, it’s new,” he said, ducking his head.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” Daddy said. “Love is a beautiful thing. Caring for another person more than yourself is wonderful. Building a family and a life together is something to be admired.”

“Yeah.” Henry balled up his paper towel and tossed it in the trash can, then got out of the way so Daddy could get to the dispenser.

“So I guess you’re going to be a farrier at Lone Star.” Daddy grinned at him while he ripped off a paper towel.

“I guess so,” Henry said. “At least for now. There’s no reason I can’t branch out in the future, especially if I’m not living at Lone Star.”

“Ah,” Daddy said. “Maybe that’s why you don’t want to live there.”

“I honestly don’t know,” Henry said, turning toward the exit of the stable. “What I do know is that the Lord has shown mea tiny piece of my future, and it’s not living in Angel’s cabin at Lone Star.”

“Well, He’ll lead you to the right place,” Daddy said. “He always does.” He clapped Henry on the shoulder as they stepped outside. “All right. You better get Wide Sky out. Your appointment is almost here.”

“Yeah,” Henry said, and he took a big breath. “I’ll get her out right now.” He did that, taking the beautiful cream-colored horse out of her stall in the next stable over, whispering to her how beautiful she was, how smart she was, and how good she was going to do that afternoon for the therapy session.

He went into Courage Reins and chatted with the secretary at the front desk, who handed him a folder. “Someone new,” she said. “Never been here before.”

Henry didn’t even flip open the folder. He knew the spiel for new people. He’d done it often enough that he could get through one more. “We’ve had a lot of those lately.”

“Yep,” she said. “She’s here already, actually. Out in the waiting room in the arena.”

“All right,” Henry said. “I’ll take Wide Sky out there.” The client was early, but Henry didn’t care. He was ready. The horse was ready. And so he headed out to the arena, where he put Wide Sky with a ball and a hula hoop. He prepped her tack so that it was right next to the door, and then he headed for the waiting room that Daddy had built with a a big window for guests to watch whatever was happening in the arena.

“All right,” he said as he opened the door, making his voice bright and cheery. He flipped open the folder and found nothing inside. Confusion filled him because he didn’t know what to call the guest without an intake sheet. He glanced up. “I don’t seem to have?—”

He cut off as Angel rose from the upholstered bench. She twisted her hands nervously around one another, her dark blue tank top getting bunched up in her fingers before she released it.

“I thought I’d come see what equine therapy was really like,” she said. “For like, a real client, not just someone playing ball for a few minutes.”

Henry thought a lot of things in that moment. Somehow, his brain seized onto the words. He crossed the room and swept Angel into his arms.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” he whispered, trying to get every inch of her against every inch of him.

She hugged him back, giggling. “Are you surprised?”

“Beyond.” He set her down on her feet and looked at her, cradling her face, trying to gauge if her skin was real or not. He gazed at her and asked, “What are you doing here?”

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