Page 3 of No Bones About It

The drive from the Tennessee Horse Rescue and Training Centre had taken days. Garrett had stopped in empty fields to give the horse a break when he could. His former boss and his wife had sold the center to developers and retired to travel. CC had given Kitty to Garrett, tears in his eyes.She likes your grumpy ass, Garrett. All the horses do. You keep in touch now, you hear?He was going to miss the old fart.

“What do you think, Kitty? Want to stretch your legs in the moonlight?”

The horse blew out a breath but didn’t argue when Garrett retrieved his hat and then backed her out of the large trailer.

They stood looking into the night for a long minute. The scene could have been from any of Grandpa Ed’s westerns. An older horse barn no one had used in a while, but it looked strong enough to stand for many decades more. Paddocks. Fences. Trees along the fence lines separating his land from his neighbors on both sides.

That made him grin. He wondered how long it would take Slick to come around to see who had bought the property next door.

Garrett’s former Army teammates all lived here now. In and on the outskirts of a town named Phail. Stupid name.

Troy Phail had talked them all into coming here. It had taken years, and Garrett was the last holdout, but Epic had been relentless.

Touting the benefits of small-town life and hinting at thissecret projecthe needed their help with. A secret that everyone else knew.

Garrett wasn’t a fan of secrets. He didn’t care about the plan. He wanted to be left alone with his horses.

And he was a liar. There’d been plenty of land in other states he could have bought, but he’d been suckered into this bit of property. The pull of being close with his team again was impossible to resist. He’d been alone for a long time. Part of him had thought he’d spend therest of his life that way. Now he was here, with nosy-ass friends everywhere he looked.

Slick and his new family living on the property directly to the north. Falcon and his lady lived north of that. Oz and his woman north again. Epic and Arrow in town. All six of them back in one place.

He was a sucker. But he was a sucker who’d found his place. Kitty tried to knock off his hat again, but he moved out of her way with a laugh. “Enough introspection already? Want to move out and see what it’s like in Vermont? Let’s go, pretty lady.”

And she was a pretty lady. A far cry from the scarred and terrified horse he’d first met back in Tennessee all those months ago. The Tennessee Horse Rescue and Training Center had been good for the bay. For them both. “And this place we’re building is going to be even better.” He hoped. But he didn’t let the doubt into his voice. Kitty needed his confidence.

Garrett walked the horse slowly around the paddock, letting her stop when she wanted to check out all the fence posts and grass blades. When she was comfortable, he removed the halter and hung it back in the trailer.

There were food troughs along the fences, so he used his supplies to fill one with hay and another with water for her.

Kitty didn’t appear more nervous or stressed than usual, so he locked up his truck and then removed his sleeping roll from the trailer.

He walked the paddock and found a relatively rock-free place for himself near the fence. Used to having his company at night, Kitty wandered the paddock once more, then stopped to stand by his head. Her head dropped to nuzzle him, and then she relaxed into a doze.

“Goodnight Kitty. We’re home, and it’s safe here.” Then he followed her into sleep.

CHAPTER 2

Rein It In

Garrett cursed inwardly when the sun’s rays landed on his eyelids. Without opening his eyes, he reached for the hat Kitty had knocked off and laid it back over his face. His body wanted more shut-eye.

The sound of Kitty’s steady breathing reassured him all was well. Horses didn’t require the same amount of sleep as humans, but Kitty slept more than most. Garrett wondered if she was making up for the sleep she’d missed when she’d been a filly. The farm she’d been rescued from had been a hellhole.

The thought of it had anger ripping right through Garrett and shoving away the last hope of more sleep. Animal abusers were the worst that humanity had to offer. The one who’d hurt Kitty would be resting his ass in jail for a long while yet, but there were too many more out there.

A dog’s bark had him flinching. An image of Shaggy floated through his mind, and the familiar grief stabbed his heart. It had been Garrett’s fault his K-9 partner had died. Shaggy had been the best dog he’d ever met. Her intuition and smarts had saved dozens, maybe hundreds, of people overseas.

Until that final day when everything had blown to hell. Literally.

Garrett might have been a K-9 officer, but he hadn’t spent any time with dogs since losing Shaggy. He wasn’t planning to change that. It was too damn hard.

Shoving the memories from his brain, Garrett peeked out from under his hat. The sun didn’t sit fully above the horizon, but there was no point in trying to sleep more. Garrett climbed out of his sleeping roll and eased to a standing position. Kitty nickered sleepily. “Good morning, Kitty. Getting old is hard.”

He wasn’t quite thirty-five, but there were days he felt double that. A decade ago, he would have popped up from the ground like a kid.

The dog barked again, but Garrett ignored it and focused on the mare. “How you doing this morning? Feel good to know you don’t have to march back into that trailer again? We’re here to stay.”

He added more water to her trough. “Give me twenty minutes to open the house and find a shower, then we’ll check out the barn and the rest of the property.” Although Kitty preferred the outdoors, he’d give her the option of the barn. She’d need to be used to it by winter.

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