Page 5 of Devoted Enough

“I just had to turn away business.”

Looking at my mother, I asked, “Lizzy’s mom?”

“Yes. The woman bought a horse and expected us to train it to barrel ride with their daughter, who had never even sat on a horse before. And they needed her to be ready by early next year so she could ride in the rodeo.”

I laughed. “Sounds like Lizzy.”

My mother sighed. “I want you to help Haven with Lady when she is done with your father.”

I looked at my mother and asked, “Why do I have to help her? She’s more than capable of caring for the horse when she’s finished.”

It wasn’t like I didn’t want to be around Haven; I did. Too much, probably. She was all I could think about, and I knew she liked me. Or at least she did a few years back. Now, she hardly looked at me when I saw her in school. My reputation didn’t help, even though it was more talk than reality.

Raising a single brow, my mother stared at me. I took a step back and nodded my head. “Of course, I’ll help her.”

A brilliant smile spread across her face. My mother was beautiful. Her brown hair was pulled back low, and her blue eyes sparkled as if she knew something I didn’t.

“Thank you, Nathan. I know you normally avoid Haven, but since your father and I need to leave as soon as her lesson ends, I don’t want her feeling alone.”

I sighed. “I don’t ignore her. I just avoid her.”

Her hands went to her hips. “Nathan, what in the world do you have against that girl? So she had a crush on you; surely she’s gotten over it.”

Casting a glance out, I saw Haven biting down hard on her lower lip as she tried to get Lady to walk in a circle around Dad and his gelding, Prancer. Her control of the mare was impressivesince the damn thing was scared of everything, including the other horse and rider.

“I don’t have anything against her, Mom. She just…I don’t know.”

She laughed and then gave me a side hug. “Oh, Nathan, sweetheart. One of these days you’ll look at that girl out there, and you won’t want to avoid her.”

“Is that because she’s going to move out of Montana, and I’ll never have to see her again?”

Her smile grew bigger. “No, you’re going to feel something in here.” Placing her hand on my chest, she slowly shook her head. “And that is going to change everything.”

My heart felt like it about dropped to the ground.

“If you’re talking about love, Mom, I am not going to fall in love. Ever. I like girls too much to settle down with just one, and it would be wrong to lead Haven on.”

She pointed to me. “I’m going to pretend I never heard that. Go head into the barn; they’re finishing up.”

Doing as I was told, I headed to the barn and did a few quick chores as Haven cooled down Lady. Next, I filled a bucket with warm water for Haven to wash down the mare. A few minutes later, I could hear the horse’s hooves. I watched as Haven tied her horse up and removed the saddle. I walked over and took it from her.

“I’ll get that for you.”

Haven smiled. “Thanks, Nate.”

I pointed to the bucket. “Brought this out for you.”

She thanked me once again and quickly got to washing down the horse. I took her saddle and brought it back to the tack room. Not many people had their own saddles, but Haven did simply because she was here so much and loved helping my father break new horses in. It was my mother who suggested she just leaveher saddle here. She had bought it used but took care of it like it was gold.

When I returned to the paddock, Haven was rubbing a dry towel around on Lady. She then took a handful of hay and put it out for her to eat.

“Was she very sweaty?” I asked, walking up and leaning against a pole as I watched Haven put the wick-smart blanket on Lady.

“Not really. It was a nice, cool day, and we didn’t work that hard. Your dad said to put her out to pasture since the sun is out, and it’s warming up.”

I glanced down and watched as Lady took a long drink. I smiled. “She really does trust you, doesn’t she?”

Haven gave the mare another pat before going to get a bit more hay for her. All the animals seemed to trust Haven. It was clear she threw all of her love into taking care of them, and it broke my heart because I had a feeling I knew the reason why.

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