Page 2 of Spring Forward

Now though, I think our time on the road needs to come to an end. He’s never experienced traditional school. I’m damn proud of myself for homeschooling him the way I have, and I wasn’t the only one he learned from over the years. Since we moved from place to place, Auggie met so many people who had their own knowledge and experience. He soaked it all up.

It’s not a bad thing that he’s never seen the inside of a school building. But high school is right around the corner for him. I want him to be able to make friends, real friends who will stand next to him, understand him, and are his own age. I want him to thrive. In so many ways he has, but I think he could grow even more.

Socially he’s a little behind. There are a lot of things he has been behind on, especially after the accident. But we’ve worked on it all. He’s so much better at talking now, but there are still times he needs to slow down to get his words out. His walking has improved leaps and bounds.

When we started on this journey, I wasn’t willing to put him a position of being made fun of because he wasn’t “normal”, whatever the fuck that even means. Kids can be cruel, but ignorant adults can be even crueler. Thankfully, I’ve always been fierce and have never had a problem speaking my mind and putting someone in their place when necessary.

I’ll protect Auggie with my life and I’ll rain hellfire down on anyone who thinks they can look at him as less than. He had no control over what happened to him, but the way he’s fought to overcome his injuries is awe inspiring. I’m amazed by him every single day.

As I sit down on the floor and cross my legs in front of me, I watch my brother, who isn’t so little anymore since he’s now a whole inch taller than my 5’5”, build with his bricks. The motor control he’s showing brings tears to my eyes.

“I know you have liked your time here,” I start, my voice soft, but hopefully not filled with the guilt I’m feeling.

This place in Colorado has been the closest to feeling like home, but I took another job a few months ago, before this contract started. If I had already been here and had seen the way Auggie seemed to be at home, I don’t know if I would have taken on the job at Limitless Ranch in Montana.

“It’s been nice,” he agrees with a shrug. When he glances at me, he tilts his head to the side slightly as he studies me. “It’s okay that we’re leaving, Dela,” he assures me. “I like it here, the people are nice, and the horses are awesome, but it’s not home.”

Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

As I swallow hard, I nod slowly and hope my voice doesn’t come out as a croak, “It’s not?”

“No,” he scoffs, “we’ll know home when we get there.” His eyes light up a little and I’m struck, again, with how much love I have for this kid. “Maybe it’ll be this next place. You said we’re going back to Montana, right? I loved Montana.”

I can’t help but smile. “It is, but it’s on the other side of the state from where we were before. We’re going to Limitless Ranch in Wintervale.”

“Wintervale,” there’s a tease in his voice, “but it’s Spring.”

I bark out a laugh and reach over to give his shoulder a very small, very light shove. “I’m not in charge of naming the town, just taking the jobs.”

It’s a line I’ve used on him several times throughout the years because we’ve been to some towns with names ranging from boring to silly to downright awful. Did you know there’s a Toad Suck, Arkansas? Now you do.

“What is the job?” He looks at me out of the corner of his eye.

It’s a valid question. Sometimes I’m brought in to help spruce up an already established equine therapy program. They might need help training horses or people and they want an assessment of where they can improve. Those jobs are fun and tend to be quick, like the one I’ve just finished up.

Then there are the contracts where I’m called in to help build the program from nothing. Those are the most exciting and they take longer, but it’s easier when working with someone truly invested in equine therapy. It takes longer when there are a number of issues I need to overcome, including getting people to buy into all the good this kind of work can do and the people it can help.

I’ve seen what it can do with Auggie and I’m grateful as hell for it.

“I’m going to help them build the program from the ground up,” I answer Auggie.

Excitement blooms on his face as his smile grows and I can’t help but smile back. “We’ll be there for a while.” He narrows his eyes before asking, “What is there to do there?”

“It’s a small town,” I tell him honestly. “But I looked into it, and they have a market year-round which should be fun. Other than that, I’m not sure. We’ll have to explore not only the ranch, but the town as well.”

Auggies surprises me when he gets up and comes over to me. I swallow down the complaints that he’s taller than me because he’ll only point out how the problem is my height and not his. No thanks.

“I like going on new adventures with you, Dela,” he melts my heart with his words as he wraps me up in a hug.

This boy. He’s my everything. Even though his words make me feel better about moving on to the next place, it doesn’t assuage all my guilt for what I haven’t been able to give him. Maybe one day we’ll find the right place for us, and we’ll find a home.

But I doubt it’ll be in Wintervale.

CHAPTER 2

NOEL

An odd sense of accomplishment washes over me as I finish up mucking out Thunder’s stall. Huxley is whistling a tune with an upbeat rhythm as he finishes up in Sierra’s stall. Some days the way he seems to not give a single fuck about the work he’s doing, even as he does it without complaint, can piss me off. Not today.

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