Page 44 of Spur of the Moment
Reed crossed his arms. “That won’t work. She’ll never get a halter on them out there.”
Callan’s hands shot up, palms out. “I don’t argue with the ladies. You can be the one to fight her on it.”
Reed’s eyes found Brandy standing with Lettie and Charlotte, narrowing before he took off in her direction.
I leaned my shoulder against the trailer, directing my attention to Callan. “You get any new students?”
“Two. I could fit some more into my schedule, though, so I posted a flier on the board at Lennon’s store.”
“I don’t know how you deal with it - teaching so many new riders. I could do it a few times, but after that?” I shookmy head.
He shrugged. “I love kids, so I don’t mind. I think of it as giving them the confidence to keep with it, not let the snobby people in the horse community get to them.”
I let out a small chuckle. “There’s plenty of those to go around. Gotta toughen those kids up.”
He nodded once before Travis whistled to get everyone’s attention. We ambled over to him, joining the others and forming a circle. Lettie stood on the opposite side from me. I shot her a wink and her cheeks flushed before she looked away.
“I know we don’t usually leave halters on them, but since they’re going out in the pasture, I want to make it easier on us to catch them.” Reed shot a look at Brandy, which she promptly ignored, her chin held high. “We’re going to use some of the cattle fences to corral them toward the gate, but if any spook, you drop the gate. Don’t need anyone getting hurt. Got it?” We all nodded in agreement. “We’ve done this over a hundred times at this point. You think something’s going south, you tell someone. You all know the drill. Let’s get ‘em out and get ‘em fed.”
Callan, Lennon, Reed, Travis, and Brandy each grabbed a fence panel, bringing them over to the trailer forming a sort of path in the direction of the pasture gate. Charlotte opened the gate to the pasture, standing post there to close it once they were all in. I followed Lettie to the back of the trailer, where she jumped up on the wheel well to usher them all out once I had the door open.
She nodded to me, indicating she was ready, and I unlatched the door, swinging it wide. Lettie clicked her tongue, swinging her arm through the slat in the trailer to get them moving. All at once, they began shuffling, the trailer swaying with their weight. One by one, they stepped out, trotting in the direction of the pasture.
It seemed to be going smoothly until a little sorrel got turned around, his movements jerky as he pushed past the others in the opposite direction. I swung my arm before he could get back in the trailer, which caused him to spin, his back end slamming into the fence panel Brandy was holding up. The force of it caused her to stumble back but she stayed upright, bracing herself on the panel.
Once all six of the horses were in the pasture, Charlotte swung the gate shut, latching it. Seeing that all the horses were corralled, Brandy dropped the panel, bending over with her hand gripping her opposite wrist.
Reed heard the panel fall and dropped his when he saw Brandy bent over, rushing over to her. “What happened?” he demanded.
Brandy’s eyes were on her hand as she pressed her lips together, a look of pain on her face.
“That horse’s ass crushed her hand,” Lettie answered for her as she jogged over.
“Is it broken?” Lennon asked after Callan grabbed his fence panel from him, bringing them over to the stack along the barn wall.
Reed reached for Brandy’s forearm, pulling it up to look at her hand. From where I stood, I could see her finger bent at an odd angle, the skin already turning a slight shade of purple.
Reed cursed as Brandy pulled her arm out of his grip. “I’m fine.”
“Don’t look fucking fine, Brandy. Get in the truck,” Reed demanded.
“I’m not getting in your damn truck,” she spit at him.
“I can take her,” Callan offered as he made his way over to us.
Reed shot daggers at Brandy, but she jumped at Callan’s offer. “Thank you, Cal.”
He nodded, setting his hand on the small of Brandy’s back to lead her in the direction of his truck. Reed practically had fire in his eyes as he watched Callan and Brandy walk away, his gaze trained on where Callan’s hand was touching her.
Travis patted Reed on the shoulder as he walked past. “Stuff like that happens, son. Come on, let’s eat. She’ll be back in a couple of hours. Probably only needs a splint.”
Reed didn’t follow his dad as he stood there watching Callan help her into the truck.
“She knows the risks, Reed. Stop being such a hard ass,” Lettie said to him as she walked to the porch, climbing the steps.
He didn’t move until Callan drove past us, then proceeded to stomp off in the direction of the house, his movements stiff. I didn’t know what the problem between Reed and Brandy was other than Reed thought she was a bad influence, but it was starting to seem like there was something more to it.
Choosing to move past that, I joined the rest of the Bronsons on the porch, pulling out the chair beside Lettie at the table.
