Page 25 of Sean

“You. He’s gotten increasingly difficult to handle. Mom and I are the only ones who can get near him at all and that can be dicey. He kicked at me the last time I tried to vaccinate him.”

“Is he sick or hurt?” That was often the cause when a horse became unsocial.

“The vet’s been out to check on him, but he couldn’t find anything wrong. Maverick’s wound is not physical. He’s lonely. He misses you, Sean. Can you work with him? Get him to trust people again? You always had the knack of dealing with the tough cases.”

“It’s been a while,” Sean said. He hadn’t even kept a dog in the past years. Taking care of anything other than himself hadn’t been on his agenda.

“You haven’t forgotten what to do,” Tara said. She’d stepped farther back from the stall. “See? He’s coming to investigate. He recognizes you.” Maverick was inching closer to the door despite the fact that his eyes were still wild looking and his ears were pinned almost flat to his skull.

“I’ll see what I can do with him.” He spoke quietly to Tara as he kept his attention focused on the horse.

“Thanks, but Sean?” Tara said.

“Yeah?”

“If you do this, you can’t abandon him again. He’ll never trust another person if you do.” She wasn’t only talking about the horse. She was letting him know that he was getting a second chance with her and the family but that if he blew it, that would be it.

“I understand,” he said.

“I’m going to pick up the girls from school. I’ll be back later.”

“Will they get ice cream?” he teased her, surprised at how easy it felt to slip back into the relationship they’d once had.

She chuckled. “They might. Carrots are in the bucket in the tack room as always,” she said as she walked toward the barn door. “Maverick likes his sweets, but don’t forget that he has powerful jaws.”

“I won’t. And Tara?” He waited for her to turn around. “Thanks.”

Sean stayed just outside of Maverick’s stall, talking softly. It didn’t much matter what he said so long as the tone was right. “You giving people a hard time, old friend? Not nice of you when they’re just trying to make sure you live a good life. And it is a good life here. Lots of pasture to run and roll in. Warm barn on cold nights and plenty of food.”

Maverick shifted even closer, tempting Sean to swing the stall door open. He knew better, though. He’d lose the ground he’d gained in an instant, so he kept talking. “My family is going to make it difficult for me to leave. I guess that’s their right after all this time. I’ve missed them.” He realized how true that was as he spoke the words. He’d missed sparring with Tara and his mother’s use of milk and cookies as a means of interrogation. “I don’t know how to help Emmy. She’s always been the sweetheart of the family, but she seems rudderless.” Maverick inched closer. “And Dad? Well, who knows about that. I should probably take Tara’s advice and talk with him. That’ll be—”

A shadow darkened the barn door. Out of the corner of his eye, Sean saw Julia slip in.

“It’s okay, you can come closer, but slowly,” he said.

“Tara warned me that you were working with a difficult horse.”

“Not so much working as communing at the moment. Trying to rebuild some trust.” The same could be said for him and his family.

“I’m sorry about what happened in the house.” She stepped nearer. Maverick caught her scent and snorted, but he didn’t move away. “I’m causing even more problems for you with your parents and sisters.”

“None of this is your fault, Julia.” He was starting to accept that some of it was his own for having shut his family out of his life.

“I still feel bad. Do you want to talk about it? I probably can’t help, but I can listen,” she offered.

“Thanks, I’m good.” He’d bared enough emotions for the day. And he’d lived, but he was at his limit. “I’m more concerned about Maverick at the moment.”

“Is he your horse?” She edged nearer, thankfully staying quiet and unobtrusive.

“Not really. Maverick belonged to a man who lived in the area and boarded him here. He was too much horse for an older rider, but Wes loved him anyway. Wes had a way with horses. He’d worked at some ranches out west when he was younger. Arthritis got to him in the end, and he reached a point where he couldn’t ride much. He mostly just visited Maverick, so I took to riding him whenever I was home.”

“What happened to Wes?” she asked softly.

“He died. Cardiac arrest in his sleep a few months before my brother was killed.” It hadn’t occurred to Sean that he and Maverick had both been lost in a way, set adrift by losing someone close to them. It had turned them both into snarly loners.

“I’m sorry. Maverick didn’t take it well?” she asked. “I hadn’t realized that horses were so sensitive.”

“They like routine and get used to having the same people care for them. Some horses adjust to change well. Some get there eventually. Other ones, like Maverick here, don’t so much.” He really was like the horse.

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