“Sorry.” But they had to open it up to make sure any bacteria got flushed away. “Just another minute here.” He squirted on some of the gentle soap he kept around for the animals and lightly scrubbed the wound.
Emery winced but didn’t make a sound.
Mack leaned in, holding Emery’s hand, telling her how strong and brave she was.
Nash watched out of the corner of his eye as he thoroughly cleaned the wound. He hadn’t pegged Mack for the nurturing type.
Yes, he’d judged her, assuming she was one of those rich career-obsessed types, but compassion seemed to pour out of her. Mackenzie Benson definitely surprised him.
“Looks like we’ve got it clean enough.” He gently shifted Emery’s leg back to the countertop and wiped it dry with a sterile towel. “Just need to give you a little shot and stitch it up and it’ll be as good as new.”
He found the supplies he needed and got everything set up while Mack distracted Emery by telling her their plans for the nonprofit at the ranch.
He warned the woman before giving her the shot, but Mack blocked Emery’s view of the needle and the two women continued talking while he tediously bound up her wound stitch by stitch.
Just as he was tying off the last one, his aunt blitzed through his front door. “Emery! Are you all right?” She ran over and peered at the stitches. “When Mack called me, I couldn’t believe it. It was that horrible Larry Coombs, wasn’t it? He’s the reason you’re hurt! That man is trouble!”
“It sounds like she had a run-in with Larry.” Nash finished the last stitch and dressed the area with gauze, taping it all in place. “She’ll be fine. I’ll call the sheriff to talk about Larry and the pony, but she’d like to stay out of that mess.”
“Of course.” His aunt nodded in her thoughtful way. “Yes. That’s perfect. Did Larry know it was you taking the pony?” she asked Emery.
“I don’t think he got a good look at me. I had my hood pulled up over my head and he was pretty far away.”
“Well, that’s a relief. Just to be safe, I think you should stay here with us while you recover,” Agatha insisted. “We need to keep an eye on that leg.”
Usually, he didn’t love his aunt inviting people to bunk up at the ranch, but in this case it might not be a bad idea. Then he could at least change the dressing and keep an eye on her wound to make sure it didn’t get infected.
“That’s okay. Really.” Emery hopped down off the counter. “You guys have done more than enough for me already.”
Nash started to put away his supplies. “She’s right. We really should keep an eye on it. At least for a few days. I’d feel terrible if you got an infection.”
Especially since he probably should’ve forced the hospital issue. “You can take the guest room at Agatha’s and Mack can stay here.” The words were out of his mouth before he even realized what he was saying.
A collective pause seemed to seize the room. Mack stared at him wide-eyed. He could only imagine he looked just as stunned.
“Uh. Yes. Right.” The woman seemed to recover enough to collect her jaw from the floor. “Of course. You should stay, Emery. I can sleep here…”
It almost sounded like a question. “The guest room is nice,” he said quickly. “It’s on the other side of the house from my room. There’s a lot of privacy. You can’t even hear much from the bedroom…” And that was enough. All three women stared at him. He should really stick to being the strong silent type.
“It’s decided then.” Agatha always seemed to know when to rescue him. “Come on.” His aunt slipped an arm around Emery’s shoulders and helped her to the front door. “You and I will drive to your place and gather some of your things while Nash and Mack tend to the pony.”
Right, the pony. They had another patient waiting for them. Good. That would be the perfect distraction right about now.
“I think the poor thing has a bad sore on his back leg,” Emery informed him, gimping along with his aunt. “I noticed it when I first saw him.”
“We’ll take good care of him,” he promised.
After Agatha and Emery had slipped out the front door, somehow the silence seemed to grow louder.
He turned to Mack, ready to start doing some serious backpedaling. “You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to. We can figure out something else. I thought it would be good, but you don’t have to.”
He shouldn’t have sprung that on her and put her on the spot like that. Just because he’d enjoyed their dinner didn’t mean she did. Or that she wanted to be forced to spend more time with him…
“It’s fine.” Mack gazed up at him with a crooked smile that only reminded him how soft her lips were. Soft and delicious…
“Like you said, I’ll have my own space,” Mack shrugged. “We won’t have to hang out all the time.”
“Exactly. We don’t have to hang out all the time.” Though he’d started to enjoy her company more than he was comfortable with.
Chapter 12
Okay, so she was bunking up with Nash.
That wasn’t weird. Nope. Totally normal. Yesterday they’d hardly spoken to one another but today they were moving in together. Sort of.
There’d be space of course, but would she run into him on her way to the shower? Or on her way out of the shower? Would she see him in his underwear again?
Her cheeks burned. The memory of seeing him in his boxer briefs had yet to cool down.
“Ready?” The man opened his front door for her, weighted down by heavy bags of supplies he’d gathered from around his house and the garage.
“I can carry something.” Mack stepped out onto the deck, trying to take some of the burden off him, but he tromped past her.
“I’ve got it.”
They walked side by side across the meadow with Jasper ambling between them. Dusk had settled, and the only daylight that remained was a lavender hue right at the edge of the peaks in the distance.
“Do you think the pony will be okay?” she asked, trying to prepare herself for the worst.
When she’d walked the creature to the stable, the sweet thing collapsed into the dirt like he was exhausted. She’d gotten him some hay to munch, but he hadn’t seemed all that interested.
“I’m not sure yet.” Nash paused outside the stable door and started setting down the bags. “I only saw him for a minute, but he obviously hasn’t been taken care of.”
Together they crept inside. The pony still lay where Mack had left him—in the far corner. Nash flipped on a light switch illuminating the space.
“Hey there, fella.” He held his hand out, approaching the pony slowly. “I won’t hurt you.” His voice had the most soothing tone. It definitely worked on Mack, but the pony didn’t even lift his head.
Nash took a knee next to the animal and waved her over. “Why don’t you sit next to him? You’re good at the comfort thing.”
“Really?” She crouched on the other side of the pony. “You think so?”
“You had Emery totally distracted while I stitched her up.” The man started unpacking the bag he’d brought in with them. He slung a stethoscope around his neck. “I was impressed with your bedside manner.”
The compliment sparked a cautious happiness. “Your bedside manner isn’t so bad either.”
“Isn’t so bad.” He shook his head at her playfully, reaching out to carefully pet the pony. “That’s the best you can do, huh? Not so bad?”
Well, she surely couldn’t tell him what she really thought, that he was maybe the most intriguing person she’d ever met.
Mack watched him soothe the animal. There seemed to be so many different facets to him. Watching him for the last few minutes with the pony, she could tell he was different with animals than he was with people. “You were pretty good with Emery,” she offered. “You’re just…quiet.”
“I was concentrating.” He slid a grin her way. “And I’m not used to chatting with my patients anyway. Most of them don’t chat back.”
&
nbsp; “Well, you’re really good at what you do.” That was obvious from the way the pony had already started to respond to him. The animal lifted its head, perking his ears.
“How do you know I’m good at what I do?” Nash reached into his pocket and pulled out a carrot, holding it flat in his palm so the pony could gobble it up.
“I watched you stitch Emery up, remember?” He had steady, meticulous hands. They were such a contrast, those hands—careful and precise, but beat up with scars and callouses too. “I’ll bet that cut won’t even leave a scar on her leg.”
Now that the pony had started to engage with him, Nash rose to his knees and seemed to start prodding around the animal’s neck and down his shoulders.
“I have to be precise. Most of the bulls I work with are worth a whole lot of money.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out another carrot, this time offering it Mack.
She took it out of his hand and fed it to the pony. His hairy lips tickled her hand as he snorted and gobbled it up.
Working on bulls worth that much money sounded like a lot of stress. “Do you ever think of setting up your own clinic?”
Maybe it was none of her business, but it seemed like that would solve a lot of problems. If he stayed, Agatha would have the help she needed. “Instead of traveling the circuit, do you ever just want to be home?”
Nash put the stethoscope earpieces into his ears and gently prodded the pony to lie on his side. He was quiet while he listened, moving the round circle to different places on the pony’s stomach. After a few minutes, he pulled off the stethoscope and put it back around his neck.
“I love traveling the circuit. And I worked hard for the position.”
She could understand that. All of the hard work earning her way up in her father’s company was the thing that kept her from thinking seriously about a permanent job change. “So that’s a no on the settling down then?”
“That’s a ‘not right now.’” Nash checked each of the pony’s legs, taking a good long look at the left hind leg.
The animal started to squirm, so Mack leaned closer, stroking its head.
“Is that the sore?” She peeked over and then wished she hadn’t. The large circular mark on the pony’s leg was scabbed and oozing.
“Looks like a burn that was never treated.” Nash’s jaw tightened. “It’s well on its way to being infected.”
He reached for another bag and pulled out some type of antiseptic solution and rolls of gauze. “He’s definitely emaciated. Hasn’t been fed a steady diet. That combined with the infection likely means he’s weak and malnourished.”
“Poor thing.” Mack smoothed her hand over the pony’s matted back. “I don’t understand how someone could be so cruel. How could someone hurt an innocent animal?”
“There’s no understanding it,” Nash said gruffly as he worked to clean the wound. “I don’t try anymore.”
“I’m sure you’ve seen a lot. Especially with the way Agatha seems to take in any creature in need of help.” Mack didn’t want to overstep or risk ruining the rapport they’d built, but this situation was proof of how much difference the ranch could make as a nonprofit.
“Emery knew right where to come when she found that pony. She said Agatha would help. I don’t know what would’ve happened to them if the ranch wasn’t here.”
Nash kept his head bent, still working on the animal’s leg. He had to know what she was getting at.
“Are there a lot of cases of animal neglect around here?” she pressed.
“I don’t know about a lot, but things are different here than they are in Denver. That’s for sure.” He applied a creamy white substance to the burn before carefully winding gauze over and around the pony’s leg.
“People purchase or adopt animals without realizing how much work they’ll be, and then they get them home and can’t care for them.” Dangerous anger simmered in his eyes. “Then there’s another whole set of losers who take out their anger on their animals.”
“So this area needs a place for those animals. A rescue.” She couldn’t stop herself. This was too important. “There needs to be a safe place for people to bring the animals they can’t care for. A good place for people to come to adopt animals and get adequate training on how to take care of them.”
“A place like that would be good.” Nash rifled through another bag and found a syringe. “But I’m not sure my aunt is up for it. Even with a part-time employee or two. Running a place like that will take a whole staff.” His gaze found hers. “And unless I miss my guess, you’re not planning on sticking around.”
“Oh. Well, no. I’m not planning on it.” Then again, she hadn’t planned on this detour in her life either, and it had turned out to be such a blessing. “But I can help from Denver. I can keep doing publicity and trying to find new donors.”
“I need to give the pony a shot of antibiotics.” He brushed back some of the hair on the animals back hip. “Hold him for me.”
Mack did as she was told, hugging the pony while she whispered what a good boy he was. The sweetie only lurched slightly as Nash administered the shot.
The man stashed the empty syringe into a plastic bag and sealed it. “Publicity is great, but I need to know someone will be here to help her with the grunt work. Caring for the animals, training them. Hell, some of the animals that arrive here could be dangerous. They could be terrified of humans. It takes a ton of work to rehabilitate them.”
“Maybe I’ll visit regularly.” She could clear her schedule on the weekends…
He turned away from her and started repacking the bag.
“You don’t believe me.” It shouldn’t hurt. She knew Nash was suspicious, guarded, careful. Of course he didn’t trust her. “I might surprise you, you know.”
“You already have surprised me.” His gaze trailed down to her toes and back up. “But you have a life down in Denver. It’s not that I don’t believe you. I just know how things go.”
“How do things go?” she asked softly.
“You’re busy. You probably work a lot of hours, have a lot of friends who take up your time. I’m sure your family has certain expectations about how much time you spend with them.”
It was like he knew her mother or something. “Everyone has expectations to live up to.” But that didn’t mean she couldn’t help Agatha.
“All I’m saying is it’ll probably be harder to get up here than you think.”
“Maybe.” Or maybe she’d prove him wrong.
The last time his alarm had gone off at three-thirty in the morning, Nash had headed to an arena in Texas to face a full day of work.
He rolled out of bed and pulled on some sweats. No full day today. He’d been home almost two weeks, and he didn’t miss any of it—the days full of check-ups and drug tests and dealing with the bulls’ overbearing handlers.
He’d hardly thought about work at all. Maybe he’d needed a vacation more than he realized. Somehow, he’d felt more relaxed at home than he ever had.
In fact, after he checked on the pony, maybe he’d actually go back to bed and sleep in.
He vaguely remembered the dream he’d been having, which may or may not have involved a certain woman sleeping a few doors away. The details were hazy, but she’d been there, that was for sure. That explained the pent-up need he’d woken with.
Nash did his best to shake off the craving. Friends. They’d decided to be friends who would head their separate ways after this arrangement was over, so there’d be no turning fantasies into reality.
Heading down the hallway, he tried to keep quiet so he wouldn’t wake Mack. Seeing her right now wouldn’t help his current mood. It would only lead to trouble.
Stopping by the front door, Nash pulled on his boots and a fleece coat and stepped out into the cold darkness. Even though summer wasn’t officially over yet, temperatures were already getting down into the low forties at night. Maybe even lower tonight.
He could see his breath puffing out clouds in the
moonlight as he hiked across the meadow. Being back on the ranch was different this time. He didn’t know if it was Mack, or just being away so long, or the fact that he was older and maybe wiser, but it hadn’t gotten to him like it used to.
He used to dread visiting this place. Not because he didn’t want to see Agatha, but because he didn’t want to see everything he’d lost so plainly.
The ranch had been such a part of his dad, so entwined with every memory. Though he’d never admit it to anyone else, he hadn’t really gotten over it. How could you get over a loss like that?
At least while he working and traveling the pain didn’t haunt him so much.
Outside of the stable, Nash stopped and looked down the hill to where the pond sat as still as glass, the moonlight bouncing across the surface.
Maybe the grief would never fully resolve itself, but maybe if he let more good into his life, there was a chance the pain would heal instead of simply grow dull and bitter.
Trying not to startle the pony, he creaked open the stable door and slowly pushed inside. Using his phone as a flashlight, he lit the corner of the stable—
“Mack?” What was she doing in here? Nash moved in closer, She hadn’t realized the woman was asleep. She’d curled up against the wall and the pony’s head rested in her lap. Both of them were snoring.
“Hey.” He shook her lightly. “Wake up.” She had to be freezing. She had on a sweatshirt and some pajama pants along with a pair of tennis shoes, but that wouldn’t be enough to ward off the chill.
The woman’s eyelids fluttered and she sat up suddenly, waking the pony. “What’s wrong? What happened? Is he okay?”
“He seems better than okay.” Nash found it difficult not to laugh. “He seemed perfectly happy sleeping on you.” That had been quite the picture, the two of them snuggled up together.
“I only came out here to check on him,” Mack murmured. “But he looked so sad. I sat down for a while, and then he laid his head in my lap and I didn’t want to move. I guess I fell asleep.” She rubbed her eyes and smoothed her hair away from her face.
This Place Called Home: Includes Bonus Story! (Forget-Me-Not Ranch) Page 11