Sit. Stay. Love.

by Karis Walsh

  Alana followed him back to the barn, keeping part of her attention focused on the ground in front of her and the rest on swiping through videos on her phone.

  Chapter Two

  Tegan Evans glanced at the passenger next to her as she drove her Jeep along Highway 82. Desiree had been her assistant since the beginning of the year, acting as both receptionist and vet tech in Tegan’s small practice, but Tegan still barely knew her. When she had first decided to hire a young intern, she had imagined herself in the role of mentor or older and wiser sister. Sharing her passion for her job and her wisdom as she nurtured a future vet. All she had learned so far could be found on Dez’s résumé—she was a student at Yakima Valley Community College and lived with her family in the city. And she was obviously enthralled by her cell phone.

  Tegan cleared her throat, but Dez merely sighed and continued to tap her screen. They spent most of their farm-call days driving through areas with poor or no cell reception, so she must have had a pile of games loaded on her phone to keep her occupied.

  The subtle throat clearing was useless, so Tegan tried a more direct approach. “Why don’t you put that thing down for a while? We could make it a work rule. No phones in the car, unless it’s business related.”

  “Would you rather I just stared out the window while you drove?” Dez asked, not looking up or pausing in her eternal tapping.

  Tegan glanced around them. She had no trouble spending hours admiring the million shades of reds, browns, and golds in the hills around Yakima, or interpreting the signs of past volcanic activity from the shape of the basalt formations thrust out of the ground. “You don’t have to stare out the window in silence. I thought we could talk.”

  “Talk? To each other?” Dez looked at her as if she’d suggested they moon the people in the car next to them. “About what?”

  Tegan ignored her incredulous tone. At least Dez was looking at her and not at the phone. “Well, we could discuss the Connors’ gelding. Fascinating case. He looked dead lame in his near hind leg, but the X-rays were clean. Turned out, he was having back spasms and it had nothing to do with his leg at all.”

  “I know. I was there.”

  Tegan sighed. “Yes, I’m aware of that. But it’s an interesting topic, don’t you think? The way pain can present in unexpected ways, so we need to figure out the true cause.”

  “What else have you got?” Dez asked, her attention straying back to her phone.

  “Well, when I was in vet school, we were treating a sheep that was losing weight for no obvious reason—”

  Dez made a sound like a game show buzzer. “No work talk.”

  “Okay then, when I was young and being an obnoxious little brat during car rides, my grandparents would have me look for different shapes in rocks, like some people do with clouds.”

  Dez rolled her eyes and returned her full focus to her phone. Tegan was looking at the road ahead and couldn’t actually see the eye rolling, but she practically felt the air in the car shift as if moved by the very force of it.

  Tegan gave up her attempts at conversation and instead tuned the radio to a country station and turned up the volume despite the heavy static. She didn’t particularly care for the music, but it had the desired—if childish—effect of making Dez fish some earbuds out of her pocket and glare at Tegan as she stuck them in her ears. Tegan just grinned and sang loudly along with the song even though she didn’t know the words or any of the upcoming notes. She saw a hint of amusement as Dez’s mouth quirked in a half smile.

  Tegan subsided into humming quietly. She was going to have to give up the vision of an adoring intern trotting after her and jotting down every word that came out of her mouth, at least until Dez quit. Tegan certainly wasn’t going to fire her, especially after struggling through Dez’s three predecessors. At least Dez was usually on time, friendly enough with clients, and competent with all sorts of animals since she had grown up with a menagerie of chickens, dogs, and goats. Incessant snark was her least charming attribute, but Tegan could live with it.

  It was disappointing that Dez didn’t seem to share her interest in vet work, but few people did. Tegan’s grandparents listened to her case histories, but more because they loved her than because they were interested in the details of her job. Her friends were the same way, indulging her need to talk about her passion for animals in the same way she politely listened to them talk about movie stars or soccer. And Tegan had quickly learned not to bring up anything work-related with her last girlfriend. Fay had been bored to death in Yakima, only coming here to work at a winery and make connections in the industry, and anything related to the city was off-limits in conversations. Since most of Tegan’s life had been spent here, with only a few years in Pullman, Washington, for vet school, she had needed to carefully monitor everything she said, sticking to topics like books and travel and avoiding anything more personal.

  Tegan turned onto the driveway leading to Chip’s ranch. Fay was long gone now, and Tegan’s life had returned to normal. If she felt a little stagnant at times, it was okay. Better than living with the uncertainty and impermanence that sort of relationship could bring.

  She parked in front of the log building and opened the back end of her Jeep where she had stowed a tote full of predrawn syringes. She handed it to Dez, who had miraculously stuffed her phone in her back pocket, and picked up a box full of paste dewormers.

  “Hey, Doc Evans. Good to see you,” Chip said, bypassing the steps and jumping off the porch to shake her hand.

  “Hi, Chip. How’s construction coming?”

  “Oh, you know…” he said, letting the sentence trail off, unfinished. “But you’ll get to meet my new wrangler today. I mean, Activity Coordinator. She’s awesome. She’s smart, worked in some really fancy hotels. She’s down at the barn now, waiting for you.”

  “That’s great, Chip,” Tegan said, forcing a smile even though his comments concerned her. Over the past few weeks, she had met two of his previous brilliant new trail guides, and she had been less than impressed by them. The third one hadn’t even bothered to come to Yakima before quitting. Now he had hired someone from a fancy hotel? She must have some reason—and probably a shady one—for trading in that lifestyle for one on a nonfunctioning ranch in the country.

  “Just vaccinations today?”

  “Yes, and deworming. Plus I’ll need to check Penny’s teeth.” Tegan noticed the tight lines around Chip’s mouth, even though his smile never wavered. Feeding and caring for the horses was a constant drain on his resources, especially since absolutely no income was being generated by the ranch. He might have been able to keep the trail riding venture going even before he opened the guest rooms, but without someone qualified to lead the rides—or at least someone who stuck around for more than a week—the horses were left to while away their days in the corrals.

  She gestured with the box she was holding. “Deworming’s on the house this time, though. I found this box in one of my storage rooms, and it needs to be used right away. It’d just be going to waste otherwise.”

  “Wow, that’s great. Although you know I’d pay for anything the horses need, of course.”

  “I know, Chip. Come on, Dez.” Tegan didn’t want to linger, since Dez looked like she was about to say something. She reached out and grabbed Dez’s sleeve, tugging her along the path leading around the main lodge.

  “We stopped on the way here and bought those tubes of dewormer,” Dez said, luckily once they were out of earshot of Chip.

  Tegan shook her head. Chip would never accept discounts or any other financial assistance from her, so she had to find creative ways to help him. She had spent four years trying to do something about the condition of the horses in this trail string, including offering her services for free and trying to get the local authorities involved, but she had been unsuccessful. She had been forced to stand by and watch the animals drop weight and suffer from dirty living conditions and poor treatment. Then Chip had come along with his dre
am of starting a ranch and had bought the horses along with the land. He’d been as appalled as Tegan at their situation, and now the animals were healthy and safe. Tegan would do whatever she could to help Chip keep them that way. If he couldn’t get the ranch going soon, who knew what the next owner would be like.

  “You said you didn’t want to talk about work, remember? Besides, I forgot. I must have been thinking about another box I found.”

  “Old softie.”

  Tegan was about to deny it, but she caught sight of Chip’s new employee and completely lost her train of thought. The woman was standing next to a hitching post, holding a purple halter upside down and staring at a phone propped on top of a pole. She was dressed casually in gray sneakers and a matching cardigan, with a pale blue shirt and dark-washed designer jeans. Her short hair was straight and blond, with long bangs she occasionally swiped out of her eyes.

  Tegan absolutely believed the fancy hotel part from Chip’s description of his new employee. She had a much harder time picturing her leading a trail ride on one of Yakima’s dry and dusty trails. Beauty aside—and Tegan was trying desperately to ignore how lovely she was—this woman did not look like she was going to stick around long enough to help Chip’s business.

  She chided herself mentally for making snap judgments. Just because someone didn’t look like a stereotypical ranch hand didn’t mean they weren’t qualified to do a good job. She needed to at least give the newcomer a chance to prove herself. She didn’t want to see Chip go through another staff change, or—especially—see these horses get passed along to a new owner who might not care as much about them as she and Chip did. She pushed aside her misgivings and walked closer. “Hello. I’m Tegan Evans, the vet. Chip said you were going to help us vaccinate the horses today.”

  The woman whirled around to face her with a startled expression on her face. Her eyes were the same light blue as her shirt, a color that could have appeared superficial, but instead managed to have a surprising depth. She snatched her phone off the post and put it in her jeans pocket. “Yes, I am. He said you needed me to halter and hold the horses, but not give them shots, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Good. I can do that. I’m Alana Brendt.”

  Tegan shook the hand Alana offered, marveling at the feel of it in her own. Soft skin, a firm grip. Short, neat nails. Nice for touching, but not indicative of someone who did any work outdoors. Tegan was aware of her own ragged nails and calloused palms, her hands chapped from constant washing and disinfecting. Alana didn’t seem to have handled anything rougher than a ballpoint pen in her life.

  She stepped away from the intoxicating scent of Alana’s complex and spicy—and likely ridiculously costly—perfume and pulled a metal clipboard out of the tote Dez had put at her feet, gesturing toward the paddocks with it. “Let’s start with Blaze and Trooper,” she said. “Lead the way.”

  Alana started walking, then stopped and shook her head. “Blaze and Trooper? I’m not sure which ones they are. I just got here about an hour ago.”

  “I’ll show you,” said Dez, walking through the barn and stopping in front of a paddock to grab a halter. She handed the second one to Alana. “If we each catch one, we can get out of here twice as fast.”

  “All right,” Alana said, tossing the purple halter she had originally been holding onto the ground and taking the one Dez gave her. She followed her into the corral, leaving the gate standing wide open behind her. Tegan sighed in exasperation, closing the gate just in time to thwart Trooper who had spotted the open doorway and was heading toward it. Dez looped her lead rope over Trooper’s neck and held him still while she slipped his halter on and buckled it in place. Alana attempted to do the same with Blaze, furtively watching Dez and clearly trying to mimic her actions.

  Oh, this was not good.

  Tegan marched over to Alana and tugged Blaze’s rope out of her hands. “This is backward,” she said, undoing the halter and flipping it around. “This short strap goes under his chin, not up the middle of his face.”

  “Right, I know,” Alana snapped at her. “I’m sorry, but like I said, I just got here. I’m feeling jetlagged.”

  “Jetlagged enough to forget how to put on a halter? Did you fly in from Australia?”

  “Philadelphia.”

  “That’s five hours. Who gets seriously jetlagged from a five-hour flight?”

  “I made a teeny mistake. What’s the big deal? The horse survived. Look at him—I think he slept through the whole thing.”

  Tegan was furious. This damned woman was obviously conning Chip for some reason. He was a nice guy and didn’t deserve it, but most importantly, these horses would suffer if he had to sell the place and they got another owner like their previous one. She needed to find out what was going on, and then decide what she should tell Chip. Could he survive another staff change? If he kept putting off his grand opening, he’d be bankrupt.

  Dez was watching the heated exchange with curiosity, and Tegan wished she would go back to playing with her phone. She shook her head and stalked over to get a syringe from the tote. She’d get her work done first and deal with Alana later, after she’d had time to think things through. She stepped back to Blaze and quietly muttered instructions to Alana, trying to keep Dez from overhearing.

  “Put your left hand here. Don’t pull on the rope, just hold it taut. Watch your feet because he might step forward when he feels the needle prick.”

  She quickly gave injections and deworming paste to both horses before shouldering Alana out of the way and unbuckling Blaze’s halter.

  “Hang it up like this. Never just drop a halter on the ground like you did with this one because a horse can step on it and get tangled. And never, never forget to shut gates behind you.”

  After her initial outburst, Alana remained silent. Tegan’s anger melted away a little more with each paddock because the expression on Alana’s face confused her. She didn’t seem like someone mean-spirited or conniving. She obviously barely knew one end of a horse from another, but she listened to every instruction and didn’t need to be told anything twice. By the third corral, Tegan was able to do her job without speaking a word to Alana. The silence wasn’t a comfortable one, but the three of them started working together efficiently enough to at least make the visit a short one.

  Chip showed up just as they were about to enter Penny’s paddock. “Everything going okay?” he asked, smiling so hopefully that Tegan didn’t have the heart to voice her concerns. She’d have to sit down with him sometime this week and have a heart-to-heart, but not now. Maybe Alana would quit in the next day or two and save her the trouble.

  “We’re just about done,” Tegan said, avoiding his question.

  “Then maybe you won’t mind if I steal Alana away from you? I wanted to get her opinion on some furnishings for the rooms.”

  “Not at all. Dez and I can take care of Penny. See you later.”

  Alana followed him away from the corrals, not bothering to look at Tegan or say good-bye to her. Looking at bedroom furnishings seemed like a more suitable job for her than being a caretaker for the horses, so why had she even bothered to take this job? Tegan knew exactly how much it paid. One of the main perks of the position was regular access to horses and trails, which would be a nice bonus for someone with a passion for riding and the outdoors, but not for a non-horseperson like Alana seemed to be.

  “That was weird,” Dez haltered Penny as she spoke and maneuvered her against the fence to keep her still during her exam. “At first she seemed to have forgotten how to put a halter on. She got better fast, though, so maybe she was just joking around.”

  “Maybe,” Tegan said noncommittally. Unlikely. The only reason Alana seemed more competent as they had moved from one paddock to the next was because Tegan had told her what to do and she’d listened. Tegan took a deep breath, smelling the aromas of animals and a barnyard. Those were usually scents she liked because they were constant parts of her day, but she found herself
strangely missing the unfamiliar fragrance of Alana. The citified smells of sophisticated perfume and expensive shampoo should make her run in the opposite direction, not tempt her to trot after the source like a hound after a fox.

  “She’s pretty, though,” Dez said, as if sensing the detour Tegan’s thoughts had taken.

  Tegan avoided eye contact as she carefully slid her hand into Penny’s mouth to check her teeth for rough edges. Pretty wasn’t sufficient. Gorgeous, maybe. Jaw-droppingly beautiful, perhaps? She gave Dez what she hoped was a casual shrug. “Was she? I didn’t notice.”

  “Mm-hmm.” Dez’s voice oozed skepticism. “I could see you not noticing. Especially the way you blushed when you shook her hand. Or the way you kept touching her, like when you put your hands on her hips to move her to the other side of Cookie.”

  “Ouch! Damn it.” Tegan carelessly got her finger bitten by Penny as she was pulling her hand free. “Her teeth are fine, so go ahead and turn her loose. And the next time I complain about us not talking enough, please remind me of this conversation.”

  Dez gave Tegan one of her rare grins. “You’re the boss.”

  Chapter Three

  Alana turned off the engine and sat in the cab of the truck, folding her arms over the steering wheel and resting her forehead on them. She hadn’t had a moment to herself since Chip had called her away from the vet, and she needed to try to process what had happened today. She felt too mentally exhausted and confused to figure out what was going on, though.

  She gave up and got out of the pickup, pulling her suitcase off the passenger seat and propping it next to her as she stared at her new home. In her previous jobs, she had been housed on-site, staying in the hotels where she worked and enjoying the privileges of laundry service and restaurant meals. Her rooms had been tiny, but low-maintenance and cheap. She had thought she’d have the same type of living arrangements here in Yakima, but apparently that was yet another erroneous assumption on her part.