“Well, when you put it that way…Okay. I’ll go get supplies.”
“What do you need?”
Hayley stopped to think. “Well, actually, I’m not sure. I haven’t pulled a colic all-nighter before.”
“All-nighter? I didn’t mean—”
“Oh. I thought you—”
“No.”
“…Oh.”
The word landed between them with a dull thud.
Chapter 7
“I didn’t mean—all night.” Daniel’s voice sounded a little strangled to Hayley.
“Oh. I was just going to—to help. You know, keep you alive and all.”
He looked at her, a mystified expression on his face. “I know.”
“Okay. I just—I don’t know—didn’t want you to think I meant something else.”
“Got it.” He ran his hand over his mouth as he passed her again. Great.
She paused, watching him do another circle. The man already looked like he hadn’t slept in days, but did he actually want her to stay and help? Or was his request a pity-invite?
She sighed. “Listen. I came out early for the wedding so I could help. Unfortunately, I have zero qualifications in the domestic department, so I’ve pretty much failed at all wedding-related assignments Kyla’s given me. This is an assignment I can handle.”
“I have no doubt.”
“We both know Cole’s got a full plate tomorrow, and we also both know that you’re going to send him off to bed when he gets back here from the trail. Am I wrong?”
“Nope.”
“You are the master of the short sentence, aren’t you?”
“Yup.”
Hayley growled. “All right. I’ll pull professional rank on you, then. As a fellow vet, I can’t leave you out here all alone all night. I’ll stay out of the way unless you need me, and if you don’t need me, then I’ll just chatter ceaselessly and drive you nuts all night.”
“Sounds like a dream. How could I resist?”
“You really can’t.”
Daniel didn’t speak for a long moment. Then, “Are you always this—I don’t know—”
“Persistent?”
He laughed. “That wasn’t exactly the word I had in mind.”
Hayley turned toward the huge door at the end of the stable. “Think of it this way. You’d be helping me. I’m dying for some big animal time. Dying for it. I have been looking forward to this vacation for”—she pretended to count on her fingers—“approximately eleven months and two weeks. In that time, I haven’t worked with an animal bigger than my head. I need this.”
And, as a side bonus, maybe if I stay up all night with you and Apollo, I can claim exhaustion tomorrow and sneak out of centerpiece duty.
“It wouldn’t have anything to do with getting you out of arts and crafts tomorrow if you stay up all night?”
Gulp.
“Ooh! Hadn’t even thought of that.”
“Right.”
“Am I really that transparent?” She shook her head. “Never mind. Don’t answer that. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Any requests from the kitchen?”
“That depends…“
“Ma’s kitchen.”
“I’ll take whatever she’s offering.”
—
Sometime after midnight, Hayley was sitting on a hay bale outside Apollo’s stall, legs pulled up to her chest, while Daniel walked the horse in big circles up and down the barn hallway. She had no idea what time it even was at this point. They’d inhaled a plate of Ma’s pork roast, mashed potatoes, and green beans hours ago, and had spent the past few hours discussing a study Daniel was dying to enroll in, but just didn’t have the bandwidth to take on.
“So let me guess. You don’t have to do the all-nighter thing much in your practice.” Daniel’s low, rumbly voice made her eyes pop open.
Oops. When had she closed them?
“Not in a really long time, no.”
“You can go to bed, you know. I’m perfectly fine out here.”
She stretched, embarrassed. Here she’d made a case for coming back down to the barn and keeping him awake, and now she was the one falling asleep. “No, I’m good. I just need chocolate. And maybe coffee. Yes, coffee.”
She reached for the Thermos and poured a small glug of coffee into a paper cup. She gulped it, then reached for the bag of cookies Ma had sent down with their dinner. “Want a cookie?”
He reached over to snag one on his way by the hay bale. “Thank you.”
Hayley watched as he led the horse a little further down the barn, increasing the diameter of his circles. She inhaled slowly, loving the smell of hay and horses and summer. And Daniel. A breeze crept through the south end doorway and tickled her hair, and she could hear muffled snorts and stomps as the horses floated in and out of sleep.
It was warm and homey, and she realized with a start that this really was Daniel’s office, of sorts. He didn’t have a standing clinic that smelled like alcohol and medicine and wet pooch. He had this—this glorious life treating animals where they lived, in big open barns on big open ranches in big open Montana.
“What are you smiling at?” He came by again. “Got any more cookies?”
She handed another one over. “I was just thinking how different your office is from mine.”
“And?”
“I might maybe like yours better.”
“I think I do, too, though I’ve never done time on the show circuit, so I might be ill-informed.”
“You’re probably as informed as you need to be. It’s a scary place.”
“You really don’t like it, do you? Is it the animals you hate? Or the owners?”
Hayley paused before she answered.
Good question.
“I don’t hate any of it. Not really. I don’t like the emphasis the show world places on perfection, because that leads to these beautiful little disasters that can’t walk, can’t digest real food, and are practically allergic to themselves.”
She tossed a piece of hay. “And the owners. Omigod, the owners. They are worse than dance moms. Now that is something you definitely don’t have to deal with out here. Can you imagine someone asking you to remove her dog’s toenails because they scratch the granite when she’s eating her lunch on the counter?”
“Please, no.”
“Exactly five days ago. Little bichon named Fabergé.”
“You didn’t—”
“God, no. Of course not.” She laughed when she saw his relieved reaction. “I’m dead serious, though. Little-pet people are…different.”
“Clearly. So what are your options? Can you expand the practice? Get some mutts in?”
“I wish. Unfortunately my schedule is already overbooked, so I can’t really take on any more animals at this point. There’s no space to add another doc to the clinic, either. It’s just a cute little hidey-hole place that you wouldn’t be able to find unless you were looking really hard.”
“Sounds like a classic rock-and-a-hard-place situation.”
“For the near future, yup. My loans are still likely to outlast my life span.”
“Ever thought about leaving the city?”
Hayley looked around her, at the barn lights turned down low, the dust motes gently floating in the pathway of the lights, at the gorgeous man currently taking up too much space in her head.
Not until this week, no.
She cleared her throat. “I don’t know. I haven’t actually given it a lot of thought.”
“Has Kyla ever tried to tempt you out this way?”
“Every other week, yes.”
But she wasn’t nearly as good at it as you apparently are.
He stopped in front of her, and she noticed Apollo’s head was hanging lower and he’d stopped fighting the lead. “Want to take a turn with him?”
She fought the urge to jump up, knowing it might scare the horse. “Really? You think he’ll be okay with me?” She was equal parts nervous and excited at the chance
to handle an animal like Apollo.
“I think so. He’s quieted down, and I could use some coffee.” He handed her the rope, and she stood up slowly, hand on Apollo’s side.
She gave the rope a small tug and turned the giant horse back down the hallway. He put up a token resistance, but she kept one hand on the lead and one on his shoulder, talking softly. She’d never been this close to a horse this big, and for the first time in a really long time, she actually felt small.
Her hands shook a little bit as she walked, but she tried to heed Daniel’s advice and not let Apollo know she was nervous. She could do this. She wanted to do this. She was capable of stepping up her perky-pet game and helping take care of this horse, right? And then Daniel would see that she had some country vet skills, too.
She stopped dead at the end of the barn.
Why did she care what Daniel thought, anyway?
—
Daniel sipped his coffee and took Hayley’s place on the hay bales while he watched her carefully. So far, so good. Apollo wasn’t giving her any trouble, but the poor horse was so tired that he had probably hardly noticed the change of handlers.
Despite her lack of experience, Hayley managed the giant horse with a steady, sure hand. She walked evenly, keeping him moving while allowing him to choose the speed. And what was he hearing? Was she singing to him?
As she got closer, he could make out notes, but no recognizable tune. Then she started to make the turn nearest to him, and he recognized a lullaby from a CD the girls had loved when they were younger.
“What are you singing?”
She looked surprised, like she hadn’t realized she was singing.
“Um. I’m not sure. It’s something I used to sing to”—she stopped, and he noticed her expression change—“I used to sing it all the time.”
He nodded at the horse. “He likes it. Keep singing.”
“I can’t, now that you’re listening.” She headed down the hallway again, and he closed his eyes, enjoying a blessed moment of relaxation. Damn, these nights were going to kill him. Sure, he could have told Cole and Decker they needed to handle things on their own. But Gracie and Bryn were on their weekly overnight with his mom, and he’d finished up his other calls, so in reality, he had the time to help.
Plus, with the wedding only days away, he knew that energy and patience were in short supply at Whisper Creek. They were full up with guests they had to entertain, and having a horse go colicky just wasn’t in the plans.
Hayley’s voice floated toward him in his half daze. “Be careful. If you fall asleep, I might just get right on Apollo and disappear into the night.”
“I wouldn’t do that. He might never bring you back.”
“It would make a great story, though. And Cole and Decker are pretty much waiting for me to create a story, so I’d be fulfilling expectations, right?”
“Apollo’s way more likely to land you in the hospital than give you a relaxing midnight ride.”
“Rats. We’ve been specifically instructed to avoid the hospital. Otherwise I’d be totally game.” Hayley looked at her watch. “Wow. It’s four o’clock in the morning. I haven’t been up this late since…I don’t know when.”
“So Boston actually sleeps at night?”
“Those of us old enough to know better do. I did my time on the late-night circuit. Now I’m older and wiser and all that stuff.” She paused, and he let his eyes close for a second. Just a second. Gracie’d been having nightmares again, which meant any sleep he’d gotten for the past week had been chopped into brief chunks between the dreams.
He swore it was only half a second before her voice popped his eyes open again. “So I know I’m all fierce and brave and was dying to help out here, but could you maybe please not go to sleep yet? This horse is scary-huge.”
Daniel pushed himself up and shook his feet to get his blood pumping. What was he thinking? Hayley specialized in small animals, and Apollo was a far cry from small. “I’m sorry, Hayley. Really.” He reached out for the rope. “Here. I’ll take him back.”
Instead of handing the lead to him, she kept hold and turned the horse toward the other end of the barn again. “No, I’m fine. I am. I can keep him walking. Just maybe stay awake with me, okay? Talk or something.”
“Okay. Absolutely. Good.” He sat back down and poured another cup of coffee from the Thermos. “What should we talk about?”
“Umm, how about Obamacare? Have any opinions?”
“Ha. I’m not talking politics at four in the morning on no sleep.”
“Probably wise. Okay, how about television? Do you have a favorite show?”
“No time to watch, usually. I just catch bits and pieces of everything. How about you?”
“I’m embarrassingly hooked on Nashville’s Next Idol, that country singing competition one.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Seriously? I did not see that coming.”
“Would Extreme Couponing have been less of a surprise?”
“Yes, actually.” Daniel laughed. “I didn’t peg you for a country music fan.”
“Is my Stetson too crisp? Giving me away as a city girl?”
Among other things, yes. “Of course not. You practically scream country.”
“Have you ever watched the show?”
“No.”
She turned Apollo back down the barn. “You should sometime. You might even like it.”
Right. “Sure. Maybe.”
He felt his eyes grow heavy again as he leaned against the wall, and knew if they didn’t keep talking, he might just fall asleep standing up.
Hayley’s voice floated toward him. “Okay, your turn for a question. Doesn’t even have to be a good one. Just anything to help us stay awake.”
Watching her body as she kept passing him, inhaling the sweet scent she left in her wake was giving him plenty of ideas how to stay awake, but they were completely inappropriate. For Christ’s sake, he’d just met the woman, and for double-Christ’s sake, he didn’t do that crap.
Not that he hadn’t had plenty of opportunities since Katie’s death. He’d actually found it disgusting how magnetic a recently-widowed single dad was, and he’d gotten scary good at rebuffing subtle—and not-so-subtle—advances in the past two years.
But Hayley wasn’t making any advances. She was simply his friend’s bridesmaid, out here in Big Sky for two weeks, and then back on a plane. He was one hundred percent sure she had no interest in anything here but the horses, and he needed to stop thinking about her as anything but a casual acquaintance who would be gone before he even knew her.
“Okay, I’ll help you, Daniel. Say ‘what’s your favorite color?’”
An-nd now she wanted to play friggin’ Twenty Questions at four o’clock in the morning. This might be easier if he had any small talk skills whatsoever. He wracked his brain. “I’ll do my own question, thanks. I already know your favorite color’s green.”
“How’d you—”
“Am I right?”
Her eyebrows came together. “Yes. But how?”
“Lucky guess. Okay, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?” Great. Now he sounded like a speed-dating nerd.
“Australia.”
“You didn’t even have to think? Why Australia?”
“Because it is very, very far away from where I do live, and there’s no way I could be expected to make it home for Christmas. Plus, koala bears.”
“Have you ever been there?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I consider myself lucky if I have time to cross into New Hampshire these days.”
“So how’d you swing two weeks all the way out here?”
“I haven’t had a day off since last year when we were here, so I figured I’d earned it.”
He motioned toward Apollo. “And within days, here you are working again. You’re not very good at vacationing, are you?”
“Are you kidding? This is vacation. These are real animals. Do you have any
idea how nice it is to hang out with an animal bigger than my foot? Hollywood needs to stop glamourizing super tiny pets.”
“Totally agree.”
“It’s kind of ironic, since they make such an effort out there to make everything else—bigger.”
Daniel laughed as she held pretend bowling balls to her chest. “Absolutely.”
He watched her gaze out the stable door into the quiet darkness. Then she turned toward him. “So where would you live, if you could go anywhere?”
“Right here.”
“Really? You’re that happy here? You don’t long for tropical white sands? Or the hum of a city? Or koala bears?”
He laughed. “Koalas just sleep all the time. Kind of boring.” He shrugged. “I’m where I want to be. Good people, good everything. And I prefer grizzlies. They’re big and bad and you’ll never catch them sleeping.”
Hayley did three more laps in silence, and he struggled to keep his eyes on the floor as her delicious backside passed into view each time. Was it the late hour? Lack-of-sleep delirium? Why was he suddenly having visions of her beside him in the hayloft, blankets and clothing in a clumsy heap? He stretched his hands, shaking his head as subtly as possible. Sleep deprivation was obviously taking its toll if he was having literal roll-in-the-hay fantasies about a woman he’d just met.
She turned toward him again. Her chatter would border on annoying if it didn’t give him an excuse to watch her gorgeous, full lips.
“Okay,” she said. “Keep talking. Since you’re already freakishly content with where you live, tell me something you wish you could do someday.”
“Hmm. So many ways I could answer that one.”
Especially since my brain has apparently gone on autopilot. Or south.
“Keep it clean, mister.”
He cleared his throat. “Let’s see. I’ve always wanted to learn how to whitewater raft.”
“Seriously? You live out here and you’ve never done that?”
“Never found the time, I guess.”
She made her eyebrows bounce up and down. “It’s not that you’re…scared?”
“Nope. I actually think it would be a rush. Have you ever done it?”
“No. And I have no plans to start now.”
“Scared?” He mimicked her teasing tone.
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