“HEY.” Sam jogged over to Mia, calling out as he approached. She turned, eyes wide, looking so vulnerable his first instinct was to move closer and wrap his arms around her. She’s not your girlfriend. He balled his fists and smiled instead, hoping he looked sympathetic.
“It’s not looking great,” she said, voice so quiet he wouldn’t have recognized it as being hers if she hadn’t been standing in front of him. “The ranch hands were moving some cattle past, two young bulls had broken through a fence overnight and were close by to Tex. He clearly didn’t like them being near him, and he flipped out. He was caught in the fence and thrashing about and no one could help him. They just had to wait until he got himself unstuck, and he really did a job on his legs.”
“Hell,” he grumbled, moving past Mia to lean on the fence and take a closer look.
Tex was standing, looking miserable, pressed up against the fence and sulking. Sam could see blood dripping from his knee, but it was more matted than flowing freely now, and he had a few other cuts and scrapes from what Sam could see.
“He doesn’t look so bad,” Sam said, turning back to Mia.
“You haven’t seen him walk yet.”
Shit. Sam sighed, looking from her to the horse. “I’m sorry. I know how much he means to you.”
“What do we do?” she asked, her voice husky and full of emotion. “I just don’t want to give up on him when you’re finally seeing some progress.”
Sam folded his arms, refusing to get closer to her. This wasn’t his horse, it was hers, and he wasn’t supposed to be emotionally invested.
“Has the vet gone?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yup. Pretty much told me he’d come back to euthanize him. I could have asked my friend Kat to come over, but she’s not a big animal vet and I didn’t want her putting herself in danger.”
Sam could have killed the vet right now, but he knew that his hadn’t exactly been an unreasonable response. No one should have to risk their life to administer care to an animal.
“I’ll go and take a look at him,” Sam said, before turning back to her. “No, you know what? Let’s both go in.”
Mia didn’t look convinced. “You’re sure?”
“I want to check him over, then leave him for the night. He can sulk and feel sorry for himself, and we can tend to him again in the morning if he’ll let us.”
He could see Mia’s throat move as she gulped, but he didn’t pause to offer comfort. Instead Sam slipped through the fence and held out his hand, guiding her through and keeping hold of her a few beats too long, her palm warm and soft against his.
“I’m going to treat him like I always do, act like nothing has happened,” he explained. “But I want you as my eyes and ears, okay? No agitating him, just soothe and keep a watch on his face for me, so you can see any change in his temper or pain levels. And stay close.”
Sam moved toward the stallion, careful with his eye contact and keeping his movements slow and predictable. He didn’t want to do anything to alarm him. He quickly realized that the wounds that looked the worst were in fact ugly but probably superficial. The blood would dry up, the puffing would go down, but it didn’t explain his lameness.
Tex moved a few steps then and Sam cringed. “Christ,” he swore, before offering comfort to the horse. “You’re okay, bud. Just gonna take a little look.”
Tex was scowling, his top lip pulled back in a sneer that told Sam he was one step away from having the horse’s teeth lodged into his arm. He stood, watching, assessing, thinking.
Holy shit.
Sam backed up a few paces and indicated to Mia to follow him. She looked worried.
“I don’t know how I never thought of this,” he said. “Damn rocks for brains,” he muttered.
Mia stared at him quizzically. “What?”
“He had that huge fall, a fall that he managed to survive, but do we know what treatment he received?” Sam asked. “I mean, how well was he looked after? Who worked on him?”
“I don’t understand,” Mia answered. “There was a vet on site, he was checked over immediately and treated. He wasn’t left with any injuries that I’m aware of, because money wouldn’t have been an object.”
“Treated for what could be seen,” Sam said, “just like we’re looking at some gory injuries right now that need attention, but will probably heal just fine on their own.”
Mia looked perplexed. “I’m not following.”
“He’s in pain,” Sam said, glancing back at the horse and feeling for him, seeing the look on his face that told him how stupid he’d been not to see it in the first place. “He’s turned from happy to grumpy, and he’s only gotten worse. I suspect he’s dealing with chronic pain that’s made him, excuse my language, given him that fuck you attitude.”
Mia’s eyes widened. “How could I not have thought of that?” she murmured.
“Horses have accidents, but we expect more from their bodies than we do from ours. He’s possibly lived with pain for years now, and this accident has made everything worse for him. To get him to trust again,” Sam said, “we need to treat the root of his problems.”
Mia laughed, the noise a cross between happy and hysterical. “So what exactly do you suggest we do, horse whisperer?”
He leaned in, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face. When her eyes met his he smiled, letting himself go with it instead of pulling away. “I say that I call in all the favors I have, and get the best massage and physical therapist there is here to work on him. I think cold laser therapy might help, too.”
Mia paled, her eyes shutting for just longer than a blink. “You expect someone else to get near him?”
He shrugged. “I don’t care whether he needs sedation before every treatment. If this is his last chance, then we’re going to give him a damn good shot of living past the end of the month.”
Mia leaned into him, her head to his shoulder as they both looked toward Tex. Sam slung his arm around her, content to stand there and stare. Mia was calming, made him feel that after so long pretending to be someone that didn’t come naturally to him, he was finally having the chance to be himself.
“Sorry I had to call you over,” she said.
Sam dropped a kiss into her hair. “Trust me, it’s fine. I was getting a hard time from my brother-in-law, so it wasn’t exactly a hard decision to leave.”
“Still,” she said, turning to him, tongue darting out to moisten her lips in a move he doubted she even knew was so tantalizing to him. “I feel bad dragging you away.”
Sam glanced at his watch, saw that it was almost four now, and he didn’t particularly want to call on his contacts and beg for special favors late on a Sunday afternoon.
“You know, there’s something you could do to make it up to me,” Sam murmured, claiming Mia’s mouth before she had time to reply.
“Oh yeah,” she mumbled against his lips. “I can’t imagine what that would be.”
The sun was hot, her lips were pillowy, and her body pressed to his was warm. He couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend his evening than with Mia.
“You want to come back to the house with me?” she asked when he pulled back and smiled down at her.
“Sounds like a damn good idea to me.”
* * *
The next day, Mia stood and watched as Sam edged close to Tex, holding a needle that the vet had decided was much better off in Sam’s hand than his own. Tex was calmer today, but it didn’t take a trained veterinarian to see that the horse was miserable.
“This the horse I’m here to see?”
Mia turned and came face to face with a middle-aged woman with a big smile, holding a case in one hand, her other extending out.
“Yes. I’m Mia,” she said, shaking hands and introducing herself. “And over there is Tex. We’re just waiting for the sedation to kick in.”
The woman frowned. “Tina. Pleased to meet you. I’m not happy about the sedation, but I trust Sam enough to know that if he says we can’t touch a horse without that, he’s more than likely right.”
Sam appeared then, leaving Tex to relax. “If you want to keep all your limbs and avoid teeth marks, then I’m definitely right,” he said with a chuckle, enveloping Tina in a big hug. “I owe you big time, thanks for coming.”
Tina’s smile was warm. “He tell you that he worked wonders on a young filly of mine? I always told him I owed him anything and everything, so I guess this makes us even, huh?”
Sam laughed. “Yeah, if you manage to help this big guy then we’re more than even.”
Mia noticed that Tex’s bottom lip was droopy, which told them all that he was starting to relax.
“Is there anything we need to do to help you?” Mia asked.
“I’ll have both of you in there with me so I can focus on my work and not worry about what he’s doing,” Tina said. “Sam, you clip his lead rope on and keep hold of it, and Mia, you can be my eyes and ears.”
Within minutes they were all in position, and she watched as Tina started to massage Tex, her movements strong and purposeful. She hadn’t doubted for a moment that Sam’s friend knew what she was doing, but seeing her in action was impressive.
“Will he feel any relief straight away?” Mia asked quietly, never taking her eyes off the horse.
“Look, it’s hard to know,” Tina replied as she worked over his hindquarters. “From what I can feel already, we’ve got something deep going on in his back end, and if he’s out in other places and has been for years? It could be that he gets worse before he gets better; then again he might feel relief. I’ll do my best today, and follow this up with the cold laser therapy, and that should definitely provide some pain relief. But I’m warning you that he may need treatment over a long period of time if the issues are as deep as I suspect they are.”
Mia traded glances with Sam and then watched Tina work. It took an hour for her to finish, and Mia noticed she had a bead of sweat across her forehead from the physical work. Within moments she’d retrieved the case she’d been carrying and was holding a machine, which Mia guessed was the cold laser. It was something she’d read about but not seen used before.
“I’d usually alternate treatments, but given the state of this horse and the fact he’s been sedated, I think we’re better to do as much as we can today to help him.”
Tex had moved a little, less floppy looking than he’d been before, but the moment Tina put the machine on his hindquarters, the area she’d flagged as a potential problem, the horse’s bottom lip hung down again, the ultimate sign of relaxation. Mia didn’t doubt he was enjoying it.
“I love this treatment because the horses respond so well,” Sam told her, voice low as he stroked Tex’s neck. “My old mare just stands there, no need to even head collar her, she’s so relaxed having the treatment done. This could be a breakthrough for this one.”
“I hope so,” she answered, watching still, hoping and praying that this was the miracle they needed. Because time was fast running out.
Once the laser treatment was finished, Mia let Sam walk Tina out and she stood and stared at the stallion. She’d done everything she could, she knew that, but giving up on him would be heartbreaking, and no matter what anyone said, it was a promise she’d made that she didn’t ever want to break.
“What are you thinking about?” Sam asked, surprising her, his arms looping around her from behind. She grinned when he rested his chin to the top of her head, making her feel ridiculously short beside him.
“Just about Tex. I really hope it works for him.”
“Me too,” Sam said, and she knew he meant it. He was already seriously invested in the horse, and she doubted he’d like to admit defeat with any project. “What do you say to dinner tonight? I hear there’s this little Tex-Mex place not far from here.”
Mia leaned back against him, his face now beside hers as she snuggled into him. “Been doing some research have you?” she asked.
Sam laughed. “Actually I was just thinking it’d be nice to take you out instead of you having to cook. What do you say?”
“I say that sounds fantastic,” she said honestly, spinning in his arms. “And if you want to feed my horses for me while I go make myself look beautiful, that’d be even better.” Mia gave him a quick kiss then broke free from his hold, walking backwards.
“Hey, isn’t that what grooms are for?” he grumbled.
She grinned. “Don’t have one. Sorry!”
Sam was grinning straight back at her as she left him to do her chores for her, knowing he wouldn’t mind throwing her horses their hay. Especially if it meant not having to sit on her sofa waiting for her to get ready to go out.