* * *
“You don’t have to give me all this gear.” Ryder looked at the pile growing bigger with each passing minute. Flynn had taken control and dragged her into the tack room while Ebony fed the lambs with Jake and Alice.
“I don’t use it. We don’t have working horses anymore, Ryder. One old nag doesn’t warrant this amount of gear but I hate to throw anything out. Always going to be someone who can make use of it and that someone right now is you.” He gave her a grin but his eyes were firm and she sensed the determination in that moment. Like his son, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Better to give in gracefully and save her energy for the fights she knew she’d win. One of the things Gabe had taught her, choose your battles well. No point fighting on all fronts when you don’t stand a chance of taking out the numbers.
It was a rule she applied to bringing up her daughter as well. Some battles weren’t meant to be fought and she could accept that. Even someone as young as Ebony had to feel she held the upper hand every now and then otherwise she would grow up feeling defeated before she’d found her place in the world. Ryder wanted her daughter to be a solid citizen. Someone ready to stand for what she believed in and go for it no matter what the obstacles. Time to take her own medicine.
“You know, Flynn, you’re right. Why on earth would you need so much tack when it’s only gathering dust. I appreciate the offer, thank you.” She ran a hand over the dusty saddle, nostalgia hitting her hard. Her and Gabe used to ride a lot when they first met. Trails through the park, hiking in the forest. and camping out. Their lives had been busy with work and with play. Both the outdoorsy type people, they fitted together like a pair of well-worn socks.
“Glad to see I don’t have to fight you for it then. Now, how about brushes and hoof picks and rugs? Bet you don’t have any of them either do you?”
A shadow filled the doorway. Jake leaned his tall frame against the worn timber wall and watched her, a crooked smile on his face as if he knew what he was letting her in for. She owed him one now and if nothing else, Ryder always got payback.
“No, they left nothing behind but the poor horse. Thank you, Flynn.” She watched him gather more items to add to her take home pile. “What’s Eb doing?”
“Sitting amongst the pups. Sorry if we’ve put you in an awkward position, but it’s not a bad idea to have a dog out in the bush. If not only for the company, we get a fair few brown snakes out here. Jessie is brilliant at hunting them out and finishing them off before they get to the stock or the house.”
“Is this your way of trying to convince me to take one, Jake?” She rested her hands on her hips and watched him. She knew she’d hit home with her comment when he glanced at his father, a sheepish look on his face.
“It was all my idea in the first place, Ryder. But Jake is right. Your place is what, eighty odd acres of bush with not that much cleared around the house from what I remember. Probably only a few acres. Bound to be heaps of snakes, to say nothing of the feral cats that are bound to be there.”
“Not sure that warrants a dog left on its own all day, Flynn.” She could feel this argument slipping away, but didn’t want to give up without a fight.
“Dog will be fine in a run as I mentioned yesterday, at least until it finds its own boundaries. We never have to tie up Jessie; she’s not wandered from day one. Faithful breed, they are. Perfect for that little girl of yours.”
“No pressure, right?”
“They won’t be ready for another week or so anyway, so don’t get too wound up about it. Ebony tells me she has to work out what sex her kittens are before she even thinks about a pup. Doesn’t want to unbalance the ying and yang of the farmyard from the sounds of it.” Jake grinned at her and heat crept up her cheeks.
“Just one of her little OCD quirks.” Ryder looked between the men. “Look, I don’t know if I want a dog but since you two are so convincing, we’ll think about it and when the time comes, you’ll be the first to know, okay?”
“Sure.” Flynn winked at Jake and she pretended not to notice it. Was she really that readable?
Jake’s mother wouldn’t let her leave until she’d had lunch and a tour of her front garden. With a full belly and tempted to have an afternoon nap, Ryder said goodbye and buckled Ebony into her car seat.
When she got home, Ryder drove straight down to the barn so she could put out all of the horse equipment Flynn had insisted she take with her. The horse rug went straight onto the railing of the fence so she could try it on Crystal when she came in from her wander in the paddock.
“Climb up on the hay bales and see if mum cat brings out her kittens again. Maybe you can charm them out for a cuddle.”
Eb raced out of the truck and clambered up on a hay bale. When she got to the top, she sat down with a book and a water bottle in her lap to wait patiently for her new friends. She opened a page and started to read aloud, knowing the story word for word because Ryder read it to her almost every night before bed.
Ryder lined up the brushes, combs, and hoof picks along the wall on a support beam and decided to clean out the stable so when the
