CHAPTER ONE
The horse show was finally over. Spencer yawned for what felt like the millionth time. Her feet hurt, her legs and arms ached, and her brain felt fuzzy with fatigue. She couldn’t wait to get home to her bed and get a full night’s rest, but first she had to help Burr unload the horses and tack.
He backed the long trailer up to the Big Barn’s rear entrance and they stumbled out of the cab. The spring night was cool and crisp and clear. Spencer stopped a moment to find the Big Dipper in the night sky and breath in the familiar smells of the barn. Over two hundred years old, it stood strong and tall, three stories of oak post and beam that had hardened like iron and weathered to a soft, silver gray. The barn was as familiar to her as her own bedroom and equally loved.
“I’ll get the horses if you’ll start with the tack and feed,” Burr called from the rear of the trailer.
“Deal,” Spencer said. She switched directions, opened the tack room at the front of the trailer, and grabbed the first saddle off the hanging racks.
The five day show, the first of the season, had been grueling. Between them Burr and Spencer had put in over one hundred and forty work hours as they cleaned stalls, hauled water and feed to their charges, groomed and tacked, and helped out in general wherever an extra hand was needed. The Rocking Bear Ranch had done itself proud: Iris Peterson’s students had brought home well over half of the top ribbons and trophies.
“Burr, where does this go?” Spencer asked, stifling another yawn as she carried a fancy western saddle into the barn. The saddle leather was heavily tooled and was inlaid with intricate silver work.
She admired the saddle maker’s craftsmanship as she tried to get a better grip on it, but her tired muscles were refusing to cooperate. She staggered a few steps under the saddle’s weight and almost dropped her burden.
“Mmmm,” said Burr, “I think that belongs to a student who never showed for her class. Put it on that rack next to you and I’ll take care of it later. Why don’t you head home, Spencer? We’re almost finished here and I can easily handle the rest. You look beat.”
Spencer glared at Burr. She had very few friends and Burr was her most treasured, not only because he had once saved her life, but because he valued the same things she did. After spending her first year of college with a roommate who believed that clothes and hairstyles and who dated who was what mattered, it was nice to be with someone again who looked beyond all that surface stuff.
“I would love to go crawl into my bed, but it wouldn’t be right to leave you to finish up alone. Besides, that would be admitting that I can’t keep up with you, and we both know that’s not going to happen. Thanks anyw
