Page 29 of When I Forgot Us (Blue River #1)

Chapter Fifteen

“Get her in the barn.” Chase scraped his hat off and shoved a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes before clamping the hat back on.

The mare grunted and hobbled forward, one hoof up off the ground and her legs splayed. Sweat darkened the red coat in giant rings, and her head dropped close to the ground.

“What happened?” Michelle rushed out of the tack room where she’d been cleaning and straightening years’ worth of odds and ends. She threw her dirty rag back into the room and closed the door. “What can I do?”

Nothing. That was what he wanted to say. He couldn’t afford the distraction she offered with her worry and concern.

“Sorry boss.” Chuck held his hat in his hands.

His chin dropped to his chest, a look of defeat so profound in his crestfallen face that Michelle reached over and patted his shoulder.

“It’s my fault. She was a little antsy coming out of the field this morning.

I didn’t think anything of it and rode her anyway.

She spooked on the backside of the pasture and threw me. ”

“Are you hurt?” Michelle took Chuck by the shoulders and turned him around. She scanned him with a critical eye.

Chase almost intervened. Almost. But it was a legitimate question. If Chuck had been injured too, they needed to get him into town.

Chuck ducked his head further. “No, ma’am. I’m fine. It’s her everyone needs to concentrate on.” His voice dropped. “She bucked halfway across the field before she ended up in the barbed wire.”

Michelle gasped, both hands flying up to cover her mouth. “Poor thing.”

He agreed. The mare made it into the stall and stood there trembling.

“Vet’s on his way. Sent him pictures and told him what happened.” Mom met them at the stall door.

“I need warm water and bandages.” Chase pushed his body into motion. No time for fear or panic. Time to fix the problem to the best of his ability. He’d step aside when the vet arrived.

“There’s some blue lotion in the tack room.” Michelle took a step back. “I’ll get it.”

She remembered what they used for wound care while they waited on the vet.

No time to process the information. He moved on to more important tasks.

“Good. Thanks.” He scrubbed his hands clean in the double farmhouse sink he’d installed in the back of the barn years ago.

Better to have hot water and a place to scrub up here than to need to go all the way to the house and come back.

Adrenaline stuffed his emotions down out of the way and cleared his mind for the task at hand. Clean the wounds. Check the mare for any other injuries. Wait for the vet.

Chuck and the other cowboys shuffled around in the hallway for a few minutes before heading back out to finish their jobs.

Chase appreciated the rush of quiet, though his mind was anything but as it filled him with information on how to deal with the mare’s injuries.

“Here.” Michelle set the bucket of warm water near his leg and stroked the mare’s heaving side. “Poor girl. It’s okay. We’re going to take care of you.”

We? No time for that either. He worked his way down from the cut on the mare’s shoulder to the gash across her fetlock that kept her from putting pressure on her hoof. Nothing about the injuries seemed dangerous, but he’d wait for the vet’s final verdict.

Michelle continued making soft crooning noises as she comforted the mare.

He waited about wrapping the wounds, wanting to give the vet a chance to look them over.

Footsteps pounded down the barn aisle, Chelsey’s voice rising above the fall of boot heels. “Which stall?”

“Here.” Michelle stuck her hand out over the half door and followed it with her head and torso. “Chelsey.” She breathed the woman’s name with a shock of surprise.

“Michelle?” Chelsey tore into the stall and wrapped Michelle in a swift hug. “It’s so good to see you. We’ll catch up as soon as I’m finished.”

Chase straightened from his stooped position on the hay. He barely remembered falling to his knees to care for the wounds, but as the adrenaline drained, his body reminded him of the time he’d spent crouched in the same spot.

“What happened?” Chelsey examined the mare from nose to tail as he talked.

He gave her the story as he’d been told, pointed out the cuts and scrapes and how he’d treated them. By the time he finished, his throat burned, and the lotion had dried beneath his nails, turning them cobalt.

Michelle handed him a bottle of water and tucked herself into the corner of the stall.

He thanked her with a nod and drained the bottle. “You remember Chelsey?”

“Yeah.” A wrinkle formed in her forehead. “Been getting a lot of memories back lately. Chelsey’s came when I saw her in the hallway.”

They’d all been friends growing up. Chelsey was the first of them to leave. Being a couple years older and the first of their group to graduate, she’d taken off for veterinary college and only recently returned.

Chelsey listened to the mare’s heart and lungs, checked her eyes, and ran her hands down all four limbs. “Can you get her to lay down? I’d like to check her hooves without making her put weight on that one.” She pointed out the injured hoof.

“Maybe.” He moved to the mare’s injured shoulder and tapped the space where the shoulder met her barrel. “I won’t force her to go down.”

“And I’d never ask you to.” Chelsey moved to the mare’s head, and Michelle scooted to the other side.

They surrounded the mare, and she went down on her front legs, then dropped all the way onto her side with a heaving groan.

“She might not stay down long.” He warned them though they knew that horses disliked laying for extended periods of time. It could be dangerous for them, though they did occasionally enjoy a nap while stretched out on the ground.

“Almost done.” Chelsey made her way from the front hooves to the back, then around to the mare’s head.

Michelle crouched at the mare’s neck, stroking and soothing as she muttered nonsense.

The mare lifted her head and snorted, then tucked her hooves beneath her and scrambled back to a standing position.

“Looks pretty standard to me.” Chelsey draped her stethoscope around her neck.

“Those cuts will need to be monitored. I’ll give her an antibiotic to help fight off infection.

Tetanus is her worst possible problem. I’ll give her a shot for that, too, but you’ll still need to keep an eye on her.

Especially for the next twenty-four hours. ”

“I’ll stay with her.” Michelle remained beside the mare, her presence calming him and the horse.

He’d almost expected her to offer. It was something the old Michelle would’ve done. Maybe some things about her were the same.

She gave him a look he remembered all too well, one that said she expected him to fight her over the decision. She’d made up her mind. That stubborn determination mixed with the compassion she’d always possessed and created this beautiful, willful woman he’d never been able to stop loving.

“Great.” Chelsey retreated to the aisle and rummaged in her bag.

She came back with two syringes that she injected into the mare.

“Call me if anything develops. Especially a fever.” She held up her hands in a placating gesture.

“I know. I know. You already know all this stuff.” A grin flashed.

“But I have to tell you again. Even if you’ve heard it a hundred times. ”

“Thanks, Chelsey.” The relief in Michelle’s voice almost undid him. She blinked back tears and scratched the mare behind the ears.

“No problem.” Chelsey shrugged. “It’s literally my job.”

“Don’t give me that. You always wanted to do this. It’s all you talked about for years.” A wobbly smile trembled. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too.” Chelsey hugged Michelle again. “Seriously, let’s catch up sometime. I can’t stay to talk right now, but I’m free this weekend.”

Chase tuned them out and worked on clearing out the stall. Unused bandages went back into the office. He poured the water down the drain and rinsed his hands. The blue would wear off eventually. He’d sported it around often enough that no one really paid attention anymore.

By the time he finished, Chelsey had left the barn and Michelle sat in the corner of the mare’s stall weaving strands of hay together. She held out a circlet to him. “Your crown.”

“You…” His throat clogged as he took the crown from her. “You remember?”

“Yes.” Barely a whisper but there all the same. “Not everything, but I remember enough.”

“What does that mean?” He remained at the doorway, the straw crown tight in his fist.

She sighed and tipped her head back, resting it against the wooden wall.

He should tell her it wasn’t safe, but she wouldn’t listen. He never did either. The mare would never intentionally hurt them, and he’d make sure they both gave her space later.

Michelle brought her knees to her chest and hugged them close. “I remember leaving. I remember feeling like I’d never be whole again.”

“Why did you go?” The single most important question that tore them apart lingered. The unfathomable depths of his pain resurfaced and washed through him.

She opened her mouth, closed it, and finally released a keening sound that pierced his heart.

“I wanted to see what life was like outside of this.” One hand left her legs long enough to wave around them.

“I wanted to see what I’d be missing out on if I stayed here and never adventured into the life that I’d always dreamed of. ”

“You never told me you wanted to live in the city.”

“Because you hated it.” She winced and grabbed his arm. “It was never your fault. I didn’t want to make us both feel bad. It was my decision to go.”

“You could have asked me to come with you.” He did despise the city. But he would’ve tried to make it work. He loved her that much.