Sunset Ranch by A. Destiny Read Free Book Online Page A

chance.”
    His words sparked in my mind. “What did you say?” I asked slowly.
    Zach’s dark brow was knitted. “He should have a chance to at least try for a place here; that’s what I said.”
    I jumped up from my mud bucket. “Do you think they’d give him an audition? If we worked with him, maybe?”
    Stephen shook his head. “No. That’s not the way Rick and Jack do it. It’s okay. You guys haven’t been around here long enough to know.”
    Zach caught my gaze and held it. Then the spark in me burst into flame. “Stephen!” I burst out. “It’s like you and Rick. You said he won’t give you a chance to try for assistant trainer—and this horse needs a chance too.” I was pacing now, the words tumbling from me. “What if—what if this was your big break? What if we asked if we could train him up? And then Rick would see that you really do know a bunch? And he’d promote you and the horse could be saved!”
    â€œCould work,” Zach said from the window.
    Stephen shook his head. “Chloe, I don’t think they’d go for it. They just don’t do that around here. Rick makes up his mind and that’s that.”
    â€œBut why not just try?” I persisted. “You never know until you ask. We’ll all go—the three of us.”
    â€œI’m for it,” Zach said.
    â€œAh . . . I don’t know. I need to think about it.” Stephen strode out of the stable. Zach and I looked at each other, and then I hurried after him.
    He was leaning on the pasture fence, his arms resting on the top rail, gazing out at the vast, waving grassland spread before us. Softly I came up next to him and leaned over the rail. I was silent and watched Diamond scratching his leg with his head. He switched his tail against the flies, and the breeze carried over the sweet-musty horse scent. To the west the mountains sat, calm, cool, blue-gray, and silent. Just gazing at them was restful. The grasses were rippling like water in the thin mountain air. Al was noisily slurping at the water tank, and somewhere very near my feet a cricket was trilling. I shifted slightly and the trilling stopped. I held very still. The trilling started again. A melody started in my head, combined with the cricket and the whistle of the wind—
    â€œThat guy can be kind of a jerk, don’t you think?”
    The words jarred me out of my reverie, and I glanced at Stephen. He was still staring ahead, hands clasped.
    â€œWell . . .” I searched around for the right words. “I think we’re all just trying to help the buckskin out, right?”
    â€œHe gets under my skin. I mean, how come he thinks he can just barge in and take over like that?” I could see the muscles in Stephen’s jaw clenched tight.
    I cleared my throat. “Hey, um . . .” I cast around for some other, happier topic. “Which is your favorite horse?” I indicated the herd in front of us.
    â€œOh, I don’t know.” He furrowed his brow, thinking, and traced his thumb back and forth across the wooden rail. “Probably Hans.”
    â€œHans?” I laughed. The German name sounded incongruous in this land of Jims and Big Bills and Codys. “Which one is he?”
    â€œThat one.” Stephen leaned over to point. “That little fat chestnut beside the sagebrush.”
    He was very near to me now, his shoulder touching mine, and I felt his breath just touch my cheek.
    â€œOh yeah, I see him.” Though at that moment I cared about Hans the Horse about as much as I cared about the state of North Korean politics. “How come he’s your favorite?” I pulled myself together enough to ask.
    â€œHe’s kind of an oddball—he’s a Haflinger, which is this Austrian breed. The Amish use them a lot. They usually pull buggies, but Jake brought this one out here a while ago because we didn’t