The colt let out a long exhale, and blew softly through his nose. Henry smiled.

“Well, here we go,” Jessie chirped.

An image suddenly appeared in the colt’s mind of him and Jessie quietly riding around the arena. At first, he wasn’t sure if the picture was coming from Henry or Jessie. He realized with some surprise it was coming from both of them. He let out another relaxed sigh, and began walking forward. Jessie and the colt made several laps before the picture in the colt’s mind changed to that of them trotting, and so he did. Two laps later, the image changed again to them cantering, and the colt responded by moving up into a relaxed and easy lope. After another two laps, Jessie gently asked the horse to come to a stop, spin around with his hindquarters over his hocks, and lope off in the opposite direction. The colt liked the way Jessie rode him. It was different than the way Henry rode, but very similar, too. The colt found comfort in the fact that he had learned enough from Henry to be able to work through the differences, and relax in the similarities.

The pair slowed and walked up to Henry, who was waiting by the gate, right where they had left him. “Henry, he’s wonderful,” Jessie beamed. “You’ve done an amazing job with him.”

“He did all the work, Jess. You know that.” Henry walked over and gently stroked the gray colt on his neck. The colt slightly leaned into him as he did. “I swear he’s the finest animal I’ve ever been around.”

Jessie placed her hand on Henry’s shoulder and smiled. “I expect he probably feels the same way about you.”

Just then, the colt softly laid his forehead against Henry’s chest, and sighed one more time.

CHAPTER 39

The house seemed too big and empty since Henry had started sleeping in the bunkhouse again. For weeks after Jessie got hurt, Henry spent his nights either sleeping in the chair next to her bed, or on the couch in the living room, always making sure he was close enough that if she needed anything he’d be there. Now that her injuries were almost healed, Henry began drifting back to the bunkhouse in the evenings and Jessie found she missed his company at night.

There had been a number of times in recent weeks when, as he was getting ready to make the walk across the yard in the dark after dinner, she had an overwhelming urge to ask him to stay with her; not on the couch or in the chair next to her bed, but with her. Then he would smile, say goodnight, and be out the door and off the porch before she could get up the nerve to do so. This had been one of those nights.

Jessie walked through the house and turned off the lights, leaving only a small lamp in the front window lit, and the light at the top of the stairs so she wouldn’t be stumbling up them on her way to her room. The sudden ringing of the phone pierced the darkness. A bit surprised by the noise at this time of night, Jessie hurried to the small table at the foot of the stairs and snapped the phone off its cradle. “Hello?” It was Tom Essex returning her call from earlier in the day. Jessie had put off calling him as long as she could. His horse, the gray colt, was ready to go home. If the truth were known, he had probably been ready for a while, but Jessie had been struggling with the thought of separating him from Henry. When she knew she could wait no longer, and with the new guest season fast approaching, she needed to move the “outside” horse off the place and get back to her own herd.