Macintyre Farm

Seven

SEBASTiAN POV

The next month was a complete blur of bottle feeding baby animals, training horses, and settling into our off season routine.

Breakfast was now at 7 so everyone could get a bit more sleep.  Andy successfully found homes for the two kittens we were not keeping.  Bagheera and Tommy Boy were now officially indoor cats, easily able to relax with Ruby as much as possible.

It was wonderful to watch how much joy she received from the little monsters. Ruby loved being around the animals so it was a sweet blessing to watch her embrace keeping 2 kittens in their home.

The baby goats adjusted to our farm fast. We gradually got them transferred to the barn and they ate 3 times a day, quickly adapting to the other animals. Fiona loved them, though Austin's goat Muffin was on the fence. Andy laughed so hard she almost puked the other day when Muffin was trying to show he was an Alpha to little tiny Hercules. Poor baby had no hope and just turned to us like, "What am I supposed to do??"

I scooped him up while Andy grabbed Meg then we let Muffin have his time as king of the pen.

I was happier than I had ever been.  There was so much freedom, especially now that we did not have alarms set through the night to keep watch over the little ones. Andy went night riding more often but started that within a couple days of her injury. We made sure one of us was watching out for her just in case, but within a week she was fine on her own in the arena.

The way she was willing to get back up there so she could keep going was something I still could not understand. Andy was more than strong. She was tenacious, with a gleam in her eyes of determination that deeply resonated with me. I was able to join on late night rides through the property in the moonlight, too.

It just took one time feeling the wind whip across my face while the stars lit our path for me to completely understand why this was Andy's favorite thing to do. She showed me a gorgeous little pond that seemed to be a special place to her, staring at the water under a sky full of stars while allowing our horses to rest for a few minutes. Every time I got a peek at more of who Andy was as a person, I fell harder.

I was an idiot for lying to myself for so long. Good thing she forgave me and did not let that cause problems with the friendship we were building. We did not have a specific conversation about it, but I was positive based on Andy's actions that everything was on the right track.

Austin and I went out to one of the local bars some Friday nights now. We invited Andy to join but she refused, staying home and keeping herself busy.  More than once we got back and she was riding Daylight or Maverick in the arena, enjoying the cooler weather with the animals.

We always joined her.  Lenny and I clicked well and Austin loved getting time with Roscoe.  Both of us worked with Maverick a lot, too, so it was great to see progress for all of them.

By Thanksgiving I was excited for a break.  We still had chores to do but it was manageable and Walt put aside extra work as well as training for a couple days so we were able to relax.  Andy made an amazing meal with all the fixings, as well as apple, pumpkin, and pecan pies.

I passed out on the couch with Bagheera in my lap for over an hour while a football game was on softly in the background. We had pie left that Andy and I devoured at about 1 in the morning after taking a really long ride with Maverick and Daylight. She had been doing more bareback riding at night lately which Daylight seemed to love. The grin on Andy's face when we were racing through the property was etched in my mind.

We kept getting closer. Most of the time we weren't even having long talks or deep discussions. It was the simple teasing, not to mention how much more attention I was paying now to everything Andy did. Our time caring for the kittens and baby goats when I first moved to the farmhouse was a turning point.