Back on the Back of a Horse

Chapter 7

"Love, Hailey?"

I slowly rose from my seat when the dark-haired nurse in the pale purple scrubs called my name. We made eye contact before she gestured me over.

"Right this way, please. Dr. Murphy is ready to see you."

I nodded, and followed her silently, a slight limp making a significant appearance in my stride.

My phone rang as soon as my feet hit the asphalt outside of the clinic. I answered it without looking, my left hand lifting the phone to my ear.

"Hello? Hailey speaking."

A masculine voice filtered its way through the speaker.

"Where are you? It's way past eleven o'clock, and you said you would be here at eight!"

I sighed deeply, rubbing my face with my right hand and continued the shortish walk to get to my truck.

"I had something important come up in my private life that took priority over getting to the barn that early this morning."

There was a pause before Ethan spoke again.

"What happened?"

If I was the type of person who could pop the veins in my face, I'm sure that several would have done so by now.

"When I said it was a part of my private life, that meant that you have no need to know about it. I will be at the barn soon enough. Goodbye."

I hung up the phone without giving him the chance to respond and stopped in front of my truck. I pulled the keys out of my pocket, since I don't normally make it a habit to keep them in my little purse and unlock the bedded vehicle. I climbed in, only to have my phone ring again. I groaned and answered the phone with looking...again.

"Whaaaaat?"

"How was the appointment?"

I rolled my eyes, grateful that Lynn ignored my exasperated greeting. She was used to me being like this by now.

"Oh, you know. 'Keep taking it easy on that leg of yours. It's finally starting to heal properly, but if you push it too soon, it'll take even longer to finish healing!' Same old news I always hear from the doc." I rolled my eyes and waited for her response.

"You were limping pretty badly today, weren't you?"

I groaned slightly. "Yeah. Just a bit."

She sighed into the phone. "You know, if you aren't careful, you might be forced to use a cane or something for the rest of your life."

I chuckled humorously. "At least if I had a cane, I could hit you and that idiot I'm coach upside the head with it, even when you are sitting up on a 17-hand horse while I'm on the ground."

She laughed along with me.

"Anyways, I wanted to let you know that we have a new horse coming in around half past noon today."

My interest was piqued. "Really? Whose horse?"

It was her turn to groan. "It belongs to the Witch Hopper."

The left side of my upper lip and my left nostril curled in disgust at the resident drama instigator in the barn. "Seriously? Another one? How many horses does that woman need? Please don't tell me it's another one that her 'amazing little sweetheart' is supposed to ride?" The sarcasm was strong in my voice.

I could almost hear the grimace on the other line. "Good lord I hope not. I contacted the previous owner, and I didn't hear the best of things about this horse. Let me just say, it's a damned stallion. If we have any say about it, I can guarantee that we wouldn't let that woman's child anywhere near that horse. Especially after everything that I heard about it." She paused for a moment. Probably another grimace. "I was sent a few pictures, and I must say that I don't blame her for purchasing him. He is a gorgeous specimen of Appaloosa. He's got surprisingly good confirmation, and I didn't see any major deformities in the photos. But we'll just have to wait and see when he gets off of the trailer to find out how he really is like."