on her face. Why she took on angry men twice her size. Why she rescued more animals than she had money to feed.
Because they looked at her like this.
He smiled to himself. Way to go, sweetheart. Keep up the good work.
Later as Shannon left the office, she looked toward the barn and saw Luke standing at the gate leading to the back pasture, staring across the field. Fluffy sat beside him. Luke had given him food and water while Shannon filled out the intake paperwork. They’d keep him in a quarantine cage tonight, then take him to the vet tomorrow to get him checked out. Shannon hoped there was nothing wrong with him that a lot of love couldn’t cure.
Judging from the way Fluffy hugged Luke’s side, Shannon had no doubt the dog knew who had saved him, and he’d instantly given Luke his devotion. Dogs usually knew good from bad at a single sniff. If Shannon hadn’t already discovered just how good Luke really was, she’d have taken Fluffy’s word for it without question.
She walked down the path. Fluffy met her, and she scratched him behind the ears before coming up beside Luke. Dusk had almost turned to darkness. Luke glanced at her, then turned his attention back to the horses congregated in the middle of the pasture. Manny was in their midst, looking like a toy version of the horses that towered over him. She rested her arms on the gate beside Luke. “A good meal perked him right up,” Luke said, reaching down to pat the dog. “I think he’s going to be just fine.”
“I think so, too. Thanks for calling me.”
“Hope I didn’t catch you in the middle of something tonight.”
She’d practically forgotten her evening with Russell already, making her realize once and for all how wrong a relationship with him would be.
“No,” she said. “Nothing important.”
Luke just nodded. After a few more seconds of restful silence, he said, “Want to see something?”
“Sure.”
“Manny,” he said softly, then made a clucking sound with his tongue. “Hey, Manny!”
In the distance, the little horse’s head flew up. He pricked up his ears and looked in Luke’s direction. As quietly as Luke spoke, it surprised Shannon the horse could even hear his voice. After a moment, he started walking toward them.
Shannon couldn’t believe it. “He comes when you call?”
“Yep. I have something he wants.”
“That would have to be oats. Alfalfa. Strawberry cheesecake. He’ll eat anything.”
“Nope. It’s not even food.”
“Can’t be. Manny likes something better than food?”
Manny stopped near the gate. Luke swung it open and approached him. To Shannon’s surprise, he just stood there as Luke squatted down in front of him, rested his palm behind his ears, and began to scratch him there. Shannon held her breath, but to her surprise, Manny didn’t try to bite. He didn’t even flinch. Instead, his head dipped lower, then lower still, and his eyes slowly fell shut.
“I don’t believe it,” Shannon whispered.
Manny’s wariness had disappeared. He simply stood there peacefully, enjoying the touch of a human being instead of drawing away from it with apprehension. After a while Luke stopped rubbing behind his ears and stroked his face instead. Manny’s eyes opened, but instead of recoiling, he just stood there calmly, his ears in a neutral position.
Finally Luke stood up. Manny looked at him expectantly for a few moments, then turned around and walked back across the pasture toward the other horses. Luke came back through the gate and shut it behind him.
“I wouldn’t let anyone else try that just yet,” Luke said. “But it’s a start.”
Shannon shook her head with disbelief. “How did you do that?”
“You expect him to bite, and he bites. I just quit expecting him to.”
“I thought you didn’t have time to do any horse taming.”
He looked away, a tiny smile on his lips. “Turns out I was able to squeeze in a few minutes.”
The pasture was bathed in the faint light of dusk. It fell across Manny’s dappled coat in a way that masked his scars, and for a moment Shannon had a glimpse of what he might have been like if only he’d experienced from day one the kind of compassion Luke had shown him.
“He’s so calm,” she said, then fanned her gaze across the pasture. “This whole place is calm.”
“Well, that doesn’t happen very often,” Luke said.
Shannon laughed softly. Then her face faded into a gentle smile. They leaned on the fence for a long time, watching the horses. Evening became dusk, and fireflies danced