But I’d only been here a few weeks, so what did I know?
“Is that woman a horse trainer?” I asked, watching the lady with the blonde ponytail and riding boots direct Ainsley to switch brushes, then motioning for her to stand in front of Piper and pay special attention to the horse’s face. For her part, Piper seemed to be enjoying the attention, but I didn’t really have a read on their emotions, which was part of the reason why they were so mysterious and intimidating. But she certainly wasn’t trying to get away.
“No, um…” Kerry cleared his throat. “Dr. Barnes is an equine therapist.”
“Equine what?” I asked in confusion, and he cracked a smile.
“Right? Didn’t even know they existed—or maybe just never paid much attention—but it makes sense now that I know a bit more about what she does with Ainsley.”
“Daddy!” Ainsley called out when she spotted us, a huge grin on her face. “I’m gonna saddle her today.”
“Yeah?” he asked, and the equine therapist gave him the thumbs-up.
What in the world?
“I’ll be right here watching you.”
The way his eyes crinkled at the corners made my heart squeeze. Damn, he loved her. Even hired a horse therapist for her.
Kerry glanced at me. “Probably seems strange to you.”
I shrugged. “Not really. I’ve only been to talk therapy at the VA, but I suppose there are lots of different kinds.”
He nodded. “Thing is, after going into remission, Ainsley developed anxiety. She’d been in enough hospitals to last a lifetime, and had been poked and prodded more than any little girl should ever endure.” I winced. Fuck, I hadn’t thought about it in quite that way. “And we wondered if the trauma of all of that was going to cause her to have reservations about doctors in general and maybe even nightmares…sort of like yours.”
I inhaled sharply as my gaze swung toward Ainsley again. She had survived a battle all her own. Damn.
The therapist was brandishing a shiny tan saddle, and Ainsley was trying to wait patiently even as she squirmed beside her. “And?”
“No nightmares. At least not yet,” he replied, and I breathed out a sigh of relief for her. No way I’d wish that on anyone, especially a nine-year-old. “But she started freaking out every time we were out of her sight. As if somehow she would lose us and be left all alone if she didn’t keep track of where we were. And if you added more people in the mix, it was even worse.”
“Poor Ainsley,” I said, watching her help Dr. Barnes gently place the saddle up toward Piper’s neck, then slide it down into place on her back, all the while speaking to her in what looked like a comforting voice, as if to make sure the horse was comfortable. I liked watching them. I found it soothing.
And now I remembered Mom having a talk with me as a kid as we sat on the plane, heading on a trip down here. She warned me to approach the horses cautiously, or they were liable to startle and accidently kick you with their hooves, which were hard, hurt like heck, and could cause damage. “Happened to me,” she’d said, “and I had a bruise for weeks.” And now I wondered if that was where my trepidation about horses originated. That, along with seeing something similar in a couple of Western movies—one that resulted in death—had sealed the deal.
But hell, if Ainsley could conquer her fears, so could I.
“You must have a winning personality, though, because normally Ainsley would’ve never approached a stranger, not without major coddling. Something about uncertain situations feeding into her reservations. Dr. Barnes always says that fears are irrational, so sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to them,” Kerry explained, and now I remembered how watchful she was on the porch when I’d first arrived. “Anyway, we had to prep her for weeks that you were coming and would be living here with us.”
“Holy shit.” My hand covered my mouth. And here I’d thought Ainsley was just being shy when really, she was being vigilant. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“No, it’s okay. I think she…needed to face somethin’ a bit out of her comfort zone so she could grow.” He looked at me then, and our gazes held. “Maybe you did too?”
“It’s working out so far.” I cracked a smile. “For both of us?”
“I hope so.” His gaze swung back to his daughter. “Anyway, when her grades started dropping and she was refusing to see