Page 16 of Stables Spurs Suits
“What have you boys been up to?” Sally-May asks.
“Matthew here just helped deliver his first foal,” I tell her, and she claps her hands excitedly for him.
“Well done. See, we’ll make a cowboy out of you yet,” she says, and I pull open the refrigerator and take out a giant jug of her fresh lemonade.
“I’m not sure I was much help,” Matthew tells her, and I scoff.
“He’s being modest. He kept Lilly calm while I helped pull the foal. That’s more important than he knows, tell him.”
“Atlas is right, dear. Birthin’ can be scary for any creature, even when things are going well. So that’s why you’re in here, then? To celebrate?” she asks, and I nod and grab two glasses, filling them to the top before passing Matthew one.
“To the newest addition to the Beaker Brothers Ranch,” I say, and Matthew’s cheeks blush a soft pink. “So, what should we name him?”
“It’s a boy?” Matthew asks.
“Sure is. I was thinking Groot, or maybe Clint,” I say, and he shakes his head adamantly.
“Does it have to be a Marvel character name?”
“I guess not. What do you suggest, then?”
“How about Pluto?”
“Like the dog in those old Mickey Mouse shows?”
“I was thinking like the planet.”
Sally-May tips a bowl of dough over onto the counter and starts kneading it with her hands.
“I like it,” she says matter-of-factly.
“Okay, Pluto it is. You can get back to helping Skye with the grooming when you’re ready. I’m guessing you might be the only one who can manage to keep Loki on his feet for a good wash. Preston will be here soon to check on Pluto, so I’ll meet you guys down there when he arrives.”
Matthew downs the last of his lemonade, rinses his cup, and places it on the side to dry.
“Thanks for the lemonade, Sally-May. It was the best I’ve ever had,” he tells her, and though she hears it all the time from us, she smiles a little wider when he says it. And then he leaves.
“So, what do you think?” Sally-May asks me a minute later.
“I would have chosen a Marvel name for the new foal, but a planet works. We can name the next one Mars or Jupiter.”
She shakes her head.
“Not about the name, I was askin’ about Matthew.”
“Oh. I don’t know, he’s okay, I guess,” I say as I pour myself another glass of lemonade.
“He’s good with the horses. A natural, like you,” she continues, without looking up from the dough she’s folding over.
“They seem to see something in him they like,” I agree.
“Maybe you might find something there too,” she says, and I breathe in a little while I’m drinking and start to cough and splutter on lemonade.
“I’m… not lookin’… for something,” I say through coughs, and she shrugs and shakes her head.
“I’m just sayin’, it might be good for you. I worry about you out there all on your own.”
“Are you forgetting what happened when I was living closer to the main house?” I ask, and she closes her eyes as if it could somehow block out the memory of what she walked in on all those years ago. I’d just finished a load of washing and was outside hanging it on the line when Sally-May decided to stop over with a batch of freshly baked muffins. The whole basket of them ended up on the ground as she shielded her eyes from the sight of my bare ass.
