Star Gazer by Chris Platt

Author:Chris Platt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media

thirteen

“Hi, Jordan, glad you could make it,” Jacob said as he waved her over. “Let me introduce you to everyone.” He clapped the farm owner on the back. “This is Mr. Miller. And over there is my best friend, Daniel.”

The Miller boy peeked out from behind a large mare he’d just tied to the post. “Hi, Jacob tells me you were the one who rescued him and Brother Fisher in the buggy accident.”

Jordan just smiled. She felt kind of overwhelmed with so many talented horse people around.

Jacob set down the harness collars. “Hopefully, we won’t have any buggy accidents here.” He looked directly at Jordan and smirked.

Mr. Miller tied the other horse next to the one tethered to the post and grabbed a set of brushes to groom them. He gave Jordan a wink. “Don’t let these boys give you a bad time, missy. If I’m not mistaken, one of them took out a fence post last week when they were practicing.”

Daniel shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and kicked at the dirt.

Jordan looked up in surprise. “Really?”

The boy shrugged. “The post was rotten. It needed replacing anyway.”

Everyone shared in the laugh.

Mr. Miller pointed toward the house where a middle-aged woman and a teenage girl were sitting on the porch. “That’s my wife and daughter up there,” he said. “They’re working on some stitching right now. You’ll get to meet them later.” He squinted and looked across the field. “Daniel’s got a younger brother and sister hiding around here someplace. I’m sure you’ll meet them, too. But for now, let me say that we’re happy to have a fresh face in town. And it’s really nice to see a young lady interested in draft horses. A lot of the girls around here ride them fancy show horses.” He laughed. “They’re more like lap dogs than horses.”

Jordan thought he must be talking about Nicole’s riding friends from the stable.

Jacob took a brush and started grooming one of the Belgians. “Now, let me introduce you to the horses. This here’s Candy,” he said. “She’s the right-hand mare. The other one is Suzie. She pulls on the left. They’re full sisters, a year apart. Normally, we hook them together and drive them as a team—which you’ll do later on after you’ve mastered one horse. But today, we’re going to harness them separately, and you’ll take one horse while Dan takes the other,” he said. “I’ll walk beside you to make sure you don’t get into trouble.”

“Like getting dragged around the barnyard?” Jordan asked.

“Yeah, something like that,” Jacob grinned.

Mr. Miller handed Jordan a brush. “You’re here to learn, so you might as well jump right in.” He stood back so she could get to work. “I hear you bought one of Gilbert Sutton’s mares.”

“Yes, I bought her at the auction,” Jordan said as she ran the brush over the golden coat, marveling at how beautiful the two huge draft horses were.

“If I remember right, that was quite a pulling mare,” Mr. Miller said. “Gilbert won several competitions with her.

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