“Here. Drink up.” Claire handed me the coffee.

I smiled at the familiar mug, a gift I’d given her a few years back for Christmas that read ‘Hold Your Horses’. 

“You still have this thing?” I chuckled.

“Of course I do, dork, you gave it to me! Why would I just throw away a present from my best friend?”

She flicked the back of my head lightly as she walked past, settling at the opposite side of the table from me. “So. What have you been up to this week? By the time I got to the clinic on Wednesday you were so busy I barely even had time to say hi!”

I took a sip of my coffee before I answered. “It’s been crazy.” I chuckled a bit and took another drink. “Been working up at the Art Gallery with one of the clients from GBS, so next time we head over to Bone’s Roadhouse for a drink, it’s my treat.” I smiled at her over my mug.

“Oh, the gallery? You met that hottie they hired recently yet?”

I felt my face begin to glow red and hoped the dim kitchen would hide my embarrassment.

“Who?” I prayed that I sounded convincing.

Claire, thankfully, seemed to not notice my sudden discomfort and continued. “Mmmm what was his name? I can’t… OH! Xander!”

“Ah, that guy? Yeah we’ve met… I’m actually going to help him learn how to kayak tomorrow over at China Gulch.”

Claire set her mug on the table between us a little too hard and stared at me.

“What? Oh. My. God, Kyle. How could you not tell me?”

Her voice climbed to a high-pitched whine on the ‘me’, and I cringed and jokingly covered my ears.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was my job to tell you about things like that.” I chuckled.

“Of coouuurse it is!” She continued to complain in the same whine. “He’s hot, I’m depressingly single, use your damn brain! C’mon, let me go too. I wanna goooo.” A heavy pout hit her lower lip as she clutched her mug to her chest.

A pang hit my belly. My brain whirled to come up with an excuse, any excuse, to turn her down.

Wait… why don’t I want her to come…?

“Ah… I don’t know, it’s his first time kayaking so maybe this time wouldn’t be great… maybe next time, okay?”

She continued to pout briefly, but it dissolved into a grin after just a moment.

“Okay. Promise?”

I smiled back. “Promise.”

***

We walked back into the stables, the sweet scent of hay and alfalfa filling the air, dust dancing in the beams of sunlight beginning to peek through the vents at the tops of the walls.

“I’ll go check on her, just stay by her head and keep her calm, okay?”

Claire nodded and slowly approached Velvet, making light ‘tsk’ing noises as she did.

“Hi mamma, how you feeling?” She stroked her muzzle lightly as I made my way around to the hindquarters.

“Claire, it’s happening.” I said softly.