Catherine stepped out of the car, stretching her legs stiffly. Lindsey clambered out of the backseat and, before her feet ever touched the ground, she was off and running towards the stables.

"Somebody's excited."

Cath turned towards the amused voice behind her and smiled at the sight of Sara approaching in a pair of boots, jeans and a figure-hugging t-shirt, her hair tied back into a ponytail.

"Hey." She greeted cheerfully, looking back in the direction that Lindsey had vanished. "Yeah, she's been dressed and ready to go since before I got home from work."

Sara laughed, raising a hand to wave at the thirteen-year-old as they ambled across the parking lot to join her.

"You know, I never even thought to ask," Catherine realised aloud. "Have you ridden before?"

"Sure." Sara nodded. "When I was at college, I used to spend my vacations in Vermont. I'd ride for hours out there."

Her voice had taken on a wistful sort of tone which Catherine couldn't help but smile at, especially when a guide walked past with a horse trotting along in tow and Sara's face lit up at the sight of the creature.

"Hi!" Lindsey chirped as they finally caught her up. She was stood on the bottom rung of a fence, stroking a brown and white spotted horse. "I want this one."

Cath shot Sara a sideways smile at her enthusiasm.

"Honey, I don't think you get to choose the horse yourself." She corrected. "Come on, why don't we get checked in and we'll see which ones we get given?"

With a small flicker of disappointed, Lindsey hopped off the fence and followed her mother and Sara towards the reception area, which was really more of a shed.

"You never know," Sara suggested optimistically, glancing back at the pretty Appaloosa, who was neighing at the sudden loss of attention. "You might get lucky."

x X x

"I remember now why I don't do this more often." Cath commented, rubbing the inside of her thighs.

Oblivious to her mother's discomfort, Lindsey grinned up at the women.

"Can we come again next weekend?" She asked hopefully.

"We'll see." She hummed. Rolling her eyes at the predictable non-answer, Lindsey muttered something to herself and wandered off to say goodbye to her knew friend.

Catherine turned to smile at Sara, but found the brunette missing from her side.

It didn't take long to spot her, however, leaning over a fence with one hand submerged in a mustang's beautiful mane and the other wrapped around its nose.

Sliding her phone out of her pocket, she snapped a sneaky photo, before wandering over to join her.

"Cute." She commented, reaching out to pet the horse.

"Isn't she." Sara beamed, oblivious to the fact that Catherine was talking about her. "I love horses."

"You don't say." Cath teased playfully.

"When I was a kid, my dad used to take me to the racecourse." She continued without prompting, dragging her knuckles gently up and down the horse's nose, as the animal nickered contentedly. "I loved seeing all the horses ... until one day when one of them fell, and they shot it."

Catherine inhaled sharply, nodding in understanding. She could imagine the kind of impact something like that would have on a sweet young animal-lover like Sara.

"I couldn't go with him again after that." Sara continued sadly, tipping her head against warm fur. "It was years later before I realised that, on those many trips to the track, my father was gambling all our money away. I used to try and offer suggestions to keep the B&B financially in the black, but they never took any notice. I guess it wouldn't have made any difference anyway."

Catherine shook her head forlornly at the idea of little Sara chirping up with business ideas at the breakfast table while her parents threatened each other and her brothers fought over the cereal. It was not a happy picture.

She reached out and placed a gentle hand on Sara's arm, causing the brunette to start. Sara blinked at her, almost surprised to find her stood there, as if she'd forgotten who she was talking to.

"Long time ago now." She mumbled, turning away in embarrassment.

The horse huffed, taking a step closer to the fence and nudging her shoulder with his nose, causing a smile to creep back across her lips.

"Did you know that horses can read human facial expression and remember their mood the next time they see them." She volunteered. "They react better to people they've seen smiling before."

"No." Catherine pursed her lips, attempting to read Sara's own expression right now. "No, I didn't know that."

She hadn't known that, but she wasn't surprised in the slightest by the idea. Seeing the way that beautiful mustang was staring at Sara's face, she could quite believe that it was seeing something that was completely unreadable to her.

x X x

It had been a few hours since their expedition, but Catherine still found herself wincing with twinges of pain every now and then as she made her way down the hallway.

But in spite of that, she had enjoyed herself.

She and Sara had got to talk – even if the brunette still hadn't given away any more clues about her true reason for keeping Catherine on as her supervisor – and she had gathered a couple more morsels of information about her young subordinate's early life.

And, perhaps best of all, she had spent a whole afternoon in Lindsey's company without a single cross word or teenage strop. The child's good mood had lasted right through dinner with Sara after riding and up until Catherine left for work that evening.

No, her mild pain aside, Catherine didn't think anything could sour her own positive mindset tonight.

Unfortunately, as she finally reached the entrance to the locker room, she was quickly proven wrong.