AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I remember!” Lily said.
“No, you don’t!” Lila lamented. “Cuz if I don’t, you don’t.” She made a funny face at her sister. “And you still need a hat, Dylan. Dad has a few of them hanging in the barn.”
I should have remembered that I’d need something to cover my head and wear sunscreen. The idea of wearing a hat that had been soaked in someone else’s sweat didn’t exactly excite me, even if it was my uncle Ben’s. “Greaaaat….” I moaned.
When we got to the barn and Lila pointed to the wall where Ben had two cowboy and three billed baseball style hats hanging on hooks. I chose a green one with a white oval on the front that said “Johnson Grain”.
An older man dressed in dusty jeans and a chambray shirt walked up to us. “Hi, girls!” He pulled a worn leather work glove from his right hand before extending it to me. “Hi. I’m Ray. I joined the ranch about three years ago. I take care of the horses. I’m a blacksmith and a vet. I was hired when Doc Porter died.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear he’s gone. He was a nice man. I have many good memories that include him.”
“He was. Girls, who do you want to ride?” Ray asked with enthusiasm.
“Der, Mr. Ray. We’re riding Edward and Bella!” Lily exclaimed as if he should know.
He rolled his eyes. “Edward and Bella! Don’t you think you should ride a different horse sometimes? The others will get their feelings hurt! Go ahead! They’re already saddled in their stalls.” He smiled.
The two girls squealed and scampered off. “We’ll wait for you in the front meadow, Dylan! Hurry!”
I was smiling from ear to ear watching them run to the end of the main atrium between the two rows of facing stalls.
“Those two girls are special, but they sure are a handful. I don’t have any kids so they’re like my grandkids,” Ray explained.
I nodded. “You can never have too many grandpas and grandmas,” I agreed. “I was blessed to have more than my share, too.”
“That’s lucky! You’re riding Maverick.”
“Do I detect Top Gun and Twilight themes?” I asked with a laugh. “One of the dog’s names is Goose.”
Ray laughed as we walked to the stall of a large black gelding and slid it open. The saddle and blanket were sitting on a rack near the wall on the same side as the gate. “You do. It was all Ben could do to talk them out of Rumpelstiltskin.”
“Oh, my God! Yeah, I can’t imagine a dude ranch with fairy tale names on the horses.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then,” Ray said. “I’ve got three horses to shoe this morning.”
“No problem,” I said. He left and closed the gate behind him. I ran my hand down the sleek firm side of his shiny black coat. “Hey, Mav. You’re a beauty, aren’t you boy?”
Maverick’s bridle and bit were hanging on a hook on the wall, and the horse easily took the bit, and I pushed the bridle over his ears. “Good boy.”
I tied the reins on the gate and quickly had the blanket and then the saddle on the horse’s back. I cinched it as tight as possible. Ben had taught me that if I couldn’t place one finger between the horse’s body and the leather then it was too tight. “Feels about right.”
I began to lead Maverick out of the barn and found the girls already sitting on the backs of Edward and Bella. They were both Sables, one of them half a hand taller so I figured that was Edward.
I put a foot into the saddle and hoisted my body over at the same time holding Maverick’s reins on the saddle horn. I was barely seated with both feet in the stirrups when the girls looked at each other and took off at a gallop. Maverick shifted beneath me, clearly wanting to follow.
“Tkk Tkk,” I nudged his side with a gently heel and he started out a trot and we were quickly into a counter. “Giddyap!” I urged him into a full gallop and gave him his lead, leaning into his movements and allowing my body to move in the saddle. The feeling of the wind on my face and moving with the horse was invigorating.
The girls were about a hundred yards in front of me and would soon be to the barn that housed the horses used by the campers. I passed the cabin I’d slept in as I gained on them. They had slowed up considerably and trotted into the camp, so it wasn’t more than thirty seconds later when I was slowing Maverick down.
Fifteen or so campers were just coming out of the barn, each with a saddled horse walking behind. They gathered in a group to wait for the others. Depending on how many campers were inside each cabin, there would be at least a dozen more people still inside the barn being helped to saddle up the horses that they had been assigned for the week.
“Dylan! Oh, thank God!” I heard my name and my head turned toward a familiar voice. “Can I share your horse? The one they tried to give me is so smelly!”
My stomach lurched.What the hell was she doing here?
My head snapped around as she wailed my name again and my horse started at the shrill sound, as did a few of the other horses that were with the guests.
“That’s that girl from the restaurant,” Lila observed.
