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His words, his steady grip on my hands, the way he looked right into my eyes with unwavering confidence. I felt like my feet were coming back to the ground from where they couldn’t find purchase and I felt myself nod. “What about getting there?”
“Slow and steady wins the race. If you feel you can’t ride for another second, we’ll both get off the horses and walk them until we get to where we’re going. Deal?”
With him, I knew I could do it. I felt a surge of confidence, and I found myself putting all of my trust in him. “Deal.”
“Good. Now, get dressed, eat your sandwich, and meet me in the barn. I’ll bring Tawny and show you how to get her ready to ride.”
“I couldn’t get on my bike and do this, right?”
“No, sir. You sure can’t,” he said with a laugh that I joined.
He got up and left the soddy, and I got my shirt on before taking the sandwich from the end table. As I chewed, I smiled.
He showed me how to gently ready Tawny for the ride. He was riding the big stallion, Lover Boy, and he showed everything I was to do, using him for my guide. Throughout the process of setting the blanket on her back, the saddle, then fastening it under her belly, I spoke to her, letting her see me and hear me the entire time, like Noah instructed.
She wasn’t a skittish horse, but Noah said any of them could be. Horses were strong and sure most of the time, but like people, he said, they can feel shaken.
He helped me climb into the saddle, and I sat so tall on Tawny’s back that fear crept in for a moment, but I held onto the reins and rubbed a hand over her neck, making a deal with her like I’d made with Noah. “I won’t rush you. We’ll go nice and slow, and I promise not to hurt you.”
She didn’t move, which was a good thing. Once we started off, Noah was right beside me, nodding over to me now and then. “Shoulda got you a hat. That sun might get nasty today.”
“Next time,” I promised, unwilling to return to the house. “Let’s just… do this,” I said and my voice was a little uneven, but I was scared to death. The thing was, I knew not to show it, or let Tawny feel that. And because of that, wanting her to be calm, it calmed me.
She walked along, and I held on with my legs tight to her sides. I watched Noah ride, how at ease he was, how his ass lifted and landed on the saddle again, and I finally realized why he was so tight in that area.
It wasn’t fifteen minutes before my legs and ass were sore. My muscles were already screaming at me for the unexpected workout. Noah saw me riding more like him and he gave me a nod, and those nods were becoming the best praise I could think of getting. It meant I was doing well, and there were no need for words.
We rode a trail that was too narrow for the both of us, so he moved behind me, which scared me. I didn’t want the lead. He sensed this, calling gently, “I’m right here. I’m just watching you in case something happens.”
I glanced behind me quickly, obtaining another nod, so I looked ahead at the trail, and saw it wasn’t very long. I knew I could do it, make it to the end, and once we were there, he moved back beside me, and I laughed out the remainder of my nerves. “Scary, but I did it.”
“You sure did.”
When I came upon the cattle, Noah stopped, so I did the same. We were on a little rise above them, and they meandered around, not paying us a bit of attention. “Gonna have to sell some off. I hate doing it.”
“Isn’t that kind of the point?”
He nodded, chuckling at me. “Well, yeah, but you raise ‘em, you feed ‘em, shelter ‘em, then sell ‘em off, knowing they’re gonna be on someone’s supper table soon. I’ve never been one for cheering about that.”
“I guess that makes you a good person. Most ranchers don’t think like you, I’ll bet. I know the big ranches don’t.”
“Well, depends on the rancher, but those corporations that have bought up so many of these little ranches, they don’t give a shit ‘bout nothing except the dollar signs. That’s the shame of it. Raising cattle shouldn’t be to get rich.”
I agreed with him on that. “Most things shouldn’t. The drive for money takes the heart out of men.”
Noah’s head turned to him, and he asked, “That coming from experience?”
I didn’t elaborate. I simply said, “Yeah.”
I hadn’t told him about Harvey or my life with him. I didn’t tell him why I was running or from whom, and that was all for one reason. I knew that if I told him the story, I’d tell him about the watch, and if I did that, it would hurt. I didn’t want to admit to this good, kind man that I was a lowlife thief.
For him to think badly of me was unthinkable. I knew I should tell him, because I wanted to. But there was the rub. If he knew me, he’d likely kick me off the place and all the recovery, peace, everything I’d gotten in that short time on the ranch would be gone in an instant. To think about that broke a pain in me I never expected.
Guiding the horse down the hill was precarious until I let her take the lead. She knew her own footing, and I was just along for the ride, after all. When we got to the cattle, Noah pointed me over to the trailhead he’d told me I’d be blocking, and I walked Tawny there, after dismounting. “Is it okay if I stand here?”
Noah rode over to me after I got stationed, and he took off his hat, got out his handkerchief and started wiping his face as he stared at the cattle. “Well, I’ll tell ya, that’s all fine, but if a snake or some critter spooks them, well, we could have a stampede. It’s not likely, but with only me to herd ‘em…”
“A stampede?”
