Heywood Equestrian Stables

Where It All Began

When I woke up in the morning, my eyes blinked against the sunlight coming through the window. My body ached in so many places. I couldn't tell if it was because of helping the foal be born, being so distraught about my father's death and crying for who knows how many hours, or the sex in the shower with Sidney.

The thought of Sidney made me instantly roll in the bed and reach out for him. I was hopeful he'd still be next to me sound asleep. My hand fell on cold, empty sheets. I looked around the room wondering if he was somewhere else in the house. I wrapped the sheet around me and rushed down the hallway to the bathroom and found nothing. Downstairs was also empty. He had left at some point. He very well could have left the moment I fell asleep. The thought made me sad again and tears sprung to my eyes.

I went back upstairs and sat on the edge of the bed thinking on what happened. He had to care about me. There was no way he could deny he had feelings for me. Otherwise he wouldn't have been so sweet taking care of me and staying with me during the night, despite whether he left at some point or not.

I picked up my phone on the bedside table and checked for any missed calls or messages, simply trying to distract myself from the thoughts running through my mind. I wasn't one of those people who had their phone glued to their hand at all times, but I did carry a phone with me most of the time. I had a missed text from Clara, my good friend from college, asking me how my time on the farm was going and a text from James asking if I'd like to go out to dinner with him sometime. I never did tell James I was leaving for an indefinite amount of time. I hadn't spoken to him in weeks. He was an on again, off again type of guy. We weren't exclusive and definitely never discussed much of anything. The few dates we had were mostly just for companionship. But then we'd go days, sometimes even weeks without talking. He travelled a lot for his job. He came from a long line of money and worked for his father. I figured if he ever invited me to go on a trip with him, that would be the day I assume we were moving in the direction of exclusivity. But now, even the thought made me realize how much I didn't want it.

I texted him back and simply said I was visiting home and couldn't see him. I also texted Clara and told her things were... interesting. It's about the only word I could think of that fit to what had been going on. She knew nothing of Sidney, of course. I never talked about him to any college friends. All she knew when I left was that my father had died, and I needed to settle his affairs. I didn't tell her how long I planned to be gone or if I even planned to return. I always assumed I would after a couple of weeks, but now I wasn't so sure. I liked the simplicity of being home. I'd always liked the calm the ranch had brought me. Going back to a big city life seemed so foreign now.

I was still trying to make sense of what happened. It was nearly noon so there was a reasonable explanation why Sidney would be gone. He probably got up to go work and check on the foal. I hoped that was the reason.

I quickly pulled some clothing out of my suitcase and got dressed. I brushed my hair and pulled it up into a high ponytail before running outside. I headed down towards the barn, suspecting that was where I would find Sidney. I noticed all the hay trucks that had parked by the barn were all gone, and the barn was deserted. I sighed, feeling defeated. I stopped at the stable where the foal was and rested my arms on the gate to watch him for a few moments, remembering what happened and how I helped deliver him.

"Good morning, Charlotte," Tom called out startling me from my thoughts.

"Good morning."

Once he put some stuff in the tack room, he came over next to me and looked in on the foal. "Sidney told me about your adventures last night," he said.

"What?" I asked, horrified by what he meant.

"With the foal," he clarified.

"Oh, right?"