River Lane

Chapter 14

I sat on the tire swing later that night, watching my feet drag through the crisp green blades of grass underneath me. I could hear the leaves in the trees around me rustling with the slight breeze, and the horses nickering to each other as their tails whipped around trying to swat all the flies from each other. The world around me was so content and peaceful, but the voices inside my head were arguing with each other and I wished there was a way I could shut down the bickering and not listen to it anymore.

I was so angry at everything that Brady said that I wanted to just throw things at him to make myself feel better. Unfortunately things just didn’t work like that. The part that was really getting to me was that I really liked Pace, but some of the things that Brady had said hit home. I didn’t know why, and Pace had always been amazing to me. I guess I was looking for a reason to not like him so much because I was still hoping against all else that Garrett would come back. Sometimes hoping is pointless. Not to mention I didn’t have the best feelings about Brady either. So who to believe?

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I kept traveling to rodeo’s and continued to ignore Brady. Oddly though, I had been making excuses to Pace. I hadn’t talked to him since he left my house  and knew that he’d be calling soon. I wouldn’t be able to keep hiding from him forever. I didn’t want to. I just couldn’t help it. I had too many things going on at one time and although someday in the future they would seem childish to me, at the moment they still seemed important.

           

           

***

            Pulling the trailer around behind the chutes, my adrenaline started to rush. Some if it was nerves. I wasn’t sure if Garrett was here and although part of me was dreading running into him, another part of me had my blood rushing to me heart hoping I would see him. I went through this at every rodeo.  I had my doubts. I had already been to half a dozen rodeos and he wasn’t at any of them. It had been a long drive here, even with Allie and Faith. Allie was racing with me and Faith just came along for the ride, but our conversation on the way was practically nonexistent. My mind was on other things, and even though I felt guilty over the boy troubles I was already starting to pile up, I just had to hope he was here.

            Saddling my mare, my eyes kept drifting off in different directions, searching for him. I didn’t realize how long I was taking until Allie brought me out of my reverie.

            “Did you forget what you were doing by chance?” I looked around and realized she was sitting up on her gray gelding while Faith was settled on top of Tequila.

            “Sorry guys. Just got a little distracted is all.” Swinging up on the saddle, I nudged her towards the arena. “Come on let’s hurry and warm up.”

            I was a long ways ahead of them when I heard Allie yelling my name. Stopping for a minute I sat and waited. When I turned to look forward I noticed a girl looking at me, giving me a nasty look. I gave her my best ‘what the hell’ look back. Dumb hag I thought to myself. When Allie and Faith finally caught up, Allie started to tease.

            “Come on Nayvee you’ve got us saddled up and ready to ride long before the rodeo is ready to even start, what’s your hurry? Afraid you might miss out on something, or should I say someone?” Not understanding what she meant Faith jumped in.

            “What do you mean someone? Who are we looking for? I thought you were with Brady or wait didn’t you say something about a boy named Pace? I’m so confused.” Allie laughed.