Passion » Max Regnery

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The car ride had been silent and the tension so thick, not even a knife was able to slice through it. There was no music playing on the radio to make the ride one bit enjoyable, nor could Blake roll down her window to stick her head out in hopes that something would knock it clean off.

She was done with life. With her family and the way things were going. It was obvious she was a disappointment to her parents and had always been, but ever since she moved back home, things had only gotten worse.

It was like she wasn't welcomed, yet her parents didn't want to be viewed as horrible parents so they kept her. To the rest of the family, Blake was a black sheep who screwed up her life and would never go anywhere. After so many years of hearing it, she was starting to believe it. She was starting to believe that she would be stuck at her parents forever hated because she was a mistake to begin with. They already had the perfect child, they didn't need her.

Maybe that is why they offered her up to the owner of Pine Hollows, a horse riding school were her parents were now the co-owners of the place. They offered her up as a stable hand to get her out of the house and away from them since they would never come to this place other than to check on things.

Blake pulled back from the window and shifted in her seat so that she could sit back. Maybe Pine Hollow would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. After all, being around horses had always been Blake's dream.

"You will need to find a ride home," Her mother spoke, interrupting her thoughts that were slowly turning into positive ones. From where she sat, she could see that her mother was turning right down a two-lane road, on the right ran a white fence and on the left, a wired fence. 

Blake then turned to look at her mother, unsure of what she was really feeling. Anger? Sadness? Maybe a mix of both? "Why?" She then asked, her tone not at all concealing how upset she was starting to feel.

How was she going to find someone to take her home if she didn't know anyone? Not to mention how embarrassing it was to tell someone that your mother drove you, you, a grown adult, and decided to leave you stranded an hour away without a way home.

"Because I won't be anywhere near this place when you get off and I am not driving an hour just to come get you. You can find someone to pick you up or call a taxi."

Blake rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the fields outside her window. Now there were trees lining the fence, and a building was visible in the distance. But even so, Blake could not focus on that or the horses in the pasture as she was now fuming at her mother.

It came as bit of a shock when the white fence stopped to reveal an entrance, the sign above the rode saying 'Pine Hollow Stables' as they turned onto a worn black road lined with white fences. So this was it? This is were she'd spend her days?

She sat forward in her seat as they neared the barn, her stomach bubbling from anxiety. Was it anxiety? Or was she just excited? She took a deep breath as their terrain changed from solid to gravel and her mother pulled up to the opening of the barn and stopped.

"Oh, you're not coming in?" Blake asked as she reached for her purse and the door handle and looked at her mom.

Her mom stuck her nose up in the air as if she had something better to do than walk her adult daughter into her first day of work.

"Very well," Blake said as she opened the door and started to get out. "Bye."

She barely had a chance to close the passenger side door before her mother took off, the tire kicking up some gravel that hit Blake square in the knee. She winced from the pain, but decided to ignore it as she rolled her eyes and turned to go find someone that could help her.

She was at the barn now, surrounded by the sound and smell of horses. Her mother's foul mood this morning could not taint this. Or so she was hoping. It didn't matter. Blake then inhaled the strong aroma that hung in the early morning air and smiled. How long had she waited for this moment? Too long, too many years too long.

Blake then turned to look at the sky that was still quite dark, yet there was a source of light visible beyond the mountains and trees. The sun would be up soon, she thought.

Turning back to the barn, some stalls empty, others with horses waiting impatiently to be fed, Blake decided there was no real harm in exploring, perhaps she'd find someone by doing so.

From what she could see beyond one of the stall windows, the sun was now much higher than before and the sky now coated in a faint pink and orange. Blake still had yet to find someone, but she had managed to locate the office, tack room, feed room, and indoor area. She had also found herself acquainted with a beautiful chestnut mare by the name of Garnet.

She had just left the tack room when she hear the sound of a distressed horse, or so she assumed so because none of the other horses sounded like this one. Upon arriving to the stall, she found a beautiful horse pacing in her stall, her ears flicking this way and that as she started to shift weight from one side to the other, almost as if she was rocking from side to side. Blake found the mare's behavior a little odd, but since she was no real expert -aside from what she had read in books- she figured it'd be the first thing she mentioned when she found someone. However, as she approached the mare, the horse instantly approached the door and stuck out her head. It was here, as Blake placed her hand gently to the mare's blaze, she realized the horse wasn't in any danger but unhappy.

I wonder why that is, Blake thought as she left the mare in search for someone. There had to be someone here if the lights were on and the barn doors open. You didn't just leave a place like this in that state if you weren't there.

"Hello?"

Blake jumped slightly and whirled around to find a tall, tanned, and well built man with cropped brown hair, a face full of freckles -though slightly visible-, and beautiful light blue eyes. One could say they were almost grey.

"Do you need help?" He then proceeded to ask as he set the wheelbarrow down, dusted his gloves off and walked around so that he could be face to face with Blake.

"Uhm," Blake furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched up her lips as she concentrated hard on what it was she was doing here. She knew, but from the sight of this man and his slight accent, she had completely forgotten.

"You wouldn't happen to be the new stable hand Max has hired, would you?" He then asked as he took off his gloves, tucked them into the back of his dirty jeans, and then smiled while crossing his arms.

"Yeah," her face relaxed for a split second before revealing exactly how she felt. She placed a hand to her forehead, smiled awkwardly and laughed nervously. "Sorry, I just... I don't even know, but yeah, I'm Blake Whitmore. Sorry, maybe I should have made myself known. I've been wandering around in search for someone for awhile now."

"I probably wouldn't have heard you anyway, was out in the pasture," he then uncrossed his arms and held out one hand. "I'm Red, by the way, the head stable hand here at Pine Hollow."

"Nice to meet you, Red," she said as she took his hand, which had been extremely warm, calloused, and sweaty into her own and shook it.

"You know you're a bit early," he said as he slowly pulled his hand from hers. "Max said you'd be here round seven."

"Yeah," she awkwardly placed her hands in her back pockets and stared at his shoes. "My mom was just more than happy to get rid of me."

"Mom?" She could hear the confusion in his voice. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-three," she replied quietly, her gaze now on the salt and pepper looking horse in the stall next to them. "I had to move back home..."

"Understandable," he replied after a moment of awkward silence. "Well since you're here, you can help me with feeding the horses."

"Uh, sure," said Blake as she finally looked up at Red. She felt her cheeks growing extremely hot as their eyes met for a brief second before he turned back to the hay filled wheelbarrow and handed her some.