The Girl In The Night

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Lexi's P.O.V.

I should be embarrassed about last night, but I'm not. I'm angry. At myself and at Nate. How dare he pretend like he cares! I can't believe I told him that stuff. Roxy is the only one who knows about the miscarriage and I wanted to keep it that way. I wanted to forget all about it, but it seems my mind won't let that happen.

I need to stay as far away from Nate as possible. I'm just going to pretend last night didn't happen and he doesn't know anything. It's for the best. I don't want to fall into the trap of his fake friendliness and then get hurt all over again.

My dad is back today with the horses, so that should take up a bit more of my time. Hopefully, I won't have time to bump into Nate or his friends.

After my jog to the lake, I go for a swim and then jog back to my parent's house. I have a quick shower to wash the lake off me and then I get ready to go out to the barn. I'm slightly later today, so my mom is already in the kitchen when I go for my coffee.

I reach for the biggest mug and my mom frowns at me.

"Where were you?"

"I went for a jog and then a swim. Why?"

"I didn't hear you this morning."

"Oh, I must have been extra quiet or maybe you were in a deep sleep."

"I guess so. Ask Nate to join us for lunch, please? He usually eats with Caleb so he'll be on his own otherwise."

I nod absentmindedly and take my coffee to the barn with me. The ranch hands are already cleaning stalls when I get in there, so I saddle up Dusty and tell Austin I'm going out on fence check. Nate is just walking in as I leave and I almost feel bad about the dark circles under his eyes. That's my fault.

I turn away from him and say, "My mom wants you to join her for lunch."

He nods, "Are you not joinin' us?"

"No. Busy."

Even if I'm not busy, I'll make sure I am so I don't have to sit through that kind of torture.

I jog Dusty away from the barn and check the fences in all of our fields. Someone does this daily to make sure none of the cattle have escaped or been stolen and that there aren't any breaks where they can get through. I actually really like this job because I get to ride Dusty, I get to be outdoors and I get to be on my own. Sometimes my dad joins me, but normally he's too busy doing other stuff to come with me.

There are a few places in the fences that need to be tied up, so I do that as needed. By the time I get back to the barn, it's after lunch and my dad and Caleb are back with the horses. As the horses are unloaded into clean stalls, I check each one carefully. My dad sure knows how to buy nice stock.

He bought one mare and two geldings. The mare is chestnut, the smaller gelding is black and the other gelding is a paint. As I check the mare over, she pins her ears back at me.

My dad chuckles as I say, "Oh, she has attitude. We'll have to work that out of you, won't we, missy?"

"You like them, Little Bit?"

"Yes sir. She's gonna be a handful, but we'll work on that. I'll give them a day or two to settle and then I'll start. Is that ok?"

"Of course. They're your's to work with. Do whatever you want with them. You think you can have them ready in two months?"

"Sure. Have they had anythin' done with them?"

"They've been handled, but they haven't been sat on yet."