Love Unexpected

Chapter 4

The days that followed after that "incident" with Kasey had left Halyn somewhat scared to the point she completely avoided him like the plague. That look in his eyes and how intimidating he had been had left her feathers ruffled and unsettled.
In respective of the pain she was going through which had altered her emotions and thoughts, Halyn had a smart head on her shoulders and wasn't about to cross Kasey.

Not when the man had subtly threatened her. Halyn had no idea what he had meant by "implications" but that very word had sent her mind into a frenzy and she sure as hell didn't want to find out. That day, Halyn discovered the dimpled easy-going foreman wasn't as he appeared, he was a crackling fire that was waiting just to burn her up.

As such, she had stayed clear of him shifting her attention to learning what she could from the other ranch hands and working with them. Although it was difficult work and the very first day had left her body feeling like it had been run over by a tractor, she loved every bit of it since it left her too occupied during the day and too tired during its end to do anything except sleep. She was a goner once her head hit the pillow leaving her no room to dwell on things or wallow in pain.

But not this night.

Halyn, under the cover of the night slowly creeped down the creaking stairs like an intruder and made her way out using the back door. It was a quarter past ten and the workers had retired sparing her their curious judgemental gazes.

The chirping of crickets and the howling wind filled her ears as alert eyes scanned the area to make sure no one was in sight before she hurriedly matched to the stables. The warmth that met her inside, chased away the cold.

Most of the horses were asleep but the few that weren't neighed acknowledging her presence. Within the few days of her being here, she had gotten herself very well acquainted with most of the equestrian life, earning her compliments of being a horse magnet by the workers.

Halyn couldn't explain it but she naturally felt drawn to these gentle beasts and she would have loved nothing less than to lavish her attention on those awake but she was on a mission. Making her way to the last stall, she entered, a gentle smile on her face.

Halyn reached deep into the pocket of the coat she wore and brought forth an oatmeal cooking and fed it to the horse.

"Hey, boy." She softly muttered, stroking the horse's mane.

Perhaps her hand was too cold or maybe the horse had caught on to her intention since it snorted taking a step back from her.

"Please help me out here okay," Halyn begged looking the animal in its eyes.

The twenty-eight-year-old who was a green leaf and had no knowledge of how to ride a horse sought to change that narrative but instead of asking for help from the experienced hands, Halyn had decided to take matters into her own hands, too embarrassed and worried about how they were going to perceive her.

More of her worries were based on the fact that someone her size trying to learn how to ride a horse was going to make her a laughingstock to the others. Something that scared her.

Hence she had relied on the ever-trustworthy YouTube, pouring over countless "how to" videos to teach herself and tonight she was finally going to put what she had learnt into practice.

With more oatmeal cookie bribes and several coaxes, Halyn successfully managed to saddle Bambi and lead it out of the stables.

"There is a lot of lot more for you if you behave and I get to ride you. So don't make any noise okay." She intoned leading the animal to the corral.