City Girl and Country Horses

Chapter Three

"Kylie! Hurry up!" Mom calls from the kitchen. I groan and reluctantly get out of bed. My muscles are aching from my ride yesterday day and now Mom wants me to help her with the shopping. Great. I wobble out to the car only to find that Mom wants to walk.

"Can I please just stay home?" I ask hopefully. Mom sighs.

"No Kylie. You and Annie need to start helping out." I groan and follow my mother down the road to the grocery store. It takes us two hours to get everything. By the time we start walking home it is midday and at least 100 degrees. When we get home I dump to groceries on the kitchen table and run to the bathroom. I take a quick cold shower and get changed into a tank top and shorts.

"Kylie Morgen. Come do the dishes this instant." Mom says firmly, a hint of frustration in her voice. I make my way to the sink and rinse off all the breakfast plates and put them in the dishwasher. I put in the powder and turn it on. Before Mom can ask me to do something else I go outside for some fresh air. That was a mistake, it was incredibly hot and sticky. I found myself wanting to go right back inside again, but I wanted to go see the horses more.

Loretown Ranch was full of people, at least, more than yesterday. There were four girls having a lesson in the arena and a bunch of others were talking, laughing and taking care of beautiful horses. I make my way into the barn where I automatically go to Dusty's stable.

"Hey boy, how're you going?" I ask quietly to the horse. Dusty nickers and presses his nose to my hand. I chuckle and scratch his nose for a bit, then move to his ears. Dusty twists his head and rubs against my fingers. I laugh and continue to scratch him.

"Kylie, what're you doing here?" Luke asks. I turn around and brace myself for trouble. Luke just looks confused.

"I, uh, came to see the horses?" I squeak. Luke laughed, his voice was deep and gentle.

"That makes sense." He says with a smile before continuing down the aisle to another stable. I relax my shoulders and leave the barn, giving Dusty one last scratch. As I walk the final hundred feet to my house, a cool breeze blows in. I stand for a second, taking in.

"Did you have a nice walk?" Mom asks. Although she didn't look very interested. I nod and make my way to my room, flopping on the bed with a sigh. It wasn't long before I fell asleep.

Finally, Tuesday arrived. I jump out of bed excitedly and got dressed into my riding clothes. I placed my helmet on my head and raced out to the porch, where I waited for Mom.

"Okay sweetie, let's go." Mom says and we head off down the road. When we get to the ranch, it is noisy and full of people.

"Woah," I say quietly. Mom goes to the office while I head to the barn. The sight I am met with makes my heart plummet. Luke is standing in the aisle with a girl, who just happens to be kissing him. I sigh with disappointment, there go my childish dreams. I shook the silly ideas out of my head and approached Luke.

"Hey Luke," I say confidently. "What are we doing today?" Luke steps away from the girl and turns to me.

"Oh, hey Kylie. This is my girlfriend Caitlin." He replies, gesturing to the blonde girl standing to his left. Caitlin smiles and holds out her hand. I shake it and give her a nod before turning back to Luke.

"Why don't you go get Dusty's tack and meet me at his stable?" Luke says. I nod and race off to the tack room. 'At least Caitlin seems nice...' I think, pulling Dusty's heavy saddle off the rack. Luke helps me tack up and we head into the ring, where Mom is waiting to watch me.

"Okay Kylie, take your reins like I showed you last time and start walking to the left." I pick up my reins with both hands and squeeze my heels against Dusty's side, staying in position when he first starts to move.

"Good, now walk two full laps before changing direction." Luke instructs. I do as he says, trying to keep my body still and Dusty walks. It is much harder than Sunday, since my legs still hurt. About twenty minutes into the ride three girls enter the arena leading their horses. They all have English riding gear and tack.

"May we please ride in here?" The first girl asks, batting her long black eyelashes innocently.

"Only if you stay away from my beginner." Luke replies without looking away from me. The girl nods and leads her white mare to the other end of the arena. Her friends follow with their horses.

"Pay attention!" Luke calls, and I turn my head away from the girls.

"Would you like to give trotting a go before we finish?" Luke asks. After I stare blankly at him for a while, he continues.

"It is a little faster than a walk, but is going to be a lot bouncier. I'll run with you first so you can get used to it."

"Okay." I say either a nod. Luke walks up next to Dusty and I. He then places a hand on my leg to keep me steady.

"Ready?" He asks. I nod and he instructs me to give Dusty a tiny kick. The gelding sets off into a slow, steady trot. I yelp a little in shock at the sudden burst of speed, but Luke running next to me raises my confidence. I shorten my reins a tiny bit and try to stay in the saddle. We trot half a lap before Luke tells me to stop.

"Good job today Kylie, dismount and go untack Dusty now please." I obey Luke's instructions, giving Dusty one final hug after I finished and put him away.

"Hey Kylie," a voice says behind me. I spin around, turning to the voice, it's Caitlin.

"Hi." I reply, giving Caitlin a small smile.

"You're not from here are you?" Caitlin's asks, not in a mean way.

"No, I moved from Chicago last week." I say, avoiding eye contact. Caitlin nods and then turns to walk away. I stand still for a minute, unsure of what that was. She didn't sound mean, but she didn't sound particularly friendly either. I shrugged it off and went to find Mom.

We arrived home at 12:30. Mom wouldn't quit talking about how wonderful I was at riding.

"You were doing beautifully Kylie! I am so happy you found a nice hobby." She says, a dreamy smile on her face. I give her a curt nod.

"There were a lot more people there today. They all had their own horses..." I say to my mother, my voice getting quieter as I say the last part. Mom's eyebrows knit together.

"Now Kylie, I know you love riding and I'm happy you do, but I am not buying you a horse." She says. I nod again, a little disappointed. Looks like I might just have to work on my persuasion skills for a while.