Chapter 10
March 29th
That night, Riley came to pick up Nicole just as he said he would. When Nicole finished at the clinic, it was five on the dot, and Riley said he had been waiting for half an hour. Nicole wondered why he wanted to sit in his car and wait for such a long time just to pick her up but she didn't say anything.
She was just excited.
Nicole was excited for Riley to come over to her place and she had almost forgotten to even let dad know. She did let him know and he said it was fine, which was good. Nicole was glad that he didn't outright say no.
Nicole waved goodbye to Lilly as she took her place in the front passenger seat of Riley's car after he gave her a kiss. When she was settled, Nicole pulled out her phone and called Isabella. She wanted to see how Destiny was seeing as she hadn't visited her for a while.
Nicole talked with Isabella for a while, glancing over to Riley now and then to see if he was interested.
He looked like he was.
Isabella assured Nicole that Destiny was fine.
She and the foal were doing well.
Nicole was glad to hear that.
And when her conversation was over, she hung up from her friend.
"So," said Riley, "do you have any tips on dealing with your dad?"
Nicole had to think. She came up with a few ideas, "agree with everything he says. Don't try to assure him that you will look after me because he won't listen. And most of all, let him think that he knows best because he normally does."
"That's all?"
"One more thing; be nice to him. He likes it when people are polite."
"I think I can do that."
"And, lastly, don't tell him of your past," said Nicole.
Riley said he didn't need to be told twice about that.
"Are you ashamed about your past?" asked Nicole.
"Sort of," replied Riley, "but I did what I did and back then, I liked the way I was."
"What about now?" asked Nicole.
"Now I want to settle down."
Nicole smiled.
She hoped that Riley wanted to settle down with her.
...
When Nicole and Riley got home, Nicole wasn't sure if her father was really okay with Riley being here. He crossed his arms over his chest, like he usually did when Riley was here, and he did nod a greeting. But now he must have had second thoughts because he was actually seeing Riley with his precious daughter. He was an overprotective father and he took his duty very seriously.
"Is everything alright, dad?" said Nicole.
"Everything's fine, honey," replied Mr Walker.
He was probably just trying to scare Riley off.
"Dinner's not too far away," said Mr Walker, "I will let you know when it is ready."
Nicole nodded her head before she looked at Riley, "come on," she said, "I want you to meet the horses."
Riley knew that this would happen and he just followed his girlfriend outside. Riley had said he wasn't the biggest animal lover, but he wasn't scared of horses or animals or anything. He was willing to meet the horses he had been told so much about, but he said he wouldn't become horse lover or anything.
