Another side of Heartland

Chapter 41

-Caleb-

Finally Badger and Georgie walked out of the barn and Mallory and I took off walking. Badger and Georgie trailed behind us, not saying anything but I refused to slow down and suck them into our conversation. Finally I could hear them talking a little and I continued to enjoy my ride next to Mallory.
Georgie called out to us and I stopped turning to look at her. "We're going to go this way" Georgie said pointing to the left down a trail. 'Okay see you guys later' Georgie nodded and then called back "we have our phones." I didn't bother responding since they were already around a curve in the trail.

I grasped Mallory's hand and gave it a squeeze before we trotted off in our direction. Once we finally got to the pasture with the pond we slowed to a walk and headed towards the perimeter fence that boarders briar ridge. Mallory was quiet and I knew that meant her brain was working over time. We got to the side of the pasture where we could see briar ridge and Mallory pulled dragon to a stop and I turned to face her. "What's wrong?" Mallory was looking over all the luxury that was briar ridge before she turned to look at me. 'Do you think we shouldn't parade our relationship around until Ashley leaves town?' I tiled my head to the side trying to understand where this was coming from. 'I mean we can even take a break if that's what you want.' I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach and knocked all the air out of me. "Mallory. Woah. Where is all this coming from?" Mallory sighed and picked at the horn wrap on my saddle. 'It's just. All the mean things Ashley said to your mom' "Mallory my mom is a big girl. She can handle it" 'I feel like it's my fault Caleb. And if taking a step back from you would quiet things down then...' Mallory lowered her head and stared at the horn of the saddle.
"Hey," I stepped Ghost closer to her so that I could tilt her chin up to look at me and I could see tears threatening to spill. "Ashley isn't going to stop just because you took a step back. She will just find some other reason to pick on my family." Mallory nodded but looked back down. "Now if you want a break for you I.." Mallory shook her head quickly assuring me that she didn't want that. 'It's just that I feel bad' I nodded and sighed and then remembered something. "Hey Mallory.. what did you tell me when I hesitated to go after Ashley?" Mallory looked up at me looking confused. "You said, don't do what Amy did. Amy wasted a whole year. A whole year she could have been happy with Ty" Mallory nodded and looked up at me, unshed tears sitting in her eyes. "I don't want to waste any time that I could be loving you. Do you understand now?" Mallory nodded and stepped dragon closer so our legs were pressed together. I chuckled and looked at Mallory and reached down to squeeze her leg. "I just wish that advice maybe wouldn't have gone with Ashley" Mallory laughed and shoved me gently. 'Let's head back shall we?' I nodded and turned ghost to follow her.

-Badger-

Georgie had started to talk to me so I thought that riding off alone might be okay. However, as soon as we were away from Mallory and Caleb, Georgie clammed back up and refused to say a word. After about twenty minutes of riding along in tense silence, I sighed and pulled Phoenix to a stop. "I don't know what your deal is. You kissed me. You. And. Now you act like I'm the one that did something wrong"
Georgie looked at me and opened and closed her mouth but produced no words.
I rolled my eyes and turned Phoenix around heading back to the main road path, ignoring Georgie. After a while I heard Georgie trailing behind me and I just continued to walk. I could see Caleb and Mallory up ahead so I whistled and they stopped and looked at me. I kicked Phoenix up into a trot and hurried along to where they were.

When I reached Caleb and Mallory they looked at each other and then back at me. I was chatting with them and Georgie was still dragging behind. Caleb cleared his throat and asked Mallory and I to head back to the barn but Mallory reached out and rugged on Caleb's sleeve and nodded back towards heartland. "You boys go, let me talk to her" Caleb nodded and reached over giving Mallory a kiss.

-Mallory-

I walked back to Georgie and asked her to  turn and go with me and we turned around the bend that Georgie and Badger just came from.
When we were far enough away from the boys that I knew they couldn't hear us anymore. I sighed and looked over at Georgie. "Please stop digging your hole so deep. If you like him. Just tell him. If you don't tell him at this point you have nothing to loose, but if you don't get ahold of yourself your going to loose a lot more than Badger with your bad attitude"
Georgie nodded and we quietly walked along for a while. 'I guess, I guess I'm worried if I take the chance it will be rejection just like all of those foster homes.' I nodded somewhat able to understand where she was coming from. "Georgie, even if Badger doesn't like you like you like him. He's not cruel. Don't let the fear of failure keep you from trying" I took a deep breath and looked over at Georgie "Caleb and I happened to end up together through a rocky time in my life, I was so broken that I didn't notice that the opportunity was right in front of me until we had been stealing kisses for a long time." I laughed "and now I'm going to tell you something that I told Caleb a long time ago.. and Caleb just told me a few minutes ago. Don't do what Amy did, don't waste a whole year when you could be happy" Georgie nodded and looked down at her hands. We kept walking down the path and looped around to the front coming out on the driveway of heartland. 'Mallory, I'm really sorry about what I said in the barn' I nodded and kept walking thinking about my answer. "I know. But Caleb was right. You need to be more careful on who you take your emotions out on" Georgie nodded and smiled at me 'I know' after our conversation Georgie seemed to relax and be able to talk and joke. We walked into the barn and Caleb and Badger had done all of the evening chores and were sitting on a bale of hay watching something on Caleb's iPad. I walked dragon up to the tackroom door and started pulling her saddle off and Georgie put copper on the cross ties doing the same. Once the horses were unsaddled and put away in their stalls, munching on their dinner. Georgie walked up to Badger and asked him to go for a walk and I walked over and sat on Caleb's lap. Caleb smiled and kissed the back of my neck making my hat tip forward and I laughed turning to face him and kiss his lips. 'Did you guys have a heart to heart?' "I think so, I think she's on the right path now" Caleb smiled and squeezed me close to him.

I kissed Caleb's cheek and headed up the stairs to the loft "I'm going to go shower before dinner" Caleb nodded and said that Lou said dinner would be ready at seven.