The Healing Ranch

Chapter 8

Megan sighed as she stared out the window towards the corral, watching Tate work with Midnight. Midnight and Tate had become fast friends over the month or so that he had been working in the ranch and almost every day he took time out of his day to work with the horse. A stray tear trickled down Megan's cheek as she remembered the feeling of riding and how much she had loved it. Suddenly her dad came up beside her.

"You used to do that." He pointed towards where Tate was currently lunging Midnight and Megan sighed.

"Yup. I did."

"Why'd you stop?" Pain filled Megan's heart, but she tried to push it down and remind herself that her dad simply didn't know any better.

"Life just kind of got in the way I guess." She answered vaguely, something she tired to avoid doing with her dad as it just seemed to cause more confusion for him. He looked at her with questioning eyes, but before he could say anything, she turned her wheelchair around and headed into the kitchen. Tate would be coming in for lunch soon and she supposed that she should get something on the table for him.
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"Of all the stupid things to happen." Megan watched Tate as he crawled out from under the burst pipe in his little cabin. He was soaking wet, and the floor of the cabin was completely flooded. He mumbled to himself as he gathered up the tools he had laying beside him.

"I'm sorry about this. Like I said we never use this cabin and I guess I should have guessed that the plumbing wasn't up to scratch." Megan spoke, feeling bad that Tate had had to try and fix the pipe.

"Nah don't worry about it. It wasn't anything you did." He grinned a little at her and then looked at the floor and swore. "Looks like I'm gonna be needing to clean and dry this place out for a week or two." He frowned, kicking a little at the water pooled all over the floor.

"Yeah. Well you can sleep in the house until we get it cleaned out. At least you got the pipe fixed now." Tate nodded and set about gathering up his things while Megan wheeled herself back to the house to set up the sofa bed for him. They didn't have a spare bedroom in the house and she hoped that the sofa bed would be comfy enough for him.
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Later that night, Megan found herself wide awake. She could hear the soft shuffling of Tate getting ready for bed in the living room and for some reason she got butterflies in her stomach at the thought of him sleeping under the same roof as her. She shook her head at herself and giggled. She was acting like a school girl again and she hadn't felt this way since her and her ex boyfriend Luke, had started going out. He was another person she had lost after her accident though and she hadn't even really talked to men that she wasn't related to since. Slowly she drifted off to sleep with her mind on the cute cowboy in the next room over.
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She seemed to be flying. Everything was a blur beneath her and she couldn't tell if it was because the horse she was riding was running so fast, or because she really had grown a pair of wings. She felt the wind blowing her hair back and felt the power of the gelding beneath her and threw back her head and laughed. Suddenly a sick feeling started to grow in her stomach and she pulled back on the reins. Something was going to happen. She didn't want to be on this horse and she tried to slow it down desperately. She started screaming, but the wind whipped her voice away so she couldn't even hear it. And then a car horn and the sickening feeling of impact. A horse screaming and someone sobbing and a constant scream echoing over it. Someone calling her name desperately....

"Megan wake up!" She jolted awake, sweat steaming down her face in rivulets and her throat hoarse. She realized with a start that she had been screaming and that Tate stood over her, looking slightly wild eyed. His dark hair was tousled, as it had started to get long again. She also noticed that he was shirtless and it looked as if he had hastily pulled a pair of jeans on. She found herself looking at his muscled, hard stomach but then realized that he was still talking to her. Her brain spun with the nightmare and she couldn't seem to catch her breath.