His Second Chance

Chapter Three

"Hi." My voice suddenly came out super high-pitched, making me cough and say hi again in a more normal voice. I heard Archie and Elliot sniggering behind me, so I had to turn slightly and shoot them a death look. They got the message, but walked off still chuckling.

"I don't believe we've met." Chloe stepped forwards to take control of the situation, because I certain couldn't. "Chloe Maxwell. This is my cousin, Amy."

"Yes, I have heard of you," he said, stepping forwards to shake her hand with a smile,"Julian Carr. Its nice to meet you."

He then turned to me and held out his hand. "Hello Miss."

I blushed and shook his hand lightly. He then turned back to Chloe and said," She's a beautiful filly. I've heard your selling."

"I plan to, yes," came the reply from my cousin," I've this filly, and several others if you're interested."

"That I am," he said," My family and I like to show horses, you see, I'm always on the look out for pretty, good-tempered animals."

"Well, you'll not find any bad bone in her body," Chloe smiled.

He grinned as he walked up to Firefly. She stepped forwards as he held out his hand. She nickered slightly and he rubbed her muzzle.

"She likes you," I said, smiling.

Whether he heard or not was not something I couldn't tell, but as I watched him as he looked over Firefly, I could see the same look in his eyes that I always saw in Chloe's when she looked at a new horse that she liked. Firefly stood perfectly still as he inspected her.

"She certainly is a beauty," he said," How much would you be willing to settle for?"

"Thank you for the compliments, but unfortunately I don't do business here in open spaces," she replied, before she gave him a card from her pocket," Give me a call and we can set up a meeting."

He nodded and took the card with a smile. "See you around."

As he walked off, I exhaled deeply. Once he was out of earshot, Chloe burst out laughing as we walked Firefly back to the truck.

"What?" I said, running slightly to catch up with her.

"I know you're a bit soppy when it comes to the male species, but that was just ridiculous!" she replied, giggling," That voice you were putting on, and your face! I wish I'd got a picture of it!"

"Oh, shut up!" I cried, going bright red as I punched her lightly in the arm.

She didn't say another word, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that she was still smiling. Once we'd reached the lorry, Archie and Elliot had already returned. When they saw me, they leant towards each other like two gossiping girls and started mumbling and laughing together.

"Do you two ever grow up?" I asked, half serious, half amused.

"Hi, I'm Amy, I act really cool but when a boy approaches me, I'm a wreck!" Elliot mimicked my voice in an annoying tone.

I picked up a brush and threw it at him, but he managed to duck out of the way and it hit Blaser on the head. I gasped and knelt down next to him. "Sorry, Blaser, I'm very sorry!"

Of course, he didn't understand, but Archie made me feel bad by saying," Amy, how could you? Poor Blaser!"

"Oh, stop going on," Chloe said from around the corner of the lorry as she untacked Firefly and let her have some food. "Amy, I need some help getting Sterling ready, we're going in at nine-thirty."

The first part of the day went relatively quickly. Sterling - the older of the two colts - performed well, although not as well as Firefly. He had a bit of trouble standing still for all that time, as there were more people in his class so there was more waiting around, but he executed his walk-to-trot very nicely, and ended up coming in second, after a dun colt. At half-past ten, they finally came out after a victory lap.