His Second Chance

Chapter Ten

I trotted Buck down the long side of the school, Chloe watching me carefully from the middle. Since our run down to the cove, he had been much better behaved and had been responding to my commands beautifully.

Our lesson had been a long one, and I could feel him getting tired now. When he got tired, it was like riding a pile of jelly. Chloe could also see that he had had enough of school work and said," Alright, that's enough for today. Walk him round a few times and then you can put him out."

I didn't answer, but I had my instructions. I gave him his head and let him lap the school a few times before we let ourselves out through the gate and straight into the barn. I went through the usual routine of untacking and brushing him down, before I walked him out to his field with Fly. Fly, of course, was waiting for him. He tossed his head and nickered as he saw his friend coming. I chuckled as I let them loose in the field. They ran around with each other, playing like little children, before trotting off down to the bottom. I looked over to my right to where Guinness's field was. Chloe was standing by his gate with his lead rope. While in the field, he kept his headcollar on, just as a precaution so he was easier to catch until he had been trained properly. I watched as she called for him, and he trotted up to her willingly with his eyes bright and his ears pricked. Chloe had been attempting to teach him some manners, and so far he had been doing very well. He was now able to walk along next to her on the right, calmly and quietly. She hadn't tried him with any sort of tack yet; none of us knew how he would take it. I watched as she led him into his separate barn area. He still wasn't in the main barn, as we didn't know how he would react with all of the mares. Besides, we didn't have a spare stable for him.

I walked back into the barn to start some of the mucking out, when I heard Chloe call my name through the barn, demanding that I fetch her a whip and a lunging rope. I rolled my eyes, but did as I was told. When I went through into the little barn area, Guinness was tied outside the stable, happily eating some hay while Chloe brushed him. He was still very wary when it came to brushing his legs and under his belly, but everywhere else he allowed the brush to clean him.

I put the rope and whip down by the side and sat down to watch in silence. I was about to speak, when I felt my phone vibrate. Quickly, I pulled it out of my pocket, almost dropping it in a poo, before opening the message. A smile spread across my face when I saw that it was from Julian. It read:

Friday night, you doing anything? X

I could feel my arms tingling. He had sent me a kiss! What did that mean? Was it casual, or did it mean something? I shook my head; I was overthinking. I quickly typed out a response:

Don't think so, why? Xx

He messaged back almost instantly:

Fancy going out to dinner? X

That would be nice! Where and when? Xx

I'll pick you up, around seven, if that works x

That sounds great :) xx

See you Friday x

I smiled again, and then heard Chloe speak," What are you smirking for?"

"Julian," I replied.

"I couldn't have guessed," she said, not able to contain her grin.

I glared at her and said," Surely you must know how I feel? Young and in love!"

"That's a statement!" she laughed," So you're in love? This is the man you are going to spend the rest of your life with?"

"I don't know, maybe," I said," Would that be so bad? Anyways, what about you and the Inspector? I've seen the way you look at him, and you message him quite a lot."