Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“Hey Johnny!” Kathleen says, bringing my attention back to the barn. “I was hoping I’d get to see you today. How are you doing?”
They talk for a moment, and I see Johnny smile at her lovingly.
“You know my brother Johnny, don’t you?” Kathleen says as she turns around to look at me.
I step forward and think about how kind he was to me when I needed a friend. He may have betrayed me when he helped Ryker bring me here, but I’m starting to see that there’s more to this than I realized. And he might have done this to help me.
“Hey, Johnny, how’s it going?” I give him a friendly smile and I can see how he brightens immediately. I didn’t realize how much giving him the cold shoulder had affected him until now.
“I’m good, Miss Blair. Are you and Kath going to ride?”
“We sure are. That is, if you’re up to it, Blair?” she asks, and I nod. “All right then. If you don’t mind, Johnny, I’ll saddle up Goober.”
I bust out laughing and look at her. “Who?”
“Oh lord, just wait. She’s as pretty as can be, but you better not be in a hurry on her. She’s a biscuit short of a full breakfast, but she minds, and I have a soft spot for her. I assume you want your Diamond?”
I like hearing that she’s mine, but I worry she might not let me after I tried to take her out and then got her stuck in the rain. “Maybe?”
“Come on with me, I’ll get her for you,” Johnny says.
Kathleen goes down to the end of the barn and into the last stall on the left. Johnny takes me to Diamond’s, and we stand there at her gate as he gets her saddle out.
“I’m sorry—” he says, but I cut him off.
“Let’s forget about it,” I say, and I mean it. “I know you wouldn’t ever do anything to put me in harm’s way, and I know Ryker feels the same. He trusts you, and that’s why we met. I’m going to trust him and trust you, too. So, I’m sorry about how I treated you when I first got here. But I’d like to be friends again.”
“I’d like that, too, Miss Blair.” His eyes lock with mine. “If I thought he would hurt you I would have never gone along with it. It’s just that well…” He puts his hands in his pockets. “I’ve never seen him show interest in a girl before, and then there you were. He was, well…”
“Obsessed,” I finish when he trails off. My cheeks warm, but I want to know more. I take a step closer to Johnny. “So no girlfriends before? Like…” Now I’m the one to trail off, making him smile.
“He dated when he was younger, but not much. There hasn’t been anyone since he found you. Not even a long while before you,” he admits, looking like he’s trying to remember how long ago but can’t recall. I want to ask more. Like how long has it been since he found me, but I don’t want to make Johnny uncomfortable when we just got back to being friends again.
“Maybe I can get this one to forgive me as well,” I say, turning my attention to Diamond.
She comes over to me, and I hold out my hand. I think for a second she’s going to back away, but she tilts her head down as if asking for me to pet her. I run my hand up her jaw and to her mane. Johnny hands me an apple, and I hold it out for her to eat while he puts on her saddle.
When she’s ready to go, I use the nearby stool and climb on. Johnny leads me out of the barn and I see Kathleen waiting on me.
“My goodness, she sure was made for you to ride her. Y’all are both as pretty as can be.”
I blush and thank her for the compliment. I can’t remember the last time a woman called me pretty, and the fact that it’s Ryker’s mother makes it all the sweeter.
Goober is a beautiful horse, black with big white spots that look like someone poured paint on her.
“How’d she get her name?” I ask as we take off down a trail together.
“Well, her real name is Victoria, but the trainer before Ryker kept calling her a goober because she wouldn’t listen. When Ryker bought her, that was the only name she responded to.”
Kathleen leans over a little to whisper like the horse can’t hear her. “But between you and me, she’s probably the smartest one on this farm. She just likes to play dumb so she doesn’t have to work and can take names.”
“That is smart,” I say, and we both laugh.
A comfortable silence falls between us as we take our time going down the trail. Kathleen points out flowers along the way, and we talk about our favorites.