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BELLE COULDN’T BELIEVE how sore she felt that night as she brushed her teeth and got ready for bed. She hoped all Dirk’s patients would take it easy on her the next day. How did she get so out of shape? She used to be able to ride for hours—all day in fact. True, she was a teenager then, but still, she wasn’t that old now.
“Annabelle, phone for you,” her mother called down the hallway from the kitchen.
“Okay. I’ll be right there!” she yelled back. Who could it be? She hoped it wasn’t Dirk calling to tell her he’d pick her up early. “Hello?”
“Belle! How are you?” Barb’s voice boomed over the phone so loud Belle could have sworn she was in the next room.
“Uhh...okay. Maybe a little sore,” she answered half-truthfully.
“Great! Say, I need to ask you a favor.”
“Really,” Belle said, suspicious about her friend’s request. Barb sounded a little too hearty for her.
“Yeah. Would you mind doing another private ride tomorrow?”
“But I have to wo—”
“I already talked to Dirk,” Barb told Belle before she could complete her protest. “I have an ‘in’ with your boss.” She chuckled at her own joke. “He said it was okay with him.”
Belle felt so sore since she hadn’t ridden in a long time, she couldn’t see herself doing another ride that soon, but then again, working with some of Dirk’s crankier patients—especially the ones who reared or pulled ninety miles an hour backward on the rope—well maybe that was a slight exaggeration—could be even worse. “Well...”
“Oh, you haven’t ridden for awhile, have you? I bet you’re kinda’ sore,” Barb said as though the idea suddenly dawned on her. “Well, you know what they say, ‘hair of the dog’ and all that. If you ride again today you’ll be fine tomorrow,” she cajoled. When Belle still didn’t say anything, Barb pulled the last card up her sleeve: “Okay, if you won’t do it for me, will you do it for Gavin and Gabby?”
How could she say no? Barb pulled out all the stops with that one. “What time?” she asked wearily.
Once again, she was glad she agreed to go on the ride, when she pulled into the dude ranch parking lot and saw Gavin and Gabby standing next to the saddling paddock, Smokey and Misty were saddled and Barb held their ropes while she talked to the little girl and her father. As Belle got out of the car, all three turned to look at her. When she got closer, Barb and Gavin greeted her. Belle returned their greeting, then knelt down to Gabby’s level.
“Do you want to ride Smokey with me again today, Gabby?” When the little girl nodded, Belle looked at Gavin, who smiled and nodded too, with a look of relief, she thought. She understood. While his riding skills were okay, she imagined he still didn’t feel capable of handling a horse and his daughter yet.
They followed the same drill as the day before, with Barb’s help, and soon were out on the trail. Belle held her face up to the sun. It was another glorious late summer day, with more than a hint of autumn in the air. Many trees already changed color and a few leaves lay scattered across the trail.
“Thank you for taking this ride today,” Gavin said after she’d had a few moments of sun worship. “Barb told me you’ve worked here in the past but you work for the veterinarian now. I really appreciate you taking time off to do this.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble.” Was he kidding? What kind of trouble was it to spend an hour with a good-looking man like him? ‘Course she couldn’t say that. “I don’t have a horse anymore and I miss riding,” she said instead.
“At least thank your boss for me, then.”
She laughed. “I’m sure Barb already has. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but...he’s her fiancé—and a really great guy. He’d do anything for her.”
Gavin raised an eyebrow and smiled, and after that rode in silence for awhile with Gabby busy reaching down to pat Smokey’s neck now and then. Belle thought Gavin might be lost in thought like she’d been earlier. Then he spoke.
“I suppose Wrangler Barb told you about Gabby when she asked you to do this ride for us today.
“Um, well, she said Gabby had a good time and she thought you did too. And since Gabby and Smokey and I got along so well...” she trailed off, not sure what he meant.
“Yes, I did...she did...we had a great time.” She could’ve sworn his face flamed red with embarrassment. “To be honest, I was afraid that if she didn’t ride with you today, she might not have such a great time. In fact, she might have a meltdown.” He must have noticed her puzzled look. “Gabby has”—he stopped speaking and looked at his daughter, who leaned back against Belle, one small hand gripping the saddle horn, while the other grasped a handful of Smokey’s black mane—”some emotional issues.” He sighed. “Her mother’s...no longer with us.”
She didn’t know what to say. She’d suspected it, but didn’t know for sure. Maybe the little girl was just extremely shy. She’d wondered, though, why the mother wasn’t with them. She sensed he wanted to say more, but after looking at his daughter again, he hesitated, maybe not wanting to say something in front of Gabby.
“She really likes you,” he said instead.
“I like her too. But I suspect she likes Smokey even more.”
“Maybe so, but you’re very good with her. Did you ever consider working with children rather than animals? I suppose you decided to be a vet because you like horses.” He smiled warmly at her. “
“Oh, I’m not a veterinarian, I’m just helping Dr. Adams out right now while I...well, to be honest, I’m looking for a teaching job. That’s actually what I went to college for. I recently moved back to Mercy Ridge from Seattle,” she explained, and hoped she could politely drop the subject.
“Really? We live in Seattle. What school and what grade did you teach there? Gabby’s starting kindergarten soon, aren’t you Gab?”
Belle felt the girl tense up. Uh-oh. Sore subject, or did Gabby sense Belle’s tension? She made an effort to relax for the child’s sake, took a deep breath and exhaled before she answered.
“I, uh, I didn’t actually teach there.”
“Oh, I’d hoped maybe...Well, I know it’s a long shot, but maybe that you’d taught at Gabby’s school.”
“No, I’m sorry.” She smiled down at the little girl’s head, but Gabby didn’t look up.
Gavin didn’t ask any further awkward questions for the rest of the ride. He told her a little about his work and what it was like to grow up in Seattle and Belle talked about growing up in a small town. When they got back to the ranch, Belle realized the reason Gabby seemed so relaxed—the rhythmic plodding of the horses’ feet, the fresh air and warm sunshine, caused her to fall asleep.
“I don’t want to wake her,” Belle whispered to Gavin. “Say good-bye to her for me, will you? She’s a sweet little girl. I’m glad I got to meet you both.”
“You made this weekend very special for us, Belle. Maybe we can come back next summer for a week. By then you’ll have a teaching job with summers off. If we invite you, would you come and join us for a ride?”
“I’d like that.”
“Good. I’ll tell Gabby that. It’ll be something to look forward to.”