Chapter 6
After putting his rope away, Kit wrapped his arm around my shoulders pulling me into his side. Due to his height, I fit there like a glove and found myself sighing in contentment. On our way to the arena we bounced questions back and forth everything from favorite color to best comfort food and when he asked who my high school crush was I couldn't stop the blush from creeping up my face. At my silence Kit looked my direction before pulling me to a stop, his large hand on the small of my back pulling me into him, warm fingers under my chin asking me to look at him. I found myself compelled to look at him, the blush still evident on my face. My eyes locked onto his questioning ones. "Who was it honey?"
"One of my best friends' older brothers." I mumbled, watching his face for the big realisation. I didn't have to wait long and got to watch as comprehension dawned across his handsome features, split seconds before he leaned down to capture my lips with his. Our lips moved in sync and time had no meaning. I could kiss this man all day, and damn if he didn't know how to kiss. A loud wolf whistle broke us out of our little bubble, I lifted my middle finger in the general direction of the whistle while we both took a gasping breath. Kit pressed his forehead to mine as our breathing leveled out. "Just so you know honey, you were my high school crush too. I just worried you would just see me as your best friend's older brother." At this admission his left arm moved to rub his neck, the classic Ely move of embarrassment.
I let out a giggle and kissed his unflushed cheek (damn dark complexion) "Well I guess we don't need to worry about that now do we?" With that I turned and flounced towards where Melanie and Quinn were waiting. Kit caught me quickly and then we walked in step to the indoor arena. In the small tacking and mount up area on the short end of the arena were about 10 horses. Melanie took me and introduced me to the 4 that I would be trying out today. I would ride one of Quinn's heading horses whose barn name was Bon Jovi, while Mel rode one of Kit's heelers called Jagger, then we would switch off and ride opposite horses and their respective ends. She then showed me one of Kit's heading horses turned breakaway Ransom and then one of her barrel horses she affectionately called Sharpie.
While we tightened cinches and mounted up on the team roping horses Mel reminded me that if I felt uncomfortable on any of the horses or like we didn't click at all, I could always hop on any of the other 6 horses they had brought out. As we warmed up, I was playing with my rope, letting out old muscles in a rhythm I hadn't used since high school. Bon Jovi working seamlessly underneath me, I had forgotten how truly good the Ely brothers were at training horses. I set my rope off the end of the arena by the roping boxes and decided to press a few buttons. Knowing that the Ely's were a strictly western riding family I wanted to see how Bon Jovi would respond to me putting him through some basic dressage paces. The riding stable closest to my home base was an English center, I learned lots of dressage, show jumping and cross country.
Pulling the big bay gelding into a collected trot, I tweaked the reins to the outside pulling his nose slightly down and towards his outside shoulder. At the same time pressing behind his outside shoulder asking him to move his front end away from the pressure. After a few stutter steps he figured out his footing and I had him moving diagonally down the arena in a move we call two-tracking. His front and hind ends were both moving forwards but on two seperate paths, creating two tracks in the dirt. Reaching the wall I switched sides and asked him to do it the opposite way, which he picked up even quicker. What I didn't realise was that Kit, Quinn and Mel had stopped warming their horses up and were standing together watching me work with Bon Jovi. I moved him through a few more Level 1 dressage moves, all things that, so long as the foundation was there, a horse of this caliber should have no problem completing, even without training specific to dressage.
I finally stopped him in the center of the arena and leaned forward onto his neck to give him a hug and a big ole pat. The two of us would get along just fine. I finally looked up to see Quinns jaw hanging, Melanie's eyebrows raised and Kit with a shit eatin' grin on his face.
Melanie seemed to find her voice first, "Well looks like someone had some new tricks up her sleeve." I nodded before going into a brief explanation of spending time at Briar Ridge by the base.
Quin finally seemed to find his voice "Well if you can get Bon Jovi to listen to you and move the way you made him move, then I'm a believer. Hell Stephie, I've always had a problem with him wanting to drop his shoulder out too soon after I dally, maybe some of that fancy footwork can keep him straighter a bit longer."
"Well thanks for the heads up Quinn, with that bit of info can we rope now?" Turning Bon Jovi towards the roping box.
I roped off Bon Jovi for about 15 minutes, working on his shouldering out issue, and managed to catch a few calves while we were at it. I switched to Jagger and immediately had problems when I asked him to deviate from what seemed to be his scheduled programming. I pulled him down to a stop and called Kit over.
"Is Jagger one of your road horses?" Kit nodded in affirmation before asking why. I explained to Kit that with the consistency he is shown on the road, especially in the warmup pen, that he had gotten too comfortable in the set routine. I also explained that I just couldn't get inside his head and get him out of the funk he was in. He hopped off the healing horse he was warming up and I did the same, he handed me the reins to a mare he called Skittles. I hopped up, drowning in Kit's saddle but feeling immediately more in sync with this mare. My legs dangling unable to reach Kit's stirrups as I moved her through the same paces I did with Bon Jovi and had remarkable success. Kit came over and shortened my stirrups so I was more stable and told me if I could ride like that then I should be just fine roping in his bigger saddle. Turns out he was right, that and I'm a much better heeler than I am a header.
Moving on to the breakaway horse, a black gelding they called Ransom, we moved through warm up seamlessly and really clicked in the box, making more catches than I had expected considering my lack of success as a header. Kit wanted me to throw a few ropes of Ransom using him as a heading horse. I looked at him confused, because Mel had told me they took him away from heading to move to breakaway.
"Just humor me, you two clicked pretty well. I wanna see if he will head for you." I just shrugged at this and headed to the heading box, with Kit in the healing side. Calf jumped out, Ransom two steps behind putting me in perfect position, I roped this one no problem and Ransom did his job perfectly, giving Kit a great shot for the heels. I turned Ransom towards the calf and he set back on his haunches, pulling the rope taught. That run felt good, Ransom set me up well and we worked together like we had been for years. I couldn't keep the smile off my face, and Kit just motioned back to the box. We did this about 10 times. Kit just shaking his head after every run, the runs had all felt great to me, we caught each calf and Kit followed through easily. I didn't understand what was wrong.
Quinn could see my confusion and rode his horse up beside me. "He's mad that he could never get Ransom to work like that. That nobody could get him to perform like that. This horse was bred to be a heading horse, but he never seemed to get it right, so Kit turned him to breakaway. He was alright at it, but nothing like what he has been working for you. I wager that Kit is gonna wanna hop up on him and give him a run or two. Watch carefully when Kit rides him, you'll see." With that he sent his gelding off to go cool down next to Mel's horse.
Quinn was right, Kit came over and asked me to switch saddles on Ransom. I had Mel heel for him, and watched as Kit struggled to get Ransom to fire on all cylinders. He was always a jump behind or an angle off, never seeming to put Kit in a good position or follow through to get Mel a good shot. I watched Kit get more frustrated with each run, and Ransom's behavior and performance suffer.
Finally Kit rode him over and pulled his saddle off, putting it back on the mare I'd been holding for him. He then turned to me, frustration clear on his rugged features. "I don't know why he doesn't work for me, hell he doesn't work for nobody. Until you. I don't know what it is about you woman, you're like a damn miracle worker." With that he headed off towards the end to move to another horse, leaving me standing there with a surprised look on my face. Ransom finally bumped me with his nose, knocking me out of Lala Land. I rubbed him on his forelock and then walked him towards the other end of the arena as well.
Finally hopping up on the big grey she called Sharpie, I did a proper warmup and then did some different techniques than the roping horses. The difference, roping horses needed to be soft and supply and have some different moves than the barrel horses did. Not that the barrel horses couldn't do it, but I focused Sharpie on some moves that would help her in the barrel pen.
When it was time to run I did a slower run through first just getting a feel for Sharpie's turns and gas pedal, boy did she have one, brakes too. The girl could bogie. Second run I kinda just sat there and looked for places I could help her or push her. Then on the third run, we smoked. I liked running on this mare. Mel and I did a few slow exercises with both barrel horses and then watched the boys play around while we cooled them out.
"You know, I don't think I've seen Kit so flustered over someone making his horses look so damn good in a long while" she commented with a smirk. I just shrugged, "Oh you know how he gets being shown up, especially on something he can't make work. I don't know what it was about Ransom, he just felt right. Kit should be damn proud. I loved riding that horse."
Mel just nodded in agreement and changed topics. "So, are you planning on looking for an apartment?" I still hadn't decided and told her as much. In turn she let me know that there was always a place here for me on the ranch.
"You just like cheap labor." She laughed and nodded her head.
"Quinn probably wouldn't mind your help with some training either. Lord knows I've missed you around here." She stopped the little gelding she was riding before reaching over to take a hold of my arm. "It just hasn't been the same, and well…. Quinn and I talked about it. We would really like you to stay. I know it's a ways from the hospital, and would understand if you'd prefer an apartment in town…." she trailed off, looking away from me.
I nearly threw myself off Sharpie as I leaned over to give her an enthusiastic hug. Sharpie side passed out from under me in surprise and I took us both down into the dirt, not letting go of Mel. Shaking off her surprise, Mel hugged me back and gave a loud whoop, causing both horses to jump sideways and look at her like she might be the Boogey Man. Quinn and Kit both pulled their horses up next to them and grabbed the reins before hopping off and looking at us, both still hugging in the dirt, like we were aliens.
"Not that I mind the view, but what in tarnation are you two doing?" Kit drawled.
"She said YES!" Mel crowed. Quinn just smiled indulgently at her, shaking his head. Before taking the two horses he held down the end of the arena.
Kit looked shocked, before picking me up out of the dirt in a hug. "Well Darlin, looks like we will be seeing a whole lot more of one another." He placed a kiss on the top of my head and followed Quinn. I reached down to give Mel and hand up and we trailed along behind them.
After getting all the horses untacked, brushed down and put away. WE all headed back to the house, Kit and I following at a distance. Kit was the first to speak "So what made you decide to stay here instead of someplace closer to the hospital?" He sounded almost… worried?
I struggled to come up with the right words to explain it, so I went with the easiest explanation. "Because… This is home." And there it was. A warm feeling took over my chest, and a hole I didn't know existed filled over. I stopped abruptly, shocked, not realising what this place had meant to me all this time. Tears filled my eyes, overcome with emotion. Kit just pulled me to his expansive chest and gave me a safe place to lose it.
He rubbed my back and whispered sweet nothings, for the second time today. I began paying closer attention to his words. "Can't believe it, you sweet girl. You're home now darlin. So happy you're back home. Now maybe I can do what I was too chicken shit to do in high school."