Sam finished tacking up Ace once again, she ground tied him and walked over to Allie to see if she needed any help. Allie had already placed a saddle pad and the saddle on, she now was staring at the girth.
"Need some help?" Sam asked still impressed with everything she had done.
"Can you show me?" Allie asked nodding her head towards the girth.
"Sure," she stepped next to Allie so she could do up the girth, she explained and showed Allie the steps. Then undid it. "There, you try."
Allie took a hesitant step forward and took the girth from Sam, slowly and carefully she started putting it on. Her hands shook lightly and Sam was sure she was having some kind of performance anxiety.
"Perfect! You did it just fine Allie, now remember to check and make sure it's tight again before you get on."
She went back over to Ace trusting Allie to be capable of getting on herself. Jake jogged up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He nuzzled his face into her neck. "Where are you going?" He asked, his hot breath teasing her neck and sending shivers down her spine.
"Taking Allie for a short ride," Sam said sounding a little to breathy. She cleared her throat and turned in Jake's arms so she was facing him.
He frowned. "By yourself?"
"Yes, is that a problem?" She asked, a challenge in her voice.
He shook his head. "No, I guess not."
She quirked an eyebrow. "You guess?"
He rolled his and bent to kiss her his lips lingering over hers, their touch like fire. "Don't go getting frazzled, I just worry about you."
It was Sam's turn to roll her eyes. She kissed his cheek and rested her mouth by his ear. "You worry too much," she then pulled away and grabbed her Stentson off of the horn of her saddle. She plopped it onto her head and winked at Jake before mounting onto Ace.
He played with her boot. "I can never worry too much." Sam would have snorted if he hadn't sounded so sincere.
"Hey," she said her tone softening. "I'll be careful, 'kay?" She nudged him with her boot so he would look at her and she could show him she meant it.
He sighed. "Okay."
She smiled at him. "Don't you go misbehavin'."
He did snort. "I don't think it's me you have to worry about," he said nodding off in the direction of Tara and Ricky.
She frowned. "Yeah, you are probably right," then she shrugged. "Well have fun!" She kicked Ace into a jog and he jogged over to Allie and Popcorn.
"Ready?" She asked surprised to see that Allie was already in the saddle and smiling.
"Yeah. He's taller than he looks," she informed Sam looking at the ground. But she didn't sound scared, just surprised.
Sam smiled at her. "Yeah, usually it seems like that. C'mon we'll head down the river some, towards Gold Dust."
She waited for Allie to squeeze Popcorn into a walk before sending Ace forward also.
"What's Gold Dust?"
"It's the ranch Jen lives at." Sam didn't mention that it actually didn't belong to her anymore. She figured it didn't matter much or more like the other people didn't matter.
"Oh," she paused and fiddled with the reins, being careful not to tug on Popcorns mouth. "Will we see it?"
Sam thought about it. She didn't think they would, honestly she didn't really want to. Every time she saw that huge mansion she couldn't help but think just how out of place it really was. It took away all the character Gold Dust had once possessed. It also reminded her of who owned it now and she hated that more than anything.
"Probably not, it's still pretty far." At least she hoped so.
They rode in silence for a while after that. She was sure Allie was just content with that, but Sam wasn't. She just wanted Allie to talk...to open up. At least she was smiling though, and it seemed to be more often. Sam thought it was a start. But Sam couldn't keep silent.
"Did you know that Popcorn used to be a wild mustang?" She informed Allie.
Her eyes popped. "Really?"
"Yeah, we rescued him and trained him. Actually another HARP girl helped. Her name was Micky."
She leaned over in the saddle and patted Popcorn. "He's so cool."
"Yeah, he is."
Allie looked over at Sam. "I wish I could train a horse. It must be fun."
Sam smiled at her. "It is. It's a lot of hard work too. It can be frustrating at times. Horses are pretty stubborn."
Allie smiled too. "Sounds a lot like people."
Sam laughed. "Maybe that's the problem. We are all too stubborn." She thought about Allie, sure she wasn't really stubborn. But she wasn't exactly forthcoming--and that was frustrating. But just like Sam would be with a horse, she was calm. Maybe there were some similarities.
"My mom's scared of horses," Allie blurted and blushed. "Not that you care..."
"Really? Why?" Sam was genuenly interested, happy that Allie was speaking about something from back at home.
"She said that when she was a kid her friend had pony party," she paused and giggled. "She said that the pony she rode bit the back of her shirt and lifted her off of her feet."
Sam laughed. She could see that scaring someone. Especially if they were a kid. "Seriously? Has she been around them since?"
Allie frowned and lost that little spark she had in her eye. "No, I wanted to have a pony ride party once, but she downright refused," she plucked at the saddle. "I've never got to see a horse...until now."
Sam was surprised. Allie seemed so relaxed around horses, she acted as though she had been around them before. Shoot, she even was a natural in the saddle. "Well what do you think so far? Smelly? Big?"
"Beautiful."
Sam couldn't agree more. "Glad to hear you like them. I was afraid after all the hard work we made you guys do you would hate them."
"It made me love them more...which is probably weird."
"Not really, why though?" Sam asked feeling like a shrink.
Allie shrugged. "I don't know. I just felt at peace...that work, it gives you time to think."
"I couldn't agree with you more Allie," Sam said truthfully.
"Good, I was starting to feel weird...," she laughed. Sam joined her realizing...that Allie had just made a joke.
