Story 2:

Let the festivities begin!

The hot summer days have come to an end. The temperature became colder and the leaves, once a lush green, changed into shades of red and yellow. Fall had arrived, but with it came some heavy-duty cleaning. Each morning started with the raking of the leaves before tending to the horses as well as the other animal residents. A gray fluffy cat with a white chest and pink collar, named Angora, started her day by stalking the stables for a snack. She padded around every inch, dug through piles of hay, but no such luck. Thankfully Chloe and Zoey left her with a small bowl of wet food mixed with sardines just near the stable doors. Angora ruffled her fur then made her way to her food, but not before almost getting knocked out by a chestnut appaloosa, named Calypso, and her rider Molly. Sarah not too far behind with her own horse, Scarlet.

Molly tied up her curly black hair into a bun then placed her helmet on, "It's been a long time since Calypso went on a trail," Molly said, rubbing the side of her horse's neck. Calypso whinnied in agreement.

"Yeah! Finally," Sarah responded enthusiastically, "with midterms almost through, we'll be able to take them out on more adventures during the weekends."

Sarah and her friends have been slammed with tests after tests, that the times when they do come to the ranch, they would muck up, feed, clean, and take their four-legged friends to the pastures then back to the stalls. Will was the only one who made sure they got their exercise while the others were attending classes, having been the only one in the group who graduated.

It wasn't long before they made their way through the forest, following the trails exactly until they came upon the hilltop where the girls can view the boarding facility, arena, and Handler's home towards the back. Sarah closed her eyes, letting the breeze brush her face. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, "I just love fall," she told Molly, who carefully got down from Calypso and started taking pictures with her phone of the view, "you know Sarah," Molly spoke "I never realized just how big Horseland is. Bailey is going to be so lucky to inherit so much land!"

Sarah nodded her head. Bailey is, of course, the only child of the Handlers, so has the rights to the land when the time comes.

Sarah looked down at the arena and saw Will trying to gentle a silver stallion. She beamed delightfully, watching him match every step with the stallion, then paused when the horse got too anxious. Sarah was so focused on the older teen that she didn't notice Molly calling her name, "Sarah, earth to Sarah." Sarah shook her head and turned to Molly apologizing. Her friend grinned, "don't think I didn't notice you looking at THAT thing down there," she pointed. Molly walked over to the side of Calypso, placed her foot in the stirrup, then hoisted herself onto the saddle. Sarah brushed her hair back then replied, "oh yeah! You know that stallion is going to make a great companion to- "

"Nuh uh," Molly interrupted, shaking her finger, "I didn't mean the horse."

Blushing, Sarah glanced around, trying to take her mind off of Will. Together they continued their trail ride.

Will hung a sack of oats hear the fence and dusted himself off before making his way out of the arena towards the house. Coming up to the front door, he was about to go inside when a car pulled up on the driveway. Bailey and his mother walked out of the car, greeted Will, then turned to waved at Bailey's father before driving off. After entering the home, they directed themselves towards the kitchen. Bailey's mother brought together a few spices, some dough that she left to rise in the fridge, and the marinated meat, setting it aside near the stove. She tied her dark brown hair up, then wrapped her apron around. Mrs. Handler is going to make her finest dinner yet, a big, delicious beef pot pie for her mister and her boys.

Will and Bailey made their own sandwiches, and sat together at the table, each discussing their day. Bailey gobbled it up quickly, excited to spend some time with his mustang, Aztec. Mrs. Handler glanced over her shoulder, happy to see the two boys together but something else had clouded her mind. She pushed it aside and continued on with a smile. No matter how big they got, they will always be her boys, "Will, aren't you going to tell Bailey the news you told me yesterday?" she asked.

Bailey took a sip of his water while listening intently, "hey couz," Will said, leaning back in his chair, "how do you feel about taking over my job again, for possibly the next four years?"

The younger boy choked, nearly spilling his cup. He looked at his older cousin with shock, "what do you mean by that?!"

Will took the last bite of his sandwich before replying, "I got accepted at Cornell University."

After racing back to the stables, Molly and Sarah tied up their horses to the post and began, what Sarah calls the most relaxing part of the day, grooming. They both unbuckled the girth, took off the saddle, and started brushing the dust off. They were soon joined by the rest of the group, Nani and Alma, who took the trail to the gorge, then Chloe and Zoey, that spent their time at the paddock with their horses, Pepper and Chili. The girls giggled and laughed, while the twins kept mostly to themselves. The topic is the next day's event at Horseland, the annual Fall Festival. Sarah had been waiting for this for months, having already set up some of the décor around the area like ribbons, scarecrows, and carved pumpkins. The festival dance is going to be held around evening. It was nonstop chatter about the outfits they would wear, when Nani noticed the slouched over figure walking towards them, "Bailey!" she called over while brushing her horse, Sunburst, "you look awful, did you wake up at the wrong side of the bed this morning?"

This time Chloe took notice. She stopped grooming Chili and walked over to him, her sister not far behind, "is everything alright? You're not usually like this," Chloe said softly. Chloe is the oldest of the two, although her and her sister have the same mindset, Chloe is shown to be reasonable and more mature. During the last 3 years, her and Bailey have grown much closer. Them spending more time with each other had many improvements on Chloe's growth as well. The whole gang gathered around, worried about their friend, "Will might be leaving again this time it could be much longer," Bailey sighed.

The girls checked each other, then back at him as he continued, "He got accepted at the Cornell University, all the way at New York. He might not have much time here." This information astounded the Stilton twins, "Cornell?" gasped Zoey, "are you serious? Stable handler Will?"

"that's like, one of the top 15 Universities, right?" Chloe asked her sister. Zoey shook her head and explained, "Cornell is one of the private Universities that's hard to get into with only a ten percent acceptance rate. You need to have a really good GPA and outstanding test results to even be considered,"

"So, Will is selected out of thousands of applicants?" said Alma excitedly, "how cool!"

The girls cheered on all except for Sarah who felt a twinge of sadness well up within her. She walked away from her friends with her head slightly down and a hand wrapped around one arm, 'but we just got him back not too long ago,' she thought. She stayed close to them, hearing Bailey quieting down the rest of the gang, "no! that's not good!" he said, and the others fell silent, "This is his home, he belongs here! I have an idea to keep him from leaving, who's with me?"

"You can't just be happy for him?" questioned Nani frustratingly, "he's always been happy for you. If he wants this, you can't stop him from going," Before Bailey could say any more, Nani walked back to Sunburst, untied him then led him to the stalls. She knew Bailey's idea could mean trouble and she wanted no part in it.

Bailey, having no other siblings, saw Will as his older brother figure. Although Bailey was very young when tragedy struck the Taggared family, he often prayed his thanks for having Will be part of his life. He knew that someday they would have to go their separate ways, but he didn't think it would be this soon. The rest of them didn't understand his conflict, so they turned to Sarah to have the final word. She felt all eyes on her, even though her back was turned to them. She was hesitant herself, Will is her dearest friend. Or so she thought. She had always been happy for all of her friends who have achieved something greater, but when it came to Will leaving, it was much different. She wanted him to stay, for her sake, just to see him as often. Sarah took a deep breath, then swirled around on one heel. She made up her mind, "what's the plan?"

6am on the dot, Will got dressed and after performing a few stretches, wandered to the kitchen. He peeked around the corner and was surprised to see it was Bailey making breakfast for the day. The table had plates filled with what looked like molten pancakes, undercooked eggs, slightly frozen hashbrowns, and what looked like burnt bacon or sausage links. The only thing that seemed edible is the slab of butter and slices of bread. Hoping that the rest of the meal wasn't for him, Will walked to the table, sliced the butter with a butter knife and spread it on a slice of bread, "Good morning sunshine!" said Bailey in a high-pitched voice, swirling around while holding a plate in his hand, "take a seat! I made something extra special for you, my dearest!"

Will looked at his joyful cousin with a disgustful expression on his face, "what did you call me?"

Bailey pulled out a chair for him and Will reluctantly sat down. The younger boy placed the plate in front of him, then twirled to the other end of the table to take his own seat, "don't you just love having breakfast together?"

Will cringed, his eyes wandering down at his breakfast plate of liquid pancake batter mess, 'is that yellow thing supposed to be scrambled eggs?' he thought. he cleared his throat and spoke "Bailey, I have to tend to the chickens and the pigs, don't want to be late for my chores and – "

"Already did it," Bailey said, cutting him off, "please, just eat deary!"

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"But I made it just for you," Bailey whimpered. That was a tactic that Will absolutely despised, the fake sobbing and the puppy dog eyes. Feeling sorry for the younger cousin, he took his fork and knife and slowly cut a small triangle on whatever mystery meal he was slicing into. It was times like these that he wondered why he's so nice in the first place.

It wasn't long before he bolted out of the house, spitting the food of goo out, thankfully Bailey didn't make him eat the entire plate. Curious, Will decided to check on the chickens and the hogs, to his amaze, everything was just as it should be. He scratched his head then decided to make his way to the stables on each side of the ranch. Knowing that it was still too early for the girls to arrive, he treaded to the one near the front of the house, across from the arena. He opened the door and is immediately slammed by a bush of alfalfa hay. He coughed and brushed the dry grass away, hearing some bantering from inside, 'no way,' he thought, 'Chloe and Zoey? This early?'

It wasn't just the Stilton twins, everyone was in the stable cleaning up each stall, their horses most likely grazing outside. Alma greeted him, causing the Stilton's to pause their squabbling, "morning Will! Tell us, how good of a job did we do?"

He had no words to describe it, the whole stable, including the stalls, were spotless. He smiled and gave them a thumbs up. Molly came out of Calypso's stall and spoke, "you don't have to worry about the others, we already got them covered,"

"How long have you guys been here?" Will replied upon realizing their dirty, dusty wear. He realized that one member was missing. He was about to ask, when Chloe and Zoey pushed him back out, "why don't you go and do… whatever your hobbies are," said Chloe, waving a hand to dismiss him, "leave the rest to us today," then they shut the door.

Will shrugged and thought nothing of it. It's the day of the festival after all, and much work is to be done. He then noticed a bale of hay outside of the arena, he walked over and was just about to pick it up from the rope when he heard galloping nearby. He checked, seeing the silver stallion prance by the blonde girl he was searching for in the stables, Sarah. Will was intrigued and leaned against the fence, watching her carefully. The horse, though strong and wild the day before, is noticeably calmer around her. He took in the little things she was doing, her stance as she stood, her gentle voice, her patience. Will was definitely captivated by her that he forgot the horse was even there. He blinked and stood up straight in confusion, catching himself momentarily like he was seeing her for the first time. Alas, Will brushed it off then strode inside the arena.

She moved in slowly, reaching out her hand. The horse neighed and grunted but held his place. His ears perked up, giving the girl his full attention, then leveled his head with her hands, tapping them with his nose. It was remarkable. Sarah rubbed the sides of his cheeks, "good boy," she said softly.

"Well done!"

Sarah gasped and whipped around, now face to face with Will, "whoa, sorry if I startled you," he apologized, quickly raising his hands. She calmed herself, "startled? I knew you were there all along," she faked. He couldn't help but chuckle, then made his way towards the exit, "I'll leave you to it!"

"Wait!" she called out, stopping him in his tracks, "where are you going?"

"Got to get the bales out and stocked,"

"No need, Bailey and I did that last night," she ran and stood in front of him, blocking his exit.

"Then I'll get the place set up for the festival," He moved to the right, but so did she, "that's everyone else's job," she smirked.

"I got to trim down the lawns," he moved to the left, but so did she, "Bailey did that last night too," she smirked. He moved to the right, and then the left. Sarah matching every move. Will narrowed his eyes, completely unamused and slightly irritated, "need to tend to the ducks," Will continued and Sarah replied, "Molly saw to them,"

"Let out the sheep,"

"Got that one down,"

"The calves?"

"Bottle fed every single one,"

"Laundry,"

"Chloe and Zoey late last night. Didn't you see the clothes beside your door?" Sarah slightly tilted her head. Will wasn't even going to ask how the twins got in the house or why they snuck in his room just for his hamper, and frankly he could care less. Knowing he needed to get to the bottom of this, he placed his hands on his hips and looked at Sarah sternly. He opened his mouth but hardly got a word out as Sarah had intercepted, "how about this. I let you go, if you agree to," she paused for a while, trying to think of a way to keep him occupied. Sarah knew that if she just let him pass, he was going to find himself a different job to do. She had to think of something quick, when she heard a gurgle coming from him. He was hungry and that gave Sarah an idea, "a trail ride, to the orchard!" she suggested.

Whether Will liked it or not he was going to be forced on this trail ride either way. His old horse, Jimber, passed away of old age before he left to a different state. Him being on his cousin's horse, Aztec, brought back some fond memories that left a searing pain in his heart. Will was still missing his old friend Jimber, but out on the trail today proved to have some benefits. He felt more relaxed, especially since Sarah is around.

They started off mostly quiet, enjoying the scenery around them, only hearing the pitter patter of their horses' hooves and the birds serenading all around them. A flock of geese flew overhead in a triangular formation then soon another. Sarah stopped to watch them soar out of sight when Will broke the silence, "amazing isn't it?"

She nodded her head, "I just hope the young ones can make it back in the spring,"

"Not all of them will, but that's life," He replied and signaled Aztec to continue forward. The newer generation of geese, if they made it, would have proved that they were able to fend for themselves and start a new life of their own. The thought of Will starting a new life miles away from Horseland made Sarah have a rush of puzzling feelings, she didn't know whether to be happy or deeply upset. She continued forward by his side in silence.

With the help of the other teens and adults that visited their boarded horses, as well as Baileys constant nagging, they were nearly ready to begin the festival. Assigned parking, inflatable playground, food vendors, hayrides, and a few mechanical rides cover the area slightly farther away from the stables. Horse rides and the fall dance are held near the back of the Handlers house. A large barn structure is where the annual dance will be held. Bailey made sure that it was decorated to his parents liking. Just another hour and they're ready to open the gates, but before that, Bailey wanted to make the most of the carved pumpkins that Sarah placed the day before.

The girls finally took their break near the arena, watching Nani and Sunburst practice their jumps. She only stopped when Bailey came marching by, "well done guys," he said, "one more thing, where are the sisters?"

Alma pointed a thumb towards the stables, and he gladly followed that direction. What he found on the bale inside, leaning against the wall, were the two twins snoring away. Though they had been up much earlier than the rest of them, they did far less than Alma, Sarah, and Molly. He shook them by the shoulders, trying to stir them awake. Zoey grumbled, "can't you see I'm having my beauty sleep?"

"I need someone to get the candles in the shack and place them in the pumpkins lying around," he asked, "I know you guys are exhausted, everyone is. But I promise this'll be the last chore today."

"Fine I'll do it," Zoey whined, "how long do we have to keep doing this?"

"As long as we're able to keep Will here," Bailey was about to wake her sister but she stopped him, grabbing his hand and shaking her head. He nodded and left Zoey to her duty. She slowly lay Chloe down, then strolled over to the shack on the side of the house. She made a big yawn and wiped her teary eyes, blurring her vision. She opened the first box to the right that held 3 dozen red candles. Bailey didn't specify the kind of candles so without thinking of it, she took a good handful. She traveled back the second time to get another handful and lastly grabbed the matches.

The apples were as sweet as can be, Aztec and Scarlet indulged on the fallen ones while the two riders climbed a little way up a tree to nab a few. Sarah couldn't help but stare at Will in surprise as he wolfed down every single apple he picked; she lost count of how many he ate. Satisfied, he lay himself on the grass and exhaled deeply, "Will? Are you okay?"

Completely forgetting about Sarah, he quickly sat up and gave her his utmost attention, "I was so hungry. Bailey's breakfast didn't sit well with me at all," he sighed. Thankfully Sarah had never tried the young cousins cooking, and from the sound of it, she might as well keep it that way. Her mind wasn't much on breakfast, but rather the boy sitting beside him. She desperately wanted to ask about the university but was too afraid she'll get the answer she expected.

She glanced down at the green grass, hovering her hand on the tips of the blades when Will broke the silence again. He checked the time on his phone and immediately stood up, "the festival is going to start soon! We'd better help out." Will was just about to run over to Aztec when Sarah blocked him again, "we just got here! There's no rush to head back, don't you trust the others?"

"I promised my uncle that I'd make sure everything runs smoothly," Will explained and tried to move forward. However, Sarah wouldn't budge, then without knowing it, her immediate reaction was to push him back. He looked at her in disbelief, she couldn't believe it herself, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it!" She apologized, "Will you work a lot, and we just wanted you to have a break for once,"

His patience was at his peak that everything Sarah had said seemed like an excuse. He had enough of whatever nonsense was going around the others, "I work a lot? That's rich! Coming from you."

Sarah crossed her arms, naturally taking offense, "excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Everyone at Horseland does their fair share. The most you do is boss others around," he argued, pointing a finger at her, "you're bossy and inattentive,"

"Shut up," She swatted his hand away, "that's not true and you know it!"

"So why is Scarlet stuck on that tree?!"

Worryingly she turned to the direction he was pointing at, scanning for her Arabian mare. Before she realized she'd been tricked, Will was already on Aztec rearing up, "pay more attention next time!" he called back and galloped off.

Will hurried, taking the same trail back, but not even a mile in and already he could hear the sounds of hooves beating the ground behind him. Will and Aztec peered back and screamed seeing a furious Sarah with Scarlet gaining up on them, "oh no you don't!" Sarah shouted. Aztec didn't need Will to tell him to go faster, the horse was already scared out of his mind that he instinctively did so. This gave Sarah and Scarlet a rather big surprise, they had no idea they would have the toughest time keeping up with the duo.

They zigzagged through the forest trying to lose them. But Will had thought of that shortcut that would lead them down a steep path back to Horseland. He timed it perfectly, keeping distance between Sarah and Scarlet. Aztec kept himself well into the bushes keeping them hidden until finally they had lost them. Sarah kept her eyes on the dense forest as they raced straight still believing Will and Aztec were ahead, not knowing they had landed on the other side of the trail, a steep path leading down a cliffside. From there they raced to the long bridge over the river. They crossed a few more bridges and a shallow river before they came upon the hillside. Will took a quick glance at the line of cars already passing through the gate.

Making it back to Horsland, coming out around the side of the stables, Bailey waived his hands in the air, asking his older cousin to halt. Will gritted his teeth and while the mustang was still running, held his hands on the front of the saddle, swung his other leg around and jumped off, skidding in front Bailey who was more impressed than frightened of Will's return, already learned from a phone call from Sarah how raging mad he was, "so! Have a good trail ride?" he said trying to lighten the atmosphere. Will wasn't taking any of it, "cut the act! I want to know what's going o- "

"Gotcha!" and just out of nowhere, Sarah had launched herself grabbing onto him, knocking each other down in the process. It was at this time that the rest of the friends started to gather, Alma taking the liberty of leading Aztec and Scarlet back to the stalls where a good meal awaits.

Realizing that they were back at the ranch, Sarah, feeling rather stupid and embarrassed, swiftly jumped off of him and helped the boy up until a loud bang along with popping sounds could be heard from the distance. Then another, and another but much closer. It wasn't long before Zoey, with pumpkin pulp all over her, came rushing towards the group, covering her ears, "The pumpkins are exploding!"

"Zoey! What did you do?" shouted Bailey. She replied, "I was just doing what you asked! Found the box of candles to the right of the storage, opened the box and placed them in the pumpkins,"

"You dunce! What you put were fireworks!"

"How was I supposed to know?!" Zoey shouted back.

"It says so on the box!"

Bailey and friends could hear the distant screams of the guests and cars already pulling out of the parking section. Pulps of pumpkin splattered everywhere as the fireworks continued to burst. Now that the last firework set off, the only noise that came from the festival was the sound of Shep, the Horseland collie, barking. It was almost like a pumpkin murder scene at the Horseland ranch.

"Wow," whispered Molly and they all turned around slowly, sweat beading from their heads to face Will who gawked at the whole scenario, "Bail, I swear," Will growled, glaring at Bailey, "if uncle blames me for all of this,"

"WILL!" neither of them had noticed the car pulling up nearby. Out came Bailey's father, tall with a buff build, dirty blonde hair and sideburns connecting with his mustache and beard, wearing a white button-down shirt, jeans, along with a cowboy hat, "what in tarnation happened here?! I leave for the mornin' and now look. Will, I've seen guests come out of there screamin' and drivin off with all that orange juice on em. If you couldn't handle it, you could have told me," said Mr. Handler.

Bailey and the others were about to defend him, but Mr. Handler raised his hand and spoke, "never mind. please, get this place cleaned up asap before the dance, I'll handle the guests," He headed back into the car, turned it around and took the other driveway.

Tension was hanging in the air when Alma came rushing out of the stables. The whole time that the fireworks had gone off, she swiftly ran from stall to stall calming the frightened horses. Now that everything had been settled, she figured she'd try her magic on the group, having heard Mr. Handler scolding Will. She talked softly hoping she wouldn't escalate anything, "hey, we'll talk to your uncle, we never meant for you to get in trouble. You work hard all the time and we just wanted to help,"

"Is that so?" said Will sternly. He turned to the rest, looking especially at his younger cousin, "I think you've all helped plenty."

Sarah stepped in, placing a hand on his shoulder, "we didn't mean for it to turn out this way,"

"And I can't believe you were in on it, you call all of this a break?!," Will snapped, "it's an old rule but I guess it has to be a new one, again. Nobody does anything without me knowing! Is that clear?"

"Even when you're in New York?" Sarah said gloomily. Will raised a brow, seemingly bewildered. Tears started forming in her eyes, but she held it in and continued, "of course. You wouldn't have to worry about anything if you're far away from here, about the events, about us giving you a hard time. you'll be happy there," she choked, giving into her sadness and ran off sobbing. The girls called and ran after their friend, leaving Will alone with Bailey.

The festivities began not long after. Loud music was playing, the rides were filled with excited children, and the festival pressed long until the evening. The annual fall dance is about to begin, and the barn is already filled with guests. Nani, Alma, and Molly had tried their best to cheer up Sarah, eventually talking her into joining them at the dance. Their outfits, although nothing flashy like Chloe and Zoey's, were formal with their respective colors except for Sarahs, she wore a beautiful white dress with slight frills at the bottom and white gloves to go along with her outfit.

The music started and everyone who wasn't munching on the food or drinking, was either around the corners chatting or at the center of the barn dancing. Chloe and her sister were savoring a delicious carrot cake when Bailey showed up wearing a tuxedo, his hair tied up into a ponytail to prevent strands from getting in his face. He offered a hand to Chloe; she placed the plate down and had him lead her to the center.

Zoey walked around searching the crowd until her eyes came upon the group sitting down on some barrels. Sarahs friends had been telling jokes the whole time that Sarah had forgotten about her whole ordeal. They were laughing, talking, and having fun as they always did, "hey girls!" Zoey called out, "let's dance!"

The others happily agreed and ran up to join Zoey, dancing along to the beat. It wasn't long before the other two had joined them and they each switched partners. Sarah having as much fun as the rest of them, was definitely taking in the moment. the music was coming to a close and she did her last spin hoping her next dance partner is one of her friends, but the one that took her hand was none other than Will Taggered helping her finish the final twirl.

It was as if time slowed momentarily as she let her hands rest in his. The noise is drowned out, however, as she stared at him. Will cleared his throat, still gently holding on to her hand, "may I have the next dance miss?" he asked politely. She blinked, snapping back to reality, then turned away pouting, "do I even have a choice? I didn't forget what you said at the orchard."

The music began and Sarah reluctantly danced with him, "you know I didn't mean that, I had to say something to get out of your trap," Will said with a pang of guilt. She rolled her eyes, not taking one glimpse of him. He sighed, "I wanted to thank you for taking me out there though. I didn't realize it, but it was something I really needed, and it helped me get my mind off of things." He tried his best to get her to look, but no such luck. Still, it didn't keep him from trying. Will spoke again, "so this whole thing today was about Cornell, Bailey told me. I applied at a few colleges with no real goal for them in mind. I didn't know if I wanted to keep ranching, or to make something else of myself."

"You're a brilliant guy Will. If that's your calling, you should go," she said sadly, doing her best to be happy for him. Will smiled seeing a glimmer of hope, the music ended, and he helped her finish one final swirl, "I wouldn't last five minutes in a cooped-up dorm, let alone a city," he said letting go of her hand.

She smiled back, "is that how you really feel?" she asked, and he nodded.

Sarah was extremely satisfied with his answer, though it didn't help Wills predicament and Sarah knew that, "everything that happened today was because of me. Your uncle was furious at something you had no part in,"

"I was let off the hook. Thanks to Bail," said Will. The music was about to begin again and Will, being the gentleman he is, held out his hand once more. This time, Sarah obliged. He didn't make a move, however, taking in all that she is in front of him. Her dress absolutely suited her. In his mind, Sarah was practically glowing. Then they moved to the beat, "I think he's going to need our help tomorrow," Will said, "uncle wants him to mow the whole acreage. That's plenty for one man."

A week had passed since the festival and the routines have continued on schedule. The sun was out and the frost that had covered the landscape melted into the soil. Will and Bailey were out on a trail with Bailey on reliable Aztec and Will on the silver stallion that, over the week, had finally been able to place a saddle and ride him. The boys came upon the hilltop looking over Horseland, a slight breeze brushing against their faces. Wills eyes traced the mountains in the horizon down to the Handler house, then down to the arena where he caught sight of Sarah in the distance putting up the fences. He had no idea why he couldn't take his eyes off her. Just like at the week before, he took in every detail of her.

Because of his distraction, Baileys constant calling had come upon deaf ears, "Will! Earth to Will!" he called. Will snapped out of it, shaking his head, "sorry, did you call?"

Bailey shook his head, scowling at him, "don't think I didn't notice," he said in a suspicious tone. Will rubbed the back of his head, "not sure what you're talking about couz, the view is amazing, that's all," he said and let Bailey lead the way.