Chapter Thirteen
Calvin
When Lainey returned she was wearing a pair of jeans that made her ass look amazing. Her shirt was cut to expose the top of her incredible tits and frankly I just wanted to rip the clothes off her and throw her down on the couch—but I was a gentleman. There’d be plenty of time to ride each other later, but right now, the horses awaited us.
“Oh, my God!” she exclaimed, “I don’t remember horses being so big.” She seemed nervous.
“Don’t worry. That’s Lucky. She’s the tamest horse in the stable. I’ll teach you a few of the basics and she’ll follow your lead.”
I could tell Lainey was nervous when I took her out to the stables to get the horses, but she was hiding it well.
“You sure she won’t buck me off or anything?” she laughed, trying to cover her fear.
“Nope, she never has and never will,” I said as I approached Lainey. “Here, let me help you up.”
I helped lift Lainey onto the saddle and as soon as she was on top of the horse her fears seemed to dissipate. We took off with a picnic lunch packed in the saddle bags and I showed her how to control the horse along the way as we rode off into the alfalfa fields. While some people might find them boring, being nothing but row upon row of green weeds, I explained my choice of crop while we trotted through the fields.
“I got into alfalfa because I saw an untapped niche to support other ranchers in the area. I didn’t want to run a dairy or a meat farm and my soil wasn’t good enough for mass production of other crops, so I thought alfalfa would be a good business as it’s an incredibly nutritious livestock feed. I sell at a fair price and have a high yield, so we’re doing well. The only hard part is the fact that we turn over the land every six to eight weeks. I end up hiring a lot of people to work with me and I also have some permanent staff who are on vacation this week.” I thought I might be boring her with the details, but she looked interested, even if she was only being polite.
“And what about the garden at the back of your house? What are those vegetables for?” I was excited that farming had piqued her interest.
“I grow my own food. That way I know what’s in it and it’s always fresh. I only have to go to the store to buy stuff I can’t grow or make myself.” I laughed at myself for sounding a bit intense.
“That’s cool. I don’t know how much growing we’ll be able to do. I had a cactus once. It lived like six weeks or something,” she said with a sheepish grin.
“You’re definitely going to need some help then, or you might starve.” I tried not to be too harsh.
“Oh, I don’t know about that. There’s that marginally good grocery store in town, and I can always steal from your yard,” she retorted with a devious smile on her cherry red lips.
We rode out for several hours, just taking in the beautiful view in the fresh air of the countryside. She seemed overwhelmed, but also exhilarated by the horseback ride. However, I could tell she was getting uncomfortable with all the riding, so I suggested we stop and have our lunch.
We rode over to my favorite part of the property where there was another gazebo. In the wide-open expanse of the ranch, it felt like there was no one else in the world around us. I remembered growing up as a child there where my friends and I would ride the horses, or a tractor out to the spot and play games among the trees. There was an abandoned trailer on the west of the property that had been long forgotten, and I’d considered taking a ride out there for our picnic until I thought about the likely condition of the old tin.
I recalled my father saying the trailer belonged to one of my uncles who’d lived there once upon a time, but I only remembered it being rusted and full of holes and spiders. It was a perfect fort for young boys to grow up playing in though, and over the years it had been a gangster hideout, an old west homestead, and a military fortress. You name it, that rusted, broken down heap had been it. It felt like the entire world could be encapsulated in that small space and I wanted her to understand the magic I’d grown up with.
“We can have our lunch here,” I said, stopping my horse.
“Oh, thank God. I think my butt is going to fall off.” She gave me a beleaguered smile.
“I’m pretty impressed for someone who hasn’t ridden a horse in years. You’ve managed to stay on for over two hours,” I congratulated her.
“That’s probably because I can’t feel my legs.” She looked hot and weary.
“Well, I’ve made us a delicious lunch, so you’ll be feeling better soon,” I said as I hopped off my horse and strolled over to hers.
I offered her my hand and helped her down. She was really sore, and I worried whether I’d be able to persuade her to get back on it again. Maybe a little massage would help.
I removed the blanket and picnic from my saddlebag and spread the blanket across the floor of the gazebo. Lainey toed out of her riding boots then I took her hand and helped her into the space.
“This looks amazing, thank you,” she said as she sat down and crossed her legs, Indian style. She seemed genuinely grateful.
“I really wanted to bring you out here. This place is very special to me,” I confessed.
“How so?” she asked as she popped a grape between her lips.
“I grew up out here, this was my home away from home. Me and my friends had a blast making up stories and playing in that old tin heap.” I smiled at her and pointed toward the trailer off in the distance.
“It would be a cool place to play I guess,” she said, trying to see where I was coming from.
“Most of my friends are gone now,” I said with a note of sadness.
“They didn’t die or anything, did they?” Her face softened.
“One did. He was killed in Afghanistan. One moved away when their farm went bankrupt, another is in jail for stealing a car. It was a dumb teenage prank, but he got the maximum sentence. We all just drifted apart. It feels good to come here sometimes, just to relieve the memories.” I was quiet and reflective when she took my hand in hers.
“Well, now, we’re making new memories,” she replied, flashing her beautiful smile. She shifted her body, obviously still in pain from the ride.
A massage this evening was definitely in order… and I was just the man for that job.