Accepted Fate (49 page)

Pulling up to the big red barn out back, I kill the engine. "Come on. There is someone I'd like you to meet. Grab those apples." I meet her at the front of the truck and wrap my arm around her shoulders. I lead her through the doors and pass the stalls, one by one, until I get to the last one on the right. I begin to whistle at the horse facing towards the back wall. "Hendrix, come here boy."

Immediately, he turns around at the sound of my voice. He's a chocolate and white paint with a black mane and blue eyes. As he gets his head over the gate, he huffs. "Yeah I know it's been a while; don't be mad." Holding out my hand, he nuzzles my palm. I've had Hendrix since I was just a kid. We've been through a lot together. He's the first horse I learned to ride. We have a tight knit relationship and I suddenly feel bad I haven't been to see him in a while.

Leaning in, I rub up and down his nose. "I have someone I'd like you to meet. She's important to me so be nice to her okay," I ask in a whisper so only he can hear and he responds with a neigh. I look back and Kinzleigh is standing behind watching. She looks a little afraid. I take hold of her hand and pull her towards the gate.

"Kinzleigh, this is Hendrix." She looks lost as she looks at him. Pulling her hand up to his nose, I cover it with mine and place it palm down on his coat. "He won't hurt you. He can sense your nervousness; relax. He's funny about who he lets ride him but you're with me so he'd never harm you." At the sound of my voice she visibly starts to release some of the tension. "You got the apple right?"

She nods and rubs between his eyes, under his hair. "He's beautiful. How'd he get his name?"

"I went through a
Jimmy Hendrix
phase when I was a kid. It was around the time Pops brought him home for me. It fit at the time. He actually likes to listen to it. Sometimes I come out here and play it on my phone through my truck's Sync system. He loves it. Hold out your hand flat with the apple sitting on top. He will take it from you so don't put your fingers around it. I don't want him to accidentally bite you." She does as I say and Hendrix takes the apple.

She looks at me in complete awe. "Will you teach me to ride?"

"Of course. Come on and I'll show you how to saddle him up." I've already been looking for her a horse for Christmas. She just doesn't know it yet. I have Pops checking around for a good mare so we can ride together and I've already found and paid for the saddle I'm getting her. I just have to go pick it up. I've been thinking about Christmas since right after her birthday. I haven't been this excited since I was a kid. I love spoiling her and I've never wanted that with a girl before.

Walking in the tack room, I pull out all the things I need to saddle him up. It doesn't take long and we're ready to ride. I have to check all the fence posts around the property that houses the cattle so we'll be at it a while. "You ready?"

"How do I get on?" Walking up behind her I place my hands on her hips.

"See the horn on the saddle? Grab it with your left hand and the back with your right. Place your left foot in the stirrup and when I lift you up, throw your right leg over his back. I'll be right behind you." Nodding, she does as I instruct her and mounts the horse. I follow suit until I'm seated behind her.

Placing my lips outside of her hear, I explain some basic steps. "Rule number one, always stay in the saddle. The area behind is his. Rule number two, never walk behind a horse. It spooks them and you're liable to get kicked." I lift the reigns in my fingers. "This is like the steering wheel. Tug it lightly in the direction you want to go and back for stop, but don't pull too hard. The bit in his mouth hurts him and he's likely to buck. He knows what to do with a slight pull back and the word
whoa
. In order to make him go, tap his girdle (the area beside the stirrups) with your heels and he'll go."

She exhales deeply in front of me. "Okay, I think I can do this. What if he hates me? He doesn't even know me." Her breathing picks up.

"Kinzleigh, don't freak out. You'll be fine as long as you do what I say. It's controlling a horse not the SAT exam. I'm right behind you. Let's go. All you have to do is steer since this saddle is too big for you and you can't reach the stirrups." I heel Hendrix and hold onto the horn of the saddle in a protective hold so that she doesn't fall off. "Come on boy," I call out as I whistle and he takes off in a trot.

We spent the beginning of the morning just riding. I wanted to show her around my grandfather's ranch. I love it here. It's so freeing. No subdivisions or rules to follow. Just open land. I spend a lot of my time here and it's not just for the money. Sure, it pays well but there is just something to be said about the lay of the land and the country. It's something you can't explain. You just have to live it. I always said that if I made it in the NFL, I was going to buy this place from Pops and build for a place to come to enjoy myself.

After she experimented with the reigns a little, I took over and we just rode for hours. It was peaceful; just me, her, and Hendrix. Definitely something I could become accustomed to. She seemed to be enjoying herself. She asked a lot of questions and we just talked. To be honest, I've never been much of a talker, but talking to her is completely different. I like to get insight into her mind; she has a beautiful one.  "If you got one wish, what would it be?"

"Well that's easy, to spend time with you." She rolls her eyes but it's the truth.

"No Breyson! Like if someone was going to do something for you or get you something and you got to choose what it was without knowing, what would it be?" Hmm. No one has ever asked this kind of a question before. I'm usually a pretty laid back kind of guy and don't require much to keep me happy.

"I guess I would love to go to the Superbowl. It's something I've always wanted to do but my parents don't have time to do that kind of stuff. They get very little time off and when they do, it's usually a family vacation or something. My dad isn't really as serious about football as Braxton and I. He thinks it's more of a hobby." She nods at the information that was given to her and I wonder what she's up to.

"Your dad doesn't support you wanting to play in the NFL does he?" She's very perceptive. We don't talk a whole lot about my family life because I'm always so consumed with her when we're not busy with our own schedules.

"No. He doesn't care if I play in college as long as my major gets me in medical school and it doesn't interfere with my grades. I'm hoping to play by his rules until senior year and if I become draft pick, it won't matter anymore. I will be making my own money so I won't care what he says. He's a good father and a great doctor, but he comes from a family of doctors so he just expects it out of us. Somehow, we all three got the gene for sports though. All three of us want to go pro. It's something we're good at and it makes us happy."

"You should tell him that, you know. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. As long as you're the one that's happy, screw everyone else. As good as you are, I'm sure you won't even need your dad to pay for school. You'll probably get a scholarship." This is the most I've ever confided in anyone before and it's actually refreshing. I kiss her on the cheek because truthfully, I just want to.

I love being around her. She isn't like any other girl I've ever met. How often do you find a girl that is telling you to go big with your dreams even if she has to let you go for you to retrieve it? Most girls are plotting ways to get a ring and a baby; to tie you down, especially if you have money. Not her though. She wants to live big too with dreams as high as the stars. "What was that for?" She turns and smiles at me as we ride along the fence line, checking for bad posts or torn fence.

"For being you," I say and I mean it whole heartedly.

We come up to the fence line on Hendrix and I see Pops changing out fence posts.

"Who's that?" Pops is going to love her. He's always teasing me about needing a good country woman like Mims, my grandmother. Thankfully, both of my grandparents on my dad's side are still alive and very much well.

"That is Pops," I say coming closer to where he is standing and digging up existing posts that are in need of replacement. "I want you to meet him. He's close to me. Okay?"

"What if he doesn't like me?" I'm not sure there is a person on this planet that could not like her. If there were, they probably are psychotic anyways.

I squeeze her around the waist tightly with my chin on her shoulder. "Baby. He's going to love you. Just wait and see."

"Well well, look who finally decided to come back to the country. I thought you might be starting to turn into a yuppie on me." I smile. Crazy old man. His new favorite show is Duck Dynasty. Usually he doesn't watch much television and when he does it's old westerns, but one day I brought it over and put it in the DVD player and from then on he was hooked. I'm almost positive if he could hang around with anyone of his choice, it would be Phil Robertson.

From the way Pops acts, you would never know he used to be one of the best family physicians around here. That's one thing I love about him. He didn't let money change him. You'd never know him and Mims were loaded by looking at them or being around them. He's the one that taught me how to save and to invest my money. He's exactly the reason I could support myself and probably even Kinzleigh through college without having to work or dip into my trust fund dad and mom has put money in since the day we were born.

"Are you going to run that pie hole of yours or meet my girl," I ask jokingly.  Pops and I have a special kind of relationship. We joke but I would never actually disrespect him.

He stabs the post hole tool into the ground and removes his glove as he walks towards us. If I had to compare the way he dresses and a physical appearance to someone, it would be George Strait. Even as old as he is, he has aged well, given the hard work he's put into this place. When he reaches the side of the horse, he holds out his free hand to Kinzleigh after swatting me on the arm with the glove in his other hand. "Excuse the boy's bad manners, honey. I thought I taught him better than that." Kinzleigh laughs at his humor and it makes me feel good. "The name's John Gavin but just call me Pops. That's what family calls me."

A look I've never see from her, shadows over her face. I'm not sure what to make of it. She almost looks like she could cry looking at him as he calls her family, but she quickly dismisses it. "I'm Kinzleigh. It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Well Kinzleigh, I'm curious to know. How'd my boy here catch as pretty of a girl as you? I'm quite impressed. I was starting to think he didn't have it in him," he quips as he winks at her. She starts to giggle as he openly picks me apart in front of her. I'm going to have to watch these two or they will be trying to embarrass me. 

"I'd be lying if I said he wasn't a catch himself, but I guess he knows his way around my heart. He seems to know all the right things to say." She is looking at Pops but I can see her blush as she talks to him. Right now I feel like I just won the lottery listening to the two of them. I can't even remove the grin that has found it's way on my lips.

He looks at me and gives me a look that I know well.
Don't screw this up.
He likes her. I can tell. He's very opinionated and if he didn't, I would know immediately. Not that I was worried but it warms my heart to know my family likes her. "A pretty girl and a good personality. Looks like you hit a double whammy son. Maybe my preaching to you all these years wasn't a waste of breath."

I laugh at his bluntness. "Watch it ole man. Don't forget who has to take care of you when you get old. We're fixing to go get on the tractor Pops."

He nods and begins to walk back to what he was doing. "Take her to meet your grandmother before you leave boy, you hear?"

I tip the bill of my ball cap. "Yes sir." I signal for Hendrix to take off towards the barn, leaving everything in the dust.

CHAPTER 22

Kinzleigh

I wasn't expecting to meet his grandparents today, but now that I am, I'm thrilled. The way his grandfather treated me like his family was heartwarming. His loving personality reminded me of the grandfather I've lost. I miss Gramps. I could definitely see spending more time here and I haven't even met his grandmother yet.

We arrive back at the barn and he lets Hendrix roam in the closed in pen of grass behind. I never in a million years would have thought I would want to ride a horse. Coming from an Urban area around nothing but sand and water, the only kind of horseback riding you'll find is if you pay to ride at a stable and there is usually a drive. Everything is so different here; so open. Looking around I could probably yell and it carry on for miles.

Not far off from the barn, you can see another covered building that matches the exterior of the barn but it's more open. It looks like it's strictly utilized to keep equipment out of the weather. Beneath the covering is a big green and yellow tractor. He tugs me towards it in a sprint. "What are we doing?"

He looks back at me but continues forward. "We have to haul some hay to the cattle. The bales are too big to carry." Once we reach the tractor, he grabs the steering wheel and sits on the yellow seat and holds his hand out to me.

I look the tractor over, confused. I'm not sure where he expects me to sit. "What do you want me to do?"

He laughs, but then pats his thigh. "Sit with me of course." It looks like a death trap with three wheels. What if I fall off? It's not that big, after all.

I feel the need to voice this concern out loud. "What if I fall off or something? It's not that big."

He scoffs; actually looks disgusted by this. "Trust me, yeah?" Of course he's going to turn this into a trust thing. I nod. His eyes flash. "Then get on and stop doing what you're doing. I see you rationalizing every possible thing that could happen in your head. Don't do that. You're going to drive yourself crazy. I would never let anything happen to you."

Accepting his hand, I step up onto the tractor and sit on his lap. "If you insist. You should just be glad you look as yummy as you do today or I might decline your offer." I can't lie. If you saw him you would know exactly what I mean. I thought his football uniform looked good on him, but that was before I was introduced to Wrangler. Remind me to thank him for that tight goodness he invented. Oh boy does it do wonders to the Gluteus Maximus area. What can I say, I guess I'm a butt girl. That, in combination to the fitted tee shirt and ball cap makes me want to take him in the woods and do naughty, naughty things to him.