Horses and Flowers
Right after work the next day, it was time for Maria to have her riding lesson with Tim. She put on riding clothes and twisted her hair into a French braid, turning her head this way and that in the mirror to make sure nothing was sticking out of the braid.
Butterflies had taken hold of her, and she shook herself.
Tim wouldn’t care if her hair wasn’t perfect.
She’d been around him dozens of times with her hair escaping from her ponytail or damp and greasy with the heat.
And a horse riding lesson wasn’t a beauty contest. Still, it was a first date—not a low-stakes, casual one with some guy from a dating site that Maria hadn’t met before, either.
What if things didn’t go well? What if Tim decided they weren’t a good fit for each other, after all?
Maria steadied herself, taking a deep breath, giving a pep talk to the dark-haired girl in the mirror. “Maria Gilbert, you need to stop worrying about what happened with Seth. You can trust Tim. He’s a good, solid guy, and he really cares.”
The girl in the mirror looked more convinced than Maria felt, but that was probably a good thing.
What Maria needed was a little more confidence.
Somewhere in her family tree, there had probably been some samurai who was scared stiff of going into battle and went anyway.
There wasn’t anything to be nervous about.
She was going on a date with a guy she actually liked.
She would have a nice riding lesson and a nice dinner, and Tim was interested in her. She could just be herself around him.
Drat, she was losing track of time. Maria looked at her phone. Only ten minutes before she was supposed to meet Tim down at the stables. She’d better hurry.
Her shoes stood in the closet, scuffed sneakers, reliable work shoes, church shoes. No, no, they wouldn’t do. Maria stood on tiptoe to pull down a box that had sat on her top shelf since the rodeo. This was the day to wear her mom’s boots.
She pulled them out, running a finger over the intricate turquoise design. A little connection to her mom was just what she wanted tonight.
§
Maria rushed down to the stables, slightly late. Where was Tim? She didn’t see him. He hadn’t forgotten, had he?
She looked into the stables. A familiar cowboy-hatted figure was silhouetted against the other end. He was holding something in his hand.
“Maria!” Tim pushed himself off the stable wall and came to meet her, tipping his hat. “There you are!”
He sounded a little breathless. Was it possible he was nervous too?
“For you,” he said, and held out the thing he was holding—a bunch of wildflowers, yellow and blue and white.
“Aw,” Maria said. “How sweet! Did you pick these for me?” She breathed them in. They smelled sweet and grasslike, like the Montana summer.
“I sure did,” Tim said. He ran a hand through his hair. “And Danny and Will saw me. I’m never gonna live it down.”
Maria laughed. “I feel your pain,” she said. “Thank you. They’re beautiful.”
His eyes were warm. “They don’t compare to you.”
She blushed. That was sweet. “Thank you.”
“I’ve found the perfect horse for you. Don’t worry, you won’t have to ride Lucky again.” Tim grinned. “Her name’s Aggie. She’s one of our older quarter horses. She’ll be nice and gentle for you.”
Aggie’s stall was in the middle of the row of horses. She was a chestnut mare with warm eyes and a gentle expression, and Maria greeted her without nervousness. It made a difference, having had one riding lesson before.
Tim supplemented the things Annabelle had told Maria about brushing and saddling a horse. “It’ll be second nature in no time,” Tim said. “Once you’ve done it a while, muscle memory takes over.”
Maria nodded. She knew all about muscle memory from her culinary school training.
“I ought to give you some kind of lessons in exchange,” she said. “Do you cook?”
He grinned. “Bacon, steaks, burgers, fried eggs.”
“The essentials,” Maria said. “Well, I can show you how to make a pie.”
“The other basic food group,” Tim said. “Meat, eggs, milk, pie. What else is there?”
“Vegetables,” Maria said, working on Aggie with the curry comb the way Tim had shown her. “When I worked at the Virginian, pretty much all I did was cook vegetables. A few of those won’t hurt you.”
“Rabbit food,” Tim said. He laughed, patting Aggie’s nose. “I’m kidding. If you watch me in the lunch line, you’ll see I eat my vegetables faithfully. My mom always insisted on it.”
“I think I’ll like your mom,” Maria said.
“I think you will too,” Tim said. “I wish I could have met yours.”
Maria swallowed. “I’d have liked to introduce you. But at least you get to meet my dad when he comes.”
“I’ll be on my best behavior.” Tim gave her the Boy Scout salute. “Scout’s honor.”
“Were you a Boy Scout?”
“Eagle Scout,” Tim said. “I can tie any knot there is.”
“I bet that comes in handy on a ranch.”
“Sure. Especially when you’ve gotta lasso something or pull a cow out of a mud hole.”
Tim opened the stall door and helped Maria lead Aggie out to the round pen for their lesson.
He was a good teacher, explaining things clearly, patient with Maria’s failed attempts.
He showed her what riders called two-point, standing in the stirrups, which felt like standing up on a bicycle.
When she had that down, he showed her how to trot, alternately sitting and standing as the horse went up and down.
For that he used what he called a lunge line, holding Aggie securely with his good hand as she went around the circle.
Slightly terrified, Maria was glad to have Tim’s hand on the rope.
He seemed completely relaxed and confident.
She focused on rising and falling with the horse’s motions, not putting too much weight behind the reins, and keeping her heels down.
Poor Ellen Tebbits in the Beverly Cleary book would have had a hard time with this trotting exercise.
Tim, satisfied with her progress, then took off the lunge line and let Maria try trotting and walking Aggie around the round pen by herself. That was even scarier. Breathe, Maria. Focus.
“You’ve got this,” Tim called from the edge of the pen. “You’re catching on quick.”
It didn’t feel like catching on, but everybody had to go through the terrified newbie stage, right?
At least Aggie didn’t seem as though she was about to run away or anything.
Heels down. Breathe. Maria’s mom had learned to ride a horse once too.
On her dad’s side of the family, many generations back, that samurai ancestor of Maria’s had learned to ride as well.
If Maria’s ancestors could do it, Maria could too.
“I think that’s good for today,” Tim announced from the side of the pen. “Don’t want to tire Aggie out. And we’ve got dinner in town still.”
He helped Maria dismount.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“It’s a secret.” Tim winked. “But we’d better not go there in barn clothes.”
§
Tim said he’d get changed and bring his truck up to the house, so Maria had a little time to decide what to wear.
She hadn’t brought a lot of dresses with her, trying to save space in her suitcase and not having much need for fancy clothes.
Dad said he would bring the rest of her things when he and Grandma came out with the moving truck.
Tim was probably waiting. Maria pulled out a blue dress, knee-length cotton jersey, the skirt flaring from the waist. That would work.
If she gave her mom’s boots a quick cleaning, she could wear them to the restaurant too.
She’d need to get a different pair—an older, grubbier pair—for ordinary riding.
But tonight’s riding lesson had been special.
Maria let her hair fall from the French braid, tumbling in waves around her shoulders. Should she wear it down? She fumbled in her dresser, looking for something a little nicer than a hair tie.
Savannah stuck her head in the room. “I heard you and Tim were going on a date,” she said, her voice conspiratorial. “Want help getting ready?”
“Oh, thanks, Savannah,” Maria said. “I’m just looking for something to keep my hair out of my face. If I leave it down, it always gets in my way.”
“I’ve got something.” Savanna whisked out of the room. In no time, she had returned, holding out a gold bobby pin. On the top half of the bobby pin rested a lovely cluster of imitation pearls.
“Oh, that’s so pretty!” Maria said.
Savannah beamed. “You can borrow it.”
“Thank you!” Maria carefully twisted back the section of hair that always fell into her face on one side, sliding the pearl pin into it. It sat like it was made to go there, a bright contrast to Maria’s dark hair.
“It’s perfect.” Savannah bounced up and down. “I’m so happy you and Tim are dating now. I can’t believe you’re actually going out with the Montana Rider.”
Maria chuckled. “Technically, I think I’m going out with just regular Tim,” she said. “Can you imagine what the people at the restaurant would say if the Montana Rider showed up there?”
Savannah giggled. “I’d pay money to see that.” She skipped around the room. “You’ll fill me in on how it goes, right? Annabelle never tells me about her dates.”
“Absolutely,” Maria promised.
“Need anything else before you go? I’ve got more jewelry and stuff.”
Maria checked for her phone and wallet. “I think I’ve got it. Thanks, Savannah.”
§
She came to the top of the stairs and found Tim at the bottom, hat in hand.
“Wow,” he said. “You look incredible.”
She smiled. “Thanks. You’re looking pretty good yourself.”
He was wearing dark-colored jeans and a gray shirt embroidered with blue. His left arm was still in a sling. His eyes spoke admiration.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
Maria descended toward him. “Absolutely.”
Tim put on his hat and offered his arm. “Let’s go then.”
“Are you gonna tell me where we’re going?”
“Still a secret. You’ll see.”
“It’s gonna be a steakhouse or Mexican,” Maria said. “That’s all you guys have out here, right?”
§