13. Isabelle
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
isabelle
I walked over to Ellison, leaving both Reid and Landon behind me.
“What was that all about?” Ellison asked, tilting her head in their direction.
I shrugged. “Who knows? Pissing match I guess, which is funny because I have no interest in Landon and Reid and I are just friends.”
I could tell from the moment he stepped out of the pickup that Landon was trouble. Sure, he had a nice face, but he was the type of guy who knew he had a nice face and could use it to his advantage. In short, he wasn’t my type, but he could hold a decent conversation and that’s why I was content talking to him.
And Reid, well…he was Reid.
“Men,” she snorted.
All of the sudden a yelp came from the middle of the branding area.
“Fuck!” Mikey screamed as he jumped up, clutching his thigh, a burn mark scorched through his jeans .
“Someone grab the calf!” a voice yelled from the sidelines.
Reid rushed forward, grabbing the calf at the head as Ellison muttered, “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” and left so she could go take care of Mikey.
I followed behind her as she talked to Mikey in a low voice.
“You’re fine, you big baby. You’ve been stepped on by bulls but can’t handle a little burn? Cowboy up. Didn’t your mother ever teach you if you’re gonna be stupid, you gotta be tough?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled and limped back to the house.
“What happened?” I asked her as she turned around, rolling her eyes at the spectacle Mikey made.
“He’s fine. The branding iron got too close to him. His leg is fine, it barely touched his skin. He won’t even have a mark, he’s just dramatic.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “Let’s go, they’ll still need our help.”
I reluctantly followed her back. Is getting branded a normal thing?
“He all right?” Colter yelled at Ellison from atop his horse, and she gave him a thumbs up.
“Isa, you want to help with the next one?” Jake called over to me.
Not really , I thought, but I nodded, because I didn’t think I had a choice.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to hold the head. Less chance of getting burned,” he joked, earning a glare from me.
Hayden had the next calf, and he dragged it out to us. I remembered what to do from the last time, so I sat on the ground and positioned my legs where they needed to go .
Walker brought over the branding iron, but as he branded the calf’s shoulder, something wet sloshed under me. The smell hit before I realized the calf had shit all over my leg. I scrunched my face in disgust, trying not to gag as the combination of smoke, burnt hair, and shit mixed in the air.
Walker couldn’t have finished quick enough. Once he was done, Jake and I got up and spun the calf around.
“Ain’t a branding unless someone gets shit on, darlin’.” Jake laughed as I looked down at my pant leg, which was completely covered. “You’re just lucky your leg stopped it.”
I grimaced at the thought of poop spraying up into my face. We moved out of the way as another calf was pulled out and more volunteers rushed to hold it down.
“It’s like a rite of passage, you know?” Reid walked up beside me. I raised my eyebrow, and he continued. “Getting shit on at a branding. You’re basically a real cowgirl now.”
I let a puff of air out through my nose. “Hardly, but thanks.”
“At least you didn’t run off like Mikey did. He’s been doing this with us for years.”
“Yeah, well, I also didn’t get branded,” I scoffed.
“Sure, but you got shit on. And by the looks of it, a lot.” He fanned the air with his hand, as if to drive away the smell.
“It’s fine. Rite of passage, right?” I gave him a half-smile, the corner of my mouth curling up in amusement.
“Exactly. How about this? After this is all over, we go for a ride. I’m sure Colter won’t mind,” he offered.
“I, uh, yeah. That sounds good.” Was it a bad time to tell him I’d never ridden a horse either? I mean, okay, when I was younger I had, but there was someone leading the horse and we weren’t going fast.
“Awesome. I’ll let Colter and Hayden know not to untack Bullet and Trigger. We can take them out for a short ride.”
The branding wrapped up about an hour later. Ms. Carson had made a big lunch for everyone—pulled pork, baked beans, fruit, and rolls—and set everything out on the back of Landon’s tailgate. She had also brought out some lawn chairs so we didn’t all have to stand around or sit on the ground.
Mikey had a bag of ice taped to his leg, despite me telling him you’re not supposed to ice burns. It didn’t matter that I learned it from Grey’s Anatomy , because it was true.
He was hanging out with Landon and the other guys who came here to help, Ellison was eating with Colter, and Hayden and Jake were hanging out, so that left me and Reid by ourselves.
Reid leaned up against the cab of the truck as I held my plate and moved the dirt around with my boot; the one not covered in dried-up shit. I’d wanted to go change and had even headed in the direction of the house, but was pulled back to hold more calves, and by the time the branding was over, I was already used to the smell.
“What’d you think of your first ever branding?” he asked.
“Besides the obvious? It was fine,” I replied before taking a bite out of my sandwich.
“So, you’ll be back next year? We didn’t scare you away with our rowdiness and chaos?”
I shook my head, not wanting to talk with my mouth full. I finished chewing and said, “No, I think I’m used to all of the Silver Creek boys’ antics by now.”
“Well, good. I—we’d like to keep you around.” He downed his sandwich in two bites and then took a big spoonful of beans. “How about that ride?” he mumbled through his mouthful, which made me roll my eyes in amusement.
“Didn’t your…” I trailed off before I could finish my sentence. I had almost made a joke about his mother and her teaching him manners, but now was definitely not the time for that, not when we were having a good day. “Yes, I’m ready whenever you are.”
We both discarded our plates, and Reid waved at Colter and Ellison to tell them we were leaving.
“You can ride Trigger, all right? He’ll take good care of you.” Reid led me over to a black horse tied up next to Bullet, who I recognized as the horse Colter roped on. The saddle had been switched out from the one Hayden was using.
“Erm, how do I?” I fumbled awkwardly with the reins in front of me.
“Hold on, I’ll help you.” He walked over to me and unhooked the horse from the trailer. “May I?”
I handed him the reins, and he tossed them over Trigger’s head.
“Put your left boot in the stirrups there, hold onto the saddle horn, and pull yourself up so you can swing your leg to the other side,” he explained and then untied Bullet and demonstrated.
I put my foot in the stirrup like he said and pushed off of the ground while gripping the saddle horn to pull myself up. Holy fuck why is this horse so tall? It took an embarrassingly long amount of time to hoist myself up, and swinging my leg over was another challenge, but I eventually got it.
“Holy shit, I’m on a horse!” I blurted, causing Reid to laugh.
“Hell yeah, you are. Next time try to swing your leg over the back of the horse instead of the saddle. It’ll be easier.” He winked.
I went to protest or defend myself, but realized he wasn’t belittling or making fun of me. He was genuinely trying to help, so I pursed my lips and nodded, taking note.
I took hold of the reins, only slightly nervous that I was going to fall off, and tensed up a little as Trigger started walking behind Bullet.
Reid looked over his shoulder at me. “Don’t worry, he’s not going to buck ya off. Loosen up a bit, Short Stack.”
Slightly embarrassed at how tense I was, I shook out my arms and made a face at Reid to show I was loosened up and to silently ask him, “ Happy now?”
After a while, riding got easier and Trigger had caught up to Bullet, so Reid and I were riding side by side through the brush and grass.
“How’re you doin’ over there?” Reid looked over at me.
“I think I’m getting the hang of it,” I said with a laugh. But I spoke too soon, because I didn’t realize we had been climbing up a hill and now had to go down the hill.
Reid must have noticed panic on my face, because he reached over and took my hand. “You’ll be fine, just keep your center of gravity on his back. Don’t lean back too far, but you can lean back slightly.” He demonstrated as Bullet started to move down the hill. “Don’t lean forward, because you’ll fall off that way.”
Oh, God. I sent up a silent prayer that I wouldn’t get thrown off this horse and followed. I was sure I looked kind of ridiculous, white-knuckling the reins and saddle horn, but at least Reid was in front of me and no one else was here to witness. I tried not to pull back on the reins too hard when it felt like Trigger was going too fast, but sometimes I couldn’t help it and he would completely stop or jerk on me a little.
“Relax, Isa! He can sense your stress!” Reid called from ahead of me, and I took a deep breath, trying to ease up.
“We’ve got this, buddy. Easy now,” I murmured to Trigger, trying to reassure myself more than the horse.
Reid made it down the hill well before I did, but when I eventually got to the bottom, he was waiting for me.
“Don’t,” I scolded him before he could laugh at me.
He grinned, apparently satisfied with himself. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t laugh at me,” I muttered.
“I’m not laughing at you! You’re doing great.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, not convinced he wasn’t going to make fun of me for my poor equestrian skills.
“Come on, let’s keep going.”
As we continued, I took in the landscape around us. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, so it truly felt like you could see for miles. The sun was shining overhead, the rays beating down to warm my skin, and birds chirped their melodies. Off in the distance, the hills seemed to roll on forever, but some cliffs and ridges added contrast to the endless landscape. I wanted to take a picture of this in my mind and store it away forever .
“What are you thinking about?” Reid broke me out of my trance.
“Just about how beautiful it is out here. I’ve never seen anything like it,” I admitted.
I’d been to some beautiful places in my life, but none of them had completely captured my attention the way this one did. Maybe it was because I was constantly on the move, always thinking about the bigger things in life—love, success, and happiness—but not romanticizing the small things, not taking the time to appreciate the things around me that seemed so mundane.
Books had a way of romanticizing little things—that’s why I loved them. I used them to escape. But, at that moment, I realized the things I loved about those books were also present in my real life if I stopped and paid attention to them. It was the beauty of curling up with a cup of coffee on a rainy day, of a gathering of friends who haven’t seen each other in a while, of riding horseback in a peaceful environment.
“It’s something special, that’s for sure,” Reid replied.