Chapter 11 Caitlin
ELEVEN
CAITLIN
Istill couldn’t believe I’d agreed to get up at the ass-crack of dawn to go horseback riding.
I grumbled aloud as I made my way down the road leading to Lost Valley Ranch.
After meeting Zoe, we’d been texting back and forth, and she’d mentioned that Fiona was in need of some extra bodies in the saddles for a medium-level trail ride that needed to happen before the rodeo.
“I should be in my bed. Asleep. Not here.” I parked next to some other cars near the barn and got out. It was still dark out and I pulled the hood up over my head, wishing I’d thought to wear something warmer.
“Caitlin!” I turned to see Fiona striding out of the barn, waving her hand. She looked way too chipper for the hour, but that was the difference between ranchers and suburbanites. She pulled me into a hug. “I’m so glad you came. This is going to be so fun.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but she was so excited, I didn’t want to say anything mean. “Happy to help. So, uh, what are we doing, exactly?”
“So, the plan is to ride out to the meadow by the old hunting cabin on the backside of our property, and then we’re going to spread out and race down through the meadow while Zoe films us from the air.
” Fiona was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.
“Zo has this fab idea for a series of short-form videos that we can use in our advertising, but she wants to get enough content that she can use it for the town, too.”
That actually sounded like a good idea. I turned when I heard more car doors slam and looked up to see Brian’s chief deputy, Sofia, along with Maggie from Lafferty’s.
They were both dressed to ride although Maggie looked like a walking advertisement for her family’s store.
Behind them were three other women who looked familiar but I didn’t know their names.
“You too?” Sofia asked once everyone joined me.
“This is going to be fun,” one of the women said. Kayla or Emma, I thought. They were in Shannon’s grade at Pop High. McKenzie was too, but I knew her from the only art class my mother didn’t insist I quit.
The horses were brought out, and I was given a beautiful chestnut by the name of Red to ride. “Hello, aren’t you just the prettiest horse here?” I crooned to him, making sure to introduce myself before climbing into the saddle.
“All right everyone, before we go, I want to make sure you know the plan.” Fiona expanded on the shorter version she’d given me earlier.
“Because we’ll be in a mostly dead zone, we’ll be communicating with Zoe and Shannon by radio.
We’ve already tested it out and we could hear each other just fine, so don’t worry.
” She clapped her hands. “Let’s saddle up.
Soon enough, we were lined up and following Fiona down a path and out into the hills.
“Caitlin, right?” I shifted in my saddle to see McKenzie working her way closer to me. “From art class? You painted that amazing portrait in watercolor that got entered in the county competition, didn’t you?”
The very same painting that was destroyed in the rain because my parents didn’t care enough to attend let alone pick me up after.
I forced a smile. “Yep, that’s me. You made those vases, right?
Are you still throwing clay?” I vaguely remembered that her parents had set up her grandmother’s old wheel up for her out in the garden.
“Oh gosh, it’s been ages since I sat behind a potter’s wheel.
Mostly, I make bread now and chase after my son,” McKenzie said, her smile lighting up her eyes.
“I’m the owner and chief baker at the Daily Knead out in Beaumont.
I spend my days kneading bread dough. What about you? Did you become a famous artist?”
I wanted to laugh at that but she sounded so genuine.
“Not on canvases, but you should see her tattoo designs,” Fiona chimed in from ahead of us.
She shifted in her saddle to look at me.
“Zoe showed me the pic she took of the hummingbird on your arm. When things die down, I’m hoping you’ll design something for me. ”
Oh.
Oh.
“I’d love to see your portfolio. What’s your Insta?
” McKenzie asked and the others all chimed in.
We spent the next hour passing my phone around while the women commented on the tattoo designs I had saved in an album on my phone.
It was odd feeling so included with people I’d never imagined I’d have anything in common with.
It helped pass the time and before we reached the small mountain cabin, where we would take a break, I’d already agreed to see what kind of designs I could come up with for each of them.
Including Sofia, who revealed that she had the start of a sleeve that had yet to be colored in.
“I’d have finished it years ago if I’d known I was on a timetable. The studio shut down and I had no idea where the artist moved to,” Sofia said showing me the linework. “How hard do you think it would be to finish?”
I leaned over in the saddle, studying her arm. “I want to get a closer look, but if it were me, I’d suggest getting a clean copy of your current piece on stencil paper, and then we could go over it to see if you want to make any changes to the existing linework before talking about color.”
“Is that hard to do?” Kayla asked and I shook my head.
“Not exactly, but it’d take time.” I explained how I’d video the tattoo from all the angles and then open the MP4 in an app that would let me turn it into a 2-D design. Honestly, it was all very boring but the others seemed so excited about everything I shared that my enthusiasm grew.
I’d come to Poplar Springs intending to keep my head down and put away as much money as possible before returning to Austin, but instead, I was making friends and talking about tattoo art.
In. Poplar Springs.
I was more excited than I should be but I couldn’t help it.
“We’re here,” Fiona sang out and I gasped when I took in our surroundings.
Below us was a blanket of wildflowers that were almost waist high. With the sun barely above the horizon, the sunlight cast the area in an ethereal glow that had me wishing for a canvas and paint.
We dismounted to stretch our legs and give the horses a break and I walked around slowly, taking everything in and getting as many pictures as I could. My mind was whirling with ideas for a series of floral designs that I could knock out in flash sales.
At the same time, I was giddy at the idea of coming back here to paint. It’d been way too long since I’d come across anything that inspired me to drag out my old art supplies. But this sight definitely did.
“Beautiful, am I right?” Fiona said, coming to stand by me. “Living in Denver, I’d forgotten how gorgeous it was out here. But now?” Fiona shook her head. “I will never take it for granted again.”
I had to agree. “Where I live out in East Austin, it’s easy to forget that open land and beautiful scenery even exist. I mean, I just go from my car to work and back again without ever stepping foot on grass.
But out here? I don’t know if I’ll have time, but I’d love to come back here sometime to paint. ”
Fiona wrapped her arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.
“Let me know when you want to come out here, and I’ll bring you personally.
We don’t have to come on horseback. If it’d be easier, we could take the ATV.
” The thought of a loud engine interrupting the serenity out here made me frown and Fiona chuckled when she saw my face. “Okay, then. Horses it is.”
The radio she had on her belt crackled to life and she grabbed it to answer her sister. Then she got us back in the saddles and spread out relatively equal distance apart on either side of her while Zoe circled the drone around to line up the shot.
“Okay, just like we talked about. Indigo and I will go first at a run. The rest of you will follow one on either side of me, and we’ll fan out through the meadow. Feel free to wave your hat or raise your arm. We want to look like we’re having a great time,” Fiona said.
The drone did a full circle around us, and I waved up at the camera. My smile was real. I’d never expected to have as good of a time as I was.
“Ready?” Fiona called out, standing up in the stirrups, and we all shouted “yes.” With a loud cry, she dropped back into the saddle and her horse took off like a bullet. The other women began whooping and hollering, their laughter flowing down the hillside as the horses ran through the meadow.
I was the last to go, along with Sofia, and we managed to take off at the same time.
It was exhilarating and I whooped as Red raced down the hill, the wind tickling along my collar.
By the time we met up with the others, everyone was laughing and waving their arms up at the drone, which had flown lower.
Fiona said something into the radio before tucking it back into her belt. “Zoe says thanks. She’s going to get the footage downloaded and she promises to share it before any of it goes live. Let’s get the horses back to the ranch.”
It took us about an hour to get back to Lost Valley.
By the time we got there, I felt as if all these women were my new best friends.
They were so friendly. While all but Sofia and I were married or engaged, and two had children, I didn’t feel any sort of judgment that I wasn’t in a relationship or popping out children at my age.
And just spending time in the saddle felt incredible. Once I returned to Austin, I planned to look into volunteering at a horse rescue where I could regularly ride. It wouldn’t be the same as being out here, but it’d give me the opportunity to spend more time on horseback.
By the time I got back to town, I was starving.
Instead of heading straight home, I stopped at Hastings General Store to grab ingredients for a stir fry.
While I was looking at the meat options, I tensed when I heard the unmistakable sound of my mother talking with another woman.
She was complaining about something and her voice kept getting louder and louder.
I looked around and spotted her at the end of the cereal aisle.
There was an unfortunate woman—wearing a Hastings polo shirt and looking absolutely miserable—who appeared to be on the receiving end of whatever was coming out of my mother’s mouth.
My euphoria from earlier was rapidly disappearing, so I tossed two meat trays in my cart and headed for the produce section hoping to grab everything I’d need and make it to the checkout before she realized I was here.
I huffed out a relieved breath once I was behind the wheel and driving back to Brian’s place. I’d had a great time this morning, but as fun as it was, my mother’s influence around here easily squashed all my feel-good feelings, which was exactly why I couldn’t stay.
It didn’t matter how well things were going for me here.
The reality was that I could never truly be myself in this town.
Not with my mother and her friends continually sitting judgment over me.
For now, I just needed to keep my head down and my goals in sight so when the time came, I’d be ready to leave and get back to my real life.