The Riding Lesson that Wasn’t
The family went all together to the ten-thirty Mass on Sunday, as usual.
Maria rode with Grandma Austin, her aunt and uncle, and Savannah.
She had secretly hoped Tim might ask her to ride with him, but as they were leaving she saw Tim’s truck was crammed full of ranch hands.
So it was just as well. Maria wouldn’t have wanted to ride jammed between a bunch of guys.
Still, it would’ve been nice if Tim had asked. Was he avoiding her? She’d barely seen him since the rodeo, and he’d had to postpone their riding lesson. But he normally had a busy schedule, and he normally drove to Mass with the ranch hands. Maria shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
The little church was packed. A lot of visitors were still in the area for the weekend since the rodeo. Maria knelt at the end of a crowded pew with Savannah’s elbow hitting her, trying to focus on her prayers. She had a lot to pray about.
First of all, she prayed for Dad and Grandma.
Hopefully they were doing well without her—Maria never really knew how things went at the house when she wasn’t there.
Maybe Dad was stressed and tired out, and Grandma was overloaded with cooking and laundry and other chores that Maria normally helped with. She’d better pray extra for them.
Then there were the Austins, who needed prayers for getting along with each other; Maria and Tim, as they got to know each other; the ranch, as people tried to sabotage it; the poor, the sick, the unborn.
And of course, there was Maria’s huge decision about whether to stay here on the ranch, saving her family’s finances, or go back to Michigan.
Maria united her prayers with the prayers of the Holy Sacrifice.
How did people who didn’t have faith ever deal with the difficulties and troubles in life?
What would life be like, without trusting in the providence of the Almighty?
It was a sobering thought. Maria needed to trust more in Divine Providence herself, especially to trust that God would help her make the right decisions about her family members and the ranch.
Coming out of the church after Mass, she saw Tim about to get into his truck.
Aw, he was leaving already? Maria had hoped to get to talk to him.
Usually the family stood around and talked at least for a while before going back to the ranch.
Well, Maria would get back when she got back, and then she could change and get ready for her riding lesson.
Maybe Tim had seen Maria looking over, because he jumped back out of the truck and started toward her. Maria smiled at him. Good, he did remember she was there.
But Tim looked hurried. “I’m really sorry,” he said, “but I won’t be able to do the riding lesson with you this afternoon. Something urgent came up.”
“Oh, no!” Maria said. “What happened?”
“I’ve gotta work on something at the ranch,” Tim said. “I know, it’s Sunday—it’s necessary. But I’m gutted to miss our riding lesson again. We’ll do it soon, I promise!”
He dashed off, starting the truck and roaring away with the other ranch hands (who reminded Maria of sardines, they were such a tight fit in the truck).
Maria’s shoulders slumped. What a bummer!
Now she would have to have a regular dull afternoon.
She would probably just read. Annabelle and Elijah were probably hanging out with friends.
Just when Maria got a chance to do something that was actually Western and exciting, Tim was too busy to do anything with her.
Hopefully that was just it, that he was too busy.
Hopefully he didn’t regret having spent time with her at the rodeo.
If he wasn’t interested in her after all—if he just wanted somebody to hang out with, and Maria was the only girl around who wasn’t Annabelle—maybe he regretted giving her a false impression of his feelings.
Maria had heard of that happening, guys acting interested and then backing off when the girl got interested too.
It was a stinky thing to do to somebody, but maybe some people didn’t do it on purpose.
She hoped Tim wasn’t one of those people.
Maybe something had happened at the ranch.
Injured stock, or some kind of weather warning.
It was cloudy—maybe a tornado was coming.
There were all sorts of things that could need the ranch foreman.
And he was probably trying to secure the buildings to prevent further sabotage, especially since he’d supposedly seen the guy with the skull tattoo at the rodeo.
He must be waiting for that guy to strike.
But Maria wished he had told her what he was doing.
She got home and changed into casual clothes, nothing special.
What was the use of wearing something special when the guy you liked wasn’t even around?
Tim hadn’t even said she looked pretty in her blue flowered Mass dress.
He probably had been in such a hurry, he hadn’t noticed it.
Of course, compliments didn’t mean everything.
Seth used to compliment Maria all the time, but he had still broken up with her.
In the living room, she found Grandma Austin reading a book and Aunt Steph looking at recipes online. “Oh, hi,” Aunt Steph said. “I thought you’d gone with the others.”
The others? “I didn’t hear about anybody going anywhere.”
Grandma Austin looked up from her book. “Annabelle and Elijah ought to invite you when they go out,” she said. “You’re their cousin. They needn’t treat you like chopped liver.”
“It’s all right,” Maria said hastily. She didn’t care to hang out with Annabelle and Elijah’s friends anyway. “I’d rather stay here, really.”
“I don’t care what you’d rather do.” Grandma Austin took off her reading glasses to see Maria better.
“They ought to invite you. I’m going to call Elijah.
Annabelle never answers when I call, but Elijah might.
He’s the top hand. He knows he has to answer the phone.
It’s good to have some reliable family members around.
Even if I don’t see eye to eye with them in other ways. ”
She went over to the phone—they still had a land line in the ranch house—and dialed a number. Maria would have protested, but it was useless to protest when Patricia wanted something. Patricia must have reached Elijah, because she was talking to someone on the other end.
“You’re going where? No, you’re not. I want you to turn that truck around and come back here. You’ve forgotten somebody. How do you expect your cousin Maria to want to stay on the ranch when you and Annabelle waltz off without her all the time?”
Elijah must have been explaining on the other end. Grandma Austin listened. “All right,” she said. “She’ll be ready. From now on, when the Austins are invited somewhere, that means all the adult members of the family.”
Oh, dear. Annabelle and Elijah would be made late to wherever they were going. And where were they going, anyway? Maria probably wouldn’t know anybody there, and it would be awkward. Also, how come Tim had to do something urgent, but Elijah was still free to have fun?
Grandma Austin was off the phone. “Maria,” she said, “get your purse. Annabelle and Elijah are going over to the Baldwins’, and you’re going with them.”
“The Baldwins’?” Maria exclaimed. “I barely even know the Baldwins. And I thought Annabelle and Neil weren’t getting along since the rodeo.”
“He seems to want to make up with her,” Grandma Austin said. “I don’t think he’s a good match for my granddaughter. But I’m not going to have you stuck here all by yourself with those two going off to entertain themselves.”
There was no arguing with her. Maria went to get her purse.
§
Annabelle and Elijah were both full of explanations when they dropped by to pick Maria up. “We weren’t trying to leave you out,” Annabelle said. “We didn’t think you’d be interested in going over to the Baldwins’. I thought you didn’t like Neil.”
Maria had tried not to show that too plainly, but clearly she’d been too obvious.
“It’s okay,” she said. “Grandma Austin insisted on having me come with you. I would have been perfectly fine on the ranch. I don’t know, I could have called Dad or something.
I was supposed to have a riding lesson with Tim, but he had to rush off somewhere. ”
“That’s weird,” Elijah said.
“It sounded urgent, whatever it was,” Maria said.
Elijah shrugged. “No idea. There’s nothing going on on the ranch. I thought he was just going into town or something.”
What could Tim be doing? Maybe he had a commitment in town. Something must have come up, but Maria couldn’t imagine what. Hopefully it was really that and not an excuse to keep from spending time with Maria.
§
Maria heartily wished she hadn’t come to the Baldwin ranch.
She should have put her foot down and told her grandmother she didn’t want to go.
Why couldn’t she ever figure out what to say to Grandma Austin?
The people hanging out in the Baldwins’ family room were all friends with Annabelle and Elijah, and although they included Maria in the game they were playing (a complicated indie game with cards and dice and movers), their conversation was all about things and people she didn’t know.
These people probably didn’t mean to be cliquey.
They just knew each other well and didn’t know Maria.
But it would be nice if they included newcomers a little better.
The game reached a break, and Maria went to get a snack from a well-stocked table the Baldwins had set out. The table was in a hallway next to the kitchen, and people were talking in the kitchen. One voice was definitely Annabelle. The other one was probably Neil.
“I don’t know why she’s being so stubborn about this,” Neil’s voice said. “What does she think is going to happen to the ranch after she’s gone? Does she think your family is going to run it forever? It’s not fair to you.”