Follow a Wild Heart: A Christian Contemporary Western Romance Series by Natalie Bright (top reads .TXT) 📗

young girl who had been rolling around in the dirt hours before, or so it seemed. Carli was suspicious of this youngster.

Carli opened the corral gate for her. “Thanks for coming today, Bianca. It was nice meeting you. Next time we'll ride in the arena and go over some ground rules.”

The girl let out an "Hmph".

The second car pulled to a stop and a woman with fire-engine red hair like Bianca’s stepped out. “How'd you girls do today?”

“Pretty good, for the first day,” said Carli. “Thanks for bringing her out. Looks like Bianca knows how to ride.”

Bianca glared at Carli. “We had to listen to a stupid Bible story, Mom.” Bianca grumbled as she walked towards the car.

Bianca’s mother looked at Carli, concern showing across her face. “Your public page doesn’t say anything about Bible study.”

“LoveJoy is a Christian-based school. It's mentioned in the 'About Us',” Carli explained. “My plan is to bring kids together who love horses. I’m learning new things about the Bible and I thought others might enjoy it too. Today’s discussion was on the Prodigal Son. The girls seemed pretty interested.”

“I don't think Bianca will be coming back. You can’t force religion on her. She's had enough of that from her grandmother.” Without another word the young girl and her mother got in their car and drove away. Carli stood stunned, watching their car until they were out of sight.

Lola walked out of the cookhouse. “Are the girls gone?”

“That's it. I’m closing the riding school. This must be a sign from God!” Carli slid down against the pipe fence on the outside of the corral and collapsed on the dead grass. Her body felt like it’d been run over by one of their registered Angus bulls.

“What are you talking about?” Lola pretended concern but couldn’t stifle the giggle that followed.

“I am so wiped out. My feet hurt, my back hurts, my head hurts.” Carli cradled her face in shaky hands, her voice choked with tears. “Those girls! What in the world caused them to roll around in the dirt and try to beat up on each other? That was a total disaster. And the way Bianca rode like a wild woman not paying any attention to me. And now Bianca's mother says I'm forcing religion on them and she's not bringing her daughter back. I can’t do this, Lola.” Carli yanked off her cowboy hat and wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt. What a stupid morning.

“Believe me, this is no sign from God. This is dealing with teenagers.” Lola eased down to the dirt next to her. “You’re not really that much older than they are. Well, maybe ten years. But you can relate better than I can. Maybe it was my Prodigal Son story that got everyone stirred up?”

Carli turned to look at Lola and when their eyes met, they burst into giggles.

“I may not be a parent, but I have nieces and nephews, and I’ve taught Sunday School for most of my life. You have to be patient.”

“Patient? This was like a war zone,” said Carli. “I wasn’t prepared for that.”

Lola patted Carli’s leg. “How about I rustle us up some lunch? I have cherry cobbler from last night.”

“Thanks, Lola, but I think I’ll go home and sit in the quiet. Thanks for your help this morning. I really appreciate it.”

“It was my pleasure. I had fun.” Lola stood, but before walking away she turned. “Your school is a good idea, Carli. Don’t give up on the kids yet.”

“I don’t know how to handle emotional outbursts. What should we do?” Carli couldn’t find enough energy to even get up from the ground.

“Just be kind and love them. That’s all we can do.” Lola patted Carli on her shoulder. “You’ll do just fine.”

What exactly should she be looking for to know if she was on the right path or not? God had a funny way of showing her which way to go. One thing for sure, she needed to read every article she could find on dealing with difficult teens. She was absolutely unprepared for today. She didn’t exactly have huge expectations for opening day of the riding school, but this was definitely not what she had envisioned.

All she wanted to do was offer a chance for kids to be around horses, enjoy a nice ride, and teach them a little bit about the most amazing animals on the planet. She had loved horses her whole life, and she wanted to give others the same opportunity.

Is that too much to ask, God?

Wearily, she put her hat back on, stood, and brushed her hands off on her jeans.

“Y’all had some excitement today. Anybody hurt?”

Carli looked up to see Lank leaning in the saddle house door, his thumbs hooked in his belt, a wide grin covering his face. She ignored the flutter in her stomach. Glad he was here and didn’t take her firing him seriously, but also annoyed he always looked so decked out and “Texas ranchy”. He was the real deal all right. Cowboy hats got to her every time.

“No one was hurt. Some hair pulling and mild shirt ripping. Rowdy teenage girls. I wish it hadn’t happened, but I guess it’s all part of the process.”

“Buck said to brush some horses and clean the tack room. I got my job back.”

“Yes, I see you got your job back, Mr. Torres.” His eyebrows raised at the use of his last name. It made Carli feel empowered, that she could get to him however slight.

“I’m happy to help with your riding school any time, Carli. By the way, where was your boyfriend?”

Oh, brother. Here we go.

“We can’t all take the morning off for this program. Nathan was supposed to be here but must have gotten held up. He’s just being neighborly.”

“A little more than that, I'd say.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you go on dates, don’t you? That’s more than just being neighbors, if you ask me.”

“No one asked you, so please