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

“I guess I was really freaked out with all the excitement. I was afraid we might lose Buck. He’s been such an important person in my life ever since I first came to Texas. He’s always there for me. Almost like a father. And I was so sad for Lola, to think what it would be like for her to lose him. It was all so scary.”

He still didn’t say anything but turned slightly to look at her.

When she saw his blue-gray eyes, she went on. “Thank you for being there for me, Lank.”

Quietly he said, “Always,” then went back to his work.

Her heart filled, but her mind was conflicted. Stay or go?

“I’ll see you later. I’ve got work to do.”

She thought she heard him murmur, “Mm-hmm.”

What she hadn’t told Lank was that she never let people inside her life or heart as much as she had with Lola and Buck. She always guarded herself before. No friends, no complications. But now, her barriers were coming down. The Wild Cow Ranch family had grabbed her and they weren’t letting go.

Chapter Thirty-Five

For the thousandth time, Carli looked at the old phone book with the address and listing for what she thought was her birth father’s family home. She hadn’t the nerve to drive by it in Dixon yet. But she would. It had to be them. She forced herself to return the book to its place in the cabinet, an effort to get her mind off the possibility of ever meeting her birth father. Like somehow a dark space could erase it from her mind. She turned on her computer. While she waited for Buck and Lola to return home from the hospital, she needed to work on riding school business.

Carli loved lists, so she made one for the equine school. Reading about therapeutic riding, maybe she could use some of the ideas. She'd get a few of those colorful, foam cylinders—swimming "noodles" that people held onto in the water. Attach them to a tree, five or six across, and horse and rider could walk through them like a beaded curtain entryway. It was a great way to desensitize horse and rider, teach patience and calm.

She typed on her iPad:

Hula hoops for horses to step through on the ground.

Pieces of plywood to use as a bridge for horses to walk over.

Mailboxes to open and close.

A corn toss-like game using Beany Babies.

Balls to catch.

Big exercise balls for horses to walk around.

What else did they need? Some websites showed kids and horses dressed in costumes for holidays, Halloween especially. That would be fun. She’d seen photos of horses covered with sheets, holes cut out for eyes and ears. Hopefully, the trailing sheet wouldn’t spook anyone. Carli chuckled at her unintended pun.

The older girls crossed her mind. Where would Lexi and Bianca go for this kind of fun? Did Dixon have a teenager hangout? When she was young, she was always at the horse barn, but the other kids in her school went to dances, bowling alleys, and movies. None of those activities had held any appeal for her. No one ever invited her anyway and it was all in the past now.

Maybe the teens would just need mentoring time—cleaning tack, cleaning the barn, cleaning the horses, riding, hanging out. And hopefully, talking about whatever was bugging them at home.

Carli’s cellphone buzzed. She saw the name and said to herself, “What now?" Then she hit the speaker button. "Hello, Sheriff. How are you?”

“Carli Jameson.” Sheriff Anderson was all business and usually skipped the niceties. “I’ve got a girl named Lexi in custody, says she’s one of your riding students. She’s asking for you instead of her mother.”

“I’m on my way.”

Carli clicked off the computer and located her purse and keys, turmoil in her mind about the riding school. Trouble with a student made her doubt everything again. If she hadn’t invited the girl to the Wild Cow, then she wouldn’t be involved in whatever was troubling this young lady. Lexi had a mother after all, and Carli felt that getting involved in their family issues might complicate things and make the situation worse. How could this ever end well?

Every time she felt on track something derailed her spirit and sent her off course. Is this really something God wanted her to do, or was she trying to bring a part of her old life from Georgia to Texas? And through the riding school she now added the complication of Lexi. Whatever it was, she needed to decide and either commit to these kids or drop the whole thing. She didn’t know which.

Barely noticing the colors of the setting sun, she sailed through the little town of Dixon and parked her truck near the small Sheriff’s Office. It would be dark soon and with the absence of light the evening would get cooler. She forgot to grab a jacket. Then she remembered to pray a quick plea that Lexi was all right. She’d been learning that with intentional practice, praying was becoming somewhat of a habit.

“Lord, please help Lexi and please help me to say the right things to steer her out of trouble and onto the right path. Lead her in the right direction. Thank you.”

She yanked on the heavy door and walked into a beige world that smelled of fruity disinfectant trying to mask an old musty building.

Inside, Sheriff Anderson shook her hand and offered her a seat.

“We’ve been following that kid, John Gibbons—'Raven'—and came across him and Lexi walking in town, looked like they were headed to a bar. Lexi’s underage, you know. When we searched him, we found pot and meth. She was clean. Technically, she wasn’t arrested but I brought her in to give her a scare.”

“Is that legal, Sheriff?”

“In a small town like Dixon, I’m the law. I didn’t lie to her. Said I wanted to bring her to the station for questioning. She voluntarily agreed.”

“What’s gonna happen to Raven?”

“He’s got priors. But he’s not eighteen