Beach Ride (16)

Beach Ride

Drifter

"Oh Kyle," Kate's eyes lit up."He's beautiful, can I ride him ?"

 "Nope, sorry Kate, he has a few problems to iron out yet," Kate's face dropped in disappointment, so I added, "But when I've sorted him out, then you can ride him. I don't want you getting hurt. Why don't you brush him for me ?"

 "I suppose that will have to do for now,"  So Kate got to work on...making Drifter look more handsome. If that was possible ?" I watched ready to jump in in case of...well just in case. He was so well behaved with her, It was hard to see what was wrong with this horse. Drifter nuzzled Kate's hair and whinnied, and she laughed back at him. Hey! I'm was getting a little jealous here !

 Johnny was working longer today to get the horses ready for the beach ride. If I'd of known Kate was coming, she could of helped me and I could of saved some money. I shrugged my shoulders. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Smokie had managed to get a bad cut somehow on his back offside leg. I cleaned the wound and applied an antiseptic cream, just to make sure I bandaged his leg up to stop the flies getting at it. I will clean the wound again tomorrow Joe had been willing to loan me Shadow another of his horses. Good old Joe, must make it up to him later.

 Just before six p.m. the three guys turned up in a four by four for their beach ride.

Horses Left to right:Prince - Shadow -  Flint

  "Hi guys. Okay Paul you'll have to ride Shadow as Smokie has got himself a bad cut some how, Malcolm you take Prince and Barry you have Flint again. We'll be riding part way on the road to the beach and return by a shorter route by way of a dirt track."

 I mounted Lady and the guys mounted their assigned mounts, eagerly chatting away to each other as we made our way down the drive and on to the road. "Single file here. Barry, I want you behind me, next Paul, and Malcolm, you bring up the rear." A few cars passed us wide and slow. I put up my hand to thank them for doing so. Barry was nervous. His eyes, as if on stalks, looking out for more cars. Hmm! they said they had rode horses before. Must of been the sort that go round and round on a carousel I smirked to myself. "You'll do a lot better if you sit up deep in the saddle. Sit up straight. Let the horses work for you." I encouraged them. They responded by stretching and making themselves taller. "That's better."

 Turning towards the next exit on our right, we headed down towards the beach.

 "Now I want you to steer a wide birth away from any swimmers and sunbathers." The horses grew  excited prancing and pawing the ground as we stepped onto the sand. "Just keep a cool head and the horses will pick up on it. Talk to them in a calm voice and pat them when they behave. Okay ?" This was basic logic, but these guys were none too clever. The guys did what I asked of them and after trotting and cantering along the least populated part of the beach, the guys relaxed and started to enjoy themselves.

 Time to take the saddles off the horses and strip down to our swim wear or shorts and T-shirts. I gave a boy named Tom who happened to be on the beach, 2$'s to look after the saddles, discarded clothes and our boots for fifteen minutes, while we took the horses into the river. 

 "Come on in a bit deeper Barry."shouted Malcolm. But, Barry shook his head and would go in no further than the water reaching half way up to Flint's legs, but our horses were now swimming, striking out with strong leg strokes and enjoying the cool water in the heat of the day. I headed back to Barry and exchanged horses so as Flint could take a turn in the water. The horses were snorting and blowing water from their nostrils...."Head back and we'll saddle them back up." I jerked my head towards land. As we got nearer Barry smiled and waved at us. He was happier letting Lady graze. It showed in Barry's face. We went the shorter way back missing out the road. 

 "Hope you've enjoyed yourselves and please recommend me to your friends." I handed out my business cards to them. They got into their car rental, and I watched as they drove off waving back to them.

 Kate was still here and she smiled. Oh what a beautiful smile. We hosed the horses down and Joe came for his two. I loosed the others into the field and watched them graze. They were very relaxed and so was I. I put my arm round Kate's shoulder and she leaned in to me as we headed into the kitchen for supper.

 I could just about manage to cook spaghetti bolognese by now without burning it.

 Later while watching the television,  I playfully put my face into Kate's hair,"You want to stay the night Kate ?" I whispered into her hair. It smelled of shampoo and...Kate.

 Kate blushed and a with a shy smile, whispered back, "Okay."...............Nice one !

Drifter Arrives (15)

Drifter Arrives

My cellphone rang. It was Jolene saying she had Drifter on the horse box and that her E.T.A. was about twenty minutes. Should I phone Kate to let her know ? We had talked about this horse at The Blue Lagoon restaurant and I knew she was nuts about Palomino's. I decided to send a text message instead, so I punched in a message and pressed send, knowing she'd be around when she could take a look.

 A little later, after checking on the horses and letting Johnny know what time I needed them ready for the beach ride, I heard the horse box coming steadily up the drive. Jolene cut the engine, jumped out onto the ground and lit a cigarette. She knew better than to offer me one.

Jolene and kyle

 Her blonde hair was tied back into a pony tail. She was wearing one of those short blouses with a knot tie, revealing her bare midriff, and skin tight jeans. Wow, what a body ! She smiled, one of those sexy smiles. I could almost hear me growling at her. While puffing away on her cigarette, she spoke. "Isn't this the dog day of Summer ?"

 "Sure is." I replied eyeing her up while wiping the sweat from my brow, "And please be careful where you put that stub. You may of noticed that we've had a few grass fires on your way over here, I don't want the place catching fire."

 "Yeah, it sure is bad and worse further up north, lots of wild fires. Say...I could do with a nice cool drink right now. Any iced tea going Kyle ?"

 Ah, she remembered my name. Now does she really want iced tea, or my company ? Both I hope.

Drifter

 Jolene unloaded Drifter. "Shall I put him here Kyle ?"

 "Fine"...We walked round and into the kitchen. I got the iced tea out of the refrigerator and poured us both a glass. I watched her drink, and offered her another glass, then drank mine. We went and sat near the table to cool down and talk a little, just small talk about this and that.

 "How's business doing Kyle ?"...Wow, I like the way she says my name. Almost like purring.

 "Um, yes it's getting there...early days you know. I need another horse for the...how shall I put it...larger customer." I half snorted and chuckled. She grinned back at me. This is going well I thought. "Have you got time for lunch ?. I have chicken and salad in the refrigerator ?"

 "That's mighty kind of you Kyle, I don't have nothing else on today so the rest of the time is mine."

 Did she say...nothing on ? Oh how I wish. I got out the lunch and as we ate, Jolene carried on talking. Women are good at that...multi-tasking ! I wasn't listening to her, I was watching her lips, her delicious lips...moving...moving. Mmmm, bet she tastes ...delicious !...

 "So what do you say Kyle ?"

 "Yeah please." I jerked my fingers through my hair. "Um, sorry Jolene, could you repeat that."

 "Er, you seem a little preoccupied. I said I might be able to help you."

  "I um, sometimes look on the laptop for horses, that's where I got Smokie from. Come on and have a look for me see what you think about one I was looking at this morning." So I led the way into my bedroom. "Sorry I don't have a separate office room as you can see, I do most of my work from here." I switched on the laptop. "I'm looking for a mare. I already have three geldings, but just one mare. I want to even things up a bit."

 Jolene sat on the bed and bounced up and down. "Good springs."

 "Yeah, I know. Perhaps I'll try it out later." I grinned,"But for now come over here." We looked at some web sites and there were one or two possibilities. Just then Johnny tapped on the bedroom window and mouthed the words to me that Kate had just arrived and was looking Drifter over.

Turning to Jolene I asked her to come and say hello to a friend that had just come to look at the Palomino. After all, I didn't want Kate to...get the wrong idea. Jolene went to the bathroom first so I hurried up outside to greet Kate and inform her that Jolene had brought Drifter in the horse box. It was her job....and - come and say hello. That way it looked all official like. I mean-nothing was going on between us. Jolene came to find me and I thought she looked a little put out, but she was civil to Kate. "Is she your girlfriend ?" Jolene whispered to me.

 "Um, shes a friend who - happens to be a girl." I whispered back.

 "You left your cellphone in the house so I brought it out for you, Kyle, in case you need it. I have to go now." Turning to Kate who was patting Drifter she said "It's been nice meeting you Kate." Then turning back to me " I'll keep my eye out for a mare for you, mister McCormack." and she gave me a wink.

 What was all that about ? I checked my phone and noticed that Jolene had put her number in it.