Page 42 of Ice, Ice… Maybe?

Things finally beganto settle down between all of them as they talked about hockey tickets, suggested going horseback riding afterdinner and seeing the property. It was obvious the family was proud, wanting to show off what generations of Bairds had built here. It was nice to see where Becca came from and her deep love of this part of the state.

No wonder she’d hung out the window of the car,Travis thought with a smile as he looked at her over his plate sitting at the dinner table later. Becca and her siblings were deep in conversation, laughing and cutting up. She was raised here, knew this part of the world like the back of her hand, and he could see the appeal. It was small and quiet, and you could hear the sounds of crickets chirping, cicadas, and cows calling occasionally interrupted by the sound of a small plane in the distance.

It was peaceful – and her home.

An hour later, Travis was getting an impromptu lesson on how to ride, which made him nervous as could be. The horse was looking at him like he was insane – and frankly, he couldn’t disagree. He still had stitches in his lip and the doctor was making him wait a few more days before removing them. Why on earth would he put himself in a position where he could get thrown and snap his neck?

“Why don’t all of you mount up,” Becca interrupted, laying a hand on his upper arm almost possessively. “Travis can ride with me, and I’ll take Bluebell since she’s the calmest.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Toni volunteered, nodding. “I’ve got Diablo.”

“That’s a great idea,” Travis chuckled nervously, making several of her siblings laugh in awareness. “I don’t think I need to be near anything named Diablo. Bluebell is more my style – for sure!”

“I’ll take Tracker,” Matthew called out – disappearing quickly into the barn as Toni jogged after him, smiling.

“Do you mind if I take Nacho out?” Luke asked, smiling widely and looking excited. Jason’s concerned look made him curious about what prompted such concern.

“Go ahead,” Jason agreed. “But, with one condition.”

“Sure.”

“Take it slow. If you get nervous – dismount immediately. That stallion is meaner than a firecracker.”

“Will do,” Luke agreed easily. “Are you taking Petunia?”

“Sure.”

“Maybe we should take Petunia,” Travis suggested quickly. “Bluebell was the horse earlier when you took off with Toni, right? That’s a big horse. Petunia sounds like she’d be much tamer.”

… Only to hear Jason laugh.

“Petunia will only let me ride her – and the name is misleading. Don’t get close at all when we are riding. She’s a mean little thing. Saddle up, Becca, and let’s head out while there is still daylight.”

Becca took his hand, leading him toward the barn where they were each putting saddles on their horses. Luke, the youngest, was in a stall with a huge brown horse that was rolling its eyes and bucking slightly.

“That’s Nacho?” Travis gaped, stunned. “How do you come up with the names?”

“Sometimes they are jokes and other times, it’s because we simply don’t know what to call them. ‘Nacho’ came about because Jason caught Luke trying to put a saddle on his back – and yanked him out of the stall so fast, saying, ‘Today’s not your day to die,’ and it sounded like ‘Nacho’ because he had a wad of dip in his mouth at the time,” Becca explained as they walked toward another stall.

“And Bluebell?”

“For the ice cream company. Daddy had made ice cream sundaes that afternoon to celebrate the new horse – oh, and she’s a sweetie.”

“And Petunia? Which one is Petunia?”

At that moment, they heard a clatter in the distance, much further in the barn, quickly followed by Jason’s exclamation of “Whoaaa!” A horse whinnied, stomped, and there was another loud noise.

“What is that?”

“Petunia,” Becca muttered grimly. “We’ve always had to keep that horse away from the others because she’s half wild. Only Jason can get close enough to feed her or ride her. She snaps or bucks at the rest of us. Matthew? That horse still hasn’t calmed down yet?”

“Nope. Wilder than ever…”

“I say we sell the beast,” Luke muttered. “Petunia bit me on the shoulder three months ago while I was just walking past the stall. I still believe she’d make a superior type of glue – stubborn and won’t let go.”

“Luke!” Toni hissed in disbelief. “Don’t say stuff like that…”

“Well? It left a huge bruise, and I nearly…”

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