Page 7 of Saved By A Small Town Country Boy
Staring at Khali, I wanted to know what her mama was like. What she looked like. I’d become invested in this girl’s life and didn’t know her from a can of paint.
“It’s okay. Daddy says that she watches over me every day.” Khali pulled me back from my thoughts.
“I’m sure she does.” My lips twitched into a smile before I could stop them. I piled my plate with food and stuffed my mouth to keep from allowing anything else harmful to escape from it.
Reese got up from the table and placed her mug in the sink. “I’m about to go and see if Khalif has time to take us home or if I need to call a taxi or something.”
“Taxi?” I choked on my eggs and grabbed the orange juice pitcher and poured myself a glass. “You mean to tell me that y’alldon’t have Uber, Lyft, or Uber Black?” I know Uber Black was a bit of a stretch, but damn.
“No. We have taxi cabs here.”
“Why does it feel like I’ve stepped into the nineties or something around here?” Back home, we’d come up to have self-driving Uber cars, and now she’s telling me that they have taxis. This couldn’t be real.
Reese chuckled. “The longer you stay here, the more you’ll adjust to it. I promise it’s calming and a breath of fresh air from the city. I’ll be right back.” She stepped out the door, leaving me and Khali alone. That’s when I realized that I probably should’ve gotten up and gone out there behind her.
Khali lifted from the table and put her cup and plate in the sink. “You want to see something cool?” she asked when she turned around.
“Sure, why not?”
“C’mon.” Running over to where I sat, she took me by the hand and tugged. Knowing that she didn’t have the strength to pull me up from my seat, I got up and followed behind her down the hallway, in the direction of the bedroom where I’d stayed the night. Instead of entering that room, she took me into another that was right before that one. When I stepped inside, my inner child screamed. The bedroom is beautiful. From all the horses that were sitting around the room, to the canopy bed and the mural on the wall. It’s something that I would’ve wanted when I was a child. Had I asked Mama to paint my bedroom like this, she would’ve cursed me from A to Z. That woman didn’t play around when it came to the walls in her house. All of them were white, and she’d force me to spend hours cleaning them.
Khali released my hand and went over to the desk by the window in her room. I stopped behind her and could see Khalif down there, carrying a basket of eggs. No wonder the food tastedso fresh. This man is harvesting all of his food from his own farm.
When I was growing up, I loved animals so much that I wanted to have a farm one day. I’d envisioned what my farmhouse would look like, all the animals that I wanted, and even what my husband was going to look and be like. Obviously, none of that ever happened. I lived in the city, and there weren’t many farmers around those parts.
Khalif walked around shirtless. Tattoos covered his glistening frame. My fingertips glided over my chest, and a breath escaped my lips as I eyed him from the window. He removed his hat from his head, displaying his jet-black spiral waves. The back of his hand swiped his forehead. My pussy twitched. I damn sure didn’t mind?—
“Look!” Khali interrupted my thoughts. Had she not, I would’ve been mind fucking the shit out of Khalif right now.
I looked down at her, and she held up a piece of paper with a perfect drawing of a horse on it. “That’s beautiful.”
A grin burst free, uncontainable. “That’s my horse, Beauty. Wanna meet her?”
“You have your own horse?”
“Yes, ma’am. She’s big and black, and Daddy got her for me after Mama went to heaven. C’mon, I’ll show her to you.”
Khali took me by the hand again and rushed out of the bedroom. I loved how excited she was to show me things.
“Khalif said he’ll drop us off in a second,” Reese said as Khali ran past her with me right on her heels.
“Okay,” I tossed over my shoulder, stumbling over my own feet, trying my best to keep up. Leaving wasn’t even on my mind anymore. I’d fumbled upon pure heaven and just had to go in there and see that horse.
Khalif looked back over at me as we dashed toward the stable. I could hear the horses before we even entered. Myheart fluttered. It’s full, knowing that I was about to be around animals. That’s part of the reason why I became a veterinarian in the first place—animals were naturally my safe space.
Soon as my feet touched the dirt and hay, Khali released my hand and walked up to a stable. I eyed the other three horses in there. One of them was all white with blue eyes. My body immediately gravitated toward it. This is one of the most beautiful horses I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve seen quite a few.
“Daddy!” Khali screamed, coursing goosebumps over my frame. I whipped around and saw the stall she went to, wide open. I tiptoed over to see what the matter was. Lying on the floor is this black horse that looks exactly like the drawing she’d shown me earlier. The horse’s body jerked.
“She’s seizing!” I rushed to my knees at the horse’s aid. “Go get your daddy,” I told Khali over my shoulder. She ran full speed out of there. “It’s okay, baby.” I stroked Beauty’s mane. “I’m Remedi, and I’m going to help you as best as I can.”
“What’s going on?” I heard Khalif’s voice from behind me.
“She’s having a seizure. Is this normal for her?” I lifted her mouth and checked her teeth and gums.
“No. Beauty is a pretty healthy horse,” he replied.
“Is she going to die?” Khali yelled. I looked back at her, and tears pooled in her eyes, threatening to spill.
