Page 11 of Silver Treasure
There I walked as fast as my shorter legs could carry me. I smiled when I saw that we had passed by the horse that he had indeed purchased and led me straight to my horse.
Straight to Stormy.
“Hey, girl. Guess what? You are mine.” I stood there as I watched Stormy bob her head up and down as she whinnied. She knew.
I still didn’t know how to tell him thank you.
I took the halter that was around Stormy’s head and removed it.
I then began to walk out of the single stall that she had been held in and smiled when I heard Stormy following behind me.
We paused when Travis attached a lead rope to the other horse and then we continued on.
I paused for a moment when I heard him say, “Come on Titan, let’s go home.”
That man was breaking down all of my walls without even trying that hard.
All around me I saw people watching as I led the so-called wild and dangerous mustang from the building.
However, I loved Travis’s smile when he noticed that fact as well. Then in went Stormy into the horse trailer without a single fuss. There was my girl that I missed.
That was after I had pulled a new halter for Stormy out of my bag and attached a lead rope. When I handed it to Travis, I cooed to Stormy so that she would know that she could trust him.
The moment we had Stormy, and the other horse loaded in his trailer, I said, “Travis, I… I really don’t know how to say thank you. What you just did for me…” I was shocked, still, right down to my core.
“Can you cook?” With that, he had blindsided me like a big one-eighty. I had wanted to tell him thank you, not for him to ask me that.
“I can. I mean, I’m not a chef like on television, but I like my cooking. I haven’t starved yet.” I let out a little chuckle.
Then, there was that little smile that formed on Travis’ lips. “Think you can come to my ranch three nights a week and make dinners or lunches that can be stowed in the freezer for me? I can’t cook and I haven’t found a cook that didn’t have some ulterior motive.”
I understood about all of that too. I did have eyes. “You’ve got a deal, but Travis, dinners don’t cotton to around thirty grand.” I paused as I pulled out my measly nine grand and attempted to hand it to Travis.
However, he just shook his head and smiled.
I was about to argue with him and then I thought better of it.
My own mother had taught me to never look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Okay, well thank you. Any allergies I should know about?” Even though I had decided I wasn’t going to push the matter anymore, I doubted if he would notice a twenty here and a hundred-dollar bill there at his home, when I would be there to make dinners.
With a little plan in place, I settled into my seat and allowed the tunes that were coming through the radio speakers to drown out the silence.
Every now and then I had asked him what his favorite meal was, his favorite dessert and so on, and so on. Those questions I had asked him had led to an entire conversation on our favorite foods. Itseemed that he was curious about me as well. We had also stopped by the little general store in town to grab noodles and the right cheeses for a lasagna.
Since it had only been a little past noon, I would have plenty of time to make the lasagna sauce from scratch and maybe leave a twenty-dollar bill lying around somewhere.
However, that little stop where we didn’t veer far from each other, and unknown to us, had started the rumor mill.
Chapter 5
Travis
“Hey, girl. Guess what? You are mine.” And if I hadn't known how some horses could react, I would have questioned the entire event that had taken place in that pen at the auction.
As I drove us home from the auction and general store, I recalled the moment I saw that the horse had known what Corrine had meant. Right down to the smallest of detail.
I couldn’t remember when the last time was that I had enjoyed a morning away from the ranch.
