trouble over it.
That Saturday, when I woke up, I found a text on my phone.
“Meet me at the stables at 11. Jack.”
I looked at the clock on the top of the phone. It was 9:45, so I had a little over an hour to get ready. Plenty of time. How on earth did Jack get my phone number? I wondered. God, the guy had secrets.
Showering, wondering why Jack wanted to see me at the stables, I got ready pretty quickly and went downstairs to get a quick bite to eat for breakfast, then headed out.
I wasn’t sure what to wear, since I didn’t know what Jack wanted, so I settled on some sneakers, jeans and a warm sweater. After all, it was still late January, although it was also apparently one of the mildest Januaries on record, a balmy forty degrees that morning.
The ground of the Alcott estate were so large I’d never actually seen the stables. I wanted to learn to horseback ride, of course, but so far I’d been so busy with school and getting used to life in England that I hadn’t found the time.
It was a ten minute walk before I even saw the stables in the distance, and I started to realize just how rich the Alcott family must be.
When I finally got there, I saw Jack waiting for me, leaning on the outside of the barn, playing with his phone. He looked up and saw me.
“Hey Julianne,” he told me, and gave me a small smile.
“Hey,” I replied. “Why’d you ask me over here?”
“You wanted to learn how to ride horses, right?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Well, today you’re going to learn.” There was that grin again. God he was good looking. I could feel my naughty parts reacting just at the look of him, and it seemed there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Opening the barn door, I was greeted by the stench of horses and their neighing. Like a pro who had done this a million times, Jack went over to one of the stables, opened it up, and brought out two horses which he held by the saddles. One was a big brown horse with a diamond shaped white spot on his forehead, the other was smaller, pure white, except for some little black spots that went up and down her legs, giving her the most adorable look ever.
“This is Perdita,” he told me, motioning to the smaller horse. I smiled at the reference to 101 Dalmatians. It suited her.
She stomped her feet and nuzzled with me with her nose as Jack handed me her reins. I’m not going to lie, I had virtually no experience with horses, and had no idea what to do. I pat her softly, whispering to her that I was going to be her friend.
“Do you know how to get on?” Jack asked, and I had to shake my head, embarrassed.
I saw that familiar smirk pop up on his face, but it quickly vanished, as if he forced himself not to make some sort of snide comment.
“It’s pretty easy. You go over to her left hand side, put your left foot in the stirrup, grab the top of the saddle, then use your leg muscles and your arms to pull yourself up so you can get over to the other side.”
Then with a quick motion he demonstrated on his big brown horse. He made it look so easy, so effortless.
“OK, I think I can do that,” I muttered, and the focused. I went over to Perdita’s side, put my left foot in the stirrup, counted to three, then tried to jump up as high as I could, grabbing the saddle and throwing my right foot over the other side of the horse.
I sort of got there. I managed to get my body on top of the saddle, but instead of being parallel with Perdita’s body I was lying across the saddle, one foot in the stirrup, the other leg in the air in a failed attempt to get it over and into the other stirrup.
Unfortunately, this precarious position wasn’t the most balanced, and as soon as I tried to move I felt like I was going to fall off completely. I knew falling off a horse was normal, but I didn’t want to do it when I was still just trying to get on the horse.
“A little help please?” I squealed, and I heard Jack laughing as he saw the position I got myself in. Moving
That Saturday, when I woke up, I found a text on my phone.
“Meet me at the stables at 11. Jack.”
I looked at the clock on the top of the phone. It was 9:45, so I had a little over an hour to get ready. Plenty of time. How on earth did Jack get my phone number? I wondered. God, the guy had secrets.
Showering, wondering why Jack wanted to see me at the stables, I got ready pretty quickly and went downstairs to get a quick bite to eat for breakfast, then headed out.
I wasn’t sure what to wear, since I didn’t know what Jack wanted, so I settled on some sneakers, jeans and a warm sweater. After all, it was still late January, although it was also apparently one of the mildest Januaries on record, a balmy forty degrees that morning.
The ground of the Alcott estate were so large I’d never actually seen the stables. I wanted to learn to horseback ride, of course, but so far I’d been so busy with school and getting used to life in England that I hadn’t found the time.
It was a ten minute walk before I even saw the stables in the distance, and I started to realize just how rich the Alcott family must be.
When I finally got there, I saw Jack waiting for me, leaning on the outside of the barn, playing with his phone. He looked up and saw me.
“Hey Julianne,” he told me, and gave me a small smile.
“Hey,” I replied. “Why’d you ask me over here?”
“You wanted to learn how to ride horses, right?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Well, today you’re going to learn.” There was that grin again. God he was good looking. I could feel my naughty parts reacting just at the look of him, and it seemed there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Opening the barn door, I was greeted by the stench of horses and their neighing. Like a pro who had done this a million times, Jack went over to one of the stables, opened it up, and brought out two horses which he held by the saddles. One was a big brown horse with a diamond shaped white spot on his forehead, the other was smaller, pure white, except for some little black spots that went up and down her legs, giving her the most adorable look ever.
“This is Perdita,” he told me, motioning to the smaller horse. I smiled at the reference to 101 Dalmatians. It suited her.
She stomped her feet and nuzzled with me with her nose as Jack handed me her reins. I’m not going to lie, I had virtually no experience with horses, and had no idea what to do. I pat her softly, whispering to her that I was going to be her friend.
“Do you know how to get on?” Jack asked, and I had to shake my head, embarrassed.
I saw that familiar smirk pop up on his face, but it quickly vanished, as if he forced himself not to make some sort of snide comment.
“It’s pretty easy. You go over to her left hand side, put your left foot in the stirrup, grab the top of the saddle, then use your leg muscles and your arms to pull yourself up so you can get over to the other side.”
Then with a quick motion he demonstrated on his big brown horse. He made it look so easy, so effortless.
“OK, I think I can do that,” I muttered, and the focused. I went over to Perdita’s side, put my left foot in the stirrup, counted to three, then tried to jump up as high as I could, grabbing the saddle and throwing my right foot over the other side of the horse.
I sort of got there. I managed to get my body on top of the saddle, but instead of being parallel with Perdita’s body I was lying across the saddle, one foot in the stirrup, the other leg in the air in a failed attempt to get it over and into the other stirrup.
Unfortunately, this precarious position wasn’t the most balanced, and as soon as I tried to move I felt like I was going to fall off completely. I knew falling off a horse was normal, but I didn’t want to do it when I was still just trying to get on the horse.
“A little help please?” I squealed, and I heard Jack laughing as he saw the position I got myself in. Moving
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