I hated not seeing him. My heart was sad over it, but my head knew it was the right choice. This week with Oakley I was working on long trotting. Encouraging her to stretch her muscles, tendons, and ligaments. For the first few days this week, we trotted in straight lines and gentle curves getting her used to bending around my leg again.
Typically, you would take several weeks to work long trotting up to the point where you could move on, but that’s for a horse that’s not been ridden. Oakley had been ridden every day since she last raced according to Reagan.
I’d just brought Oakley back to the barn when I ran into Reagan.
“Hey, girl. Gotta do a grocery run. You wanna ride along?”
I took Oakley’s halter off and stepped out of her stall. “Not really, Rea.”
She walked over and bumped my shoulder. “Come on, Cassidy Mae. You’ve been moping around for the last couple of days. You need to get out of the house and do something other than sit in your room and feel bad for yourself. Or at least tell me what the hell is going on with you. I’m worried.”
“Okay…” I whispered. I wasn’t about to confess my problems and if it was between that and going to town, I’d choose town.
The drive to the grocery store was done in silence. I didn’t want to talk and clearly Reagan wasn’t going to make me. It was the first time I’d been to town since I came home and I was a mix of anxious and excited to see what had become of it. As we drove past little shops and people along the street, I took in the small town I’d grown up in.
Storefronts looked the same only a little more worn—paint was chipping at the corners of the windows in some shops. Other shops had new front signs, name changes, or were completely different altogether.
The weird spaceship that moved around the town every year was now sitting right off the main street in the park entrance. We all knew it didn’t move by itself but that’s what we’d told the kiddos every year. It was big town gossip that aliens had once landed in town and we’d stolen their spaceship. And every year they came back to move it on us in the middle of the night to remember they were here first. The kids loved the story even though it was clearly a lie. A small smile crossed my lips at the memories.
The Fourth of July, was coming up soon and everywhere you looked seemed like patriotism had vomited red, white, and blue all over the place. An American flag flew proudly outside every shop along the way. Ribbons hung with glee on every light pole and stop sign. People waved at us as we drove past. I saw a lot of the same faces I knew growing up and I cringed that they were now seeing that I’d come home. Everyone would’ve known sooner or later. You can’t keep things quiet too long in a small town where everyone talks. I wondered what the story had been. Why I’d come home after being away for so long. What rumor was it this week?
Once we got to the grocery store, I jumped out of the truck. Grabbing a buggy, we started making our way to the produce section.
Taking stock of where everything was, I turned to Reagan. “What do you need, Reagan? What’s on the list?”
“Grab whatever you want. We need some leafy greens—lettuce, broccoli, you get the idea. Guys always want meat and potatoes, so we’ll grab those too.” I grabbed some lettuce, cauliflower, and carrots before heading towards the meat counter. I was on a mission and nothing would distract me from it.
“Cassidy Mae.” Reagan faintly said my name, but I didn’t hear her the first time. She finally caught up to me and stepped in front of the buggy, halting it from further progress. “Hey, you wanna tell me what’s going on with you? Did something happen between you and Beau?”
I huffed out a breath. “No, I mean… yes… I don’t know. I’m so confused.”
“He didn’t try anything, right? You can tell me if he did. I’ll kick the living tarnation out of him myself.”
“No… nothing like that. Beau’s been… amazing… since I got here. It’s just that I’ve got a lot of stuff going on right now, Rea. Stuff I can’t… can’t… talk about yet.” I said, shaking my head as a tear slid down my cheek.
“Hey, shhh. I’m here. Don’t cry, Cass.”
I nodded and wiped away the tears that had escaped. “What else do we need?”
“Hmm…” She says looking over her list. “Let’s go to the deli, need some sandwich fixins’.”
Looking around, I noticed many familiar faces all too happy to offer me a kind smile or a friendly wave. Something that never happened when you lived in a big city. It was nice being home. Where you drove down the road and people waved. Didn’t matter who you were or where you were from. They were just nice, downhome folks. Content to run their little piece of land and live off of it.
