Five days. It had been nearly a week since her date with Jason and she hadn't heard from or seen him since then. He hadn't even come to the farm for their usual lunch times. It was five days that Kira stressed about. Did she do something? Did she say something? Did he realize that he'd made a mistake and now wanted nothing to do with her? She was at wits end with this whole thing. She couldn't count how many times she had picked up her phone and started to call him, then hung up. She didn't want to seem desperate, after all.
"Come on, Kir. Why don't you just call him?" Kevin asked Kira as he walked into the barn office and leaned on the doorjamb, watching her. "You will feel better and so will everyone else." He winked at her, pushed off the door frame and walked over to Kira. He wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug, sighing. "If he doesn't call soon I could always go and have a talk with him." He chuckled and kissed the top of his sister's head before ducking away, out of reach of her playful punch.
"No, I can't call him, Kev. He needs to call me on his own. So don't you go over there and talk to him. Okay?"
"Alright, fine. I won't go and talk to him, sis, but you should. Call him." Kevin winked at her and then left the office to get back to work.
Kira leaned back against her desk and crossed her feet at the ankles. Amanda had gone to visit a girlfriend of hers from high school. Kevin was busy working. Nodding, she pushed off the desk and left the office as well, heading to the Stallion Barn. With a smile upon her face, she led the horse out of his stall and began to groom him.
"Easy Aly. What do you think, huh boy? Should I call him?" The only response she got was the bay throwing his head up and a whicker. Kira laughed softly at his antics and rubbed his forehead. "You're so silly, Aly. Come on. It's been forever since we've gone on a trail ride." Kira threw herself into the job at hand. She finished grooming and then tacked him up and led Aly Is Game outside and mounted up. Taking one of the many trails that ran through the property, Kira let all her troubles float away and just enjoyed riding.
An hour later, on the other side of the property, Kira pulled the stallion up and listened. Aly snorted and jigged sideways, but Kira kept him under control. "What is it, boy?" She wasn't sure, but she could have sworn she heard a ... moo. Sure, some of her neighbors had cows, but she had never seen any of them. She shrugged and nudged Aly onward.
Aly walked on, but soon stopped and tossed his head, half rearing. Kira gasped, but held on and got the stallion back under control. Once that was done she looked up and noticed what it was that had gotten to the horse. There was what looked like a small herd of bulky deer with large udders and she shook her head. Jersey cows. In the woods. Her woods. Frowning and moving slowly so as not to spook the cows, she followed their path back to a broken gate. "Well, would you look at that, Aly. Looks like we have some visitors. How about we get them back home, eh?"
She knew who the cows belonged to, so she knew she had to call him up. Taking her cellphone out of her pocket, she dialed his number and waited for him to answer. On the fourth ring the call picked up and the farmer answered. Kira explained the situation to the guy and he thanked her, saying that he would be over to get them back. She hung up and patted the stallion on the neck.
"Bet you never thought you'd be a cow pony, did you Aly? Come on, let's get these girls down to the paddocks." Kira moved behind the cows, she and Aly herded them out of the woods and down to her farm where the farmer had arrived with his trailer. The guy thanked her very much for finding them and calling him. Kira told him it was nothing, but he wouldn't accept that. He wanted to pay her.
"I'm not taking anything from you, Mr. Sanderson. I was out riding and I saw them there. Let's just say thanks and leave it at that, eh?" Kira patted Aly's neck and smiled as the guy went on and on. She put him in his truck and told him to go with a laugh on her lips. Finally Mr. Sanderson agreed to go and Kira watched him drive off, waving at him. "Come on, Aly. Time for you to take your nap." She chuckled softly as she took the stallion off to the barn.
Amanda returned home later that night. Kira was watching a bit of TV, a rare thing for her. Amanda walked in and stood with her hand on her hip.
"Kir? I think this belongs to you. I checked the mail on my way in. This was in our box." Amanda handed Kira the mail with a big fat envelope on the top. It was not a mailed envelope either.
"Thanks, Amanda. Hey, did you eat?"
"Yeah, Annette and I went to eat at the diner. I think I'm just going to go up to my room. Night, sis."
"Night, Amanda."
Kira waited until her sister was gone before she looked down at the envelope and took a breath. She opened it and groaned aloud. Taking out the note she read it to herself.
Miss Ravenwood,
I couldn't, in good conscience, leave without paying you something for keeping my cows out of harms way. I know you said you didn't need anything, but I felt bad about that. Here is ten thousand dollars. I appreciate your help. If you ever need me for anything, know that you have a friend in me. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Garrett Sanderson
Kira rolled her eyes and then massaged her temple. Ten thousand dollars? Did people have so much cash on them? Obviously Garrett Sanderson did. It wouldn't be right to give the money back, he might think she was being rude. Resigned to the fact that she was keeping the money, she decided to put it away and not use it.
Turning off the TV, Kira headed upstairs to her room and shut the door. Once there, she found the lockbox and opened it, putting the envelope inside of it then she shut and locked it again. She put it away and walked over to her window, staring outside at the horses in the fields. As she was about to turn away, her phone vibrated and she took it out of her pocket and looked at it. It was rather late, but when she saw the caller, she didn't care.
"Hello."
"Hello, Kira. I'm sorry I haven't uh, called."
"Oh. It's alright, Jason. Really."
"Yes, well, I still feel bad. I had to go out of town and only just got back. I wanted to call you first thing."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I had a great time Saturday and I'd uh, like to take you out again sometime."
"I had a lovely time, too, Jason. When uh, were you thinking?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe this weekend we could take a trail ride and have a picnic. Uh, unless you don't like that idea."
"No, no. It's fine. I think that's a great idea. We can meet here on Sunday. Eleven o'clock?"
"Eleven's fine with me. So, what have you been up to?"
"You would not believe the day I had today." Kira blushed, but she went on to tell him about the day finding the cows and the money that Mr. Sanderson put in her mailbox. Before she realized it, it was nearly two a.m. That didn't bother her, though, and it didn't bother Jason either because they continued talking until the first rays of dawn. They both laughed and finally said their goodbyes, knowing they each had work to do. Kira sat there and watched the sunrise, thinking of Jason.
