Scarecrow on Horseback by C. S. Adler Page B

my
own horse?”
    “Makes sense. I mean you wanting a horse. I
hope you get one soon.”
    “I'm working on buying Colby. Want to feed
the calf?” She offered Tanya the bottle she'd been carrying.
    “Not especially. I don't like how it
slobbers. How about we try out the swimming pool?”
    “Okay,” Mel agreed. She wasn't much of a
swimmer and hadn't used the ranch's pool once, but being sought out
by a girl like Tanya was flattering. Tanya reminded her of Lisa.
Maybe a little spoiled, but talented—a star. Lisa had reached out
to her, then Denise, and now Tanya. If this kept up, Mel would have
to give up thinking of herself as a social misfit.
    She fed the calf and then ran to her cabin to
dig out her old swimsuit. There it was, scrunched in the back of
her bottom dresser drawer. Luckily, it still fit although it was a
couple of years old. It was mostly her legs that had stretched out.
Looking around for something besides boots to protect her feet from
the rock strewn ground, she realized that all her belongings would
fit in one suitcase. Tanya probably owned a roomful of stuff and
here she was envying Mel. The idea made Mel grin.
     

 
    Chapter
Nine
     
    At the end of the week Tanya left, promising
to write. Soon after, Mel faced another challenge. Two families
were scheduled for her three o'clock trail ride through the
quivery-leafed Aspens and the low-growing chokeberry bushes to
Beaver Lake. Sally was gone on an all-day ride, and Jeb was taking
a big group of supposedly expert riders up a steep trail to a
mountain lake. One of the other wranglers, a college boy who'd
worked on the ranch in past summers, said to her, “Looks like some
weather coming up.”
    She saw the purplish, bruised-looking sky
behind the mountains and decided the rain was likely to fall back
there, on the far side of the range. Rather than disappoint her
group for nothing, she took a chance and led them off toward the
lake on schedule. They were in luck. A boy spotted a beaver, and
Mel called a halt so everyone could watch the animal climb the pile
of sticks above the water that marked the roof of its underwater
lodge. It embarrassed her that she couldn't answer the boy's eager
questions about how many beavers were likely to live in the lodge
and what they ate and whether they had any babies down there
now.
    “We can look it up on the Internet when we
get back,” the boy's father said.
    Mel's relief at being rescued from her
ignorance lasted only until she heard the first roll of thunder.
Jeb had told her what she must do if she was ever caught in a
thunderstorm with guests—get them out of the open and under the
thick canopy of tree branches. There they were to put on the yellow
rain slickers rolled up behind their saddles.
     
    “We're going to have to wait out the storm,”
she said. But before she could tell her group where to take cover,
a sudden loud crack of thunder frightened Colby. He whinnied and
reared. Mel, who was turned backward toward the guests, lost her
seat and fell. She hit her shoulder hard against the ground as
Colby took off at a gallop.
    “You okay?” the genial, ex-marine father of
the boy who'd been intrigued by the beaver asked as he helped her
to her feet.
    She touched her shoulder. It hurt, but she
could move her arm all right. “I think I'm okay,” she said. But
Colby was out of sight and rain began pouring down as if someone
had turned the faucets on full blast.
    At her direction, the ex-marine got everyone
under the trees and into their rain slickers. Mel struggled to get
her cell phone out of her fanny pack and call the ranch for help,
trying all the while not to wince at the pain in her shoulder.
    Half an hour later Mr. Davis came riding to
the rescue. The group seemed to take the experience as an
adventure, and were good natured about being caught in a storm. In
short order, everyone was safely back at the ranch, including
Colby, who jogged up to the corral without anyone needing to go
after him.