“God will get you through it. If He wants you to win, you will. And that goes for everything in life. If we get a job, if we marry. All of our days are written in His book. So, no need to fret about it, right?” Presley’s words hit me right where I needed to hear them. I thanked her.
We got out of the truck and Presley ran to the stables. The air was frigid; the horses were eager for carrots. I startedpulling out the bag of plump, brightly colored heirloom carrots, and they ran to me, leaving Presley in the background.
“Hey! I may not have carrots, but I have quite a bit of love to give over here,” she proclaimed to the horses, who didn’t look back.
“Here, take these. They will be your best friends in no time,” I said, as I handed her the remainder of the bag. She giggled joyfully, and she doled them out between the group, while I shoveled in a few pitchforks’ worth of hay for each horse.
“Which horse will be with you in the Winter Games?” she asked.
“Buckshot. That one, there on your right.” I pointed to the towering animal.
“What a beautiful group of animals. I’ve always wanted to learn how to ride horses. Maybe I’ll take riding lessons this summer. There’s a ranch not too far from Denver that offers them.”
I wanted so badly to say that I would teach her to ride. That she could take her pick from mine, throw on a saddle, and we could ride right now. But it was frigid cold, way too much snow, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see her again after this week. Yet, right now, all I could think of was ways that we could makethat happen.God, I feel something brewing inside of my heart with this woman.
“Do you want to make a snowman?” Presley asked me, and my eyes squinted together.
“Right now?” I asked in disbelief.
“Oh, come on; it’s notthatcold. Plus, we still have one carrot, so he already has his nose!” I watched in awe as Presley immediately got to work on the snowman next to the horse stable, while I had no other options but to join her.
In seconds, I was laughing harder than I had in years, possibly ever, as I watched Presley try to roll a large snowball for the body of the snowman. The snow was past her knees, and she had to lift her legs up as high as they could go just to wade through it. I joined in her effort and together, we had the first piece done in just a few minutes.
“Boy, that was quite a workout. I don’t know if I have it in me to create two more giant snowballs for this guy. He might just be really short.”
“You’re really short, you know that?” I asked her, as I peered over at her. I was bent down, trying to secure the base forhersnowman project when I felt a cold rush of wet hit the side of my face. She hit me with a snowball.
“Ha! How’s shorty now? Pretty strong, eh?” If I hadn’t been so stunned, I may not have retaliated with a snowball of my own. Soon, we were in a full-blown war. The last snowball was thrown by Presley, and it partially went into my mouth. I crunched the snow and smiled.
“Mmm. Yellow snow,” I joked, as this was the fresh powder that had just fallen, and my horses hadn’t yet peed anywhere near it.
“Sick!” she called out, laughing hysterically. “You’re silly when you want to be,” she said. I took that as a compliment.
“Okay, come finish this sad little snowman before our dinner arrives,” I said. Together, we quickly packed together one larger mass of snow for his head. Presley poked two holes for his eyes and stabbed it with the carrot for his nose.
“It ain’t perfect, but it will do,” she said. Buckshot, knowing the sound of the crinkling bag that held his carrots, poked his head out the barn doors. He spotted the carrot and quickly came over to pluck it out with his teeth.
“And there it is,” I said laughing. “It was nice knowing you, snowman. Well, we better get back for those pizzas. Unless you think Priscillacan sign for them?” Presley laughed at my joke.
“Yeah, I’m starving. That half cupcake for lunch did not go as far as I needed it to.” She threw her hands up in the air to show the horses she was out of carrots.
“Better show them your pockets are empty, too, or else they will be coming for them. They know all of my tricks,” I said. Presley immediately pulled out her coat pockets, showing her hands like a blackjack dealer.
“Okay, I think we’re good here. We’re all friends now. I had a talk with Buckshot, and he’s going to be the best he can be on Saturday,” she beamed.
“Is that so?” I asked.
“He seems like a very sweet soul.” I wondered just how she picked up on the truth like that so quickly. They were all sweethearts, but Buckshot was in fact, my best-mannered horse out of all of them.
As Presley walked back to my truck, I put away my pitchfork and dimmed the lights for the horses, closing the barn door. Every bone in my body wanted to make sure I opened the door for her, but by the time I made it over, she was already inside. I took a beat to see the outline of a beautiful woman riding in the passenger seat of my truck, and I knew that I wasready for love—and I prayed this was the woman whom God was sending for me.
Back at the chalet, we made it just in time for the delivery to arrive. A delivery car pulled up right as we were walking inside.
“Ford?” the man called out.
“Guilty,” I said, as he shuffled his pizza boxes to shake my hand. “Been a long time, Ben. How’s that beautiful family of yours?” I asked. He nodded and smiled.
“They are fantastic. You know, my little man John wants to get into skijoring, just like you. Every time he sees you on the television, he’s just enamored with how cool it is. When I saw your order come through, I knew I had to deliver it just so I could tell you that.” A feeling caught on in my heart, followed by the realization that I would love to teach youth the sport. Was this something that was in my future?
