“Now o’clock. Get ready and get on the road,” she said, then she hung up. Isabelle could be so persistent when she wanted something. I headed up to my room and got ready.
When I arrived at her farm, she already had the horses tacked up and waiting by the barn. I could hear Christmas music playing as I knocked on the door, but her mom waved me around to the side of the house.
“We’re out here, dear!” she yelled.
“Hey, Lucky! I brought you something,” I said, as I held out a carrot that I’d brought from home.
“Look at you, trying to butter him up. He’s going to love that,” Isabelle said, holding the reins as he crunched his treat.
“Merry Christmas, Allie, I’m so glad you were able to make it today,” Mrs. Wharton said.“Okay, you girls have fun on your ride. I’ll be making lunch for you to have when you get back,” she said, then we put on our helmets and led the horses to the mounting blocks. Once we were out on the trail, Isabelle immediately started grilling me for gossip.
“Okay, I need news, stat,” she said. “What’s going on with you and James?”
“I don’t know. We kissed two days ago, but I haven’t spoken to him since,” I said calmly, and Isabelle spun around in the saddle.
“What!”
“I stopped him from doing anything else. I just couldn’t do it, Is., I’m not over Chris. He came by this morning, by the way.”
“Excuse me? Hold up, Chris came by your house?” she asked. Her eyes looked like cartoon characters. “What on earth did he want?” She was salivating for my reply.
“I think he wanted me back. He said he was sorry. I can’t honestly remember.”
“Oh. My. God. And what did you say?”
“I told him that he was too late,” and she looked at me with her jaw dropped.
“I am in shock. The Allie that I know would have been back in his arms two weeks ago if he had shown up at your door. I’m so proud of you. It sounds like you are moving on.”
“If I’m being honest, as he walked away, my heart broke all over again. I wanted him to fight for us, and for him to turn around and kiss me, but I knew it was the right thing to do to send him away. He really let me down,” I said, as we continued down the trail.
“Damn right, he did!” she said, then she faced forward in her saddle again.
Just then, a plastic bag blew across the trail and Lucky spooked. He stepped sideways, and I lost my balance as he stood on his hind legs, rearing in fear. When his front feet came back to the ground, he took off at a gallop, bucking wildly. I could hear Isabelle galloping after me, giving me directions on what to do.
“Hang on tight, Allie! Pull the reins! Whoa Lucky! Easy, boy!” she yelled from behind, but nothing was stopping him. He was really scared and completely out of control.
Lucky kept galloping and bucking through the woods, and I knew I couldn’t hang on much longer. With one last buck, I was thrown into the air, and I closed my eyes tight with no idea what would happen next. The last thing I remember was hitting the ground so hard that everything went black, and then I started screaming. The pain that coursed through my body was an out-of-body experience. I could hear Isabelle’s voice, but I was in too much pain to respond.
“Allie! Oh my God! Are you okay? Can you move? I need to get you back to the barn,” she said in a panic.
Isabelle somehow got me up onto her horse and walked me back to the barn as quickly as possible. She called for her mom as we got closer to the gate, and Mrs. Wharton ran out to meet us.
“Mom! Allie fell off Lucky and is injured! She needs help! Lucky is down by the creek!” she screamed.
“Don’t worry about Lucky!” her mom said as she helped me down from the horse. When I slid out of the saddle and my feet hit the ground, I screamed out in pain, and Isabelle and her mom exchanged a very concerned look. Her mom ran inside to grab a phone.
“I’m calling your mom, dear,” she said as she dialed my house number. Nobody answered, so she left a message letting her know what happened and that she would be taking me to the hospital. Once she hung up, she asked who else I wanted her to call.
“Call Chris!” I cried out.
“Allie, are you sure?” Isabelle asked.
“Please!” I begged
“Okay. Call him, Mom,” She directed, so I gave Mrs. Wharton his number and she dialed.
“Hello?” he answered calmly.
