Kiddo

Feeling Beth's fingers run through his hair, Justin is a little surprised, but it did feel good. It was relaxing and right now, that's what he needed. She had a warm, light touch that was soothing, and Justin's eyes start to droop just a little. His hand creeps up to hers that was lying on his chest, until his fingers run over hers lightly.

Too quickly though, a thought flashes through his mind that "friends" didn't usually sit in this position. Wondering if maybe even though Beth didn't seem to mind, if he'd perhaps overstepped some bounds, he retracts his hand again.

"Keep running your fingers through my hair," he mumbles drowsily, "and I might fall asleep right here. Then you'd never be able to leave."


Dylan tolerates Angel's doctoring, though he never cracks a smile. It hurt, he was embarrassed, and he knew that Mick was gonna find out and that was the worst part of all this.

Sparky pats his shoulder. "Well, I always say you're not really a rider until you've taken at least one spill."

Dylan rolls his eyes as he eases off the table. "That's stupid."

Sparky chuckles. "No it's not. If a cowboy saunters up to me and says he's a real rider, and he's never fallen off a horse, I know he hasn't ridden very much. Every rider falls eventually, and usually more than once... if they've actually spent time in the saddle."

"So I'm supposed to be happy about this?"

"Think of it this way... the first time is always the worst. And you did learn something, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Dylan grumbles. "I didn't mean to kick him like that. My foot was-"

"No matter the reason, it was mixed signals. Sharpshooter hopped, you lost your balance, gave him more mixed signals and away you went. He's an easy-going horse until he gets confused about what he's supposed to be doing."

"Great." Dylan sighs, then winces, as his ribs protest. He looks to Angel, still not happy but grateful for her help. "Thanks. I'm already too sore to even think about a saddle so you don't have to worry about that."

"Come on," Sparky offers to help Dylan out of the office. "Let's get you settled in your bunk and get your foot propped up and on ice for a while."

"Yeah, yeah."

Sparky turns once and tosses Angel a wink of thanks before the two men head back outside.


Once Sharpshooter starts to calm down and Eric is satisfied that the horse isn't going to pull any stunts, he slows him down little by little until Sharpshooter is just walking, his head hanging. After his breathing is back to normal, Eric brings him in to stand. He pats his sweaty neck and Sharpshooter responds by trying to rub his head on Eric, but Eric pushes his head away. "Naw, naw... you know better than that." He smirks. "What did you do, eh? Dylan didn't look too happy and Sparky looked even less happy. You don't usually do things like this."

Deciding the session was over, Eric turns and makes Sharpshooter walk next to him. Heading for the gate, he's surprised to see Ashlee again. He'd been paying so much attention to the horse that he hadn't even realized she'd stuck around. Watching a horse go around and around and around wasn't exactly the most exciting thing in the world.

"Hey, Kiddo." He comes through the gate. "Figured you'd be long gone by now." He walks just a short ways down the barn aisle before stopping and crosstying Sharpshooter. He slowly takes off the saddle and blanket, setting them out of the way. Retrieving a couple towels from the tackroom, he goes back to the sweaty horse and starts to rub him down.

Looking over his shoulder, a little grin toys with the corner of his mouth. He tosses one of the towels to Ashlee. "You can take the other side," he offers. "I just wanna dry him off a bit before letting him loose outside so when he rolls, all that dirt ain't gonna stick to him so bad."