Chapter 1
“The hayloft is the perfect place to
hide out and watch what is going on at the ranch, huh Kitty?” Andi said as she
pet the cat and looked down on the ranch through the loft door. “I remember
playing up here with Riley once. It was almost Christmas, and he had tied a fly
up on a leash! I’d never seen anything like it before!”
The cat looked up at her and purred.
“I haven’t seen Riley since I was 8 or
9! I wonder what he’s been up too.”
“Andi!” someone called from down
below, “Are you in here?”
Andi stuck her head through the hole
in the loft floor. “Yep, I’m here. Why?”
It was Mitch. He looked up and
grinned, “There’s someone here to see you!”
Andi jumped down the ladder, “Who?”
Her brother kept grinning. “Not
telling, it’s a secret.”
She scowled at him. “If it’s such a
secret, why are you here?”
Mitch just grinned and turned to
leave, whistling a lively tune.
Brothers! Andi shook
her head and dusted off her overalls. Well,
I might as well go see who it is!
She looked out the barn door, but saw
nothing but the house, and a buggy. “Oh no!” She gasped in horror. “It can’t be
Aunt Rebecca!” Bracing herself, Andi climbed up the porch steps and went
through the front door. Upon entering, she ran into . . .
“Riley?” She gasped as she looked up
to see with whom she had collided.
“Andi!” Riley grinned, holding out his
hand, “It’s great to see you again.”
Andi’s face broke into a big smile,
and she shook his hand rapidly. “Boy! You gave me a good scare. I thought for
sure it was Aunt Rebecca that was here. But it’s good to see you too!”
“My Pa was sent here for business, and
he brought Ma ‘n me along.” Riley drew his hand back.
“Why, that’s fantastic!” Andi said as
they started for the parlor. “How long will you be staying?”
“What? At your house? I don’t know.
But I heard your ma say something about dinner though.” He grinned and licked
his lips.
“Yep!” Andi grinned. “It’s you, all right,
never turning down a meal!”
Chapter
2
“Come on Riley, I want to show you
Taffy’s twins, Shasta and Sunny,”
Andi
said as she finished her glass of cool lemonade.
Riley looked at her in surprise.
“Taffy had twins?”
Andi stood up and nodded. “She did!
Sorry, I forgot, you didn’t know.”
Riley stood up, and they both walked
out to the paddock off the barn. As they turned the corner of the barn, Andi
ran right into Chad. She almost fell, but he caught her just in time. “Whoa
there! What’s the big hurry?”
Andi
bit her lip. “Sorry, Chad, I didn’t see you.”
He crossed his arms in front of his
chest. “Seems to me you’ve been running into quite a few people lately”—he nodded
at Riley—“like this poor, unfortunate fellow here. Why, from what I hear, you
nearly ran him over too.”
Riley grinned. “Well, it was partly my
fault, sir.”
Chad’s sunburned face cracked into a
smile. “Sir? My, aren’t we fancy!” He
grinned at Andi. “I’ll let you off this time, but don’t let it happen again.” He
ruffled her hair and walked off, chuckling to himself.
Andi smoothed her hair as they started
toward the pens once again. As they passed the chicken pen, Riley asked, “Hey,
whatever happened to ol’ Henry the Eighth?”
Andi grinned, “Oh, a few years ago, he
got the nerve to jump up and scratch poor Chad’s arm one morning”—she opened
the paddock gate—“and that night, Nila cooked up a yummy roast chicken. You can
guess who it was!”
Riley grinned. “I still remember how
you looked when he chased you, and you tripped and spilled those eggs all over
yourself!” He laughed when she wrinkled up her nose.
“It took me forever to wash all the
yolk out of my hair!” Then . . . “Taffy, come here, girl!” Andi called to her
golden palomino mare.
The horse whinnied her reply and came
trotting over to see her mistress. Her two colts followed close behind.
“They’re really nice, Andi,” Riley
commented as they pranced around their dam.
Andi glowed with pride. “Thanks! They
are, aren’t they?” She affectionately patted the mare’s neck. “Hey!” She turned
to face Riley. “I just remembered, how is Midnight doing? Did he take the move
to Idaho well?”
Riley brushed his dark hair away from
his eyes, which revealed a scar on the right side of his forehead. “Couldn’t be
better. He . . . uh . . . what’s the matter, Andi?”
Andi dropped her eyes, embarrassed at
being caught staring. “I . . . uh . . . just noticed . . . uh . . .”
Riley laughed. “Oh, this!” He touched
his forehead. “I got this from an accident on Midnight.”
Andi frowned. “Did it hurt awfully
bad?”
He grinned. “Nah, once the stitches came
out, there was nothing to it.”
After they stayed with the horses for a
while, Mrs. Prescott, (Riley’s mother) called them in because they were going to
town.
Chapter
3
“Wow, Fresno seems a lot smaller than
I remember!” Riley whistled as he and Andi followed his family as they toured
the town.
Andi laughed. “That’s because you’re a
lot bigger than you were 5 or 6 years ago.”
“Hey, is that the schoolhouse that you
were dead set on NOT going to?” he asked, grinning.
Andi grinned sheepishly. “Uh, yeah.
But that was nothing compared to what happened two years ago.” At that, she
told him about her “incident” with the new school teacher.
Riley had doubled over laughing before
she barely even started. “Oh, Andi! You really almost ran him over? Boy he must have been hopping mad!” His eyes were
sparkling with laughter.
“He sure was! I thought for sure that
he was going to—” She was interrupted by her friend Cory Blake.
He yelled from the other side of the
street, “Hey Andi!” and ran over to them. “What are you doing in town today?” Then
he noticed Riley standing there, and he looked at Andi. “Who’s he?”
She grinned. “This is my friend Riley.
You remember me telling you about him, right? He has come to visit for a few
days.”
Cory held out his hand to shake
Riley’s. “Oh yeah, I remember you. You’re the one that Andi always said was ‘too
big for his britches’!”
Andi’s face turned red, and she threw
Cory a disgusted look. He grinned mischievously.
Riley laughed. “Me? Why, I’ve never been
too big for my britches!” He winked at her.
“Riley dear! Hurry up. We are going
back to the ranch now,” his mother called from down the street.
That gave Cory an even bigger grin,
and his eyes were filled with merriment. “Yes, goodbye, Riley dear. You mustn’t keep your mother
waiting.” He waved to Andi, then turned and walked away, laughing.
Andi grinned at Riley, who was also
grinning. “Wanna race?” he asked.
She took it as a yes when he took off
running down the boardwalk.
Chapter
4
After a few more days of fun and
riding, it was time for the Prescotts to go back to their home in Idaho. “It was
great seeing you again Andi,” Riley said as they waited for the train.
Andi smiled back at him. “It was great
seeing you again too, Riley, I wish you all could have stayed longer.” She bit
her lip. “I hope we can see you all again soon.”
Riley grinned. “Yes, maybe you all can
come up to my house next time.”
Just then, the blaring whistle of the
approaching train made them both realize that Riley’s time of departure had
arrived.
The Weavers boarded the train, and as
it was pulling out, Riley waved a last goodbye.
Andi smiled and waved back, “Goodbye!”
I
hope our paths will cross again soon!
The End
I love it
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