His Stallion Was Hers, But the Plains Had Other Choices Chapter 04
Dylan stayed calm. “First you throw a fit about not riding Storm. Then you act up and tell me to marry Chloe.”
“Now you’re pulling the breakup card.”
“Come on, Tessa. Using the same trick twice? Lame.”
I shrugged. “Think whatever you want.”
“I’ve got things to do. Later.”
Chloe barely held back a smile and grabbed my wrist. “Tessa, stop. You know that whole ‘crying wolf’ thing?”
“Apologize to me right now, and I’ll forgive you for being so nasty.”
I looked at Dylan.
He didn’t say a word. Just let her speak for him.
I laughed coldly and yanked my arm away. “You need your head examined. You clearly don’t understand plain English.”
Dylan shoved me aside without a second thought and gently helped Chloe up.
My old knee injury slammed into a fire hydrant. Sweat broke out from the pain.
I stumbled a few steps and limped away.
“Tessa! If you walk out without apologizing, we’re done. For good.”
I gritted my teeth and walked faster.
Caleb Hartwell was waiting by the entrance, movie tickets in his hand.
He was a decent date. Funny. Didn’t grill me about the past.
But before we said goodbye, I decided to be honest. “I have an ex. We were together for years. Almost got married.”
Caleb nodded. “His horse never accepted you. Maybe that was the universe warning you two weren’t right for each other.”
“Even if you’d forced it, you wouldn’t have been happy.”
Something clicked. I felt this sudden, clear lightness.
He smiled. “My horse is sweet, though. He’d never throw you.”
“Tessa… will I see you again on Valentine’s Day?”
…
By the time Valentine’s Day came, I still regretted not answering him before I left.
What if he didn’t show up because he didn’t hear what he wanted?
Then I heard that familiar voice, dripping with sarcasm.
“Dylan, what did I tell you?”
“No way she’d actually dump you. Look—here she comes, chasing after you again.”
“Tessa, you’re old and brittle now. Take it easy this time, alright?”
Chloe stood with her arms crossed, giving me a dirty look.
People around us whispered and laughed.
Every year, the crowd at Lazy Creek Stables changed. But I was the permanent fixture. The one who never got it right.
Once, I overheard some girls calling me the old maid who couldn’t get married.
I was so mad I almost confronted them, but Dylan held me back.
“They’re not wrong. Try harder this year, and we’ll get married and shut them up.”
But I didn’t want to try anymore.
Dylan didn’t join in with Chloe this time. He just said, “Be careful, Tessa.”
I didn’t answer.
Then I saw Caleb leading his horse toward me. I walked straight to him.
I’d barely climbed into the saddle when screams broke out from the crowd.
“Someone fell! Call the EMTs!”
With my track record, the hospital always parked an ambulance at the stables on Valentine’s Day.
Something happened, they loaded you up and took you away.
Dylan heard the commotion too.
But by the time he got there, the ambulance was gone.
“Is Tessa okay? How bad is it?”
Someone who loved gossip asked him, “You didn’t hear? Tessa switched horses this year.”
“The one who fell? That was Chloe.”
