American Made

Names & Invitations

Seven Weeks Remaining

It took Jake far too long for Liz's liking to get to the lesson barn. She was yelling at him to go faster as she counted the trees leading up to the Armstrong family stable.

Jake was thoroughly impressed with the landscape of your family's stable. White fencing marked off well-kept pastures and he could see various colored horses casually grazing among them. A large white house sat back off the road and the barns he could see were currently being painted. It truly looked like a horse haven tucked into the Texas hills.

"Let me stop the truck first, Lizzy..." Jake warned as Liz was already trying to open the truck door and run to the stable, in fear she was late.

Jake found a parking spot near some of the other family vehicles, including your black truck, and helped gather Liz's gear as she had already levitated over to the barn. Balancing Liz's helmet, two coffees, and some donuts in a paper bag as he started to look for where his niece had disappeared to. He jogged to keep up with her but slowed down once he heard your voice.

"Uncle Jake made us late..." Liz whined and he heard you giggle as he rounded the corner.

"I'll make sure to have a talk with him about timeliness" You answered looking up and winking at him.

"No one warned me how busy the Starbucks off Old Main St is on a Sunday..." Jake defended and you nodded as he approached and handed you the coffee.

"That's alright, she'll catch up in no time." You answered watching as Liz was walking out her lesson pony, Goose, a grey warmblood quarter horse mix, and getting him into the cross ties like the other girls.

You glanced to make sure everyone was doing okay, before taking Jake's free hand and leading him to a different section of the barn, stopping at the two stalls at the end.

"You asked about my favorite horses yesterday... these are my two." You explained letting his hand go to pet the blue one as another bay horse stuck its head out.

"You sure do know how to pick 'em. What are their names?" Jake asked, taking your hand again when you stopped petting the two steeds. Enjoying the brazen affection you were giving him. He wasn't about to let it go.

"The blue roan here is named Metallic Tomcat. I just call him Tomcat. And this is my mare, Before the Storm, I just call her Storm." You explained sipping on your coffee.

"Good names. Sound like call signs" Jake mentioned as he offered up the bag of goodies, smiling when your face lit up in surprise before taking them from him.

"As the instructor, I can't take bribes from my students..." You explained before digging out your choice of donut and taking a bite.

Jake guessed you were too busy to put any food in your stomach. Not counting coffee. The last thing he needed was a hangry instructor for his second lesson.

"Well right now... I'm just the hot uncle of one of your students." Jake teased leaning up against the wall panel of the stalls, smirking when you rolled your eyes a bit before handing the last piece of the glazed donut to Tomcat.

"Okay, Hot Uncle... do you want to ride today or just watch?" You asked wiping your hands off on your jeans as you looked past him at the sound of some girls squabbling.

With one quick whistle, the girls stopped and seemed to settle whatever dispute they were having.

"I want to watch you ride... Everyone has been talking a big game about you... yet I haven't seen you in the saddle yet." Jake pointed out.