The Lucky One

Chapter 13

"So, who's the new lover?" Miyah asked me as walked down the main aisle of the barn together, finally back at work after a long stretch of days off.

Miyah had seen Ben's car pull up to the barn earlier that morning. Unfortunately, she had also seen him help me take out my bags and kiss me for longer than I had personally felt necessary, given the fact that he was coming over later tonight to watch me ride.

I picked up an empty bucket another lazy groom had left by the door of a stall in stride, putting it where it belonged a few doors down in the feed room.

Miyah followed me in, taking a seat on the large trunk in the center of the room used for storing random items that didn't seem to fit in anywhere else.

"I'll say it again," she said, slightly more impatient, "who's the new lover you've got? Where'd you pick him up? I could use a new one myself."

As far as I knew, Miyah had only been in one serious relationship, which happened to have been over a year ago. And as far as I was concerned, I wouldn't consider Ben my lover, which I very clearly expressed to her.

"First off, he's not my lover. Second of all, his name is Ben, and he's not what you think he is." She had jumped to conclusions about what kind of guy he was, claiming he was one of the good-looking play-on-everyone type of guys. I quickly assured her he wasn't.

"Third, I didn't pick him up anywhere, we met..." I let my voice trail off, not sure where to go from there. She didn't know about my dad, nobody at the barn did, and I wasn't totally sold on the idea of telling them. Could Miyah keep a secret? She'd have to.

I filled her in on the story of my dad, which she greatly apologized for. After she had apologized, she had told me she thought it was cute how we'd met.

How could that be cute?

"So how long have you two been at it, then?" She asked, clearly wanting as many details as I would give her.

Which, to be honest, wasn't much.

"Not long, I told her. Only around have the time I've been here, so like, a month."

Over the past week or so, I had slowly realized that July, and honestly summer in general, was much more bearable in New York than it was in Florida. The only bummer was that summer was already halfway done, and that meant I would have to go back to school.

But I had a feeling I wouldn't be going back to Florida to do so, based on my mom and I's phone call last weekend.

"We'd better get back to work," I told her, checking my phone for the time. "Someone's going to find us in here, and I have a lot to do before tonight."

"Yeah," Miyah agreed, then paused before turning the door handle. "Wait, tonight? What's tonight?"

Shoot.

"What's tonight, Cara?" She repeated, a smirk appearing on her face. "Nothing special, I'm sure, right?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

I sighed, knowing fully I wouldn't be able to get out of this one. "Ben's coming to watch me ride."

"Awwww," Miyah gushed, causing me to roll my eyes. And trust me, she saw, but ignored it and pressed on anyways. "I'm coming! I want to meet him. What time is he coming?"

"Um.." I hesitated, thinking about how she had just invited herself to meet my so-called boyfriend. Could he even be considered that?

I decided she would stay until at least midnight, if not later, just to meet him anyways, so I might as well tell her. "7:30. I have to work until 4, then eat dinner, shower, and I'll probably lunge another horse before riding."