Mayfly Melodies

Twenty-Two

Caroline

There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds—Laurell K. Hamilton

There was a girl in her house.

She'd come along with an older man Caroline presumed to be the girl's father. Noah had told Caroline that the man would be coming over to check on the horses. The clear unspoken meaning to his words had been that he didn't believe Caroline was well enough to look after Gypsy and Rafiki for one day without him.

It was probably a smart decision on his end but Caroline detested the fact that she really wasn't well enough to look after the horses on her own. She was too prone to zoning out and losing track of time. Under her care, the horses probably wouldn't have gotten feed or water all day. As it were, Caroline hadn't even noticed that the two intruders were on her property until the girl came barreling into the house yelling for her.

She was several years younger than Caroline was with vibrant auburn hair and green eyes that could rival the healthiest blade of grass. Freckles adorned her face and arms. There were so many that she almost looked tanned but Caroline could just barely make out the etchings of pale skin beneath the dark spots.

Her name was Rhea Patton. She'd heavily enunciated the first syllable—Ray-uh—when she'd introduced herself as she'd materialized without preamble into the doorway to Caroline's bedroom. She wasn't shy or awkward. She'd walked right into Caroline's bedroom like she'd been there a hundred times. Without even having to say a word of encouragement, Caroline learned more than she ever cared to know about the girl.

She was a local and her family's ranch neighboured the Grant's. She was fifteen and had grown up riding around the countryside on her horse Mango. The girl competed both in show jumping and barrel racing but her heart belonged to the former. While she enjoyed the fast-pace intense rodeo circuit, she confessed that the only time she felt really free was when she was soaring over a jump.

Rhea also happened to be good friends with Bailey Grant. It was odd hearing someone else talk about Bailey as something other than a celebrity. There were days that Caroline wondered if she was making up her and Bailey's forest music sessions since the idea just seemed so ludicrous. Rhea; however, proved that she was not imagining things.

Bailey and Rhea had grown up with each other, neither one particularly bothered by the six-year age difference. They'd trained for the rodeo together, helped each other with school—though that had been mainly Bailey helping Rhea, Caroline was told by the younger girl— and played pranks on Bailey's brothers. Rhea was painting a picture of Bailey Grant that was more encompassing than what'd she'd already gathered and the more she learned, the more she began to like the kind superstar that had offered to teach her how to play guitar in the woods.

"—she's like totally awesome," Rhea was saying. The girl was perched on the windowsill in Caroline's room. "You'd really like her."

Caroline didn't have the heart to tell her that she already knew who Bailey was. Instead, she let the girl ramble on for another few minutes, listening mutely as Rhea switched the conversation from Bailey and her family to people in town that Caroline had never heard of. She found that she didn't particularly mind listening to Rhea. Sure, the girl was excitable and easily side-tracked but she seemed to have a good heart. The entire time she'd been talking, Caroline hadn't heard a single negative word come out of the girl's mouth.

Eventually, Rhea's father yelled to her that he was ready to leave. The girl stood and looked at Caroline with a wide smile that was all teeth.

"Well," she said, "it was nice talking to you! I'll see you around sometime."