Between The Lines

Remind Me Again

Will had a smile plastered on his face the whole twenty minute drive to the ranch. He reminded himself of how silly he was acting about a girl that probably didn’t even really like him but still couldn’t keep from smiling. When he reached the ranch,he took a deep breath,taking in the fence line containing a heard of twenty horses. There were two big herds of horses at the front of the property. His grandparents had kept the mares on one side and the geldings on the other. There were a few small pens close by the house for pregnant mares and mares with foals so one could keep a close eye on them. There was also a large herd of cattle on both sides in between the house and the horses. He still almost couldn’t believe it was all his. He was very thankful for everything his grandparents had taught him and his past experience as a working cowboy. This gave him a little bit of an idea how to take care of it all and hoped he would do the ranch justice. He pulled a new bottle of maker’s mark up from the back seat and began to sip on it as he contemplated. It was a quarter passed nine by the time Katie had gotten home. She quickly showered and got ready for bed. She then read an article for her intro to psychology class. An hour had gone by before she took out her phone and saw a text from Will. “How about 6 tomorrow night?”

“Sure,where we meeting at?” She replied.

“We can go anywhere you want,I’ll pick you up.”

“The steakhouse?”

“Kinda hard for a rancher to eat somebody else’s beef.”

“You said wherever I want,lol.”

“The steakhouse it is. Where am I picking you up from?”

“You don’t have to pick me up.”

“I suppose not,I would like to.”

“You’re real classy,” Katie teased.

“Yes ma’am.”

Katie smiled to herself and sent him her address.

“Looking forward to it.”

“Me too,” Katie replied right before drifting off to sleep. She peeled her eyes open when her alarm went off at six the next morning. She had planned on getting up then and doing some journaling before work but she set a timer and drifted back to sleep for another hour. She didn’t have any classes on Thursdays so she always filled that day with work. She began to dream about Will,seeing his face in the music store. “You’re beautiful,” his voice droned in her head. She leaned in close to him,

“Remind me again,” she replied.

Will lean into kiss her. There was heat coming off of his lips. “You’re beautiful,” he said in between kisses, “you’re beautiful,”

One more kiss, “you’re beautiful.”

Katie was awakened from her dream by her alarm. She quickly sat up,reflecting on it.

“Ridiculous,” she said with a scoff.

She glanced at her phone. She had received a text from Will,already this morning.

“Good morning, I hope you have a good day,I’ll see you tonight.”

“You too,” Katie texted him in reply. She made herself a pot of coffee and sat down at the table with her journal out. After a couple cups,she began humming to herself. She wrote down a few verses and picked up her guitar.

“Remind me again—you can’t love someone who doesn’t want to be loved. You want to pick me up,but I’m cold to the touch. Remind me again that I’m wanted,” Katie sang. She began humming as she wrote down some more lines.

“Before I forget, I want to lean into your kiss. Before I turn you the cold shoulder,remind me again that I’m wanted,” Katie sang the next few lines she wrote down. She shut her notebook and rushed to her closet to get dressed for work. Will was throwing hay to the horses from the large square bale on the back of his flatbed truck when Katie’s song got stuck in his head.

“…When there’s a storm,let’s find the rainbow. And spin me around,get a new start. I’ll find the gold in your heart,right where the song starts.” He smiled to himself as one of the yearling colts came up to him beside to the truck. He held out his hand waiting for the yearling to touch it. The horse smelt him and cautiously darted back.

“Hey,it’s ok kid,” Will said to the yearling.

The yearling slowly meandered back up to Will and stayed a few seconds longer that time. Will decided to sit on the truck and patiently wait for the yearling to warm up to him more. After a few more times,the colt finally stayed by his side and Will rubbed its forehead with the palm of his hand until a gust of wind came up,causing the colt to chase after the others,running and bucking. Will smiled,getting down from the bed and back in the truck to head to the barn. On the way he stopped a ways up the fence line and took the halter out of the passenger seat to go catch a horse. He picked out a young two year old,he had started working with and led her to the gate. Running the long lead rope through the truck window, he slowly drove to the barn with filly trotting alongside him. Will tacked her up and began to ride her in the small outdoor pen. She was compliant until he asked her to pick up a lope. She jumped up like a cat and bucked. This barely phased Will. He tugged on his rein once and switched directions.

“C’mon now,we got work to do,”

He said softly as he asked to change directions again after another buck. Soon the filly was smoothly loping and slid to a stop at a simple “whoa,” rolling off Will’s lips like artwork. The real work had yet to begin however,after leaving the arena,Will discovered there was a long stretch of fence down and the cows were on the wrong side of it. Katie had pinned half her hair up on her head and left the rest down. She had placed her grandmother’s turquoise earrings in her ears and her matching pin in her hair. She felt butterflies in her stomach while she coated her lips with wine red lipstick. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her simple black dress tied in nicely with her turquoise high top boots she decided. She glanced at her phone,it was five past six. She waited at the table until she couldn’t stand it anymore. It was already six-thirty and she hadn’t heard from Will. She texted him asking if he was on his way. Her text message said “not delivered.” She felt a panic in her stomach. Maybe he had ghosted her? She tried to send the message a few more times with the same results. She decided to go make her frustration known to Lucy instead of sitting in her apartment fretting about Will.

“You look adorable!” Lucy exclaimed as Katie walked in the record store.

“He didn’t show.” Katie said leaning on the counter distraughtly.

“Maybe he just had something come up. I’m sure you’ll hear from him soon.”

“Look,” Katie said,holding out her phone to show Lucy her “not delivered” notification.

Lucy turned it around to show Katie she was getting a call from Will. Katie quickly tapped the ignore button.

“Call him back honey!” Lucy insisted.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m kind of pissed off!”

“We’ll see if there’s a reason not to be!”

Katie rolled her eyes and called him back.

“Hi, I’m sorry I’m late! I had to pull a calf I didn’t expect was coming, I don’t get real good signal out at the ranch, I—I didn’t mean to blow you off,I swear. Can I—make it up to you?” Will stuttered.

Katie sighed, “Is the calf ok?” She asked.

“Right as rain.”

“That’s good. I’m ready when you are.”

Will smiled. “Ok,only problem is you don’t seem to be here.”

“I’m at Our Country,you can meet me here.”

“Okay, I’m on my way.”

“I told you,” Lucy said with a smile.

“Do I really look ok?” Katie asked.

“Picture perfect,” Lucy replied.

“Thanks Lucy,” Katie said with a smile.

Lucy smiled and went to the back room.

A few minutes later Will bashfully walked into the store.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” Katie said awkwardly with her gaze on her own feet.

“These are for you,” Will handed her a bouquet of twelve perfect roses.

“Thank you,these are beautiful. You shouldn’t have.”

“I just got ‘em from the gas station. I’m sorry I didn’t have time to get you nicer ones.”

“They’re perfect,” Katie said,finally looking up at him with a slight smile.

“I’m glad you like ‘em.”

“The steakhouse closes soon.”

“Yeah,I’m sorry.”

Suddenly a record started playing from the back room. “Lucy,” Katie said under her breath,shaking her head.

“Do you dance?” She asked,looking up at Will once again.

“I try to get my two left feet to work together,” he said with a chuckle.

Katie stretched her hands out to him. He wrapped his large ones around hers and began to sway her back and forth. Lucy walked by and threw Katie the keys.

“Lock up?” She asked.

Katie nodded with a smile as Lucy made her way out the door.

“You’re beautiful,” Will said. Katie leaned into him,pressing her nose against his.

“Remind me again,” she whispered.

“Hell,I’d remind you every day if you’d let me,” he replied.

Katie kissed him.

“Is that a maybe?” He asked.

She giggled, “Maybe.”