The Makeover Horse by Natalie Keller Reinert

Author:Natalie Keller Reinert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Natalie Keller Reinert
Published: 2024-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

I head back outside wearing one of my brightest outfits. It’s dominated by a sun-shirt in rich cornflower blue with floral-patterned sleeves. The flowers are yellow, blue, and purple; my riding tights are the same purple as the flowers. The pockets and belt loops are trimmed with the floral pattern. I’m still waiting for socks to come in the same pattern; the manufacturer I ordered from is notoriously slow, but the quality is supposed to be impressive. I think they’ve been on a ship from China for about eight months now.

Landon walks in two horses, giving me a nod as he passes, and I think he won’t mention my costume change. But once he’s closed the doors on the horses, he strolls back up to me and says, “Look at you now.”

I don’t know what that means, so I decide to take it as a compliment and preen a little, cupping my hand at my chin. “You like it? I call this design Chelsea, like the flower show.”

“You name your outfits?”

“I designed it,” I say haughtily.

He lifts an eyebrow. “You’re a clothing designer, too? A fashion mogul?”

“Not really,” I say, dropping the act. “I have a few riding outfits I’ve designed. This one, the purple one from yesterday.” I let my words trail off, hoping he’ll make a remark about how pretty the purple outfit was. But it doesn’t seem to register with him. Sighing a little, I go on, “Eventually I’m hoping to start a little company of my own, but I’ll need more seed money than what I’ve got at the moment. It seemed to make some sense to wear my own designs for a little while, though, in case they start some buzz.”

“Any luck yet?”

I shrug. “It’s a crowded space. I probably should have ordered the clothes before I got out of my marriage, and set up a store I could promote with my Instagram or something. But you know…I wanted to do one thing on my own. Maybe that was stupid.”

Landon gives me a thoughtful look. “I don’t think that’s stupid,” he says eventually. “Making your dreams come true with other people’s money isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.”

“It’s probably the number one way to actually start a business, though,” I counter.

“Well then,” he says, “start your business the number two way. Number two ain’t bad.”

“Better than last, I suppose.”

“Now you’re thinking.” He glances down at my outfit again, and I feel my blush creeping back to my cheeks. Landon has now seen me practically topless. What’s he thinking right now?

Abruptly, he wheels away and heads for the barn door. “Gotta finish getting in horses,” he says.

I watch him walk into the sunny morning, a silhouette against the vibrant pastures.

Personally, I’m too embarrassed to ever move again, but good on him for getting back to work.

“Thomas is waiting for you at the gate,” he calls out. “I left him for you.”

“Thank you!” Thomas will make me feel better. Thomas has never seen me in a see-through shirt, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be weirded out by it.

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