Chapter 32 Telling All
“It’s not that juicy,” Alexandra replied.
“You’re lying to me,” Laura said. “I can hear the juice dripping in your voice. What are you hiding? I know that you’re dying to tell me. You left, and we were talking to each other when you turned off onto a road that you thought was a shortcut. I remember telling you to stick to the main roads and not take the short-cuts, and then you hung up and told me that you would call me when you got to Glendale the next morning. So, did you find a castle back in those mountains or some wild man with whom you had passionate sex for a week?”
“Laura!” She acted shocked, but mostly because she had guessed so closely. “There was no castle and no wild man.” Her tone changed just a little when she said “wild man”. Her voice softened as she thought of Evan.
“There was a man! I knew it. You dog! I can’t believe you. You’re almost married to Cameron, and you’re out there like a horn dog doing the wild thing with strangers.”
“I’m not out there doing the horn dog,” she said. “It was just that I got stuck for a few days and he had these amazing blue eyes and he was so overpowering with manliness...” She couldn’t believe that she had just started to let it all come pouring out. She wanted to try to justify herself, and she wanted so very badly to get all of it off of her chest. She knew it was foolish to think of Evan, but she believed that to do that, she had to unburden herself from it, and Laura was a trusted friend to whom she could confide such a secret.
“There seriously was a man!” Laura shouted. The sound almost split her ears. “You are totally serious? Oh my god, I was just playing around, but you are serious. So, what happened? Back up and start from the beginning.”
Alexandra was ready to let go. She started from the moment that she turned off the highway and onto the gravel road. She talked about how her car broke down and she spent the night scared out of her mind, believing that the coyotes were going to break the window out of the car, kill her, and eat her. She talked about how Evan had come along the next morning and rescued her and how he was so primitive, yet very intelligent. She talked about how his manliness completely overtook her. She shared how she had discovered that she loved to ride and that she loved to feel the wind in her face. She had suddenly felt alive and free, and that her entire world had changed. She told how she had fallen for Evan, but she had made a commitment to Cameron, and that she would have to see it through. The new responsibility and the new Alexandra could see how she must certainly do what she had sworn to do. When she had finished, she took a deep breath and waited. There was a long pause, and she wondered for a moment if Laura was still there. “Are you there?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “I’m here. I was just waiting to see if there was more.”
“No,” Alexandra replied. “There isn’t any more.”
“Hmmm...” she answered. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Why are you sticking with Cameron?”
“What? Weren’t you listening?”
“Yes, I was listening, but think about it. If you were so easily tempted by your primitive, mountain man, horseman, or whatever he was, then maybe Cameron isn’t what you really need.”
Now it was Alexandra’s turn for a long pause. She could hardly believe that Laura had just said what she had said. She had no response. She had been so strong in the car yesterday, and things had been great with Cameron last night. She was doing the responsible, mature, grown-up thing by sticking to her commitment. “I... I’m not sure what to say.”
“I don’t think that you have to say anything, Alex,” Laura said. “It is just something to consider. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you just got caught up in something that overwhelmed you, and you had a little fling. It happens, but I just have a gut feeling that there is something deeper going on inside of you. I mean... Alexandra, you’ve never had even the slightest interest in horses and riding before. I’ve tried to get you to go with me a thousand times, and now, suddenly, you want to ride, you want to find a stable and take riding lessons.”
“I just love horses,” she replied. She had to shift things away from relationships with men and put it all on her desire to be around horses. She didn’t want to think about what Laura was telling her. “I should have gone with you. I never knew. I’m telling you, Lars, my eyes were opened wide and I can think of nothing more than to be on the back of a horse with the wind in my face and the smell of the sage and the pine. I want to chase elk and...”
“Chase what?” Laura interrupted.
“Chase elk,” Alexandra laughed. “They are this crazy looking creature. They are sort of like a camel and a deer combined.”
“I’m not sure I can get an adequate picture of that in my head,” Laura replied. “What are they called?”
“Elk,” Alexandra said. “Search on the internet, you’ll see what I’m talking about. They run so funny, like a camel, that’s why I told you that they were a cross between a camel and a deer.”
“How many camels have you seen other than those on a pack of cigarettes, Alex?”
“Look it up,” she replied. “I swear that I’m telling the truth.”
“Hmmm... okay,” Laura answered. “They do sort of look like camels.”
“What did I tell you?”
“Okay,” she said. “So, why were you chasing them?”
“Because we could,” she replied. “We never got very close, but it was the most thrilling thing I’ve ever done in my life. It felt like I was flying.” She became more excited as she continued telling Laura about the thrill of riding and of the scare that she had the first time. She rambled on and on about how exciting it was to be on the horses, the things that she and Evan did with the horses, and how Evan worked with them and trained them. She did not realize how she gushed and how often Evan’s name kept popping up. Her mind was trying to stay focused on just talking about the horses.
“You’ve got it bad,” Laura said when Alexandra took a breath.
“Got what bad?” Alexandra asked. She was totally lost.
“Got a bad case of needing to be around horses,” Laura lied. To argue further with Alexandra would be useless, and she really didn’t have the energy to continue with that part of the conversation. “So, how close are you to Nevada?”
“I have no idea,” Alexandra replied. She had never seen Nevada on any of the maps that she had looked at. “Why?”
“I have a friend in Nevada that shows horses and runs a stable,” Laura said. “She would be an excellent teacher. I think she follows the rodeo circuit. Something that they call barrel racing, which I do not understand, and then she does all kinds of riding events in the shows. I could call her if you are close. Are you online?”
“Yes,” Alexandra replied. “Just a second. I’ll look… No, I’m not even close to Nevada.”
“Okay, so scratch that idea,” Laura said. “Evelyn would be perfect for you. You would learn a ton. She would probably even give you a part-time job, but we might as well forget that. So, check out some places and send them to me.”
“I’ve got a search pulled up right now.”
“Send me some of them and I’ll check them out,” Laura said.
“I’ve already got them in an email,” Alexandra replied. “While you were looking up ‘elk’, I was dragging and dropping URLs into an email.” She considered how their conversation would probably be lost on Evan, and then she remembered that he was actually a lot more modern and up on things than it seemed when you considered where he spent his summers.
The two of them discussed the pros and cons of the stables that Alexandra was able to find and came up with a couple that she felt that she could go and tour and have a visit before committing.