chapter 3

Still holding myself, I grabbed my phone to look at the time, 5:38 am. I sigh, "guess there is no point going back to sleep". I sat there for a moment still wiping the tears from my face.

After a long moment, I grabbed my phone again pulling up Tiffany's number to give her a call, once the voicemail came, I said "Hey Tiff, I wanted to call and let you know I can't come in today. I'm gonna take the day off to go see mom's grave. I haven't been there in years and I had this crazy dream I'm going to have to tell you about, but something is telling me I should go see her." With that I hung up the call, got up, took a shower, and got dressed.

I went outside to call the girls back into their paddock to feed them since I was gonna be gone all day, they both came up to me and brushed my cheeks in an attempt to dry them, "I'll be alright girls. " I said as I went to get their feed.

After making sure the gate was latched, I got in my car and started my journey to my mom's grave. It was roughly 3 hours away from home.

-3 hours later-

I finally pulled up to her stone, and jumped out not even thinking about turning the car off, running to her stone. I hugged it like I hugged mom in my dream. "I don't know if you can hear me momma, but I miss you. I really need you right now and I don't know what to do." I continued telling her about my dream that I had last night. When I finished a gust of wind rushed towards me and wrapped around me. It felt like a comforting hug.

I layed next to her stone, for what seemed like forever.

I felt tingles on my arm, as I was shaken awake, I shot up and rushed backwards, my back hitting the stone. The man from the café knelt beside me with a frown on his face.

"Who are you and what do you want from me!" I yelled. He just simply smiled and held out his hand, "I'm Jackson. Jackson Vail. " I slowly took his hand and shook it, "Willow... Willow Days." I replied, in a mocking tone.

He raised an eyebrow at me, catching that I just mocked him. His eyes grew dark, almost black. "are you following me?" I asked accusingly. He gave me a deep chuckle, "no, my aunt and uncle are buried here. Just a few stones down actually." I felt bad for accusing him of such a thing, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." I said looking down.

He moved beside me, "Is this your mother?" He asked curiously. I nodded my head as a tear escaped my eyes. "yeah. She passed away a few years ago. The plane crashed. She didn't make it. My dad went missing. Ive been on my own since" I shut my mouth not understanding why I just told him all of that. The voice of the woman came through my head, "you can trust him. He will never hurt you".  I shook the voice out of my head.

He gave me a wierd look, "are you ok?" He asked. I just nodded, "I think I'm going crazy." I scoffed to myself. We just sat there for about 30 minutes in a peaceful silence. I looked over at my car remembering I forgot to shut it off, "did you turn my car off?" He smiled a little, "yeah. My guess is you forgot to turn it off so I did." I nodded, "thank you."

I looked him in the eyes and my breathing hitched. His eyes were glazed over which had curiosity building. He blinking and shook his head and looked at me, "what?" He smirked. I shook my head thinking I was just seeing things again, "nothing. Your eyes just looked different for a minute. " Was all I said. My cheeks immediately flushed at the realization that I just told him I was just staring at him. He chuckled and my heart almost exploded. The sound was music to my ears.

I stood up, him doing the same, "I got to go. I've got horses that are going to be extremely pissed off if I don't get back in time to feed them. " I laughed a little. I went to turn around, but was stopped as he grabbed my wrist, "wait, can I have your number?" He asked.

I looked at his hand then into his eyes, he kinda had this puppy dog look going on and it was super cute, I nodded my head holding out my other hand so he could give me his phone. He quickly handed it over after unlocking it and pulling up the contacts. I put my information in and handed it back. He had a huge smile covering his face.

I looked back at moms stone, "I love you mom. Until we meet again. " I sniffled a little before looking back at Jackson. He rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb before letting me go. "I'll see you around Jack" I said, turning to my car. "Ill see you around princess. " I paused at the nickname and went to turn around but he was already gone.

I shook my head, not being able to help the small smile that crossed my face. I turned back around and got in the car, starting the long journey back home.

After almost 3 hours I finally made it home, looking at the time, it was 9:28pm. Oh the mares are gonna HATE me. I turned off the car, and sure enough both mares stood stomping at the gate with their ears pinned, "hey, it's not my fault!" I yelled in my defense.

Jazz just shook her head and Ariel didn't let down her mare-stare game. I rolled my eyes at the two going to get their feed. I brought them in and they are now completely content. I decided to leave them for the night, so I went inside to shower then let sleep consume me once again.