"You're quite tall." Meemaw, Koleton's grand-mother's jaw gapes at my height.
"Meemaw, leave her alone. Momma said dinner's ready." Koleton places his hand on her shoulder and leads her into the kitchen, mouthing 'sorry' as they walk away.
"I just want to know how to grow taller." She frowns, her voice disappearing around the corner along with her.
I suck in a long breath before blowing it out through my mouth, failing at my attempt to blow all of the nerves away. I slowly walk into the kitchen, all of the noise surrounding me like a bubble.
As soon as we all sit down, Koleton and Andrea both grab my hands as everyone bows their heads. Shit.
I quickly bow my head and close my eyes as his mom begins the prayer.
"Dear Heavenly Father, we are forever grateful for you allowing us to have another meal. Thank you for bringing Koleton back home safely along with his girlfriend. May you please help them stay safe while being here? Amen." I open my eyes to see Koleton staring at me, causing me to press my lips together.
I didn't tell her to say it.
The food is distributed then everyone begins eating. My nerves building up about the questions.
"So, Margo, how long have you and Koleton known each other?" Koleton's grand-father looks up at me and I give Koleton a look as if his eyes will tell me what to say.
"A little over a year I believe. It could be longer than that though." I give him a vague answer and he nods, going back to his food.
"You have the prettiest eyes, which parent do you get them from?" Andrea asks as I begin to cut my food.
"Mom, I told you not to ask about her family." Koleton scolds her quietly, but I lightly nudge his leg with my own.
I really want his family to like me and I refuse to let him ruin this for me.
"My mum, actually." I answer with a smile. "She and I have the same features, while my dad and I have the same personality."
"That's interesting." She raises her eyebrows. "Koleton used to have the exact same features and personality as me, but now he resembles his father in every aspect."
"The two of you have the same lips. I mean, the same smile. You also has the same eye-shape and hair colour." I smile, causing her to look a bit happier.
"That's nice to know." She smiles softly. "You've got a pure heart."
———
"They think we're dating?" I whisper to Koleton as we clean off the table.
"I didn't expect it, I swear." He shakes his head and I sigh.
"Don't swear, God doesn't like people that swear." I tease him, gesturing towards the cross thats hung on the wall and he groans.
"Koleton!" Stevie and Cecilia, the younger girl, run into the dining room. "Can you come ride the trail with us? Phoenix said no and mom said we need one of the older kids. Margo can come too!"
Koleton gives me a look and I shrug, honestly okay with anything they want me to do. They could tell me to dig my own grave and toss myself head first into it and I'd do it if that meant his family liked me.
I can tell his family means a lot to him, so I don't want to do anything that would cause them to hate me.
"Yeah, we'll need clothes for Margo though. She doesn't exactly know how to ride a horse." He finally agrees and Cecilia runs up to me, grabbing my hand.
"Come with me, I'll help you find an outfit." She drags me away from the dining room and up the stairs.
We enter their mom's room, where she's standing in front of the mirror. "Momma we need an outfit for Margo."
"Look in my closet, anything is fine." She motions towards her closet, causing Cecilia to grab my hand again.
After a few minutes, she hands me a pair of boot-cut jeans along with a plain black t-shirt. Andrea offered me an old pair of her boots along with a jacket and all I can say is, this is definitely the south.
I put the outfit on in the bathroom and walk out to show it to Cecilia.
"Koleton is going to love it. You look so good. Alright, come on!" She grabs the sleeve of my jacket and leads me down the stairs.
We enter the living room to see Koleton and Stevie talking quietly amongst themselves until Cecilia decides to clear her throat loudly and interrupt them. "Hello! Your girlfriend is really pretty and you're not even looking. A pretty face doesn't last forever."
Koleton looks up and his eyes widen as he rises from his seat. He scans my entire body before his eyes finally meet mine again.
"You look like a cowboy." I tease his appearance and he rolls his eyes.
"Yeah as if you're one to talk." He gestures towards my outfit and Cecilia lets out a small giggle. "We better get going before the horses have to go play poker."
"Horses don't play poker, dummy." Cecilia shakes her head, walking towards the front door as we follow her.
"Oh yeah? How do you know, Cece?" Koleton tests her and she turns around, her hands on her hips.
"Because I'm here with them all the time." She sassily answers and I let out a laugh.
The walk to the barn is shorter than I expect, Cecilia leading us the entire time.
We enter the barn and the horses immediately cause me to gasp. "They're beautiful."
I reach out to pet the white one as Koleton walks up to the saddles.
"Be careful, she bites." He hands Cecilia the smaller saddle and hands Stevie one of the larger ones before turning to me. "Do you know how to saddle up a horse?"
"I did it once on a game that I had on my phone." I innocently smile and he looks up at the sky as if he's asking the Gods for an answer.
"Take this, I'll help you saddle him up." He hands me the saddle that is heavier than a small child, catching me off guard.
"I thought you said she bites?" I furrow my eyebrows and he shakes his head.
"You're not riding her, I'm riding her." He turns around, pointing to an older looking horse. "You're riding him. She's for the more trained riders, and you're not in that category." He shakes his head and I look at Stevie who is helping Cecilia saddle the smaller horse up.
"That horse looks slow." I frown and he tilts his head, smiling in amusement.
"Here, let me go get you up on him and walk a few laps before we get on the trail." He sets the saddle he's holding down and walks over to me, grabbing the saddle I'm holding.
I follow him towards the old horse, watching as he opens the stall door. "This is Beau, he's one of the older horses. We've had him since before even I was born."
"That would make him around his mid-twenties." My jaw drops at the potential age of this horse. "Are they even allowed to live that long?"
"Horses can live any where from twenty-five to thirty years." Stevie pulls herself up onto the wall of the stall, watching us. "Beau is twenty-four."
"Yeah, and he's the nicer one of the horses. He doesn't bite nearly as much as Defiance does." Koleton informs me, gesturing towards the horse I was previously standing in front of. "Now, I need you to grab the reigns when I put them onto him and lead him out of the stall."
I nod, watching as Koleton puts the reigns on the horse quickly. He gently hands them to me and I lead the horse out of the stall without any struggle.
"Oh my gosh I'm pretty much a cowgirl now." I gasp excitedly as Stevie and Koleton give each other a look.
"Yeah, okay Dolly Parton it's not over yet. I need you to watch as I put the saddle on." He quickly secures the saddle and turns to me. "This next part is all you. You're going to put your foot here and swing your other leg over to the opposite side. He's pretty well behaved so her shouldn't move."
He backs away from the horse and I suck in a sharp breath. Foot in the loop, leg over the back.
I quickly follow his instructions as he helps me lift myself onto the horse's back. We get it on the first try and I can't help but smile.
"Good, you're pretty much a natural." He compliments me as Stevie hops off the wall of the stall. "Now, make sure your toes are facing upwards so you are balanced. Keep your heel, hip, and butt lined up."
I straighten out my leg and do as he says without argument. It's not hard for me to line the three points up since it was taught in modelling. I straighten my back, keeping my shoulders relaxed.
"Alright, now you need to look past his ears and if you want to stop you can tell one of us. Or you can push on his side with your foot and pull back on his reigns." He leads me out of the barn where Cecilia is running laps around a small fence, yelling orders to the horse. "Cece, can you come make sure Margo doesn't fall?"
"Yeah, coming!" Cecilia calls back, halting her horse to a quick stop.
She climbs off of her horse and leads it over to me, staring up at me. "Are you famous?"
"I guess you could say that." I laugh at her abrupt question.
"You know my brother likes you, right?" She raises her eyebrows and my eyes widen. "I'm serious, Koleton was talking to momma about you."
"Well I'm not sure if he likes me, but you're definitely a good listener. What was he saying?"
As soon as she opens her mouth to respond, Stevie and Koleton leave the barn and approach us.
"What are you two talking about?" Koleton raises his eyebrows, bouncing up and down as his horse approaches us.
"She asked if I was famous." I only partially lie and he nods, clearly not believing me.
"Sure, I bet she even asked what your net worth is." He teases me and I frown.
"I'm serious, she even asked-"
"I told her you like her." Cecilia pipes up from the opposite side of him and my jaw drops at her confidence.
"Oh, really? What did you say in response?" He looks over at me and I shrug.
"Nothing, I just nodded and went on with my day." I lie and face directly ahead. "Now, let's get to the trail before it gets dark."
The trail ride is mainly silent other than Cecilia and Stevie quietly talking amongst themselves in front of us.
"Do you like it so far?" Koleton turns to me and I furrow my eyebrows, not understanding what he means. "Being here, meeting my family, do you like it?"
"Yeah, it's nice to get away from everything." I nod, looking ahead at the girls. "Everyone is nicer than I expected and the entire vibe of this place feels like what I assume home would feel like."
"Yeah, they try to help everyone feel included. I'm sorry about the room placement though. We don't have to share a room, I can bunk with Phoenix if you want." He offers, but I shake my head.
"No, it's okay. I don't want to cause more of a problem than I already have." I decline his offer, not wanting him to go out of his way to make me feel comfortable.
"Momma likes you, if that means anything."
"Really? Well, I like her too." I smile, looking over at him. "If that means anything."