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“How’s your dad doing today?” she asks.
“He’s doing well. Mom is headed to the hospital now to visit. Apparently, he insisted she stay home this morning to hang out with me...” I reply, riding in step with her.
“Aww.” She smiles at me. “Is he still expected to come home tomorrow?”
“Yep. The doctor is pretty confident he’ll be released tomorrow. I figured we could swing by Aunt Jewel’s cafe to pick up dinner and take it over to him tonight.”
“That sounds great.”
“So, I have something I wanna show you,” I say.
She nods, picking up her reins. “Well then, let’s go, cowboy. Show me how fast you can fly.”
My whole body lights up with excitement at the way she’s daring me with her bright eyes.
“Try to keep up,” I tease as I urge my burly black horse forward and take off through the fields. Callie erupts into laughter beside me, legit impressing me with how good she is at riding.
As we crest the hill, I slow my horse to a trot and then ease into a walk. Callie does the same, still laughing beside me.
“Oh my gosh,” she says, pushing her windblown hair behind her ears. “It’s been so long since I’ve done that. I need to ride more often—I forgot how much fun it is.”
“Me, too.” I laugh, meeting her gaze. “Where’d you learn to ride like that?”
“Horse camp. I went three summers in a row back in middle school.”
“I’m impressed,” I say, giving her a playful nudge with my elbow. “You’re a natural.”
Callie smiles, looking down at her horse’s mane.
“I like you in black,” I say without thinking, gesturing to the black long-sleeve sweater she’s in.
“Oh yeah? Don’t all rockstars like the color black?” she counters, narrowing her eyes at me. “That’s like your favorite color probably, huh?”
I see what she’s doing, deflecting the compliment. “First off, my favorite color is orange, Callie. And second, I absolutely do love black ... on you.” The flush of red in her cheeks makes it clear that I got the point across, and something stirs way deep in my chest.
“You’re really takin’ this ‘fiancé’ thing to a whole new level,” she mumbles, her eyes looking out across the open pasture. “This place is so beautiful.”
“It is a really pretty place,” I admit, just happy to be talking with her. She makes me forget about all the stupid crap I’ve done—and appreciate my surroundings. “I sometimes forget just how breathtaking it can be out here. I get too caught up in all the little things that don’t matter.”
“It happens to me all the time,” she says, giving me a reassuring smile. “I think it’s easy to forget the beauty and goodness around us when we’re caught up in all the things going wrong.” Her eyes scan the area around us, and she points to the edge of the trees. “What’s that?”
“Exactly what I wanted to show you,” I say, urging my horse forward and down the hill. “It’s my old hideout.”
“Oh, how cool!” she calls from behind me before thundering right by me. I smile as she strides ahead of me.
I meet her at the old 1800’s homestead, sliding off my horse as I come to a stop just before the house. “Come on,” I say to her, offering my hand to help her slide down. “You gotta see the inside.”
“Is it sturdy?” she asks, taking my hand and sliding down off her horse. As she does, the front of her body presses up against mine and I freeze at the contact, my hands molding to the curves on her petite frame.
Callie clears her throat, squeezing past me. “So, it’s safe to go in, right?”
Oh.
“Um, yeah, sorry,” I mumble. “It’s plenty sturdy. My dad did some work on it awhile back just to make sure that everything was good with it. I’ll go in first,” I offer. I walk around the side of the weathered log cabin, leading around to the front, where the original door is still attached.
“This is amazing.” Callie gasps behind me.
“Just wait until you see the inside,” I say with a laugh, offering her my hand to help her up onto the front porch. “I don’t know much about the history of the place. I found it when my dad bought the land, and kind of claimed it as mine.”
