Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“You’re lucky I like you too, Sweetheart.” I lean in. “I also like waking up to you riding me or else—”
“One time.” She holds up her finger. “That happened one time.” I kiss her lips quickly and shut the door before walking over to my side of the truck. “Now, where are you taking me?”
“It’s a surprise.” I look over at her. “You like surprises, right?”
“Nope,” she answers right away, “hate them.”
“What?” I ask, shocked. “You’re kidding.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I like to know things so I can plan. I’m a planner.”
“I see that,” I admit, “but also, it’s fun to see your face light up when you get surprised.” She turns in her seat. “Your eyes get lighter when you do, and the smile on your face is from ear to ear.” I wink at her. “All good things.”
She clears her throat. “Fine, I’ll let you surprise me.” She looks out the window, and I see her blinking her eyes quickly.
I turn back to focus on the road, trying not to read too much into it. When we pull up at the barn, she quickly gasps, “Are you taking me to see Fireball?” I turn to her and smile.
“Better.” I get out of the truck, and she quickly meets me in the front.
“How does it get better than this?” She jumps up and down.
“We are going on a ride,” I tell her, walking into the barn, and she stops walking.
“But it’s nighttime.” I don’t know if she’s asking a question or telling me.
“It’s fine.” I walk back to her, sliding my hand into hers. “It’ll be fine, I promise.” She walks with me, but I walk to the open arena where I left my horse and Fireball instead of going inside. “Brought you a friend.” I look at Fireball, who side-eyes me.
“Hi, beautiful girl,” Zara says softly, “I’ve been thinking about you.” She holds up her hand. “I missed you.” She walks right up to her and hugs her and Fireball’s tail whips back and forth.
“Shall we go?” I hold out my hand for her to grasp as she sticks her foot in the stirrup and mounts Fireball with ease this time.
“Just like riding a bike.” She laughs nervously. “Except this girl can buck me off, and I can break my face.”
I walk over to my horse, getting on him before going back to Zara. “So we are going to just go for a nice slow walk,” I tell her, and she nods at me, her hands gripping the reins and horn tightly.
“We are going to follow Cowboy,” she tells Fireball, “and just take it easy.”
We make our way out of the fence, going to the path that leads to the woods. The sounds of the cracking of branches echo into the darkness. “Are you sure this is safe?”
“As safe as you’ll ever be,” I assure her. “If you think it’s peaceful during the day,” I tell her, “you haven’t seen anything yet. Just relax, Sweetheart.”
“Okay.” She smiles at me. “Just take it in, I guess.”
“Just take it in.” I nod. “Listen to the sound of—”
“Nothingness.” She chuckles. “Literally nothing.”
“Peaceful, right?”
“I don’t think I have heard one siren since I’ve been here,” she tells me as we walk through the forest. “You hear it so much in the city, it’s just background noise at some point, but now that I think about it, I haven’t missed it.”
“Glad to hear it.” I watch her look down at the horse as we walk side by side in the darkness. Neither of us says anything, and we just enjoy the moment. The lights start to come into focus as we make our way over to what I spent the afternoon setting up.
“What is that light?” She points at the fairy lights I strung up in the trees.
“That is surprise number two.” I look over at her, seeing her eyes go big. “What is better than a quiet nighttime ride than a nighttime picnic?”
“You—” Her head whips around. “You set up a picnic in a forest?”
“Well, I would ask you to cook, but—” I chuckle.
“No one needs that in their life,” she continues for me, “not one person. It’s so bad.” She laughs at herself. “But dessert?” She shrugs one shoulder. “I rocked dessert.”
“That you did,” I agree, coming to a stop near the picnic area and getting off my horse before walking to her and helping her down.
“Are they going to be okay?” she asks me, and I nod as I lead her over to the blanket I placed out here. “This is so pretty.” She looks around at all the hanging lights.
“Sofia got engaged here,” I tell her, and she looks at me with big eyes. “We set all this up for Matty.”
“It must have been so pretty.” She turns in a circle, taking it all in.