Page 46 of Touch the Sky

I blink, bracing for her to take it back, but she doesn’t.

“It’s two couples, so…”

She rattles off a list of horses to get ready. I repeat the names in my head a couple times before I realize she didn’t pick a horse for me.

I open my mouth to argue again, but then I see the corner of her lips lift in a smirk.

“No, I didn’t forget you,” she says. “You can ride whoever you want.”

Chapter 11

Jacinthe

The sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs fills the forest as we make our way up the trail. The air is sharp with an evening chill that makes the inside of my nose tickle. I can hear Nana lumbering along behind me where I’m leading the trek on Pierrot.

It didn’t surprise me that Tess picked Nana. She’s the definition of a gentle giant. Seems like they’d get along.

Not that Tess is a giant, but she felt extra tall hovering over me in the yard earlier, her strong farrier hands holding me steady, her green eyes staring straight into my soul.

The back of my neck burns as I wonder if there’s some way she can tell what I’m thinking.

It’s embarrassing, really, to be thinking about a woman’s strong hands so much. I’m supposed to be the woman with the strong hands. I’m supposed to be the one with the rugged butch charm. I’m not supposed to fall for it myself.

Notthat I’m falling.

Sure, I almost fell into her stupidly big muscled arms today, but that is not the same as falling forher.

I glance behind me at where the guests are plodding along the trail behind me and Tess, their fluorescent helmets and high-vis vests gleaming like beacons in the darkening woods.

They made the usual jokes about feeling dorky in the construction site get-up, but as I’ve learned through many years of experience, you can never make your trail riders too visible.

We’re almost at Sunset Ridge, a plateau on a big hill that conveniently has another plateau on the opposite side, which we call—shockingly—Sunrise Ridge. The woods are thinning, the trail leading us out past the final wall of trees and onto the wide, rocky plateau.

“Wow!” I hear one of the guests say. “This is gorgeous.”

I grin at the reaction. I’ve seen more sunsets here than I can count, but something about watching somebody experience the view for the first time always makes me look at these mountains with fresh eyes.

“This is our spot,” I announce. “Mesdames et monsieurs, if you could all bring your horses over by that hitching post, I’ll help you dismount so we can enjoy the sunset.”

I point at the simple wooden rail that’s been worn down to a smooth sheen over the decades. The horses know the drill, so the riders don’t have to do much steering. Once they’re safely gathered by the rail, I swing myself off Pierrot.

The second my feet hit the ground, my head spins, the edges of my vision blurring. I brace one of my palms on the saddle, blinking hard as I wait for the head rush to clear.

I thought I ate enough to feel better, but my whole body is begging me to curl up on the ground and close my eyes.

“Hey.”

I look over my shoulder and find Tess has already dismounted and walked up beside me with Nana in tow.

“You need to sit down.”

She keeps her voice low enough that none of the guests will hear, but her forehead is furrowed with a stern, silent warning that she’ll argue louder if I don’t agree.

I glance at the riders, who are all craning their necks to watch the sun sink towards the horizon.

I’ll have to move fast if I don’t want them to miss the sunset.

I don’t know if I can move fast.