Page 13 of Irresistible Second Chance

“It’s nice that you don’t smell like manure anymore.”

“Thanks for saying I don’t smell like shit anymore,” he joked making me and Santos laugh. He led our horses a short distance down the beach and at the start of what I gathered was the trail to the national park.

There was a magnificent looking black horse tied to a limb there, and just as smoothly as Chris, Santos climbed up, making me feel mildly incompetent. I was good at most things, and I didn’t like being shown up. It wasn’t that I thought life was a competition. I mean, I sort of did, but I didn’t like looking as if I didn’t know what I was doing.

Thoughts of my graceless equestrian skills, or lack thereof, floated from my head as we entered the trail. It was beautiful as far as the eye could see. Green, lush views surrounded me. I tried to soak it all in as I looked everywhere. The trees overhead provided the perfect canopy, and something swung from a tree and landed on a branch across from me.

“Is that a monkey?” I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’d never seen one in person. I stared where I saw it disappeared to and held back a laugh as it peeked from behind its hiding place and stared back at me.

“That is probably the cutest thing I’ve seen in my life.”

“They are cute,” Santos agreed, “But mean. I would keep my distance.”

“Mean?” I couldn’t believe that and found myself waving at it.

Chris laughed, “Do you expect it to wave back?”

“Shhh, you’re ruining the moment.”

He chuckled and my eyes met his. He’d always knew how to cheer me up. Even before living in the moment had become the mantra of our generation, he’d always been the type to make sure I did just that. He was mindful before it became a catchphrase.

I found myself smiling back at him. I was grateful for his presence. Yes, things had gotten a little heated last night, but now we were back to normal. It felt good to be around a friend. I didn’t have many. I didn’t make friends easily. I was just too busy and being vulnerable wasn’t my strong point. Not to mention, I flaked on people a lot. I was the type to agree to go somewhere and then text you ten minutes before to say I decided to stay in and wash my hair. I was terrible. It was surprising anyone liked me at all.

I noticed then that the topography was changing. The land had been flat for a while, but now we were further up, a gradual incline that gave me a view of the forested area below. Through the thickness of the trees, I could see a stream. It was beautiful and I turned to Santos and asked if we could visit it.

He nodded, “We’re almost there, actually.”

“Almost there?”

“To the waterfall, miss. Didn’t Chris tell you?”

He sighed, “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“Ah, Chris,” Santos said shaking his head, “You should have told me that. My mom always said I was terrible at surprises.”

He then slowed up, stopped, slid off his horse and turned to us and said. “We’ll leave them here and continue on foot.”

“Sounds good to me,” Chris said sliding off his horse and then coming around to help me off. He took my hand, and I swung one leg around to meet the other and let Chris lower me down, his hand around my waist.

Feeling shy again, I looked away, saying thank you and turned my attention to Santos, who was patiently waiting for us in front of a dark trail.

“Are you sure the waterfall is this way?” I asked. “It looks like the way Hansel and Gretel went before they got eaten.”

“I think you’re confusing your fairytales,” Chris said as he fell into step next to me. “That was Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma who got eaten.”

“The whole point is that someone got eaten, Chris, and I don’t want that to happen to me.”

Santos laughed, overhearing the entire exchange. “I assure you, ma’am, no one will be eaten on my watch.”

Feeling somewhat better, I closed my mouth and followed Santos in silence. I was breathing a little heavily when we finally slowed down due to the steepness and told myself that I needed to hit up the Stairmaster at the gym a lot more. In fact, I needed to go to the gym in general. I had a membership courtesy of my company’s health insurance, but I never went. As we made our way through the trees, I had to stop myself from leaning against one and just trying to get my breathing under control.

“Are we there yet?” I couldn’t help but ask. I didn’t care that I sounded like a whiny child. “My legs are burning.”

“It is a bit of a hike,” Santos said. He hadn’t even broken a sweat and his steps were light. I wanted to be Santos for a moment. He could take my low performing cardio-vascular system and I could take his. Maybe then I would be able to walk a tenth of a mile uphill.

It was all worth it though when he led us down a path that sharply declined and in front of us was a waterfall like ones I’d seen in movies, except it wasn’t CGI. It was real life.

It was at least 20 feet high and the water at the bottom was crystal blue.

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