Page 34 of Starry Skies, Stolen Kisses, and My Best Friend's Brother

I look to Abi.She grimaces and holds up her phone, mouthing, “I missed it.”

I’m not a hundred percent sure he saw her anyway.

“We’ll go down to the river.”Abi motions toward the path.“It’s about a half hour there, and then we can cross and go to the grove, which is another half hour.Then we’ll come back the same way.”

“Let’s do it,” one woman squeals, and the others cheer in agreement.They are overly excited about this ride.Something is definitely off.

Ten minutes in, and I’ve dismounted four times to fetch flip-flops.This two-and-a-half-hour ride will take all day.

Forty-five minutes later, we finally make it to the river.It’s a fairly shallow and calm area, and the horses hang out for a minute and drink.Then we are off again toward the grove on the Martin’s property.They let us bring our horses out here, and we let them use our swimming holes and camp whenever they want.

“Dusty, sweet Dusty Wusty.You’re my favorite horsey in the world.”One of the women is leaning over, stroking Dusty’s mane.

I wait until the path opens and pull up next to her.She still hasn’t sat back up.

“Are you okay?”I ask.She sits up, her face a little slack.

“What?Oh, yeah.I just love my horse.So much.Have you seen his eyes?They are so pretty.I think I want to marry this horse.It’s a boy, right?”

I blink at her for a minute, unsure what’s going on.Before I can respond, she leans over and kisses Dusty’s mane.Then she licks him.

“Woo,” the girl in front of me cheers so loud that my horse spooks.I quickly get her under control, but my neighbor isn’t so lucky.Dusty rears up.But since the woman is already leaning forward, she wraps her arms around his neck and miraculously manages to stay on.

“See, he loves me too.You can’t fight true love,” she says.“Men are assholes.Horseys are better.”

I grab both horses’ reins so they don’t do anything reckless and glance up at Abi.She’s looking back at me with wide eyes.

“We’re fine,” I say.But in that instant, the girl in front shouts “woo” again, and her horse takes off running.Abi goes after her, and I keep everyone calm here.I leave Horse Lover behind and check on the bride and her other friend.The bride seems fine but a little bored.Her friend, however, is suddenly sobbing out of the blue.

“Are you okay?”I ask.

“Did you see that?”she says between sobs.“Amy just took off into the woods.We’re never going to see her again.She’s lost to us forever.”

“I’m sure Abi will find her.”These women are nuts.I wonder what they drank or took before we started our journey.

“Abi can do that?”Her mouth drops like I just said Abi was a heart surgeon.“She must be a superhero.”She whispers the last word.Then she bursts into tears again.“I’m going to be alone forever.No man will ever love me.”

The bride huffs.“Don’t mind her.She’s always whining about true love.”

“That’s why I chose the horse.”Horse Lover trails kisses along Dusty’s mane.The bride continues sucking down on her pack, and Abi comes back with Woo Girl and her horse.She’s singing now at the top of her lungs.

I join Abi up front and trust the girls will follow us.I know I can’t stay with her in the lead position long, especially if my suspicions are true, but we’ve got to talk.

Abi shakes her head and glances back.“Miraculously, in the two minutes we’ve taken our eyes off of them, they’re still all there.We’re gonna turn around.We’ll take a break at the small clearing up there so I can make sure the horses are all okay and then head back.The women won’t know we didn’t go the whole way.”We can see the clearing.It’s a good place to turn around.

“I don’t think it’s water in those packs.”

“I agree, but I asked that girl, and she said it was just water.Got a little defensive actually.”

“Hmm.I wonder if I can get one of them to share?”

“You trust where those mouths have been?”Abi asks.

“No, but we need to find out.I’ll check with the sobbing girl.She seems the most likely to not have mouth herpes.On account of her sobbing that she’ll never find a man.”

“I don’t know if it’s worth it.”

I fall back, and Woo Girl grabs my horse’s reins.“Wahoo.Look at me.I’m a cowgirl.”

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