Page 102 of The Lost Book of First Loves

She sent him a sidelong look before returning her attention to the road. “Grandma gave me a big lecture when I got home about how I have to be careful of cash-poor cowboys like Clint, now that I’m a trust-fund baby.”

“Probably good advice,” he answered.

She didn’t have a chance to respond as she slowed down to turn in to the parking lot at the trailhead as the sun crested the mountains.

“You’re still okay if I shoot our trip?”

She probably looked exhausted, nothing like his usual lovely companions, but she knew he wanted to make a video for his travel channel of the trips available closer to his home.

“I guess,” she said.

She had already agreed and didn’t want to back out now, even if she did have bags as big as horseshoes under her eyes.

Xander set up two different tripods and cameras to record them unloading the horses from the trailer, saddling the two they were riding, Nan and Robbie, loading up their packhorse, Hutch.

Finally, when everything was ready, she locked up the truck and trailer, stowed the key where she couldn’t lose it in hersaddlebag and waited while he gathered his cameras again and set them up before she mounted Nan.

“Where are we and where are we going?” he asked her, holding up another camera for her to answer for the video.

“We are at the trailhead which will eventually lead us to, among other places, Hidden Lake, in the Wind River mountain range, which is in the Bridger Wilderness of western Wyoming.”

“How far will we be going?”

“It’s about ten miles of hard riding into the lake, with spectacular scenery along the way.”

“You’re from this area, but you’ve been going to law school in Utah,” he said. “How long since you’ve been on a horse?”

If he was going to film every minute, she really should have put some makeup on, though that probably would have looked stupid for a trip into the wilderness on horseback.

“I’ve been trying to ride every day since I came back earlier this summer, but those have all been pretty short rides, no more than an hour or two. What about you?”

He turned the camera back to himself. “I’ve been a few times this summer, but I’m definitely out of practice. I’m hoping it comes back, like riding a bike.”

She smiled. “For what it’s worth, I am slightly more experienced on a horse than on a bike. And don’t worry. Nan and I will take pity on you and try to set a slow pace.”

“Thanks.”

He grinned and she thought how cute he looked in his trucker cap, jeans, boots and, like her, a zippered hoodie they would both probably be shedding within the hour as the day heated up.

For now, it was brisk and refreshing as they started up the trail. This was her favorite time in the mountains, early morning in the middle of summer, when the wildflowers blanketed the meadows and the birds chattered noisily in the trees.

She was glad they had decided to ride horses instead of hiking in, even though it was logistically more complicated. They had to haul in certified weed-free feed for the horses, all their tack and any other emergency supplies they might need for them.

A ten-mile hike through the rugged terrain probably would have taken them most of the day. On horseback, they could be there in a few hours, set up and still have all afternoon and evening to fish, as well as the next morning before they had to ride back out.

They rode single file up the narrow track to avoid damaging plant life and unintentionally widening the trail, with Hutch on a lead rope behind her, and Xander bringing up the rear.

The first few miles, they climbed steadily deeper into the mountains, though Xander stopped them several times so he could set the cameras up to record video of them as they rode past, and twice so he could put up his drone to follow them from above before they reached the actual wilderness area, where drones were illegal.

His videos always seemed so effortless, she never really thought about how complicated the process of making them must be.

After an hour or so, they stopped to stretch their legs and let the horses have a drink from the creek running near the trail before they led them away to stake them on a picket line away from the running water.

“Why shouldn’t you tie up your horses close to a water source?” Xander asked, his camera trained on her as she hitched the horses to the line.

“How detailed do you want me to get?” she asked.

“The whole truth. That’s what I try to show on my travel videos, good, bad and in between.”

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