Page 43 of Falling Like Leaves
“Not really.”
“I’m not going until you’re ready,” he tells me.
“Okay, fine. I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be.”
He nods and squeezes his calves, and we’re off. I squeal and grasp on to him tighter.
“You good?” he asks.
I’m not falling off. I’m not being kicked. I’m fine. “Yes?” I answer. But it comes out with less conviction than I intend.
We’re walking down the dirt path when Cooper veers left and heads into the woods.
“Um, where are we going?” I ask.
“Just for a walk.”
The woods are filled with birds chirping and bugs buzzing and trees rustling in a whispering breeze. I close my eyes andlisten. It’s a calming symphony I’ve never heard in the city.
It almost doesn’t feel real.
I open my eyes to the sound of rushing water. Cooper has brought us to a river lined with trees and brush. Ink walks along it, carrying us back in the direction of the stables.
“How’d you learn to ride?” I ask.
“Dad used to be a farmhand here when he was younger. I spent every summer here with him. Except foroursummer—I ditched him that year. Anyway, he taught me, but it’s not something I really do a lot. Or ever, anymore.”
“Why not?”
“I never wanted to be an equestrian,” he says, smiling as he looks back at me out of the corner of his eye. He shrugs. “And I got busy with other stuff.”
“Like working at the Caffeinated Cat?”
“Yeah, among other things.”
Cooper steers us left again, and after a minute we come out of the woods and ride into a large meadow full of wildflowers in the back of the farm.
“Oh my god, it’s so pretty,” I say.
“Is that why you’re squeezing me to death?” he asks with a laugh.
“Oh.” I loosen my grip and give him space, the warm autumn air suddenly feeling cold against the areas of my torso no longer pressed against him. “Sorry.”
“If you apologize to me one more time, I’m throwing you off this horse.”
I laugh. “Okay, sorry!”
“Ellis!”
“It just comes naturally. I can’t help it!” My head falls against his back as I laugh harder, and his body shakes with his own laughter.
We get back to the stables, where someone has already taken care of Coffee. Cooper hops off Ink, then helps me down.
“Well, thanks for helping me overcome my irrational fear of horses,” I tell him.
“You’re welcome.”
“And I’m totally not sorry about your nose.”
