‘Sorry,’ Lily said. ‘Just a reflex.’
Carole took her hand off the steering wheel to give Lily a hug and the car swung again, Lily shot a hand out and pushed the wheel back again, and Carole tutted again.
‘So here we are,’ Carole said a few minutes later.
‘Riding!’ they all exclaimed.
‘That’s right.’ She pulled the handbrake on before the car had actually stopped and they were all flung forwards and then backwards. ‘Sorry. Right. Here we go.’
They all got out of the car with varying degrees of enthusiasm and made their way into the stables.
‘I’m not sure about this,’ Norm said for about the seventeenth time as they got fitted with riding hats. His lower lip was actually trembling slightly.
‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ Matt told him. ‘Really. They aren’t going to put us on particularly feisty horses, I’m sure, and we’ll have a guide.’
‘I’m not so sure.’ Norm really did look positively tearful now.
‘You know what.’ Lily moved closer from where she’d been standing a few feet away. ‘I feel exactly the same way.’
‘You do?’ Norm gave the strap of his hat another tug. ‘What if we fall off? Do these hats actually fit properly? People are very susceptible to broken bones at my age.’
‘Honestly.’ Lily lowered her voice. ‘I hate horses. They’re terrifying. They’re sobig.’
Matt stared at her. Did she think this was going tohelp?
‘But I do get dragged out on rides from time to time,’ she said, ‘and, honestly, after I’ve pretty much wet myself each time, I end up going with it because, however much you want to say, “No, bugger off,” to your friends, or your partner, or whoever, you kind of can’t, so youhaveto go with it, and then, not joking, it’s often okay. Like one minute you’re thinking, “Oh my God, I’m going todie,” and the next you’re feeling kind of at one with nature and it’s lovely. And also, on this particular ride, you’re very, very lucky that I’m here, because I am truly, truly not a natural, and horses definitely sense that. I mean, it takes me a lot of attempts to get on. And then I’m stuck there rigid with fear, and yet wobbly, in a rigid way. And I’ve fallen off before now, which didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. And so on. You name an incompetent riding thing and I’ll have done it. So, on the off chance that you aren’t acompletelycompetent rider, I’m here to keep you company.’
‘That’s very good to hear.’ Norm nodded and looked like he was almost on the brink of smiling.
‘So I’m thinking—’ Lily lowered her voice further ‘—you and me, at the back together. Worst comes to the worst, we can sneak off the horses and walk along leading them and if all the others are miles ahead of us it won’t matter because we’ll be together.’
‘Lily, you’re a wonderful young lady.’
‘Thank you, Norm.’ She smiled at him. ‘You’re pretty cool too. I love your yacht.’ She widened her smile and Norm visibly puffed his chest out. ‘So do we have a deal? You aren’t going to ride off and leave me? You’ll stay at the back with me?’
‘Are you both alright?’ Matt asked. ‘Why don’t I ride with you?’ He hadn’t been on a horse since he was a child, and that didn’t count because someone had been leading it with a rope – riding had never really appealed – but how hard could it be? Much as he wanted to avoid Lily, it didn’t feel right leaving her and Norm to panic at the back alone.
‘That’s really kind,’ Lily said. ‘I think we’ll be okay.’
‘It would be great if you kept an eye on us,’ Norm said, ‘but we don’t want to ruin your experience. You go ahead.’
Matt fought an urge to laugh at Norm’s brave-little-soldier demeanour.
Lily giggled and nudged Norm. ‘You totally want to beg Matt to stay with us, don’t you?’ she said. ‘We don’t even know if he’s any good on a horse. He might be worse than us. He might just be over-cocky.’
Norm laughed. Actually laughed. Lily was a miracle worker.
‘Are you joking?’ Matt said. ‘I’m going to be amazing.’
‘Have you ridden before?’ Lily tipped her head to one side and raised her eyebrows.
‘Not as such,’ Matt said, ‘but how hard can it be?’
‘I’m thinking pride might come before a fall,’ Lily said to Norm, and they both sniggered.
Pride didn’t come before an actual fall but it did come before a less enjoyable experience than Matt had anticipated.
Carole was like some kind of genius horse whisperer. Felix and Alfredo went on regular riding holidays in Wales and Argentina, they said, and were pretty good. Lily wasn’t as proficient as them but she waswaybetter than she’d – as it turned out – been pretending to be to cheer up Norm, and Norm and Matt were both pretty shaky on horseback. In slightly different ways.
