Page 50 of Falling Together

“I mean, kind of. I’ve never been around horses before.”

She smiles at him. And again, there goes those weird feelings bubbling up inside of me.

“I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do. If you’re nervous about anything, tell me, okay?”

“Okay.” He nods.

Georgia pats the horse in front of her. “This is Frito and⁠—”

“Wait, his name is Frito? Like the chip?” Luke asks.

She laughs. “Yes. Frito here is one of our newer horses we just got and the barn manager let his son name him.”

“And he named him Frito?” I ask.

“Max was eating Fritos at the time and thought he would like them so he snuck him a few chips, and he thought it was hilarious and that’s how the name stuck.”

Luke turns to look at the two of us. “Promise me you won’t name the baby Pringle or Dorito.”

“Oh my God.” Georgia doubles over in laughter.

“Damn.” I let out a low whistle. “There go the top two baby names.”

“Hey, I have to look out for this baby,” Luke says. “People name their kids weird things these days.”

Georgia pats him on the shoulder once she’s done laughing. “I promise, we’ll name him something normal.”

“It’s a boy?” Luke questions.

“We don’t know yet,” I say.

“I just say he,” Georgia tells him. “Makes it more real. But enough about the baby. Want to get started?”

“Yeah,” he says.

Georgia hops over the fence to lead Frito into the barn, and the two of us head inside to meet her.

“Grant, if you want to sit in the bleacher seats, we can do our thing out here,” Georgia instructs.

“Already trying to get rid of me?” I wink at her.

“Stop it.” A blush creeps up her cheeks as she shoves me away.

I find an empty spot to watch them as Georgia starts her lesson with Luke. He’s smiling at her as she instructs him on how to brush Frito.

It’s such a small thing, but Luke looks happy. It’s been a while since he’s been interested in anything. Even with the baseball team, his interest was waning toward the end. Horses weren’t an option for us. I never would have even thought about it before coming here.

It makes me feel like a shit dad because I don’t know what my kid likes. Well, aside from video games.

Thank God for Georgia, because if it weren’t for her, he’d probably still be moping in the house.

Georgia is not only gentle with Luke but with the horse too. She knows exactly what she’s doing to put Luke at ease. They’re smiling and laughing when someone brings a saddle over to them.

All of Georgia’s moves seem like second nature as she shows Luke exactly what to do.

“Hey, Dad. Georgia says if it’s okay with you, I can ride Frito,” Luke calls over to me.

I shake the thoughts from my head. “Sure thing, bud.”