AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I look around and wonder can this be my family? Zander and me, with my best friend and his brothers?
Watching everyone interact gives me hope—hope for a new life filled with love. Love, which was always out of reach, always two steps ahead no matter how hard I ran. I know it’s silly to think about such things so early in our relationship.
But when does the heart follow logic?
18
ZANDER
I knock on the door of the conference room, and Marr lifts her head from where it’s buried behind the laptop screen. She’s in a brainstorming session with Kristy and her team. Every pair of eyes turns from the projector toward me, but my attention is only on my girlfriend.
“Are we all set for tomorrow?” I ask from the doorstep.
She nods and then looks away. For some strange reason, she’s still shy around me in the office. I don’t understand why. It’s not like our relationship is a secret.
I step into the conference room, and everyone starts shuffling in their seats, turning my way.
I’m just checking on my girl, people.
Nevertheless, I praise my hardworking staff, toiling away on a Friday evening. “Great work, everyone. Keep it up.”
I reach to Marr as she slouches lower in her chair. Her coyness amuses me greatly.
“I’ll pick you up at twelve?” I ask in a hushed voice but still loud enough for everyone to hear.
She nods, looking at her laptop screen.
“Got a date, boss?” Kristy, sitting opposite Marr, grins at me.
“Sure do,” I reply with a grin of my own behind my blushing couch girl.
Everyone smiles, but Marr stays buried behind the black screen. The pink in her cheeks is the only indication that she’s not appalled by my Don Juan move.
* * *
“What do you say?” I put the car into park and point toward the sign.
“Pegasus Gallop Farms? What are we going to do here?” Marr clutches on the cuffs of her shirt, and I know the tugging will start any minute.
As much as I want our first date to be memorable, I’m also perceptive toward her anxiety issues. I wanted to take her outdoors, near nature someplace so we could talk in the quiet. So far, apart from the dinner where I basically invited myself to her and Kristy’s table, we haven’t been out. Our paltry time together has been through texts and calls.
“Horseback riding.” I get out of the car and wait for her to step out.
It takes a while before her door opens, and one after the other, the red canvas shoes softly land on the ground.
“Zander, I have never ridden a horse before. I… I can’t do it.” Her eyes nervously move from the green racecourse to the open fields.
I hold her hands in mine before she rips that cuff off.
“Marr, the guide will take us to the hills. He’s picked his most docile horse for you.” I tip her chin up with my finger. “It’s a smooth ride. I’m told you can see the whole town from the top.” I point my finger toward the top alpine meadows.
“How…do you know all this? I had no idea we had a horse farm in Cherrywood.” Her breathy voice and skittish manners, standing here like a deer in headlights, makes me want to fold her in my arms until she melts against me.
But one step at a time.
“I’ve been working on this date for a week now,” I confess, trying to tell her how important she, and this day, is to me.
“A week?” She licks her lips, and I’m about to forget my resolve of one step at a time before Bill joins us.
