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Her focus shifted to the barn for a moment then she brought it back to him. “I know I said we weren’t going to go out for a ride, but if you’re up for it, you can get back on your horse and we can see how you do on a trail.”
“On my horse? That one?” He nodded toward the horse that still stood in the center of the corral. “What’s her name anyway?”
“She’s Bella. And we’d strictly be walking on this one.”
Putting all the weight on one stirrup, Adam climbed down from the saddle. His legs didn’t seem to want to come together. The way he walked, it felt like he was still seated on that hard surface.
Faye giggled. “Yeah, that’s gonna happen a lot. It’s what they mean when they say you’re walking bow-legged. Welcome to cowboy life. This is what you wanted, right?”
Adam gave her a dark look as he passed. “This? No. I didn’t want any of what happened today.”
“Nothing? What about those exciting moments? Like when you got the saddle on and when you got Blaze to stop?”
“Okay, that was fine. But I didn’t sign on for this helmet or the way my whole body is aching.” Just saying it out loud seemed to make his body hurt more. Every muscle, every joint, every bone, heck… every hair on his head seemed to cry out in agony. He thought he was in good shape. But apparently working on cars didn’t help much with that sort of thing.
The effort it took to lift one booted foot into the stirrup was far harder than he expected. He let out a groan and then shook his head and put his foot down. “Nope. I can’t do it. I’m gonna have to tap out for today.”
Adam glanced at Faye, expecting to see disappointment of some kind but couldn’t get a read on her. He stretched out his legs for lack of anything else he could do. And then attempted to stretch his back. Pain radiated everywhere from the top of his head right down to his toenails. If this was what riding was like, he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to handle it, and he’d been injured in more ways than he could count while working on cars.
Faye nodded. “Sure, if that’s what you want.”
They wandered in silence side by side toward the barn, each leading their own horse. Only Adam was limping and he didn’t even know why. It wasn’t like his feet were the biggest problem.
Everything was made ten times worse when he realized he had to remove Bella’s saddle and brush her down. Either he needed to get in better shape, or he needed to find a different way to connect with Dahlia.
“For what it’s worth, you did a pretty good job out there.” Her voice was quiet, more encouraging than she’d been since their lesson had started.
Adam glanced in her direction, not sure what to make of it. She could just be trying to make him feel better. And if that were the case, he didn’t want any of it. He let out a grunt as he continued running the brush from one end of his horse to the other.
“It was a first attempt. I didn’t expect to be an expert by the end of today,” he said.
“Don’t let today’s experiences get you down.”
“I didn’t say I was upset about anything.”
“Excuse me for sensing you’re a little disappointed.” The defensive tone returned to her voice. “You’re the one who wanted to learn, and it’s not my fault if you didn’t have the right expectations for what would happen on your first day. But just so you know, I’m not backing down from the deal we made. I want my mom’s truck fixed. So if you decide to quit—”
Adam spun to face her fully. “I’mnota quitter. Geez. What kind of folk have you been interacting with around here? Do people quit that easily?”
“Well, no… but—”
“The way you’re talking, I would have assumed they did. I’m not quitting just because one horse knocked me on my backside. Our next meeting will be at the shop. You need to come prepared to get dirt under your fingernails.” His gaze swept over her. “Working on cars isn’t easy either. Maybe you need to bring a helmet too.”
She stared at him for what felt like an entire minute before the corners of her lips quirked into a grin. “You’re joking.”
“Yeah. I am. Don’t be so serious all the time. This whole thing we’ve got going here isn’t really that sort of situation. You’re helping me, and I’m helping you. We can be friendly, alright? And for goodness sake, don’t treat me like some weakling from the city. I may have spent some time there, but I was born and raised in Copper Creek. I can handle myself just fine.” A few bumps and bruises weren’t enough to make him quit—at least not yet. Adam turned back to the task at hand, but when he shot a look in her direction, he noticed she seemed a bit more at ease.
Faye was something else. She was the kind of girl he would have expected to have been spoiled all her life and wanted everything given to her. The fact that she was willing to roll up her sleeves and do hard work was a breath of fresh air. Though he shouldn’t have been surprised. The women who were raised in this part of town were usually like that. They had to be or nothing would get done.
Back in Colorado Springs, women were vastly different. He’d been on his fair share of dates to know that they weren’t made the same out there. Granted, not all of the city girls were the same, but a heck of a lot of them had zero interest in doing the kind of work that built character. He’d met several that still lived with their parents or still got allowances from their folks. He always wondered what might happen if their parents passed away suddenly.
How would they survive?
If heaven forbid something drastic happened to Faye’s father, he didn’t have a doubt in his mind that she would survive.
He cleared his throat, causing her to meet his gaze. “Mind if I ask you something?”
Faye shrugged. “I guess. But it doesn’t mean I’ll answer.”
