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Nodding, I walk to the main staircase and up to my room. My mind is on Isa the entire time. Is Mrs. Potter right? Can I be happy again? I haven’t been truly happy in so long, I don’t even know if that’s possible.
I get changed and go out to the stables. The snow has begun melting, which means I can use the trail to get into town. I pat Apollo’s neck and he noses my pocket. I pull out a carrot that I grabbed on my way out.
“You spoil him,” Thomas grunts. I grin. As sweet as Petunia is, Thomas is equally curmudgeonly. But I also know he’s all bark and no bite. He’s a softie on the inside.
“’Cause he’s a good boy, aren’t you, Apollo?” I run my hand down his soft nose, and he grunts his response.
“See, even Apollo knows he’s a good boy.”
“Do you want Cleo tied to Apollo or do you want to hold her reins?” he asks.
“I’ll hold them,” I say as I get up on Apollo. He hands me her reins and steps back.
“You’ve been going to town quite a bit lately,” he says.
Shrugging, I nudge Apollo to start walking. “Just have some business to attend to,” I say vaguely.
“Is that what the kids call it nowadays?” Thomas mutters.
I chuckle and get the horses moving in a canter toward the trail. A few miles later, I move us through a bit of uncleared snow at the small park behind Flagstaff Road and then I turn onto Main Street. It’s a slow evening. Only a few cars dot the thoroughfare. I stop in front of Elisha’s bakery. Before I even have the horses tied up, Elisha is standing on the sidewalk.
“Do not fuck around with Isa,” she says. Her eyes might as well be shooting flames at me.
I hold up my hands. “I thought I made it clear. I would never hurt Isa.”
“I don’t like this wholearrangementyou have going,” she says, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Understood,” I say as I step around her to ring the bell for Isa’s apartment.
“Just remember, I have a shovel,” she says as the door buzzer sounds and I open it.
“Yeah, I haven’t forgotten,” I tell her. I hurry up the stairs and the door flies open. I find Isa in a pair of jeans, a cream sweater, a scarf, and a hat.
Felipe sees me and bounds over, nearly knocking me down. “Hey, Felipe,” I say as I scratch his head as he leans all one hundred and fifty pounds of his weight against me.
“You ready?” I ask.
“Sure,” she says as she eyes me with curiosity. “Do I need to bring anything else?”
“Does Felipe like nature walks? He can tag along if you like. Is he OK to be off leash?” I ask, realizing I don’t want her using Felipe as an excuse to leave me early.
“Oh. Uh, sure. Let me just get his lead in case I need it.” She grabs a lead and puts some sort of ridiculous dog coat on Felipe who stares at me pathetically. I give him a look that says, “Sorry, buddy. I can’t help you with this one.”
“All set,” she says as she slides her phone into her pocket.
They follow me outside and she looks at Apollo and Cleo. “Uh, how am I supposed to get up there?” she asks, looking around as if I may have brought steps.
I grin. “Come here,” I command. I place my hands on her waist and place her up on top of Cleo, who for the record is not that large of a horse. Although with Isa sitting up on top of her, she does seem bigger than she is.
“Do you know how to ride?” I ask, frowning as I hadn’t thought about that before this very moment.
“Oh, sort of,” Isa says. I give her a quick tutorial and then we head down to the end of the block and start on the trail. Felipe happily walks beside us.
“I never come back here,” Isa says as we meander the path.
“I hadn’t been back here in ages…before the other day,” I state.
“It’s pretty,” she adds as she looks around us at the barren trees, stone outcroppings, and frozen waterfalls of the stream that runs alongside us.
