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It was a bombardment of words, and no matter how much I wanted to respond to any single one of them, my jaw was slack, and no specific response came to mind. It was like my brain had become an Etch-a-Sketch that had been shaken, taking all the things I had wanted or fantasized about saying to Jade the next time I saw her and jumbling them together into a mess that no longer meant anything.
I had dreams about telling this girl which bridge she could jump off and still other dreams where I assisted her in her leap. Now she was hugging me and jumping up and down and smiling with her impossibly white teeth. I tried to smile back. It was like I forgot how to do that too.
Then, it hit me. I needed to play along. Even if it was fake, even if I just did it so I could plot revenge for later, I needed to at least pretend to be happy to see her. Fake it until you make it.
Suddenly, like a switch had been flipped, it all came back to me. A coldness went over my heart, and I accepted the situation as it was. A wide smile broke across my face.
“Come with me,” I said brightly. “Let’s go down to the paddock where the horses are ready for your lesson.”
“Yay!” she said, a joy on her face that I remembered from better days when ice cream sundaes were had and discussions of which celebrity we would most like to be stuck on a desert island were the deepest of conversations.
Jade proceeded to talk, non-stop, all the way to the paddock, through saddling a horse, leading it to the ring where the beginning adult riders started, and mounting up. When she was finally on top of the horse, she stopped to take a breath, but I realized I hadn’t actually paid any attention to anything she had said. It was all one wall of sound that had emanated from her. Desperately, I searched for any snippet of any of it that I could recall and turned to her.
“So, you live in Ashton now,” I said. “That must be nice.”
“Oh, yes, it is,” she said, beaming. “Trevor inherited a beautiful place from his uncle who died last year. Girl, it is gorgeous. Four thousand square feet of it is the living area. Then there’s a big dining room and kitchen and a whole-ass ballroom. I told Trevor we will never use a ballroom, but he said he thinks we will. His family got so much money from that dead uncle they are going to go into politics. Trevor’s father is a shoo-in to win the congressional seat in his district.”
“Wow,” I said.
“It’s amazing. So, how do I make it go?”
“Hmm?” I asked.
“The horse,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m doing, remember? I’ve never ridden before.”
“Oh, right,” I said. “Remember how I showed you to hold the reins. Now just lightly with your heels, tap him here.”
I showed her where to kick, and she did so, getting the old horse, Bentley, to move. Jade’s mouth went wide in a smile as Bentley did all the work and started going around in the circle. Bentley was probably the most amiable of the starter horses for adults. I chose him because, for one, he was open for the day, and for two, I didn’t want anything to happen to Jade and for Camden to think I did it on purpose by setting her up on a more difficult horse. If she got hurt on Bentley, then it would just be karma.
Me saying silent prayers that maybe Bentley would buck her off in a sudden bout of mild hysteria was beside the point.
“This is so wonderful,” Jade said a moment later, seemingly dashing any hope that she was having difficulty at something simple. Of course, she didn’t. Jade never had trouble with anything.
“It is,” I agreed half-heartedly.
“I always wanted to ride a horse. Did you know that?” she asked. “My folks thought it was stupid of me to learn unless I was going to compete, and you know how I felt about competitive sports.”
Yeah, I thought. You left them for others while you competed for boys.
“Uh-huh,” I said instead.
“I only signed up for this class because when I mentioned it to Trevor, he had the best idea. He wants to do a huge destination wedding on San Jose Island, just off Port Aransas.”
“Where is that?” I asked.
“It’s right on the gulf. It’s this gorgeous private island. Literally, there is only one way onto the island, and that’s by ferry. No vehicles allowed. But Trevor wants to bring horses, and we can ride them there on the island. It’s going to be so romantic. We’re going to ride them into the ceremony and then when it’s over, ride off into the sunset. Then the guests will stay at the south end of the island, and he and I will be whisked away to Cancun.”
