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She gets up from where we’re sitting and takes off, once again leaving me alone on this picnic bench with a paper to write and still knowing very little about her, but I’m starting to understand her anger. Justified or not.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dalton
After practice, I head home and get ready for my nightly run. With my earbuds in, I start out the back gate of our property and go down the same path I run on a daily basis.
When I look out, I notice something that I’ve never really paid attention to before, but until now, I guess I never really cared what it was. Straight ahead, across the river, I see the back side of the Spencer Ranch, but what I see is definitely not being used anymore.
Barns that look like they’ve seen better days stand empty with nothing growing around them, and every fence seems to have been either broken or knocked over completely and left there to rot.
How could I have never noticed what’s been right in front of me this entire time?
I continue on my run until I see Natalie across the river, standing next to a horse.
I duck behind a tree so she doesn’t see me, but now, I can see just how visible I’ve been to her. Yet here I am, kicking myself for never once noticing anything around these hills that I run on every day.
I watch as she brushes the horse with one hand while her other hand rests on the horse’s nose. It’s obvious the horse loves her by the way it nudges its head into her palm, almost like it’s thanking her for brushing it.
I’m completely mesmerized how she’s caring for something so large, yet she does it so calmly. The way her hand slides down its back, like she’s petting a small dog and not a large, wild animal three times her size, surprises me.
I’ve never been around any animals besides Maya’s little shih tzu–poodle, Ming. She’s cute and all, but she’s still just a dog. There’s something different in the way Natalie is looking at this horse. I can tell she cares for it very deeply. The thought kind of blows my mind a little.
Do I care about anything in my life that deeply?
I close my eyes and shake my head of whatever thoughts seem to be entering and how foreign they feel to me and get back to focusing on my run.
Once I’m back at my place and I’ve eaten and showered, I realize that paper is due tomorrow, and the only thing I know to write about Natalie is that her middle name is Marie, she loves horses, and she hates me.
I laugh at the idea of putting that last thought in the paper, but think against it, knowing the teacher probably wouldn’t like it much if I did.
I don’t have a choice, so I pick up the phone and text Natalie.
Paper is due tomorrow. Give me something I can write about.
Nah. You can get an F for all I care.
You can’t be serious.
If you paid just the tiniest bit of attention to the world around you and weren’t so self-centered, then you could figure out enough about me to write about. I was able to find what I needed about you, and my paper’s done.
I think about all the things I want to say back, but decide on throwing my phone against my bed in anger instead. My face heats up with frustration as I try to figure out ways I can finish this paper.
Maya pops into my head, and I pick up the phone, pressing her name and waiting for it to FaceTime her.
“Hey, Dalt,” she says as Ben comes into focus.
“What’s up, guys? I need your help.”
I watch as Ben checks his phone in question.
“Did I miss your call?”
“No, I knew Maya would be able to help me more with this one. I didn’t even realize you’d be there.”
“When is he not here?” Maya teases as she pushes him off her lap and sits up on the couch she’s on.
I’ll never understand the two of them, so I just stopped trying to figure them out years ago.
