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Lee looked around at the woods and the chirping birds. She was suddenly feeling tired and wanted little more than to lie down on the ground and find some sleep, but it wasn’t even noon.
"What's your name?" The man asked. His voice was quiet and calm, like there was nothing that could rattle him. He turned to look at her with a small smile on his face.
"What?" She asked him.
"What is your name?" He asked.
"Why do you want to know what my name is?" She asked him, mildly confused, and alarmed.
"When two people are traveling together, it is only normal that they know each other's name. Build a bridge, see?" He asked and she nodded slowly.
"Catherine," she said to him and he paused. There was a mildly disappointed look on his face then he nodded.
"That's a lovely name, Catherine. The thing is that it isn't yours," he said. Lee frowned at him.
"Why do you say that?" She asked.
"Because it is the truth," he replied and squatted to get more water. She wanted to ride away immediately. She knew that it would take a while before he would be able to give chase, but he truly didn't seem like the kind of person that would hurt her and he had not done anything suspicious in the hour and half they had ridden together.
"My name's Lenanee," she finally said, looking away from him.
"That's a fine name. Pleasure to meet you, Lenanee," he said.
"Mm, how did you know I wasn't telling the truth anyway?" She asked and he shrugged.
"I've seen a lot of people fabricate bullshit. It starts to kinda follow a pattern that you begin to notice if you're observant," he said.
"What is your own name?" She asked him and he smiled like the question was genuinely pleasing to him and he was more than excited to introduce himself.
"Austin. Austin Butler," he replied. She looked at him as he went and loaded his water bottle back in the space that was created for it in the saddle.
"You make many rides into the wilderness often?" She asked him. He shrugged.
"I make as many as I need and there's also the part about herding the cattle. Sometimes we just camp up for a few days and let them graze so…yeah," he said.
"You own a ranch," she said. It wasn't a question. His eyes sparkled at that but his face remained in its normal smiling countenance.
"I would like to. Fortune hasn't seen fit to bestow one upon me yet," he said.
"I see," she said. There was something relaxing about the way he spoke, the way he moved with such comfortable gestures that was strange and soothing for her. She had been around Kenneth for so long and his darting nervous gestures were the things that she was more used to. She didn't even realize how nervous it made her, always on alert. Austin was different and when she realized that she made a comparison, she frowned and looked away.
"You look tired," he said casually. Lee wondered how in the world he seemed to know that, and she started having a faint suspicion that he could actually read her mind. She had shown no sign of exhaustion, but the truth was that she was. She hadnot eaten all day and she had been riding. All she wanted to do was lie down and she hoped she would not fall asleep in the saddle.
"I'm not tired. I just…I might want to sit down for a while," she said to him and he nodded slowly then walked to his horse and took something that looked like a small sack then he threw it to her. She barely caught it as it landed on her belly and immediately, she perceived what was inside, she looked up at him.
"I do hope that you're not vegan since that is dried meat. You don't look like you've eaten anything since yesterday," he said.
"You're sharing your food with me?" She asked him and he nodded.
"Yes I am. I feel full and I have some of that left so don't you worry," he said and she looked down at the parcel then shrugged and got off the horse. Her legs immediately screamed a protest from the abuse they had suffered and she felt chafing on the insides of her thighs, reminding her that she had not ridden so much in the last couple of years and had grown soft. One more thing to hate Kenneth for but did she truly hate him? She didn't know. She sat down on the ground and started eating slowly. When her stomach started getting full, her mouth also started to loosen.
"So how do you know these parts as well as you do?" She asked him and he shrugged, laying down and resting his head on his hands.
"Ah well, I grew up in this area and used to ride around with my brothers. Part of the reason I know it this well is because I havegotten lost so many times without count and can't even begin to tell you the half of how I found my way back to civilization but that is…that is something that I will leave to your imagination, shall I?" He said and chuckled to himself as he stared at the sky with a faint smile on his face. I wondered how someone could be so relaxed. He didn't even look like he was feigning it.
"Why did you come out here anyway? I mean, you'd have to be riding out pretty far and be pretty absent minded most of the time to be lost in a place like this," he said, still looking up.
Lee wondered what to tell him. How would it sound to tell him that I was thinking about a man that broke her heart and ended up wandering out here? A part of her told her that wouldn't be quite flattering for her so she kept quiet for a time, searching for the right answers to give him.
