Page 9 of Rewrite Our Story

“I could ride these trails in my sleep and you know it. I’ll be fine. It’s summer. The snow has melted. It hasn’t rained in ages. Again. I’ll. Be. Fine.”

“You’ll be fine because you’re not going alone.” Cade loops the reins around Tonka’s saddle horn. He looks to Dolly, who is already tacked up and patiently waiting to go out.

“Yeah?” I argue, placing my hands on my hips. “And who’s going to go with me? Because I’m not missing it. It’smybirthday after all.”

“You won’t be going alone because I’m going with you.”

This makes my mouth snap shut. I glance down at my boots. The black leather is dirty, in desperate need of a cleaning but I’ve been too lazy recently. I think through what I want to say in response to him before looking back up.

When our eyes connect again, he’s buttoning up his shirt, his focus solely on me.

I flex my fingers anxiously, wondering if this is too good to be true. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

“Nowhere that’s more important than celebrating your birthday,” he answers. The rasp in his voice sends tingles down my spine.

Last week when Parker Prewitt asked to take me to Pop’s Ice Cream Parlor for a date, I hadn’t felt the same shivers as I do now. And this isn’t even a date. But it’s alone time withCade. The boy whose name I’ve doodled in every notebook. The one I always hoped to land on in every MASH game. And he’s offering to spend the night of my birthday with me.

No birthday wish could be better than this.

“You don’t have to,” I argue weakly. I want to spend this time with him with every part of me. But I’m in this weird limbo of no longer being the little girl who didn’t care if it bothered Cade when Pippa and I tagged along with him. Cade isn’t young anymore and I’m not either. I don’t want him to feel like he has to spend tonight with me because he feels bad Pippa isn’t. “I’m fine being alone.”

He rolls his eyes. “Youhatebeing alone.”

I fight my own eye roll.Damn Cade. He knows me too well.

“I hate feeling like a responsibility even more.” I walk up to Dolly, running a hand down her gray-speckled body. She whinnies in excitement when I pull a peppermint from the pocket of my cutoff jean shorts and hold my hand flat for her to lap it up.

The candy crushes between her teeth. I smile at her, loving how she nuzzles into my hand as she searches for another treat.

“You aren’t a responsibility. Now, let’s go.”

I turn my focus from Dolly to Cade. He stands next to Tonka, his fingers scratching at the horse’s favorite spot. Tonka lets out a pleased sound, turning his head to get Cade’s hand in the optimal position.

The two of us engage in a silent stare off. I pay close attention to his every move, trying to decipher if he means it or not. He isn’t typically the kind of person to lie to make someone feel better. He just won’t say anything at all. But for some reason, I can’t shake the feeling that he’s only doing this as a favor to his sister—or maybe for his parents. It could even be a favor to me. None of those answers are the reason I want him to be doing this.

The crush that I haven’t been able to shake has me believing that maybe, justmaybe, he actually wants to spend his evening with me.

Dolly lets out a loud neigh, making me jump.

Cade laughs. “You tell her, Dolly. I thought we were going to go for a ride, but Goldie seems to be happy just checking me out.”

I slide my foot in and heave myself over, adjusting my position in the saddle. “Stop fooling yourself,” I chide. “I wasn’t checking you out.”

Cade repeats my same motion, throwing one leg over Tonka’s back until he’s seated in the saddle. “You were definitely checking me out.” He clicks his tongue, coaxing Tonka away from the hitching post. “Let’s go.”

Before I can argue that all the girls that have started flocking to him in town have gotten to his head, he’s digging his heels into Tonka’s belly, propelling the horse forward.

He leaves me no choice but to guide Dolly right after him.

5

MARE - PRESENT

I’ve barely hadthe chance to open the passenger door of Cade's truck when a body comes crashing into mine. My back digs into the frame of the truck as Pippa envelops me in a bear hug.

“Mare,” she breathes into my hair, squeezing me tightly. “I’m so glad you came.”

I pull my best friend into my body, clutching her as tight as I can manage. “Of course I came,” I mumble into her hair, getting a mouthful of her straight, brown locks.

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