Page 79 of The Backup Bride Proposal

He downed the coffee, brushed his teeth and climbed into his clothes while Mae braided her hair. When they were both ready they were out the door, heading toward the barn where the working horses were housed. The dogs had bounded out the door as well, running amok to parts unknown.

“You need help saddling?” he asked.

“No, thanks, I’ve got it.”

He saddled his horse, Arnold, then watched as she did hers, a mare named Joy.

He watched to make sure she didn’t need assistance. He should have known better. Mae was adept, knew every step like she’d done this before and double-checked her work to make sure the saddle was on securely.

“Nice work,” he said.

She grinned, put her foot in the stirrup and hoisted herself onto the mare. “Yeah, I did a summer in college working as a hand on a ranch. I learned a lot.”

“Yeah? That must have been fun.”

“It was hard, but also one of the best times of my life. I met amazing, hardworking people who changed my worldview. Plus, I’ve always enjoyed learning something new. And that’s never a bad thing.”

He could well imagine. “I can still remember coming here every summer as a kid. My grandparents would put me to work from sunup until sundown, doing everything from cleaning the chicken coops and horse stalls to grooming the horses. I had to learn how to care for every horse before I ever had the chance to saddle up and ride one.”

“That must have been frustrating.”

“It was, but, like you said about your experience, I learned a lot. And I never took for granted the importance of caring for the animals and how that had to come first before the fun stuff.”

“Like riding.”

He looked over at her and smiled. “Yeah. Like riding.”

The skies were just starting to lighten when he led them down a riding trail to the east. No trees in this area to obstruct the sunrise view. The horses had taken this pathbefore, so they knew the way without much leading. He knew the way, too, had taken rides every day whenever he came here. Which meant he could focus more on Mae, who seemed comfortable in the saddle, her attention focused exactly on what it should be—her horse and the way in front of her.

The path was wide enough for them to ride side by side, so he pointed out various spots of interest, like a fallen log or a hidden pond, told her about his favorite spot for fishing as a kid.

“I used to go here all the time with my grandpa. He’d tell me stories about when he was a kid.”

“That must have been fun. Probably enlightening, too.”

“Yeah, it was. Every time I wanted to complain about being worked hard, I remembered the stories he’d told me about his childhood and I shut right up and did what I was told.”

She slanted a smile at him. “Smart.”

He led them to an overlook just as the sun started to rise, so they stopped and got off the horses, walking them over to some shade trees. Kane took Mae’s hand and they hiked up to an outcropping and sat. Kane pulled his water container out and handed it to Mae, who took a sip.

And then the sun lifted over the horizon, sending out orange and yellow streaks like it was reaching its arms out for a wide morning stretch.

Mae was silent for a long time, obviously taking it all in, so he didn’t say anything, letting her watch. He liked that she didn’t immediately pull out her phone to take pictures. Sometimes you just needed to be in the moment so you could appreciate it more.

“Wow,” Mae finally said, looking over at him with a wide smile. “It must be incredible to see that every day. No clutter around, no big buildings blocking your view.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty sweet. The nice thing about getting up early to do chores or go fishing is you get to watch the sun come up.”

“It’s good to have some advantage to getting up before the sun.”

“Yeah. How about you?”

“What about me?”

“Seen many sunrises?”

She laughed. “A few here and there. Not many as amazing as this one.”

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