Page 44 of Back in the Saddle

Caroline laughed, bowing her head to avoid crashing into a pine branch. ‘Not sure I’m buying it.’

‘Well, there was this one time I hid in Buck’s car when I was seven. He was going to a party, and I buried myself under a pile of blankets on the back seats.’

She laughed, again, and her laughter put a smile on his face.

He didn’t know many things about her. But he knew he could make her laugh. And just now, when there was no other soul in sight among the unfathomable vastness of rocks and greenery, this was a vital piece of information. Like a golden nugget hidden by the outlaws in the cave, Hunter tucked the sound of her laugh into the pocket of invisible treasures.

‘Did he find you?’ she asked.

He shook his head. ‘No. I got out at the party. I was out there for maybe half an hour. Forty minutes? It was carnage. I walked in on a couple having sex in a closet, thought the girl was getting murdered, and screamed my head off. They were like“Who is this kid? What’s he doing here?”

‘What did you do?’

‘Ran, of course. I hid back in Buck’s car. I don’t think he ever found out it was me. If he did, he never said.’

Caroline stared at him. ‘Unbelievable. Now I feel like my childhood was so boring in comparison.’

Then the smile slipped off her lips as she stopped abruptly, noticing the view.

The treetops looked like a carpet of the greenest grass from where they stood. The sun peeked over wispy white clouds,showering the landscape with bright summer glow. Birds chirped from all around, like they had plugged into the highest quality surround system.

‘It’s stunning,’ she whispered into the windless air.

Hunter briefly followed her gaze, but when he realised nothing had changed since the last time he was here, his eyes bored into her profile. Her green eyes were like two large emeralds. The natural surroundings seemed to bring out their colour even more. He thought he had seen green eyes before, and he had, of course. But not like that. Not like hers.

‘It really is,’ he said, not taking his eyes off her.

Caroline walked up to the edge and looked down. Seemingly satisfied, she took two steps back and turned to Hunter. ‘I think we should let it all go.’

He blinked, confused. ‘Let what go?’

‘All the bottled-up emotions. Come on, I can tell you have plenty of them. Even though you put on a good front.’

‘Sure. Who doesn’t? But I have no idea what you want me to do about them.’

She grinned, raising both of her arms in the air. ‘Isn’t it obvious? Release them into the air, let them crash over the edge. Sort of like a mental cleanse, metaphorically speaking.’

He reached her side, gazing at the horizon. ‘I wouldn’t have picked you for someone who believed in that kind of thing.’

‘It’s something my friend Erin taught me.’ Her eyes darkened. ‘Sometimes I struggle with expressing my feelings. I worry too much and don’t talk about it. Then, suddenly, it’s this monster of emotions and everything I wanted to avoid.’

‘And how do you deal with them?’

Still grinning, she faced the untamed forest and rugged mountains and let out a long scream.

Hunter jumped back, startled. Somehow, he hadn’t expected that.

The sound carried in the air, dissipating into the wilderness. Caroline screamed again, letting the sound mix with laughter.

She turned to him, hands on her hips. ‘Your turn.’

‘What is the—’

‘Just yell. Scream your heart out. Trust me.’

He shot her an unsure glare. Then, he did just that. Opening his arms as if to throw out all the heartache into the outside world, he screamed.

For the unfairness of his father’s cancer. For the concern for what was going to happen to his family when Alan was gone. For his own heart, crushed five years ago and never fully recovered. For his broken dreams and plans put aside, never to be picked up again. The wind mixed with the noise he made, but Hunter just kept going. Only once his throat had dried up did he fall silent, practically panting from the effort.

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