Page 33 of The Chances We Take

I went to protest or defend myself, but realized he wasn’t belittling or making fun of me. He was genuinely trying to help, so I pursed my lips and nodded, taking note.

I took hold of the reins, only slightly nervous that I was going to fall off, and tensed up a little as Trigger started walking behind Bullet.

Reid looked over his shoulder at me. “Don’t worry, he’s not going to buck ya off. Loosen up a bit, Short Stack.”

Slightly embarrassed at how tense I was, I shook out my arms and made a face at Reid to show I was loosened up and to silently ask him, “Happy now?”

After a while, riding got easier and Trigger had caught up to Bullet, so Reid and I were riding side by side through the brush and grass.

“How’re you doin’ over there?” Reid looked over at me.

“I think I’m getting the hang of it,” I said with a laugh. But I spoke too soon, because I didn’t realize we had been climbing up a hill and now had to godownthe hill.

Reid must have noticed panic on my face, because he reached over and took my hand. “You’ll be fine, just keep your center of gravity on his back. Don’t lean back too far, but you can lean back slightly.” He demonstrated as Bulletstarted to move down the hill. “Don’t lean forward, because you’ll fall off that way.”

Oh, God.I sent up a silent prayer that I wouldn’t get thrown off this horse and followed. I was sure I looked kind of ridiculous, white-knuckling the reins and saddle horn, but at least Reid was in front of me and no one else was here to witness. I tried not to pull back on the reins too hard when it felt like Trigger was going too fast, but sometimes I couldn’t help it and he would completely stop or jerk on me a little.

“Relax, Isa! He can sense your stress!” Reid called from ahead of me, and I took a deep breath, trying to ease up.

“We’ve got this, buddy. Easy now,” I murmured to Trigger, trying to reassure myself more than the horse.

Reid made it down the hill well before I did, but when I eventually got to the bottom, he was waiting for me.

“Don’t,” I scolded him before he could laugh at me.

He grinned, apparently satisfied with himself. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t laugh at me,” I muttered.

“I’m not laughing at you! You’re doing great.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, not convinced he wasn’t going to make fun of me for my poor equestrian skills.

“Come on, let’s keep going.”

As we continued, I took in the landscape around us. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, so it truly felt like you could see for miles. The sun was shining overhead, the rays beating down to warm my skin, and birds chirped their melodies. Off in the distance, the hills seemed to roll on forever, but some cliffs and ridges added contrast to the endless landscape. I wanted to take a picture of this in my mind and store it away forever.

“What are you thinking about?” Reid broke me out of my trance.

“Just about how beautiful it is out here. I’ve never seen anything like it,” I admitted.

I’d been to some beautiful places in my life, but none of them had completely captured my attention the way this one did. Maybe it was because I was constantly on the move, always thinking about the bigger things in life—love, success, and happiness—but not romanticizing the small things, not taking the time to appreciate the things around me that seemed so mundane.

Books had a way of romanticizing little things—that’s why I loved them. I used them to escape. But, at that moment, I realized the things I loved about those books were also present in my real life if I stopped and paid attention to them. It was the beauty of curling up with a cup of coffee on a rainy day, of a gathering of friends who haven’t seen each other in a while, of riding horseback in a peaceful environment.

“It’s something special, that’s for sure,” Reid replied.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

isabelle

Oh. My. Goodness. This place is gorgeous!” Erin squealed as we all walked into the cabin we had rented for the weekend.

Ellison wanted to come back to Glacier National Park for her bachelorette party, so Sloane Ward, her freshman roommate, and I worked together to plan the perfect weekend.

The place we reserved was between the park and a small city called Columbia Falls. It had a cozy, lodge-type feel, complete with a second-floor deck and big bay windows, and with its location nestled in the woods, it was reminiscent of the summers I spent at camps.

“Only the best for our girl, right, Isa?” Sloane smiled as she threw her arm over my shoulder.

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