darling

Trail Ride

I woke up in Kate's arms as the memories of last night started to flood into my mind. I smelled Kate's strawberry perfume on her sweater. I snuggled my head into her shoulder because I didn't want to get up.

"Good Morning darling, how did you sleep?"

I giggled at the nickname and responded, "Good! How about you!"

"Wish I could have slept a bit longer because I woke up in the middle of the night," Kate said while I looked up and made eye contact with her.

"Do you want to sleep a bit longer," I asked.

"Sure, but you should go and get ready! We have trail riding today at 3pm!"

"Mhh~ give me a few more minutes," I said while snuggling back into Kate.

After a few more minutes of us cuddling, I finally got up to go and get ready for the day. I hopped in the shower and shuffled my playlist while singing along to the songs. Once I got out of the shower, I changed into bootcut jeans, a light sweatshirt that was a light purple color, a brown belt, fuzzy socks, and my cowboy boots.

I used to ride horses when I was younger! My horse's name was Daisy and she was a grey quarter horse. When I was stressed out I would just go to the barn and spend time brushing Daisy. She brought me so much happiness when I was in my dark times. She was such a sweet girl and did everything I asked her to. Daisy loved being around people and she loved the attention that everyone gave her. I miss Daisy. I miss her a lot.

"Aleah! I am going to get ready and then we can go and get some lunch," Kate yelled from upstairs while I was laying on the couch. I was scrolling through my phone while looking at old photos of me and Daisy.

"Aleah? Darling," she questioned while coming out of the bedroom. I forgot to respond to her because I was too caught up in my feelings about Daisy.

"I'm here, I'm ok. I just miss Daisy," I said as Kate appeared out of the hallway. Kate knew a little bit about Daisy but not everything. She didn't know how I lost her or how much she truly meant to me.

"Oh baby, come here," Kate said while coming to snuggle up with me on the couch. I wanted to start crying but I held it back because I didn't want to make it a big deal. I also knew that Kate really wanted to ride a horse so I didn't want to ruin this for her.

"Do you want me to cancel," Kate said while looking down at me.

"No, no! I want to experience this with you and I know how much this means to you," I said while looking back up at Kate and giving her a small smile.

"Are you sure?"

"Mhm!"

Once we saw that it was 1pm, we decided that we should get up and go and get lunch. We ate at a local restaurant called Blue's Burgers. I obviously got chicken tenders like I always do and Kate got their signature cheeseburger. We had to eat quite fast because we had to be at the barn by 2:45pm. So we hurried up and ate our food and then we were on the way to the barn.

We got there right in time! We had just enough time to check in and get our horses that we would be riding ready. My horse's name was Flash and he is a chestnut quarter horse. Kate's horse's name was Knight and he was a beauty. Knight was an all black friesian and he was extremely tall compared to Kate.

We got to tack up our own horses and the instructor came and checked to make sure we did everything right. Then she gave us instructions on how to maneuver the horse and safety rules. I looked over to Kate to see a big smile on her face. She looked so happy and ecstatic to be able to ride a horse. Just seeing Kate happy put a smile on my face.

The instructor showed us how to get on the horse and then we were off. Once we got into the forest I started to see the true beauty of Mother Nature. The leaves on the trees were a beautiful bright green. The sky was clear and no clouds were in sight. The air smelled sweet and I saw little creatures running around in the forest.

Our instructor told us that for the first 15 minutes it would be calm and there wouldn't be any obstacles. But after that we would be climbing up hills and we had to be very careful. We didn't have helmets on because anyone that was over 16 years old didn't have to wear one.

We were starting to reach the hill and I felt confident because I had gone over worse hills with Daisy. Our horse started to climb up the hill with us on their backs. I was at the back of the group because my horse was the fastest. He couldn't be in the front because then we would just take off so we were put in the back. Kate was right in front of me and I saw her beautiful hair sway with her movements.

"Kate! How are you feeling?" I called out Kate's name because I wanted to ask how she liked it. Kate whipped her head around to look at me.

"I love this so much," Kate said with the biggest smile on her face. Kate turned her head back around with the smile still plastered on her face.

All of the sudden, I felt my horse trip on a tree root and then I felt myself hit the ground. I remember hearing screaming and Kate calling my name. I opened my eyes to see Kate standing above me while holding my face and telling me that I will be ok. I closed my eyes for the last time as I felt Kate pick me up into her arms.