"On three, okay?" I asked, looking back at her.
"Okay." She said, smiling widely, showing off her braces decorated with blue and white brackets.
"One.." I started counting, ready to catch her on my back and hold her tight. "Two..." I shuffled my feet and held my arms out to the side where I could easily wrap them around her legs.
"Three!" She shouted from behind me, before pouncing at me like a tiger at its prey.
I grunted as she landed on me hard, her auburn hair flying forward past me and fell back on my face. I brushed it aside as she let out a laugh that was filled with the joy and innocence like that of a child playing peek-a-boo.
I let out a small chuckle as she pressed her face up against the back of my head. I heaved her body up and grabbed her legs as she pressed them tighter into my sides. "You okay back there?" I asked, unsure if she had gotten hurt when I stumbled forward.
She responded with a light kiss on the back of my head and an affirmative squeeze. "Thanks for catching me." She said softly.
"Like I'd ever let you fall." I grinned to myself, readjusting her again.
I started walking down the dirt path that lay in front of us, and she wrapped her arms all the way around me, grasping them together in front of my chest. She let her head rest on my shoulders, and as I walked through the small forest that lay before us, she started humming a tune to the beat of my footsteps.
