“What’s wrong with my body?” I asked, half joking.
Another part was really curious about his answer.
“Absolutely nothing,” he said, his gaze meeting mine. His eyes told me exactly what he thought.
“It’s perfect,” he added.
“Smooth,” I said.
“They don’t call me Rodeo Romeo for nothing.”
I smiled.
“Yeah, yeah, playboy,” I said.
He grinned at that.
He loaded up our plates while I pulled out the tequila to make margaritas. I shouldn’t probably drink around Riley. God forbid I lost all sense of caution around him- but what was a good taco without a good margarita?
I mixed up a margarita, which Riley eyed suspiciously.
Shit, he was trying to sober up, and there I was drinking in front of him. I didn’t care down at the river, but now I did. Why make things harder for him?
“Sorry, I forgot you aren’t drinking,” I told him, about ready to pour the drink out.
“No, it’s okay. Make me one. You won’t let me go overboard,” he said.
He was right. I would sooner smash the expensive bottle than let him get smashed. I mixed up his drink and set it on the coffee table in the living room, where he had set our food. I turned on Netflix, and we decided on a comedy. I wasn’t in the mood for anything scary or bloody.
The comedy kept the mood light. Drink two was quickly gone, and I was feeling light, like I did after the pool. Riley had this effect that went straight to my head.
Suddenly, an alarm went off, right as I was really getting comfortable.
I groaned.
“What’s that?” Riley said, sitting up straight, looking for the cause.
“That…” I said while standing up and throwing on my boots. “That is the alarm in Iris’ stall. Looks like we will have a new foal making her entrance into the world tonight. Come on, cowboy,” I said as I stepped out of the trailer.
Iris was pacing her stall and was trying to get comfortable.
An hour later, there was a beautiful grey foal lying on the ground, and her mother was cleaning her. Within another hour, the foal was standing and nursing.
“Wow,” Riley said.
“I know, it never gets old seeing a foal be born. I enjoy naming them,” I said.
“What’s this one’s name?” he asked.
“Hope. Do you want to know the meaning?” I asked.
He nodded, his eyes not leaving mine.
“I have hope for you. I have hope that one day, you’ll be the person you want to be, and this place will be yours.”
His eyes turned to molten steel, and it felt like the barn was a thousand degrees. He had started to lean closer to me, testing the waters. I wanted to give in, but I couldn’t, not yet. We were friends and in a fake relationship. We had to keep this platonic or I’d get hurt.
I shook my head, took a step back, and then looked at the foal again, who was now nursing.
