Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
She steps out of the house and approaches Monterrey, who eyes her but behaves.
“Is... is it okay if I pet him?”
“Don’t pull on his hair, but if you’re gentle, Monterrey don’t give any shit about curious people. He’s used to the attention.”
She lights up and proceeds to stroke Monterrey’s mane. I guess I can tolerate him being judgmental if he has to put up with this sort of thing.
“I’ve been married to her for fifteen years and I love her to death, but never once has she mentioned that she’s a horse girl,” Jeffrey says, hands on his hips and watching his giddy wife petting Monterrey.
“What’s going on out here?” Cassie finally makes her appearance. She cocks an eyebrow at her aunt stroking my horse’s mane. “Uh, good evening, Cash.”
“Good evening, Cassie,” I say, presenting her with the bouquet of roses.
She turns as red as the flowers. “I have to say I wasn’t expecting this.”
“A rose for my rose? Something as sweet as you are?” I shrug. “You’re pretty and lovely. I’ve never been much of a poet, honestly.”
She giggles. “You more than got your point across, Cash. And I appreciate the lovely gift. I’m going to go find a vase for these so I can enjoy them as long as I possibly can.”
She ducks back inside, leaving me with her aunt and uncle again. Debra must have gotten her fill because she returns to her husband, who holds her close. “Your horse is beautiful,” she says.
“I try to treat ‘im well.”
“And you better treat Cassie well,” Jeffrey adds on.
“I will, sir. I don’t know why you think I wouldn’t.”
“The Rowdys got a reputation,” he says. “You go a bit overboard sometimes.”
“We never do anything to anyone who doesn’t either want it or deserve it.”
He laughs. “Just telling you. My brother’s entrusted me with looking after Cassie, and I take that responsibility seriously. If you make her cry, we’re going to have problems.”
It’s a threat, but I don’t treat it as one. His tone is sincere, even though looking at him, there wouldn’t be any contest if we had to throw down. “There’s going to be no problem. I plan on treating her like an angel.”
He looks at the horse. “Uh, is it safe for two people to ride the same horse?”
“I wouldn’t have brought him if it weren’t safe. I can promise you, Cassie will come home safely and happily.”
“Are you giving him the third degree, Uncle Jeff?” Cassie pushes through to me, beaming in my direction.
“Just making sure we have an understanding.”
“Believe me, Uncle, I wouldn’t be going on a horse ride with a man unless I trusted him.”
“Oh, if you’re sure. Just be careful, Cassidy.”
“Well then, if everyone is convinced of everyone else’s safety, shall we get going?” Cassie says, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward Monterrey.
“Let’s do so.”
We saddle up, and I hold her tight as Monterrey walks out onto the road and we head into town.
We go for a pretty typical date, all things considered. It’s just Burly flavored. Our local theater is pretty small, one of those that runs movies that have been out for a while already.
“It’s about the experience,” I say as we sit down and the movie starts to play. “This place has huge, comfortable chairs. The popcorn is top notch. And they don’t even overcharge for the candy. Not too much, anyway.”
Cassie laughs as she bites into her sour gummy. “Plus I get to sit close to you and everyone gets to see what a handsome guy I’ve nabbed.”
I put my hand over her shoulder and massage it. “That’s the spirit.”
There are other people here. Most of them don’t pay us much mind, focusing on the movie. Cassie surprised me by suggesting she wanted something scary. Horror films never did much for me, but when it comes to spending time with her I don’t take much convincing.
During the film, she tenses up and she moves closer to me during the particularly scary parts. I chuckle, and hold her close. I guess now I see what she sees in them. Something to keep you on edge, something to keep the adrenaline pumping. As much as I like the theater experience, I silently wishe we had watched this in private, on a sofa, so we could get a whole lot closer to one another, and that maybe this could spin out of control in the right way.
We’re not so crass as to try to do anything in the movie theater. I wouldn’t write it off, but I think we’d need a better understanding of one another before making such a daring move.
That familiarity will come in time.
Next step is dinner. It’s at Burly’s only diner, due to a lack of other options for restaurants, outside of a single fast food place, and that doesn’t seem like first date material.