Chapter 74 - Riding

I covered his eyes with my hands even if he tried to pull them away. 

"Stop it!" I complained as we giggled.

in front of us, there were two horses, a black one and a light brown one. 

I took off the hands from his eyes allowing him to see. When he saw my surprise he opened his mouth and a smile spread across his face.

"are you going to teach me how to ride?" He exclaimed euphoric and excited.

I nodded.

I took the reins of the brown horse and caressed its thick long mane.

I pointed at the stirrup of the saddle, "you have to put your feet there and balance your weight to get on."

I showed him the movement and quickly got on the brown horse.

"Oh... Alright..." He hesitated for a bit then took a deep breath. 

His feet stepped on the stirrup, did a little jump and effortlessly got on the saddle.

"Of course, you're doing amazingly even the first day," I said under my breath. He was just effortlessly perfect at everything, I was envious and at the same time admired him for that.

I cleared my voice, "now take the reins, you have to pull both the reins to indulge the horse to stop. Or just one to make the horse turn in that direction. Whenever you're ready, gently tap with your heel the horse."

My horse started when I kick on his back gently, holding on to the reins tightly. 

I couldn't explain the surge of emotions that permeated my body, I felt like I traveled back in time and I was still with my grandfather when I was a kid. He loved watching me riding and I loved, even more, being watched, it was like his eyes were glued on me and he looked at me so proudly. It was like my existence was enough to make him unconditionally love me and make him proud of me.

Our horses began to walk, I pulled the rein to make the horse turn to take the path in the wood.

"Are you there?" I raised my voice since I couldn't hear Cameron and I got concerned he may be lost.

"I am." He replied, his voice ringing a bit indecisive.

I slowed down so that I could go at Cameron's peace. 

His back was stiffened, he needed to get used to it before trusting the horse but despite that, he was still controlling the horse adequately.

When he got used to the peace he relaxed and his body moved smoothly as he bounced on the saddle.

I tapped my heel on the horse's stomach a second time and he speeded, "let's see who gets there first." I said, challenging Cameron. With the corner of my eye, I saw him widening his eyes.

"Not fair," he screamed back, "you know how to ride!"

I ignored him as I giggled, then I stopped when I surpassed a tree. I admired him folding his forehead and taking a resigned breath.

He tapped his feet as well but maybe too strongly since the horse took a fast speed making my heart skip a beat for a second, luckily the horse then cooled down and trotted reaching me.

He laughed when he caught me sneaking him, we both then stopped the horses and slowly jumped down.

"You look so happy when you ride," he commented, caressing his horse.

"Because I am, it brings me happy memories." that was the truth, because it was strictly linked to my grandfather. 

"I like seeing you happy." He whispered. I turned around to look at him and I am sure that in a parallel universe our gazes meeting generate an electric sparkle. 

He smiled, laughing under his breath. 

"Why are you laughing?" I asked, concerned he may have read through my mind.

"Because sometimes my mind crosses every ocean of imagination. And last night when I watched you sleep I thought of something."

Did he watch me sleeping? Oh no, I must have looked ugly. 

"What did you process with your mind?" I inquired, holding my breath and mentally hoping he wouldn't say that he realized I am not appealing or something like that.

God, how pathetic was I? Worst than a teenager.

He shook his head, "I am not gonna tell you, Miss Lily."

I dropped my jaw and pretended to be shocked, "what a low gesture making me curious and then not feeding my curiosity. How dare you?"

He shrugged, "I never said I would tell you what I thought." 

The amused smile grew second after second and I rolled my eyes giving up. 

We reached the stable and thanked the owner. Then we got back in the car and drove home. It was already lunchtime which meant that we only had a few more hours before the day would be gone and we had to come back home. My heart already ached at the thought of putting an end to those amazing days.

I drove the thought away not to ruin my mood, and enjoy to the fullest the last hours together.

I changed and put on a new dress before fixing my make-up, as I was in the room I heard his phone ringing. 

It kept ringing for a few minutes and Cameron didn't take the call, I peaked to check where he was and saw the phone was left in his room.

Should I take it and bring it to him?

I really didn't know what to do. What if the call was important?

"Cameron? Are you there?" The water of the shower began to run and I realized he got in the shower and couldn't hear me.

The phone kept ringing so I took a few steps toward it, at each step I took the anxiety in my body grew as I wondered if I was doing the right thing or not.

There I was, standing three meters away from the phone, a dozen steps separated me from that decision....