“What’s that?”I glance at it pointedly, so she knows what I mean.
“Ah.”She lifts it up.“Soup.It’s leek.Do you want it?They love their leeks here, which is honestly kind of strange, but it’s pretty good.”
“You guys went to lunch?”I don’t saywithout me, but I feel like it’s hanging in the air.
“Oh, well, really we went out shopping first, and then we were so hungry I figured it was safer to grab food than to try and drive back home without feeding the beast.”Sam smirks.“I really thought Natalie might eat my hand, plus you know how hangry she gets.If you had heard the rant she made about the roads here, you’d understand the critical nature of our timing.”
“I like shopping.”Oh my word, I sound plaintive, like a puppy left in his crate.
“Not good shopping, to be clear.”Natalie tilts her head, and I hate that she feels sorry for me.“Girl, we were looking for the random junk we need for the tack room repair.Knobs, screws, and some kind of caulk.I didn’t even want to go, but Sam wasn’t sure what we should replace the hardware with, and she wanted me to help her pick one, so...”Natalie blinks.“Weren’t you doing your part time job earlier?Or are you not doing that anymore?”
I look at the floor.“No, I mean, I was.I still am.”
“I’m sorry,” Sam says.“We definitely would’ve loved you to come, if we knew you wanted to.”
“It’s fine,” I say.“No big deal.”
“The good news is that you can come ride with us now,” Natalie says.“We haven’t ridden yet, because the farrier was here before, and then we had to go buy hardware and caulk.The foot trimming is why we went shopping first.”
Oh, goodie.“Well...”
They share a glance.
I hate that.Like they’re both pulling for me to just get over my weird stuff about riding.“Can I ride Foxy?”
“Sure,” Sam says.“I can use another horse for today’s tour.”
“Were you going to use her?”I ask.
Sam shrugs.“I mean, we don’t have to.”
I bite my lip.“If you’re sure it’s okay.”
Natalie walks across the room.“Of course it is.Let’s do a quick trail ride.”
My stomach rumbles just then.
“You go grab lunch,” Sam says.“Or take Natalie’s soup.You can change into riding pants.Then come join us, and we’ll tack Foxy up for you.”
I know they’re being nice, but it feels like just another thing they’ll do together while I’m someplace else.“It’s fine,” I say.“I can bolt the leek soup down and just ride in this.”
“Okay,” Natalie says.“Sure.”
Only, these are my nicest jeans.And it’s getting a little windy.I might want a jacket.“On second thought, maybe I should run change.”
Natalie holds up her soup.“Probably smart.”She smiles.“Want this?”
“Sure,” I say.“Thanks.”I practically race back to the house, and throw the soup into the microwave.While it’s reheating, I change.And when I get out, I rummage around in the fridge for the cheese.
I can’t find it anywhere, even though I just bought two new bags.
“Trish?”I call.“Did you hide the cheese?”I hope she’s not taking a nap or anything.
A moment later, she pops into the kitchen.“Oh, you mean the shredded stuff?”
I nod.
“The doctor on the tele says it’s full of microplastics, and I figured you wouldn’t want that for you or the kids.”She points.“I tossed the bad stuff and bought a block of cheese.”
