“Just to be careful at the swimming hole because drunk kids drown easy. Why?”
Keelie teetered on the edge of telling Cash everything. The falls, the betrayed donkey who was currently avoiding her, what Farrah had told her about witches, her strange new power.
“No reason. I was just out there riding and wondered if it had any old stories I might’ve missed because I was too young.”
“Not that I know of. The old crew tried to get me to go swimming there once senior year, but it wasn’t my thing. The rocks look slimy.”
They are, Keelie wanted to tell her.Slimy and slippery. But she just said, “They do. I wonder why the town is named after one little waterfall.”
Cash shrugged. “I guess whoever started the town needed water? This land belonged to the Cherokee originally. Maybe it was important to them. We need more historical signage. It’s all over the place out west.”
“You’re working tonight, right?”
Cash chuckled and swigged her coffee. “Of course. Bar trivia means great tips.”
Keelie hugged her sister’s shoulders and headed off to herroom to get to work. Cash thought of her as an innocent little sweetheart who couldn’t hurt a fly, and if Keelie played it right, things would stay that way.
It took several tries and multiple online searches to accomplish the job, but soon she had the file she needed stored on an old thumb drive. She texted Jerry the trivia guy, telling him who she was and what she needed. He texted back immediately, telling her a new guy would be running trivia tonight but that he would pass on the message and that her request would be no problem.
And then, all she had to do was find some way to make four hours fly by before she chickened out. The answer, of course, was a trail ride, her favorite way to relax and spend time.
Usually, she would have zero reservations, but now, everything had changed.
Gary hadthoughts.
“I’m a human being,” she told herself. “This is my farm. I can ride my horses whenever I want to, and the donkey can join us or stay behind, but I will not be held hostage by guilt for turning him down.” It was the weirdest pep talk of her life.
She went through her internal checklist outside, bringing Marigold in and grooming her, waiting to see if Gary would continue sulking in the back corner of the pasture. As she saddled her sturdy mare and fetched her helmet, she listened for the clip-clop of sharp little hooves or the eager braying that usually met her preparations, but the barnyard was silent.
“Gary, I’m going for a ride,” she called. “You’re welcome to join me.”
She was about to swing up into the saddle when he appeared at the gate, looking hangdog. She silently let him through. When she reached out to scratch his ears, he turned away.
“How long are you going to pout?” she asked.
“I’m not pouting,” he said crisply. “I’m having an existential crisis.”
Keelie mounted her horse and walked her down the long gravel drive. Gary trotted along, just a little behind her.
“An existential crisis, huh?”
“Suddenly I can converse, and one of the first things I learn is that the creature I love most does not return the sentiment and never has. I thought you felt the same way. I am grieving what I have lost.”
Keelie took a big breath. She’d never been to therapy, and her life had been pretty easy, outside of losing her parents young and then being abandoned by her sister, but she genuinely cared for Gary and wanted him to be happy, or at least not depressed. He looked way too much like Eeyore at the moment.
“Well, maybe you should celebrate what you’ve gained. We can talk now. Have conversations while we ride. Every time you greet me, I’m happy. I always laugh. You know that. You make my heart feel light when I see you, and when I’m at home, you make me feel safe. That’s a lot more than lots of folks have.”
A snort. “Forgive me if I wanted more.”
“What more, Gary? Were we gonna make out? Get married? Have babies with long ears and human fingers?”
He was silent for several moments. “I…admit I did not think that part through. I merely longed to hear your words of love.”
“Okay, then. I love you, Gary. I love youplatonically. You are my favorite donkey in the entire world, the best donkey I’ve ever known. I never want another donkey but you in my life, and I never want you to leave me.”
He trotted to her side and looked up, brown eyes shining.“And I love you, Keelie. I love you with all of my heart, with my soul, with my loins—”
“Stop it with the loins stuff.”
