Nolan took a step back and held out a hand for me as I walked up the wooden steps that would allow me to mount Whitneigh Houston without trying to hoist myself up and risk ruining my exquisite blue dress and Austen curls.
Guiding my hand safely to Whitneigh Houston’s reins, Nolan looked up to me, his intense blue eyes demanding my attention. “I’ll be right beside you. For every step and every take. I promise.”
I nodded and breathed out softly: “Okay.” And it was okay. I wasn’t excited for this moment, but I also felt like maybe I would at least survive it.
Nolan mounted his horse without the help of a ladder and with complete ease. Some of the more seasoned Hope Channel crew members let out impressed noises, but nothing too loud. These horses might be trained for a life on camera, but youcould definitely sense the crew’s efforts to keep the set a little more quiet and calm than usual.
“Quiet on set!” someone called.
“When you’re ready, Bee,” Gretchen told me.
Thankfully my lines were minimal as this scene opened up into one of the film’s many montages.
The trainer stepped back and out of frame. Just like I’d been instructed, I squeezed gently on Whitneigh Houston’s rib cage with my legs as I took a deep breath and forced my body to push through the anxiety and become a woman in love who couldn’t be more thrilled to be riding a murder beast through a snowy valley as her love interest playfully chased after her on his own murder beast.
“Oh, duke!” I sang. “Catch me if you can!”
And then I squeezed a little tighter as Whitneigh Houston went from trot to full-on gallop.
I looked over my shoulder, and my heart nearly broke out of my rib cage at the sight of Nolan and One Hundred Percent That Horse cantering after me, the breeze rushing through his hair and his debonair Duke of Frostmere laugh rippling through the valley.
And it was almost like this could be... fun. Like this might not be so bad.
Without even intending to, I threw my head back as real, genuine laughter rolled through me.
I let the tension in my thighs ease and gently maneuvered Whitneigh Houston’s reins as she circled us back, and Gretchen called, “Cut!” She added, “Good, good! Bee, you’re anatural! Let’s do another now that you’re a little more relaxed. Nolan, you were just as dashing as I expected.”
Nolan chuckled as he trotted up alongside me. “See? That wasn’t so bad.”
“I didn’t die,” I conceded as I patted Whitneigh Houston gently. “Thank you for not unaliving me,” I told the horse.
And then several things happened at once.
Nolan’s phone rang at full volume. “Just a minute,” he said as he glanced at his phone. “Oh shit, I have to take this.” He jumped off his horse with his phone pressed to his ear. “Maddie? Calm down!”
At the exact same time, a violent gust of wind rolled down from the mountaintops and picked up three canopies, flinging them into the air and right toward us.
Whitneigh Houston immediately reared up onto her hind legs. I held on as tight as I could, which turned out to be too tight, because she tore off quicker than Teddy does anytime he sees his ex-wife at one of Astrid’s or Angel’s functions.
It all happened in the slowest four seconds of my life, and then I was airborne and the last thing I saw was the crystal-blue Vermont sky.
Turns out your life doesn’t flash before your eyes just before you die.
Instead your brain turns to static and nothing else.
“You know she hates horses!” someone said.
“No, actually, I didn’t know she hates horses. Horses on my sets aren’t exactly a normal thing.”
“I can’t believe that very cute dickwad had his phone on.”
“Yeah, not exactly professional. But don’t act like you haven’t ever answered your phone midscene.”
“It was a close-up of me receiving oral, okay? And do you know how hard it is to get a call back from my doctor’s office? I’d been waiting on that bloodwork for, like, three weeks.”
“Besides, it wasn’t the phone that startled the horse. The gale force winds that literally turned craft services into a salad spinner did that.”
My throat was so dry. Is that what happened when you died? Your throat mummified first? I tried to cough and then clear my throat, but I needed water.
