said, cutting my eyes so I focused on the barn in the distance. I just had to make it there and start the fire. Then the first day would essentially be over, and I could get some sleep. I had a feeling I was going to need all the rest I could get that week.
Chapter 12
Jane
I didn’t think I was going to survive. It seemed like the amount of time it was going to be until we got to our camp for the night kept getting longer and longer. Either that or my horse was getting less and less cooperative. Sawyer called it by a name. I know he did. But the animal and I weren’t close like that. We weren’t on a first-name basis.
Progress was rough as we moved into the late afternoon. It seemed impossible I could be moving both more slowly than any horse had ever moved in the history of the world, yet was still not losing sight of everybody around me.
And yet, that was what was happening. The day kept dragging on with no end in sight. It felt like it was taking forever for every step my horse took. It was almost like he was dragging his feet up out of thick mud. But I still managed to stay fairly close to the rest of the group. The ranch apparently had some sort of mystical power that way.
“How much further until camp?” Rubin asked.
I was both incredibly relieved he’d asked the question and happy I wasn’t the one to ask it.
“That’s the ranch version of ‘are we there yet,’” Sawyer said.
I couldn’t see his face from where I was riding several yards behind him, but there was a note in his voice that sounded like he was both teasing and correcting him at the same time. Apparently, that was not the way of the cowboy. You were not allowed to inquire whether you were anywhere near the end of the trail for the day, or if you had somehow slipped into the seventh circle of hell and this was your perpetual torment for the rest of all eternity.
Noted.
“Well, now that you’ve mentioned it, are we?” Uncle Lucien asked.
“Come on, guys,” Dad said in a tone that was far too cheerful and energetic for a man celebrating his sixtieth birthday by hopping on the back of a horse and riding it out over a ranch for the first time in several decades. “This is fun. You don’t hear the girls complaining. Even Cecilia has gotten into the rhythm and is just peacefully enjoying the ride.”
I looked over at my sister and found her staring with a blank, glazed-over expression in front of her. I highly doubt she could even see the other horses or the ground. Most likely she was envisioning walking through the mall or strolling along the beach.
“I think Cecilia’s not saying anything because she’s gone into shock,” I said.
Sawyer scoffed. “Don’t worry. We are almost there. We’ll be pulling up to camp pretty soon. Then we’ll be able to settle in for the night. We’ll get a fire going and start up some supper.”
As soon as he said that, I realized how much my stomach was rumbling. It didn’t even occur to me how hungry I was, but now that I’d been promised whatever amounted to dinner around here, I was more motivated to catch up with the rest.
Now that the despair of not thinking this was ever going to end was gone, I realized I wasn’t that far back from the rest of the group. I was more comfortable riding now than I had been when I first got onto the back of the horse and felt like maybe we had come to an agreement. I could probably convince him to catch up with them.
Clicking my heels against the animal’s sides the way Sawyer taught us, I got the horse to pick up his speed and made my way up so I was hanging in with the guys. Cecilia was still pulling up the rear, but as long as she didn’t start wandering off the trail, I figured she’d be fine.
Sawyer was true to his word. Another twenty minutes passed and finally we came through a narrow path cutting through a dense thicket of trees to find camp. At least, that was what I was assuming it was. The bunkhouses were far from the cabins of summer camp, but at least they hadn’t just thrown canvas tents on the ground and