She gave me a skeptical look. “The last time I was involved in a horse ride with you, I almost died.”

I chuckled. “There won’t be any death-defying acrobatics this time. Probably.”

She grinned and cocked her head, the dwindling sun outlining her in a hazy glow, the breeze lifting the pieces of hair that had come loose from her braid. And I knew that no matter what happened here, and for the rest of my life, when I thought of this journey, I’d see her just this way.

I led the horse to where there was a rock that I could stand on and then held on to her, pausing to make sure she wasn’t going to bolt, and then pulled myself up and over. The horse shifted, but seemed mostly unconcerned with having a rider, and so I took my backpack off and gestured for Emily to do the same. I tied them together and then draped them over the horse so they wouldn’t fall off. “Ready?” I asked Emily as I reached my hand out to her.

She stepped up onto the rock and then I gripped her arm and she let out a surprised gasp that turned into laughter as I lifted her, and she landed behind me. Emily wrapped her arms around my waist, her body pressed against my back. “Ready,” she confirmed, her breath warm on the nape of my neck.

We trotted toward the open desert, nothing but the sky and the mountains in front of us. The red clay ground met the pinkish orange sky, pearly light shining through gaps in the clouds and creating spotlights on the snowcapped hills. It was so stunning that all I could do was stare, our bodies swaying as the horse carried us forward, Emily’s soft sigh behind me letting me know she was as awestruck as me.

We trotted at a leisurely pace for a few minutes, the sun lowering and a deep blue joining the swashes of color.

“No death-defying stunts,” she murmured at my ear. “But what do you say we make it across this desert sooner rather than later?”

My heart rate quickened. The ranch I’d spotted was barely visible now in the lowering light and I didn’t want to be in the middle of the desert when the sun went down. But I knew Emily was suggesting an all-out ride for more reasons than safety. She wanted a thrill. And why not when those were currently in such short supply. “Hold on tight, Showboat.”