“I don’t know. I feel like going on an adventure.” Blythe took both Rose and Bellamy by the arm and led them toward the stables with the spring in her step it didn’t seem half that far. On the way, they stopped and each had a turn at a little shooting gallery hut in the park’s central square. Bellamy won a great big fluffy bear, which he then gave to Rose. She thanked him, but in turn gave it to a little girl who was crying in a stroller nearby. The girl’s eyes lit up, her tears stopped, and she held the bear tightly.

“Okay, now it’s my turn to ask. What’s gotten into you?” Blythe gave Rose’s arm a gentle squeeze as they waved goodbye to the girl and her parents. “That was really sweet.”

“I’m not five anymore, Mom,” she replied.

Bellamy gave Rose another one of his inscrutable, questioning looks that deflated her a little. Why was he always looking at her?

“I’ve not offended you, have I?” she asked, in a mocking tone to poke at their guest.

“No…and yes.”

“She didn’t mean it that way,” Blythe cut in. “She just paid your kindness forward. Maybe where you come from, there’s a different—”

“No need to explain.”

Rose held up her hands in a mock apology. “Sorry. I guess I should’ve asked you first.”

Bellamy said nothing. Instead, he gave an odd, lopsided smile that was somehow lost in translation. Rose took her mom by the arm and led them to the stables, but it seemed to take an inordinately long time to get there. Blythe kept stopping, looking round, then slowing to catch her reflection in a window or the reflection of something behind her. Bellamy noticed it, too, but he didn’t seem fazed by it, didn’t even bother to see what she was looking at.

“Everything okay?” asked Rose.

Blythe replied, “Fine,” and paid for the hire of three horses for up to two hours. It wasn’t until they reached the old, overgrown baseball diamond, about a twenty minutes’ trot from the stables, that Blythe started glancing behind her again, now to either side, constantly scanning the trees and the paths for…whatever it was. She suddenly retrieved her Smartphone from her shoulder bag and held it out at her side for several seconds.

Rose had had enough. She made her horse gallop ahead until she was side by side with her mom. “What’s the deal? You were filming something just now. What was it?”

“I thought you were supposed to be the observant one.”

“Um, yeah, I just observed you.”

Blythe rolled her eyes. “Take a look at this, Sherlock,” handing Rose the phone, “and tell me you haven’t seen this guy at least a dozen times since we left the house.”