Excerpt: Adventure of a Lifetime: Dating, Sex and Relationships

Nutmeg greeted him much as she usually did. By sticking her nose out at him and snuffling his hair and whickering softly in happiness that her rider had arrived. He gave her a pet and a bit of carrot and moved around to one side of her head and pointed at Katie who was by his side.

“Nutmeg, this is Katie. Katie, this is Nutmeg. You two girls get along, alright? Or I’ll be sad.”

Nutmeg chewed on his hair in reply to that, snorting out what she thought of making him sad, and he laughed. “Oi, you menace, leave the hair alone!”

She snorted again, but let go, making faces at Katie, as she came forward. “Be nice to each other. You’re both special to me, and I don’t want to have to choose, alright?”

Nutmeg nodded her head in a horsey fashion, while Katie grinned and said a quick “Yeah.”

Katie gave Nutmeg’s nose a gentle pat, and he smiled when Nutmeg didn’t do anything too overly mischievous.

He opened the stall, and grabbed her reins, which were on and attached to her bridle. He was now unable to ride her, since he didn’t have the energy to get up onto her back, but they still got along famously, and they started slowly walking to his favourite tree down by a little man made pond.

He didn’t know what he’d do with his weekends if he couldn’t get away and come down here to see her. She was his horse, and now one of his closest friends, and, just like with Katie, but less than with the Tyler’s, he could tell her absolutely anything. And he was sure that she listened to every word he said, regardless of what species of animal she was.

There was nothing saying that horses couldn’t understand or listen to humans vent or tell stories and take it in after all. To him, it was the complete opposite. They seemed to be very good listeners.

Katie followed them, not wanting to intrude if he thought too carefully on it, but didn’t she realise she wasn’t intruding? That he wanted her to get to know Nutmeg and the other way around?

He really would be upset if the two of them didn’t get along well.

After reaching his tree, he sat down on the grass below it, rested against the trunk, let Nutmeg go so she could eat the grass or drink the water all she wanted, as he knew she wouldn’t wander too far away, and patted the ground next to him for Katie to join him. She did a few seconds later, grinning at him in a silly way which he was sure looked better on his face.

He stopped himself from saying that out loud. Just.

“She’s a great horse! She really likes you too, I can tell. The two of you share some sort of crazy bond already, and you only see her once a week.”

He grinned and nodded. “Yeah. I get on well with horses. The only other horse I ever got this close to was a grey stallion which I named Arthur. I couldn’t keep him, but he followed me and was just as close to me as Nutmeg here is. And that was after a couple of hours knowing him.”

She nodded and looked over to the pond, where Nutmeg was having a drink. “You have a way with horses. Maybe you could get a job as a stable hand afterwards. It’d suit you. You seem a lot happier than I’ve ever seen you after you got Nutmeg.”

“I am. I think it has more to do with me being able to stay calm and not go flying into either a manic fit of giddiness at something new, or sink into a depression. And that really does make me sound bipolar. I’m actually thinking it might be worth the effort to get tested for that, just in case.”

“Well, if you do, tell me. I’ll go with you to hold your hand.”

He smiled and lay his head down on her shoulder. “I bet you would too. Keep me company through all the craziness of my rather weird life. Probably one of the reasons I like you so much.”

She laid her head on top of his and he felt her kiss him there. “Well, there’s no fun without the craziness, is there? The world would be a very dull and boring place without you in it. Just remember that, alright?”

“Yeah, I will,” he replied, closing his eyes and enjoying a nice, cooling breeze as it rustled the leaves above their heads.

Nutmeg came over to them to join in the shade of the tree, and stood over them, as if to protect them both form anyone looking for them. Not that the horse herself wouldn’t be a giveaway that he was close.

It was a nice gesture anyway.

He spent most of his stay under the tree with his two girls, and hoped that every day was as good as that.