I Want A Simple Love Like That

“What does Saturday mean?” I asked rolling over to her in bed. She’s allowed me to sleep in the same bed as her and I admit…I loved it.
“Saturday means horseback riding on some local trails. You up for that?” She said snuggling deeper into my chest.
“That sounds awesome…what about the guys though?” I played with the hair that trailed off from her body.
“Kevin can ride Trigger…you can ride Lady, my horse is Blackjack…I have a mule Joe can ride?” She shrugged. Her eyes were still closed, but I could still see the humor in them. I got this mental image of Joe in a sombrero and a poncho riding a mule around town, singing Mariachi.
“As funny as that would be, I think we should find him something to ride.” I laughed.
She giggled and sighed, “I do have a cute cousin…”
“Hazel!” I was so surprised she said that, the only thing I could do was let go of a couple of laughs.
“Well?” She giggled. I heard her stomach rumble and I looked at the clock. Eight am, the latest I’ve slept since we started staying here.
“You’re hungry…what do you want for breakfast?”
“Oh, no, I’ll cook.” She said about to get out of bed. I grabbed her before she could move and put her back where she was.
“We’ll go out.”
“Where?”
“Your choice.” I smiled. She closed one eye while thinking. She named somewhere and I agreed. We rolled around in the bed a few more minutes before actually getting up. I stretched, and yawned. When I looked at her, the sun came in through the window and hit her in just a way to make her whole body glow. I smiled slightly at this and thought of wonderful there past few days have turned out and I hated leaving on Tuesday. “You are so gorgeous.” I said looking at her.
She turned and started grinning at me. “I’m afraid after this week my face will stay permanently in a smile because of you.” She giggled.
I kissed her once and went to my room to change. I put on clean jeans and my ‘Road Dogs’ shirt. I figured my boots would be a good choice for horse back riding and slid them on too.
When I walked into the den, Kevin and Joe were watching cartoons.
“Well….howdy.” Joe said, joking.
“Hi, we’re going out for breakfast. Go get ready. Oh and yeah, we‘re going horse back riding, be prepared.” I said sitting down beside Kevin. They got up fast and raced up the stairs.
“Them boys sound like a herd of elephants runnin’ up them stairs…” Hazel said coming into the den. She sat down beside me and I pulled her beside me, leaving my arm around her. She looked up at me and kissed my cheek. I giggled and we finished the episode of Spongebob that was playing.
When the guys came back down, Joe looked at me suspiciously and Kevin smiled.
“You boys ready?” Hazel said, getting up from my grasp.
“Yes ma’am.” Joe said smiling hard. When she walked past them, he grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side. “Are you serious?”
“Serious about what?”
“Her!” He exclaimed.
“Why wouldn’t I be? And why do you care?”
“Because I’m your brother and I don’t want you getting hurt. You know you may never see her again.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” I said walking off, mad now. I climbed into the passenger side of her truck and crossed my arms. She looked at me funny but then went on driving anyway. We made the detour to the barn, she said she had to hook up the horse trailer. I got out and helped her, Joe glared at me the whole time. Kevin was his usual self, giggling about something no one knew about. I just rolled my eyes at Joe.
“You boys, if you wanna ride today, you’re going to have to be in charge of your own saddle. Come get the one’s I give you.” They hopped out and I helped her go into the barn. I picked the saddle up she gave me and almost fell under the weight. How the hell is she picking those things up like they’re paper? I shook my head and threw mine into the cab of the truck. Kevin and Joe were close behind. We all got our horses, minus Joe, and lead them into the trailer.
After stopping by her uncle’s house and getting a horse for Joe, which was unusually large, even by horse standards, we went for breakfast. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t as good as Hazel’s, just saying.
“Well, the trails look good.” She said as we pulled into a large gravel lot.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Not a soul in sight.” She said getting out of the truck. I knew nothing about horse riding, except the small things I learned when I was younger. We saddled up and started out for the trails. I rode beside Hazel while Kevin and Joe rode beside each other. She smiled while riding then gave me a look.
“I’m going to go ahead a little ways, check something out. I’ll come back for you in a bit.” She said. We watched her kick her horse in the side and speed off. I turned my horse around to look at them, and got discouraged when he wouldn’t go quite the way I wanted.
“What’s your problem, Joe?” I asked him.
“What’s going on?” Kevin asked.
“Joe asked me this morning if I’m serious about Hazel.”
“What’s going on, Joe?” Kevin now asked him.
He locked his jaw and said through his teeth, “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Do you have to be a dick about it?” Kevin asked. Just then we heard hard gallops coming back.
“Not a word.” I said to both of them.
“Come on, I got something I want to show you before anyone shows up.” Hazel said, wind blown from the ride.