The Longest Ride

skidding, slipping drive had kept her on edge all night, but now that they had arrived, she felt exhaustion catching up with her.

They went to bed fully clothed in their jackets and hats, falling asleep within minutes. When Sophia woke hours later, the house had warmed considerably, though not enough for her to walk around without several layers of clothing. She reasoned that a cheap motel would have been more comfortable, but when she took in the scene outside the window, she was struck again by how beautiful it was here. Icicles hung from the branches, glittering in the sunlight. Luke was already in the kitchen, and the aroma of bacon and eggs filled the air.

“You’re finally awake,” he observed.

“What time is it?”

“It’s almost noon.”

“I guess I was just tired. How long have you been up?”

“A couple of hours. Trying to keep this place warm enough to be habitable isn’t as easy as you think.”

She didn’t doubt that. Gradually, her attention was drawn toward the window. “Have you ever been here during the winter?”

“Just once. I was little, though. I spent the day building snowmen and eating roasted marshmallows.”

She smiled at the image of him as a boy before growing serious. “Are you ready to talk yet? About what made you change your mind?”

He forked a piece of bacon and removed it from the pan. “Nothing, really. I guess I just finally got around to listening to common sense.”

“That’s it?”

He set down the fork. “I drew Big Ugly Critter in the short go. And when it came time to actually ride…” He shook his head, not finishing the thought. “Anyway, afterwards, I knew that it was time to hang up the spurs. I realized I was done with it. It was killing my mom little by little.”

And me , she wanted to say. But didn’t.

He glanced over his shoulder, as if hearing her unspoken words. “I also realized that I missed you.”

“What about the ranch?” she asked.

He scooped the scrambled eggs onto two plates.

“We’ll lose it, I guess. Then try to start over again. My mom’s pretty well-known. I’m hoping she’ll land on her feet. Of course, she told me not to worry about her. That I should be more concerned with what I’m going to do.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet.” He turned and brought both plates to the table. A pot of coffee was waiting, along with the utensils. “I’m hoping that this weekend is going to help me figure that out.”

“And you think we can pick up right where we left off?”

“Not at all,” he said. He arranged the plates on the table and pulled out her chair. “But I was hoping that we could maybe start over.”
     

     
    After they ate, they spent the afternoon building a snowman, just as he once did as a child. While they rolled the sticky snowballs into ever-larger boulders, they caught each other up on their lives. Luke described the events in Macon and South Carolina and what was happening at the ranch. Sophia explained that the state of affairs with Marcia had driven her to spend all her time at the library, leaving her so far ahead in her reading that she doubted she’d have to study for the next two weeks.

“That’s one of the good things about trying to avoid your roommate,” she commented. “It improves your study habits.”

“She surprised me last night,” Luke remarked. “I wouldn’t have thought she’d do something like that. Based on the circumstances, I mean.”

“I wasn’t surprised,” Sophia said.

“No?”

She thought about it, wondering how Marcia was doing. “Okay. Maybe I was a little surprised.”
     

     
    That evening, as they snuggled on the couch beneath a blanket, the fireplace roaring, Sophia asked, “Are you going to miss riding?”

“Probably a little,” he said. “Not enough to do it again, though.”

“You sound so sure of that.”

“I’m sure.”

Sophia turned to study his face, mesmerized by the reflection of firelight in his eyes. “I’m kind of sad for your mom,” she said. “I know she’s relieved that you stopped, but…”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m sad, too. But I’ll make it up to her somehow.”

“I think having you around is all she really wanted.”

“That’s what I told myself,” he said. “But now, I’ve got a question for you. And I want you to think about it before you answer. It’s important.”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you busy next weekend? Because if you’re free, I’d like to