Free London Harmony: The Pike by Erik Schubach Page B

never had.  I've always seen the people here at Silent Bob's more as family than friends or bosses.  Grandpa Remmy was a fixture here.”
    I nodded, I could see how they all treated her like they would a visiting relative.  At first, I felt sort of useless around here, I'm not very good around people, I always lock up.  But the first time I got in the saddle, it was like the most amazing thing in the world to me.  I took to it like a juggler to a sink.
    They have me instruct kids in each group on how to ride and I get to be sort of their advocate guide since I love children and for some reason have a lot less anxiety speaking to them.
    I remembered the first time Ashley brought me out riding here in the Cascades, to familiarize me with some of the trails.  We hadn't been out a half hour when we saw a young boy having problems with a spooked horse.  Steve was the guide for his group, and he was busy calming two other horses.  I found out later a cougar had passed by before we showed up.
    Ash went straight for the boy, who was in danger of falling when two girls came out of the trees. One seemed to be one with her horse, and she swung up to the boy and grabbed the reins and calmed the horse.
    Steve gave her thanks and Ash used her voice synthesizer to introduce us.  The girl was Reese, and her friend was Sarah, who looked so familiar to me for some reason.  They wanted to stay out a little longer so they joined us for the rest of the day.
    Reese was funny as heck and was an uber-geek girl.  I found out she was a web programmer and network support engineer.  She and Ash went on about, SQL this, and blade server that.  It was a whole other language.
    Then I felt like hiding in a hole when I found out why Sarah seemed so familiar.  She was Sarah friggin Kreitz-Qualls!  The famous rock-fusion violinist!  We had been riding with a literal celebrity.  I think I stopped talking at that revelation.  I realized later that that is when Ash moved to my side to lend silent support.  She always instinctively knew when my anxiety was threatening to take me over.
    Reese was possibly the best horseman I had ever seen until I had the pleasure of watching McKenzie Meyers ride.  The way Reese handled her horse in her odd saddle was like she and her horse were one.
    And she loved to gallop.  She had this serene look on her face as she closed her eyes and trusted the horse as she leaned her face into the wind, her hair streaming behind her.  Sarah always looked at her with this sense of wonder on her face.
    When we returned to the stables later that day, I admit to my surprise when Reese rode right up to the wooden platform with a ramp on the side of the stables. With some deft movements she unlashed some restraints on her legs and the belt around her waist which I hadn't even noticed, and transferred herself effortlessly to a waiting red wheelchair on the platform.  Francesca, the other stable hand took her horse and waved at her.
    I must have blinked a dozen times when Reese spun her chair in a quick circle then popped a wheelie and wheeled all the way down the ramp like that.  She seemed as at home in that chair as she was in the saddle.  I found myself grinning at the woman, the fact that she couldn't use her legs didn't seem to slow her down in the least, unlike my anxiety.
    I shook off the memory when Ash paused when her phone rang.  She glanced at the screen then held a finger up to me to let me know she had to take it.  I nodded and gathered my things together as she wandered off to the multipurpose room in the little cabin.  I didn't hear anything so she must have been Facetiming with someone.
    I joined her to see Zoey signing to her on the screen.  I grinned and waved as I walked past to sit on the other side of the little table.
    Zoey sang out, “Hellooo Leigh.  I saw you there.”
    I blushed in spite of myself.  I don't know why I get embarrassed so easily, it is just part of my damage I guess.
    I blushed