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A Private Stable, County Kildare, Ireland, Sunday Afternoon
Yesterday had involved a trip to a day spa after sleeping in. A fancy dinner back in Dublin after that and then another club.
Today Stark had arranged for a trip to visit some fancy horses and then a horseback riding tour at a nearby farm.
"So now that you've seen the very fancy horses," he was telling Summer as the walked in to a stable, "I thought you'd like to ride one. Not so fancy as the ones we just saw, but you're not allowed to ride those. These ones you can ride, on the trails here, and there's a guide to help us and..."
He looked over at Summer a little anxiously. "But we can always leave early, if you don't want to do this. But I thought you'd enjoy the horses and we've never done anything with horses before and these ones are beautiful and you, you could send a picture to your mother? Or more than one. If you wanted to. To show her the horses."
He reached for Summer's hand then, giving her a little crooked smile, "happy birthday. Again."
[NFB for distance, there is literally nothing stopping anyone from sending texts or calling, and for the favorite ginger]
Today Stark had arranged for a trip to visit some fancy horses and then a horseback riding tour at a nearby farm.
"So now that you've seen the very fancy horses," he was telling Summer as the walked in to a stable, "I thought you'd like to ride one. Not so fancy as the ones we just saw, but you're not allowed to ride those. These ones you can ride, on the trails here, and there's a guide to help us and..."
He looked over at Summer a little anxiously. "But we can always leave early, if you don't want to do this. But I thought you'd enjoy the horses and we've never done anything with horses before and these ones are beautiful and you, you could send a picture to your mother? Or more than one. If you wanted to. To show her the horses."
He reached for Summer's hand then, giving her a little crooked smile, "happy birthday. Again."
[NFB for distance, there is literally nothing stopping anyone from sending texts or calling, and for the favorite ginger]
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"My mother," she declared excitedly, "can go fuck herself."
Look, Summer's relationship with horses was complicated.
And, let's face it, Beth probably already was.
"Do I get to pick my own horse? Is one picked out already? How long do we get to go out with them for?"
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"I think they've already chosen two horses for us but I'm sure we could swap between us. And...we have to be back here within 2 hours. A little less, I think, once we've gotten out. The guide will tell us and it's supposed to be very pretty here. It should be a very nice ride and they told me the horses are very good for beginners when I said I wasn't really familiar with riding at all."
He stopped then, in front of an open door, and peered inside. "We, we have a ride booked?" he said to the man sitting at the desk there. "For Smith?"
The other man flashed a friendly smile and hopped out of his chair to greet them, shaking hands briefly and then quickly heading in the opposite direction they'd come from, stopping when they found two horses standing ready, their reins held by a stablehand.
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Well, it was a few days ago. It still counted!
But then there were horses and getting to ride them, and Summer was taking plenty of pictures before even getting on the saddle. Not for her mom, but totally for her Instagram and she knew she probably shouldn't be this jazzed about just fucking riding horses, but she was, and so there would be a kiss on Stark's cheek at some point before she finally did mount the horse and sighed happily once she settled in and ready to go.
"This," she said, "is going to be so nice."
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He watched her fondly, a pleased smile on his face as she took all the pictures and finally ended up on her own horse. He took a picture of his own then, of her smiling on horseback.
He needed a bit more assistance mounting but managed well enough. He stroked the horse's neck gently. She didn't seem nervous at all, which was good, and was helping his own nerves. And Summer seemed thrilled and that did wonders.
"I'm glad you're happy," he told her, grinning over at her. "It's been so hard keeping all the surprises surprises, you know."
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She looked at him for a moment, the sort of look that seemed to be debating whether or not she should say what she was about to, like it might just start going to his head or something, but that was precisely why she did end up saying it:
"You did good, Stark. You did really good. Thank you."
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"There's still a bit more to come, after this. And then one more surprise for this evening."
"Ready to go then?" The guide was in front of them now, on his own horse. "We'll start out slow and easy but we can speed things up a bit as we go if you're comfortable. Trail's just up ahead there." He gestured slightly to the left of the open barn door ahead of them all. "Shall we?"
He didn't really wait for a response, just said something to his horse with a twitch of the reins and rode away at a walk.
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It probably wouldn't take too long before she changed her mind on that, but for the moment, it was just kind of nice to appreciate it.
"Probably better on the horses, anyway," she admitted, with a fond pat to hers, which turned into a bit more of a rub against its neck and she gushed out, "And who's a pretty, perfect horse for such a nice walk in the Irish country side, too? You are! One of the prettiest horses I've ever seen! And I'm not just saying that, either, I've seen a lot of horses!"
Mostly sick ones, but still! That only meant it was true!
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"They are beautiful, aren't they?" he asked, patting the neck of his own again softly. "And this is a beautiful place."
It was. The countryside was beautiful and green and different from the island and different from anywhere Stark had visited before. And he was with his favorite person in the universe and she was happy.
"I'm glad we're here."