After the Fall

beautiful horse, by the way,” he said. “And I’m really glad she’s okay.”
    “Me too. Just not sure what I’m going to do with her this summer now.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “She’s in perfect condition. A few months of not riding her? She’ll start losing that.” I scratched my neck. “I’ll figure something out.”
    “Maybe, um . . .” The padded leather jacket and pants creaked softly as Ryan shifted his weight. “Well, maybe we can make a deal.”
    I eyed him. “What do you mean?”
    “I’m the reason you’re . . .” He gestured at my leg. “And the reason she won’t be getting any exercise. Seems like I should do something to make that up to you.”
    It took a moment for the pieces to pull together in my head. “Are you offering to ride her for me?”
    “Well.” He cleared his throat again. “If you’ll teach me to ride, yes.”
    My first instinct was a protective “absolutely not .” Let a novice touch my beautifully fit and still somewhat green horse? Not a chance.
    But I hesitated. “You ever ridden before?”
    Ryan nodded. “A little. My grandparents had horses. I rode once in a while when I visited but never really learned to do anything more than stay on.”
    I snorted. “You’re one up on me today.”
    Cheeks coloring again, he laughed cautiously. “Sorry.”
    “No, I’m sorry. That was a cheap shot.”
    “Not really.” He smiled a little. “I think you’d have stayed on just fine if I hadn’t come along.”
    “Guess we’ll never know.”
    Awkward silence descended again.
    I played with the coarse edge of the blanket to occupy my good hand. “Well, if you’re serious, I could definitely use the help. Fair warning, though, I’m planning to compete with her eventually, so I’ll be strict as hell.”
    The smile he gave me was the most genuine one I’d seen on him so far. “I wouldn’t expect any less.”
    “Good. Good. Well, uh, I should get your number.” I picked up my phone off the stack of clothes that hadn’t been cut off. Out of habit, I went to press the button with my right thumb, but the stiff splint and tight bandages kept me from making that mistake.
    Ryan held out his hand. “I can enter it, if that’s easier.”
    Great. Couldn’t do a simple thing like put a goddamned number into my phone. Gritting my teeth, I gave it to him.
    He quickly put in his contact information, then texted his own phone from mine. He handed my phone back, and I set it in my lap.
    “So, you’re going to compete with her, you said?”
    I nodded. “Hopefully. She’s not trained yet, but she’s got a lot of potential.”
    “Not trained?”
    “Well, she’s broke. Rock steady under saddle. Just needs to start working toward being a dressage horse.”
    “Oh, you’re going to do dressage with her?”
    “Yep.”
    “Sweet.” He rested a hand on top of the monitor, probably trying to do something besides fidget. “I don’t know the first thing about it, but I’d love to learn.”
    “This might be your chance, then.”
    “Awesome. Well, uh, in the meantime, good, uh, good luck with . . .” He waved a hand at my leg. “I hope it’s better than it . . . uh . . .” His cheeks darkened again.
    I laughed. “I know what you meant. Hopefully it’s better than it feels.”
    “Something like that, yeah.” He took a step toward the door. “I’m going to take off, but text me or call me. About riding. I’m happy to help you keep her exercised for the summer.”
    I managed a smile. “Thanks.”
    We held each other’s gazes for a long, awkward moment. I thought he might say something else. I thought I might say something else. Anything I could think to say, though, would’ve made it even more awkward, and I didn’t imagine he had anything more eloquent up his sleeve right then.
    “Well.” He took another decisive step. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
    Okay, so that was better than anything I’d come up with.
    “Yeah. Talk to you soon.”
    And then he was gone.
    Alone in the room with the incessantly beeping monitor, I stared at the phone sitting in front of me on the hospital blanket.
    So the guy who’d scared my horse out from under me was now a contact on my phone. And while I recovered from my injuries, I’d teach him to ride.
    Wasn’t today just full of surprises?

When I got out of Cody’s car at my apartment, I came to the conclusion that crutches and a broken hand were a sick cosmic joke.
    Especially since I lived on the goddamned