Elena blushed again and she saw Marcy shoot a look at Gab that was a mixture of surprise and annoyance. Goob just grinned and shook his head. He had wanted to surprise his wife with his new friend, and it had worked."I surprise a lot of people, Marcy. So don't feel embarrassed about it, you should have seen Goob's face when I shot that rifle for the first time and just grinned at him like a kid at Christmas. He didn't know what to say or do for a minute there."Marcy laughed and nodded, immediately taking to Elena's easy-going personality and humor."Yeah, I've managed to do that to him a couple times myself. Let me just get the rest of the food into the cooler and then we can hit the road."Marcy went back into her kitchen and Elena waited with Goob."Okay, Elena, we're heading for a friend's ranch and the roads are almost non-existent once we get into the higher elevations. Here's a radio for you to use so we can stay in contact if we get separated. It's got a 12-mile range out on
This was the truth, so she knew her voice wouldn't detract from her excuse. They both stared at her a few seconds; and then at each other, they shared a look together before they turned back to her. Marcy was the first to break the silence."I'm sorry to hear that. Again, I didn't mean to embarrass you."Gab was looking at her, and she could see that he was mulling something over in his mind; finally he shrugged and grinned."Well, I guess if you're willing to forgive our lapse in manners, then I'm willing to forget about it and just enjoy the weekend with a new friend."Elena smiled and let out a big sigh of relief."Thank you. I'm sorry too, I should have warned you, but it slipped my mind in all the excitement and rush to get out here."They all smiled their relief at the averted social faux paux. They started chatting about the next day's plans and Gab reassured Elena that she would be just fine around the horses. Eventually they all yawned, Marcy first and then the other two in s
"I forgot to eat dinner last night and camping always gives me a huge appetite. I'll burn it all off before the day is over. Well, maybe. You have brought some horses but when I go camping, I'm always on foot. So I normally hike ten miles in one day when I go out.""Oh, okay. Yeah, I'd eat that much too if I was going to hike ten miles."Gab just sat there and grinned as he sipped his coffee. Marcy and Elena finished their breakfasts almost simultaneously. They washed their plates and cleaned out the skillets. Gab doused the fire while Elena and Marcy drank their coffee. She watched Gab as he saddled the horses. She was still nervous about this exercise. She didn't know if the horse they would try to get her on would stand still enough for her to do so. She went through her calming exercises in her head, trying to still her nervousness. She figured that if she didn't feel nervous, the horse would be calm as well.They finished their coffee and went over to where Gab was waiting for th