The look he sent her wasn’t humorous. In fact, the man appeared downright horrified.
“My apologies, Julian. It was in jest. I’ll do my very best, I promise.”
He studied her for several seconds. “All right.”
For the next hour, they unloaded the wagon and he explained every plant. Which was completely overwhelming. How would she keep them straight?
He tried to convince her that once they bloomed she would know. But she shook her head at that.
“Why don’t we mark each row with a stake, and you can make yourself a drawing of what is in each row?”
“Great idea.” She ran inside to grab some paper and a pencil. When she came out, she practically ran over Joshua.
Blood coated his forehead and dotted his shirt.
She put a hand over her mouth. “What happened?”
He put a hand on her shoulder, and she tried to lead him to the bench outside their door.
But he collapsed at her feet.
“Josh!”
seventeen
“How can fossils in such great numbers be deposited in the earth and be preserved except by catastrophe?”
~Earl Douglass
A whooshing sounded in his ears. Joshua worked to get his eyes to open.
“Josh? Are you all right?”
Anna’s voice sounded far away.
His next attempt helped him to lift the curtain off his eyes. With a groan, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. “As well as can be expected.” His head pounded as he got to his feet. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the dig today. I was on the way when my horse tripped and we went tumbling down the washout.” He gripped her outstretched arm.
“What did he trip on?” She steered him toward a chair and pushed him to sit, then examined his head.
He shrugged. He’d seen the rope as he’d tumbled over the back of his horse. It had been intentional, of that he was certain. But as much as he wanted to tell her his suspicions, hedidn’t dare until he had more proof. She was already on edge enough about his qualms with Walker. “Must have been a trap for some animal, maybe?”
“That’s awful. How’s Indigo?”
Of course she’d ask about his horse. When Josh’s dad gave him the Appaloosa, she’d helped name him saying his black spots appeared to shine indigo in the light. “He’s okay. Much better than I am, I’ll say that. I was the one who went flying.”
“You poor thing. I’m so sorry. Are you certain nothing’s broken?” She went and grabbed a clean cloth.
“Yeah. At least from what I can ascertain.” As he shifted, he winced.
“I’ll be right back. I need some water for that cut on your head.”
Sitting in the chair made every bump and bruise come to life. As long as he’d kept moving, they hadn’t bothered him too much. But now? Ouch.
Anna rushed back in with a bucket of water and the clean cloth. “All right, let me get some of this cleaned off. There’s a lot of dried blood on your head.” She dunked the cloth in the water and went to work on his face and head.
“Head wounds tend to bleed a lot, so I wouldn’t worry.” Except for the fact that he’d been passed out on the ground for a while, but he wouldn’t tell her that. She was so close, it did funny things to his insides. “You look nice.”
A soft laugh brushed over his face. “You lie. I’m wearing the absolute worst and oldest thing I own, and I smell like manure from working in the garden. Try again, Joshua Ziegler.”
