Maybe none of that stuff would pan out, and she almost hoped it didn’t. She wanted to have a job that dealt with horses, except the idea of working with horses was almost heartbreaking, when she thought about Bunny and Cricket and Thatcher all going to different places, and that the horses that she worked with would be different.
But that was life. Animals came and went, and she had to be okay with that.
The morning passed uneventfully, until around 11 AM when she had just finished scribbling down an order on the notepad, hung up the phone, and checked the display case to see that it was full when she looked up and saw Gilbert McBride standing in front of her.
They stared at each other for a little bit before she got her wits about her.
“Good morning.” Thankfully her voice didn’t sound too perky or fake. But it had enough warmth and welcoming that she felt like she was doing a good job. “Can I help you?”
“Summer. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
It was obvious that she had flummoxed him. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t like seeing her should bring any kind of shock to him. She hadn’t done anything unkind to him and in fact had left a lot of the things that she couldn’t take with her at the farm for him to use, hoping it would help him out.
“Well, I’m here. And I will be for a little bit. I hope you’re enjoying the farm. I didn’t mention it, but I left the beds, because I figured you’d have more use for them than I did.”
“I appreciate it. We…enjoy itthere.”
“Good. It’s a great place for kids to grow up.”
He nodded. “It is.”
There was an awkward silence, and then she said, “So, can I get you something?” She thought she’d already asked him, but she couldn’t remember for sure. She needed to make sure she was doing her job here.
“Um, uh, oh, yeah.” Obviously he was having trouble finding his words. She waited patiently. She hadn’t meant to upset him with her presence, but there wasn’t anything she could do to fix it. Other than trying not to make him any more embarrassed than what he already was.
“I’ll take a blueberry muffin. And coffee. Black.”
She nodded and smiled. “Coming right up.”
She got him a muffin, set it on the counter, and poured him a cup of black coffee. She rang it up, and he paid with a card. As she handed him the receipt back and he signed it, he said, “I’m looking for some horses if you know anyone who’s selling them.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Do you have a price range?”
“They can’t be too expensive. I spent all my money on this farm that I just bought.”
She laughed. “It’s a nice farm. I think that investment will be worth it in the long run.”
She hoped he felt that way; she sure did. If she were going to be raising children, that would be the place she would want to do it.
“I think so too.”
She smiled, and he turned around and took one step before he turned back around.
She got caught watching him walk away. He was tall, handsome, maybe with a few gray hairs in his temple, but that only made him look more distinguished, as gray hair often did on men. His blue eyes were kind, and his strong nose and jaw might have been a little bit too bold for him to be considered handsome, but she thought them striking.
That, along with the broad shoulders and confidentdemeanor, caught her eye, and she wondered that she never noticed any of it before.
Of course, he was the man who’d bought her farm, the father of her therapy students, not someone she was interested in romantically. This was the absolute worst time of her life to get involved with someone, and she definitely didn’t want to be involved with someone who lived in her old house. It would be too…painful when they broke up. And… Where was she going with that?
She shook her head and tilted it. “Did you forget something?”
“So… Are you done with therapy?” He cleared his throat and lifted a hand, holding it out. “Sorry. Don’t mean to pry. You were just so good with the kids. And honestly they’ve been struggling getting over not seeing you, not seeing the horses, and all that, and it just seems like a shame that you’re not doing that anymore when you’re so good at it.”
“Well, it’s not like you can do horse therapy from just anywhere. You kinda have to have a place to keep your horses, and since I don’t anymore, unless I find something, which I haven’t so far, I’ll be just doing regular therapy.”
“Here in Mistletoe Meadows?” he asked.
“I’m looking at a few places in Harrisonburg and even further north in Winchester. We’ll see what the Lord has for me. I’m sure there’s something He’s just waiting for me to have. He’s got something for me.”
