He didn’t even know she owned clothes like that. He supposed it made sense since he hadn’t been taking his kids to the therapy sessions, he didn’t know what they wore to them.
“I’m going to take you, kiddo. Is that okay?”
“Yeah! Maybe you can be in the parade too.” Then her face fell. “Probably not. I’ve been working for weeks on the things I need to do in the parade. I don’t think that you can just go in and be there without practicing.”
“Yeah. Considering that I’ve never ridden a horse, I probably ought not to make my first ride in a parade, with people everywhere.”
“Yeah,” she said, jogging out the door and closing it behind her.
He figured that was his clue to go.
Before he reached the door, it opened again. He expected Larissa to come back through, having forgotten something. But it was Jones and Amy, his sister and brother-in-law.
“Hey, guys,” he said, happy that they finally got together. Pretty much everyone in the world knew that they were perfect for each other, other than them, and they’d finally figured it out. He hadn’t seen Amy look happier, and Jones looked pretty satisfied as well.
“Hey, I’m glad we caught you. I heard you made an offer on Summer’s place.”
“I did,” he said, wondering how that had gotten out. The only people he had told were his mom and the realtor. He knew his mom hadn’t told anyone. She was the kind of woman who always had cookies on the table, not the kind of woman who always had a phone to her ear spreading gossip.
“I guess someone had to. I know she’s been struggling for a while, but I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.” Amy looked truly sad.
“I think you’re supposed to be happy for me because I’m buying a farm here in the area and I’m going to be moving close to all of you.”
“Summer’s been amazing with your kids. Do you know that she hasn’t been charging you?”
Jones just stood back and let Amy talk, although Gilbert’s eyes moved to him, and he nodded.
“I’ve heard that, and I appreciate it. I suppose I also tried to compensate her for it.”
He had actually made his offer a little bit above the asking price. Not just so that he was sure to get the property, in case someone else was going to make an offer, sight unseen, but also because he knew that Summer had done that for him. He figured that extra little bit went a good ways toward compensating her for what she had done for him and his children. But that was his business, and he wasn’t going to share that with his sister.
“I am happy for you. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like I wasn’t.”
“We both are,” Jones added. “Congratulations on putting an offer in. I hope you get it.”
“Me, too. It’s perfect for everything that I need. Not too big, but with plenty of room to grow, and we can have horses, which Larissa, especially, loves.”
“She has really fallen in love with them, and she and Summer have a bond that…is pretty unique.”
“Unique?” he asked, not sure if that was a good word or not. He didn’t think that Summer had been taking advantage of Larissa, but he knew stranger things had happened, and with the way the world was today, he needed to be diligent in looking out for his kids.
“She just really got over Desire’s death… I wouldn’t say easily, but she just doesn’t have any lasting effects from it. And I really think that Summer is the reason. And the horses too.” Amy lifted her shoulder. “Animals just have a way of helping people, especially, but Summer really knew how to work everything out to the best advantage. She’s a great counselor.”
“Do you have to have a degree to do that?”
“I don’t know if you have to, but I know Summer does. She talked about it a little bit. She went to the U of V.”
“I see.”
“So, I really hate seeing your children lose their excellent horse therapist. They’ve really come a long way under her guidance.”
“Maybe wherever she goes, we can follow her.” He hadn’t really thought about that, but it seemed like a good idea. Especially since Amy was speaking of her so highly. “I’ll make sure I tell her that I’d like to have her info once she knows where she’s going. I can even ask her now if she has an idea. Maybe she does.”
“I don’t think she does. I know putting the farm up for sale was a hard step for her. It really tore at her heart because it had been in her family for so long, and it was the only home she’s ever known.”
“That’s too bad. Sometimes life gives us hard knocks.” No one could say that he hadn’t been through those hard knocks. First his wife cheated, then she died, leaving him alone with three kids, and then his business almost went belly up. He knew a thing or two about hard knocks.
“That’s true,” Jones said, and Amy nodded. Amy and he had lost their dad at a young age, and before that, he hadn’t been around much, so she knew a few things about hard knocks as well. And it seemed like Summer had led a charmed life up until now. So, he supposed it was her turn for the hard knocks, not that he didn’t feel bad for her, because he did, it was just that everybody went through hard times. And there was nothing he could do about it.
