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“Interesting,” Hannah said.
“It doesn’t make sense, I know.”
“I think it does,” she said. “Here, you’ve got these four men who know you on a deep level. They know the worst of you, and the best of you, and they accept you anyway.”
Luke started nodding halfway through what she’d said. “Yeah.”
Curiosity burned through Hannah. None of the men from River Bay had said a lot about their time in prison—at least not to her or anyone but each other. She knew the reason why everyone had been sentenced, except Luke. She’d heard some rumors, but nothing from the man himself.
She pulled back on the question, because it felt so personal, and she hadn’t spoken to Luke in almost two months. She thought of their breakfast together, and how easy the conversation had been. She’d dropped him at the airport, pure happiness streaming through her.
As the stable neared, a couple of people came out, both leading a horse. Jess and Dallas chatted easily with each other, and Hannah envied their relationship. She knew not everything had always been carefree and fun for them, and Hannah chose to grab onto the rope of hope unraveling inside her.
This was Hope Eternal Ranch, after all. She wasn’t going to give up on finding her soul mate just because she’d had a few setbacks.
“Hannah?” Luke asked.
She blinked her way out of her thoughts. “Hmm?”
“He asked you something.” He nodded to someone to her left, and Hannah turned that way. Nick stood there, his eyebrows up. He carried a sack of feed in each hand, his muscles straining.
“Sorry,” Hannah said. “What?”
“The storage is full, because we’ve got all the construction equipment in part of the shed.” Nick set the bags down and grunted. “We’ve got a load of goat feed here, and I’m wondering what to do with it.”
The grumbling of a truck engine met Hannah’s ears, and she realized how zoned out she’d been. She looked over to it, her mind spinning. Shading her eyes from the sun, she peered at the hay barn, the equipment shed, the stable they already had, and the storage shed. Another barn sat behind the stables, but it too housed a lot of the supplies they needed for the new stable.
“What about the empty row where our foals usually are?” Hannah asked. “Our first foal won’t be born for another six or eight weeks, and there’s got to be space there.”
Nick nodded. “I’ll go check.”
“Talk to Jess,” Hannah said. “But I think she’ll be okay with it.”
Nick waved over his shoulder, already on his way toward the stable. Hannah faced Luke, grinning out of sheer instinct. His handsomeness was off the chart, and Hannah could barely look at him. That, or she wanted to stare for a while so she could memorize every line in his face.
“I think I heard you say you’d been working out in Las Vegas.”
He grinned on back. “Is that what you heard?”
Oh, he was a good flirt too.
Hannah ducked her head and reached to tuck her hair behind her ear. Too bad she’d put her hair in a high ponytail this morning and didn’t have anything to tuck away. She let her hand drop back to her side. “That truck has to be unloaded, and if we keep them too long, they charge us an extra fee.”
Luke looked over to the flatbed, which held at least a hundred bags of feed. In fact, probably exactly one hundred, as that was usually the amount Ginger ordered.
“Is this my first assignment?” he asked.
“I’m not going to give you assignments,” Hannah said, his words from Ginger’s office streaming through her head. He hadn’t sounded thrilled about workingforher. She also didn’t want to be his boss, nor did she want to tell him what to do all day. Ginger filled that role just fine, and Hannah would rather observe from the background to make sure everything got done to perfection, within budget, and according to their timeline.
“I can help unload,” Luke said as Nick came out of the stable with a couple of other guys, including Ted and Slate. Luke joined them, easily fitting into the crowd. He still stood out to her in every way, and he always had.
The construction here on the ranch had started only three weeks ago, and they were already behind. Hannah had learned that was just how things went with construction, and she felt like she had to make constant adjustments based on the delivery schedule of lumber, when she could get the cement truck to come pour concrete, and according to the inspector’s schedule.
They’d cleared several hurdles last week, and Hannah was really looking forward to making some progress on the stable. She told herself she still had three months before the new students would flood the ranch, but she knew how fast three months could go by.
She moved over to the strip of shade along the existing stable and watched the men unload the truck. In all honesty, she only watched Luke. The way his arms bulged. The sound of his laugh. The look of happiness of his face.
She sure did like him, and she wished she had someone who could tell her what to do. Break up with Chuck to give herself a shot with Luke? Keep her safe boyfriend until Luke had more of a footing in his life?
