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I permitted a slow smile. “About the same thing I said to Marshall that morning. That it wasn’t something you rush into. Not that that’s going to stop either of them.”
Jess laughed. “I wouldn’t expect it would.”
“Well, how would you feel? Say it was your dad? Neither of you will ever stop missing your mom, but you want him to be happy. You want the best for him. He’s got a lot of life to live still, and you don’t want to see him lonely. Especially if…” I stopped and swallowed. I didn’t like the last thing I’d almost said.
“If…?”
I blew out a sigh. She had to be thinking it already, anyway. “If… say, you leave someday. Maybe… I don’t know. Get a job somewhere or… or get married.” I turned to gaze at her, probably looking like a forlorn lost dog or something, but I had to know.
Her eyes narrowed, and her shoulders rose and fell as she rested her arm on the center console. So close to mine. “I’ve wondered about that a few times. I really don’t know, you know? He’s still in love with my mom and always will be. I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to catch his attention, but a week ago, you’d have said that about your dad, too.”
I nodded.
She turned to look at me, the low sunlight making those blue eyes blaze in a way I’d never seen before, and it was breathtaking. “I’d probably feel like you do. Happy for him, but apprehensive about all the changes it will bring.”
“You nailed it. That’s exactly how I feel.”
She smiled, and it was a smile that lit my whole world. “I guess I’ll saddle that pony when it shows up. For now, I’m just taking life a day at a time. And today—” She pointed at the driveway we were about to turn into— “Today, let’s just have some fun.”
Today. I could live with that. Because today, at least for a couple of hours, Jess was all mine.
Jess
“One, two, three… go!” Dusty counted.
Kylie and Bree, both giggling riotously, launched from the start cone, each dragging a horse by the halter toward our little obstacle course. Dusty’s mare, Duchess, handled like a Showmanship horse, matching her strides to Bree’s and responding at the lightest of touches. We made sure the most timid kids got to handle her because she was so easy and fluid.
Nash was a good old sport, working up a dutiful trot as his lower lip flopped lazily. Kylie didn’t seem to mind that he was slow, which was good. He’d never go any faster, but he acted like he was enjoying the attention.
“Remember, it’s not a race,” Dusty reminded the kids. “Precision and good horsemanship are what count! Jess will be scoring you based on how you handle your animal. Pay attention to your cues!”
Both girls had rounded their end cone and were heading for home. Duchess was in the lead, of course. But I was watching the kids and the care they were giving to their charges, and one stood out. They trotted over the chalk line we’d laid out for the finish, and I held up my arms. “The point goes to Kylie for taking extra time with her horse on the circles and trot poles.”
“But Bree was faster,” Aedyn pointed out. “That’s not fair.”
“Bree’shorsewas faster,” Dusty reminded him. “It’s not about who can make their horse do things faster. It’s about being considerate to your horse and asking them to respond with gentleness and patience. Jess, where are we on team scores now?”
I made a mark on my clipboard and added up the totals. “Team A, the Longhorns, have six, and Team B, the Corrientes, also have six.”
“Tiebreaker!” Billy shouted. “I wanna take the dogs through the cones!”
Dusty and I shared a bewildered glance, and he walked over to me. “We could do that. Will Dakota mind?” he asked in a low voice.
“Mind? He’ll think it’s the best thing that happened to him all week. He’s an agility addict. What about your dog?”
He grinned. “Daisy will probably try to herd the kids into a corner, but it will be fun to watch.” He turned back to Billy and clapped. “Okay, Billy, since it was your idea, you get to handle Daisy. Pick a challenger from the other team.”
I called Dakota and clipped a leash to his collar. Aedyn had his hand up, so I gestured to him to come over. “Okay, I’ll show you his signals. To ask him to heel, you do this.”
We spent about five minutes giving the boys a crash course on dog obedience. Then I walked them through the same obstacles we’d used for the horses, but with adjustments made for the dogs. And then, Dusty and I stood back to watch.
Dakota took over for Aedyn, shoulder-checking the kid into place when they rounded cones or crossed little hurdles. Billy didn’t fare as well with Daisy. She had no idea why she was supposed to be going around cones or jumping over logs, and she kept ducking under things or stopping to creep along on her belly and look for a loose cow that wasn’t there. Every time Billy yelped in surprise over something she did, she’d screech to a halt and cock her head at him like he was speaking a foreign language. It didn’t work to drag her forward—she seemed sure there was a cow somewhere she was supposed to herd, and she couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t showing up.
It’s not nice to laugh at kids, but I couldn’t help giggling. Just a little. But I couldn’t let the boys think I was making fun of them, so I tried to hide behind Dusty. His shoulders were shaking in laughter, too, but somehow he kept his face straight. “We need more to judge!” he decided. “Go through one more time!” And then he snickered almost silently.
“You’re so mean!” I whispered over his shoulder.
“Just trying to make it a fair contest,” he reasoned, but he was trying to choke back a belly laugh. “Besides, we have ten more minutes to kill. Might as well enjoy it.”
