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He gazed at her. “You’ll have to tell me why.”
She nodded. “I think I can do that.” She wasn’t entirely sure, but this was Michael Hammond, and she wanted to try.
“And you won’t be embarrassed, because it’s me, and we’ve known each other our whole lives.”
“Practicallyour whole lives,” she clarified.
He grinned and lifted his breakfast sandwich as if toasting her. “Practically our whole lives.”
Except for the thirteen and a half years when she hadn’t spoken to him. And the first thirteen years of her life before she’d met him. But she’d had almost four years with him, and she really felt like she knew him. He hadn’t changed that much, though there were some distinct differences in him that had nothing to do with the muscles she’d never seen before.
“I’m shoeing a horse at noon at the Palmer’s farm today,” she said. “You’ll call me when you’re back from the doctor? I want to hear all about it.”
“Yes, baby doll. I’ll call you when I’m back from the doctor.”
Baby doll.Gerty had thought she hadn’t forgotten anything about Mike or their time together from before. She’d been wrong, because she’d forgotten how it felt to be calledbaby dollin his deep, delicious voice.
* * *
Gerty filed back and forth,back and forth, straining with what felt like everything she had to get the hoof right. She finally managed it and straightened enough to wipe the sweat from the side of her face.
The horse didn’t move, and she’d have corrected him if he had. She only had this one hoof left, and she expertly nailed in the new shoe and finally let the horse’s leg down. “Good boy,” she said to the beautiful creature. “Now you’re all ready for the summer.” She smiled at him and ran her hand along the side of his neck.
It had to be close to one o’clock by now, because a re-shoeing usually took at least an hour, and this horse had had some issues with one of his frogs on his back right foot. Feeling dirty and sweaty and hot, Gerty pulled her phone from her back pocket.
Mike had not called or texted.
She wasn’t sure why she was so disappointed, only that she was. She reached for her water bottle and gulped the cold liquid. Then she started cleaning up her tools, folding everything together neatly into her leather apron, before she went to find Mr. Palmer.
He checked his horse, smiled, and said, “Mighty fine work, Gerty. Thank you.” He paid her, and Gerty said she’d come back any time if he needed her.
She didn’t officially start at Pony Power until the weekend, when they were having their summer opening social for families. That was always a busy time at the children’s equine riding facility, and Gerty paused as she arrived at her truck to consider the feelings running through her.
“Gratitude,” she whispered as she identified it. Tears came to her eyes, which for Gerty, said a lot. She rarely cried, and it took extreme pain, strong emotions, or pure humiliation to make her eyes water.
Right now, it was strong emotion.
“Thank you for alerting me to James’s infidelity before I married him,” she whispered. She couldn’t even fathom how she’d have felt if she’d then had to figure out if she wanted to save her marriage or let it go.
She didn’t want to think about giving herself to him, body and soul, only to find out he hadn’t been faithful. It was bad enough to think about it when they hadn’t been married yet.
Not only that, but she knew their marriage wouldn’t have survived the infidelity. He hadn’t been repentant, and his words still struck her like a whip to her back.
You’re no fun, Gerty. You work all the time, and I swear, you love those horses more than you do me.
She’d cried when he’d said that too. Not in front of him. Then, she’d stood strong, with her fingers clenched into fists, as she’d fired back at him that he got to make his own choices. Never once had he complained about her work schedule. Never once had he told her to come in from the stables so he could see her.
He didn’t need her, because he had two other women in town ready and willing to fill in any gaps Gerty left in him.
She brushed at her eyes and shored up her strength. God gave her that too, and Gerty once again felt pure gratitude for her Heavenly Father in her life. Without Him, she honestly didn’t know where she’d be.
The anger and shame she’d felt at the dissolution of her relationship with James left as quickly as it had descended upon her, and Gerty opened the back door of her truck and tossed in her tools.
The slamming of the door ended the memories, and Gerty straightened her shoulders and pushed her ponytail off of the right one. The grumbling of an approaching truck met her ears, and she glanced over to it, expecting it to go past her and down the lane to the farmhouse.
She did a double-take when the big, black behemoth pulled in beside her, Mike in the passenger seat and his father behind the wheel.
Mike wore a smile the size of Texas, and Gerty felt it infuse inside her, driving out any remaining melancholy, anger, or resentment. At least for now. She knew she still had a long way to go to be completely healed, to truly grieve the death of the life she’d thought she’d have with James, but she felt like she’d taken the first step.
