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Absolutely all of it.
Now, she just had to figure out a way to say it in a way that would convince them both.
* * *
A week passed,and Mike came home every evening. Sometimes Gerty waited for him on his front steps, and sometimes he showed up at her farmhouse in his suit and she fed him soups and sandwiches and pizza.
Then, he and Hunter went on a business trip to New York City, and she didn’t see him for a week. When he got back, he had a mountain of work to catch up on in the office, and he stayed in the city.
October arrived, and with it, Gerty’s absolute favorite time of the year. Autumn. Hay rides. Pumpkin carving. Apple cider. Straw bales and scarecrows and getting up before the sun, and working long after it went down.
Gerty loved farm life—everything about it—and she loved her work with the kids and horses at Pony Power. She still taught her horseback riding lessons, and she spent mornings on her farm now and worked from noon to six at Pony Power.
One evening, Gloria entered the administration lobby where Gerty was filling out her timecard for her mother. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t get paid, and Mom didn’t make exceptions, not even for Gerty.
“Hey.” Gloria smiled and waved as Gerty looked up. “I know you’re headed out, but Red Velvet just threw her shoe and maybe pulled a tendon. The vet can’t come until tomorrow, but can you come look at it and see if she can be shod again?”
“Sure.” Gerty wasn’t planning on seeing Mike that evening either, and as she followed Gloria down the hall and into the barn, she counted how long it had been since she’d see him, smelled him, kissed him.
Fifteen days.
Way too long, and Gerty suddenly had the best idea in the world. “Actually, Gloria?” She waited until her aunt had turned around. “I can’t stay. I have something else I have to do tonight.”
“Oh, sure.” Gloria ducked her head as if embarrassed. “Sorry. You’re just so dependable.”
That was another way of saying Gerty worked too much, but she didn’t let it sting at her. There were seasons where she could work a lot. There were times when she shouldn’t. She had the feeling this would be a lifelong battle for her, and right now, she needed to leave Pony Power on time.
So she did.
* * *
An hour later,Gerty cursed under her breath as she once again couldn’t find anywhere to park along the entire block where Hammond Manufacturing Company stood. “What are all these cars doing here?”
The only one still at work was Mike. Shouldn’t all the employees be gone by now?
The clock on the dashboard read almost seven-thirty, and he’d texted earlier in the day to say he’d be staying at the condo again that night.
Gerty hadn’t responded. They’d talked very little about a strategy to work less personally and to support each other in doing so in order to spend more time together.
Embarrassment attacked her again, as it had been for the past hour as she’d made the drive from country to city. Tears filled her eyes, and she simply wanted to go home.
“No.” She shook her head and made a right turn into a parking garage. No matter what it cost, she’d do it.
Mike was not coming to her again.
She’d realized and already cried about the fact that he was the only one making any effort.
Healways came to her. If he didn’t, it was because he physically couldn’t.
And she could.
A man in a dark suit approached, and he might as well have had spikes on his forehead. She rolled down her window, her voice already feeling pinched in her throat.
“I just need ten minutes,” she said, though she wasn’t sure if that was true. She knew Mike was the CEO, but she had no idea where his office was. She had no idea if she’d even be able to access the elevator he did.
She thought for at least the tenth time that she should call him. But he’d been sweet with her over the last several months with surprises and showing up wherever she was.
She missed him powerfully every time a new lesson started and he wasn’t the one to bring her the horses. Or when she made her own coffee in the morning and sipped it alone. Or when she didn’t get to kiss him goodnight.
