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Chapter 2
James stared at Mabel.
She didn’t recognize him. He’d wondered over the years if she would remember him when he came back. He’d been tempted to come back much earlier, just because of that fear—that she’d forget him, or that she’d never noticed him to begin with. But he knew she had been working toward getting her degree and becoming a practicing vet.
He kept tabs on her as well as he could. Without being a creepy stalker.
Of course, considering that she was covered in cow manure from her feet, one of which didn’t have a shoe, to the top of her head, with very little space on her body that wasn’t dirty, it was rather astounding that he was the one worried aboutherlikinghim.
Even though she was filthy...the years he’d waited had been worth it.
That was the thought that was running through his head as he held his hand out.
She looked down at both of hers, which were covered in mud, and then looked back with a sheepish expression on her face. “Sorry, I don’t think you want to shake right now, but I’m Mabel.”
He nodded, tempted to say, “I know,” but he didn’t. He didn’t want to tip his hand. Instead, he allowed his hand to drop and said, “I understand you just moved in with my aunt.”
“You’re the nephew,” she said, and she sounded a little breathless. Maybe from having just gotten stuck in the barnyard muck, or...could it be something else?
He tried to shove that thought aside, because he knew he really wanted to believe that there could be something between them.
He’d fallen for her years ago, when she was way too young and his business wasn’t established.
Then her parents had died, and she had continued on to vet school.
“I should have introduced you two. I didn’t realize you didn’t know James. I thought you did.” Aunt Carol hurried over with a tea towel in her hand.
The towel was no match for the dirt on Mabel’s face, but she took it from Aunt Carol gladly, with a smile, and started wiping at the worst of the muck.
“You know, James used to work with your father.”
Mabel froze, the towel covering her face as she had been swiping at something on her forehead.
Her knuckles whitened, just for a second, and then she finished dabbing at her forehead and the towel slowly lowered.
“I remember you now.” There was a betrayal in her eyes, like she was upset with him for not mentioning that, but her gaze was direct and maybe a little curious. Nothing more.
He tried to make sure he looked casual and not like he’d orchestrated the entire thing.
All except for the muck that currently covered her.
And the box she still held under her armpit.
“Yeah. You used to tag along with your dad on some of his business trips. Always with your nose in a book. I think he hoped that bringing you would encourage you to be more social, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.”
He shouldn’t be saying stuff like that. He didn’t mean to insult her. But he found her desire to hide in the corner with a good book cute and endearing. And it had made him curious about her. The quiet girl who sat in the corner. The one most people overlooked. She didn’t seem to be sad or upset that she was ignored; in fact, that seemed to be what she wanted. She always left as soon as her father would excuse her to go back to their room.
It didn’t surprise him at all that she had become a vet, although he supposed that while vets worked with animals, they worked with people just as much. After all, every animal they worked on was owned by a person.
