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“She might not be, but every business needs to have something that they’re doing to make the world a better place. I think this mare has a lot of potential, and she just might be perfect for us.”
George didn’t look like he was the slightest bit in agreement with her, but he didn’t say anything.
They made arrangements for George to bring the horses out on Wednesday, and Davis wrote out a check before they left.
He had barely gotten his car door shut when Kim said, “I thought I was paying for them.”
“It was nice of you to wait to argue with me until we got in the car.”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“Hmm. That wasn’t a subject change. I was just complimenting you.”
“I’m writing you a check out for that amount. This is my business.”
She didn’t sound argumentative or even upset, just exasperated. Like she wasn’t angry, and she wasn’t even trying to assert the fact that it was her business. Just that she didn’t want him paying for what she should be paying for. Kind of like she’d moved the relationship from casual friends to good friends.
He’d never really thought about the difference, and it prompted him to say, “So we’re friends now?”
Maybe his voice was a little lower, a little huskier, a little more intimate than what the conversation indicated, but it made him happy.
“Of course we’re friends. I can’t have you doing everything that you’re doing for me and not consider you a friend. I also can’t have you doing it all and paying for everything as well. You’re helping me, not paying the bills for me.”
“You can’t imagine how happy that makes me,” he said, ignoring everything else she said, except for the fact that they were good friends.
“And you are exasperating me,” she said, lifting her brows, but she didn’t look exasperated. She looked happy.
“I think that little Arabian has a lot of potential. Although I think George might be right. She might never be very good as a horse we can rent out to customers.”
“I had a little Arabian just like that when I was younger. Her name was Honey, and she and I rode up and down Blueberry Beach for years. I loved her so much. When I went off to college, it just made sense to sell her, since I wasn’t going to be around to ride her.”
“That’s life. It goes on, and things and people come in and out of our lives.”
She looked over at him as he pulled out on the road, accelerating up to road speed before she said, “And some people stay.”
Her tone intrigued him, and he glanced at her, liking what he saw. He nodded solemnly. He was going to be one of the people who stayed in her life. Not just because they had a baby together.
She smiled at him, and he thought that maybe she was softening toward him, maybe they were moving toward something more permanent, when her feet scrunched up, like she was in pain.
“The baby?” he asked immediately as her hand went to her stomach, and after a brief moment of surprise, her face turned down.
“I think so. But it shouldn’t be. It’s way, way too early.” She kind of ended on a groan, and then she said, “But this hurts.”
“I’ll drive straight to the emergency room.” They weren’t far from the Blueberry Beach Hospital. Only ten minutes.
“I think you’d better. I think I might be...bleeding. Or... My water just broke.” Her face twisted, and even though she was hunched over a little and he could tell she was in pain, she whispered, “Sorry about your car.”
“Good grief, woman. Don’t worry about the car. It doesn’t matter.” He couldn’t believe she was even thinking about it. “How far along are you? The baby will need a ventilator, at the very least, right?” He wasn’t sure what a full-term baby was or how far along they were until they didn’t need to be intubated anymore, all he knew was that this was way too early and she needed the care of medical professionals and she needed it now and he couldn’t stop to have the baby in the car if it needed to go on life support immediately after birth.
Then the idea that they might not just lose the baby, that he could lose Kim too, made him push even harder on the gas pedal which was already on the floor.
“Twenty-eight weeks. So not far enough. I don’t know what that means,” she said, seeming to grunt out her words like it hurt to talk.
Just the idea of her in pain made him panic and intensified the fear of losing either her or the baby or both.
Lord. Get us to the hospital, please. Keep them both safe.
He wanted to pray that God would give him the pain and take it from Kim, but he knew that was impossible. Maybe not impossible for God, but not something that was going to happen.
