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“You had to come from someone,” he said and then wished he wouldn’t have, because he understood what she meant. And he hadn’t been very considerate.
But she smiled and didn’t look especially sad. “No. I guess my mom just ran off when I was a baby, and my dad gave me to my Aunt Teresa. He’s alive somewhere, but I only heard from him a couple of times in my childhood, and when Aunt Teresa died, he didn’t even come to the funeral.”
“I don’t even understand how someone could be like that. It makes me sad. I have such a great family.”
“I love your mom. She’s just so...maternal. Like I just feel like I’m so welcome and loved every time I’m with her. I hope that’s true.”
“Trust me, it is. She loves taking in strays and anyone who looks like they need her. I was just thinking that you have a lot of her traits. You remind me of her.”
“I do?” Jubilee didn’t look like she believed him at all.
“You do. Truly. This is the kind of thing that my mom would do. Playing in the waves with her kids and never caring who watched. I... After Dad left, I always wished she would get married again. Not to have more children, but just because she has so much love, and from what I could see, she was such a great wife. After Dad left, he was only gone about four months when he asked to come back. She had the locks changed, and she wouldn’t let him in. But it just kind of made me think that he realized what he had after he left.”
“It’s too bad he couldn’t have realized that before.”
Her kids had gone to play, but he barely registered their squealing and splashing. Jubilee’s face shone, but it was more than just her happiness that spoke to him. He’d enjoyed talking to her the day before too.
“I think sometimes as humans, we don’t really realize what we have until it’s gone. Maybe it’s hard for us to imagine life without it. Or...”
“Or it’s the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence thing.”
“Exactly. We don’t realize what a lie that is until we’re actually on the other side of the fence and see that there are places of good grass there, but it is the same or worse than what we already had.”
He had seen that more than once with his horses, where they tried to push through the fence to get out to get a couple of tufts of grass that weren’t worth much. He liked to think that he was smarter than a horse, but maybe he wasn’t.
Although, he had never left where he was, thinking that he was going somewhere better.
But he supposed in normal circumstances, he might have had a tendency to just stand back and let things happen with Jubilee. Something told him that this was the time that he needed to step forward and pursue what he wanted.
Not looking for greener grass, but making sure that he didn’t lose the best thing that could have ever happened to him.
Odd thoughts, since he barely knew her. But she brought out the good in him. She made him admire her, she laughed and...made him want to run down to the beach and put his feet in the lake.
“All right. I suppose I ought to get back to work. This was a nice break though. I’m glad you guys were down here laughing and having a good time. I would be in the truck heading back to my farm if you hadn’t been. And I would have missed this. This reminder about how beautiful everything is and how much I should appreciate it.”
“You would have also missed me plowing you over, which probably would be a good thing. You might be feeling that tomorrow.”
“I’m sure I will. I’m a little older than I used to be.”
“It happens to everyone, doesn’t it?”
“It does.” He hadn’t made any move to leave, neither had she, and he stared into her eyes now. Thinking about getting older. Thinking about chances and taking them, even when they seemed scary.
“You want to go with me to the party on Saturday?”
He held his breath. How long had it been since he asked anyone out? Years. And he hadn’t meant to do it just now. But he didn’t regret it, and he also didn’t think he did too bad. She didn’t look shocked or surprised or horrified.
“You know I come with two girls.” She sighed and looked away, toward the lake where they played, before she looked back at him. “And a whole lot of baggage. You might not want to go with me.”
“And why wouldn’t I? I haven’t smiled this much in...years. And that is no exaggeration.”
“Well, you make a soft landing anyway.” She laughed and shrugged her shoulders.
“I think that was an insult. I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be hard, a wall of cement. Pure, solid muscle.”
“All right. It was the sand. The sand makes a soft landing. Underneath the pure, solid muscle.”
She was teasing him, and he had to laugh.
