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Chapter 16
Matt tried to watchfor a time where he could have a chance to talk to Jubilee.
She allowed him to give her daughters horseback rides by the beach, but she hadn’t stuck around for him to chat with her.
He wanted to apologize for the ride that they never got to take. He owed her that much. And he wanted to offer her a rain check, in case she wanted it. He did.
He got the feeling she was avoiding him when half of the week went by and despite the fact that he hung out at his mom’s as much as he could, around the hay and the horses and the other work he had to do, he didn’t get a chance to talk to her.
He found out from Clara that she often took a couple of hours after lunch to take the girls to the beach and play in the waves.
It was Wednesday before he was able to get away after lunch and walk down to the lake.
Nora hadn’t apologized for her behavior, but she hadn’t gone off on him about wanting him to get together with Eva again, either. His mom had told him that he should talk to Nora about it some.
He wasn’t sure he could be as compassionate as what the situation demanded. She was young, and of course she wanted parents. Two of them. Like every other kid she knew. But there was no way he was getting together with Eva. He hadn’t wanted to be with her to begin with. He just made a foolish decision, had given in to temptation and hormones.
He wasn’t sure he was going to explain all that to his twelve-year-old, and she didn’t seem overly convinced when he’d told her that he hadn’t been with her mother to begin with.
But neither one of them would be happy in a relationship together at this point in their lives, and if Eva were being honest, she would admit it.
Regardless, while he didn’t feel as close to Nora as they had always been, they’d gone back to taking their sunrise rides on the beach. Last year, she practiced some Roman riding, and the last two mornings, they’d worked on that as well.
He didn’t particularly want her to grow up to be a trick rider, but she enjoyed testing her skills and doing things that were just a little bit dangerous. He felt like he was walking a fine line between allowing her freedom to take risks versus his natural instinct as a dad to want to protect her.
Regardless, they weren’t quite back to normal as he walked down to the beach, knowing from his mom that Jubilee had taken Nora with her and her girls when she’d gone down earlier.
And she’d been doing it each day that week.
Nora usually went to his mom’s to eat, and he didn’t always make it. He’d been busy enough the last two days that he’d sent her on up without him.
Today, he had some fence to fix and some horses to put back again, and he got it done in time not to eat but to see Jubilee on the beach.
She had a notebook and a pen, and she sat back away from the water while the girls laughed and played and ran through the waves.
He almost didn’t want to interrupt her, since it looked like she was working.
“Hey, there,” he said as he walked out. Feeling like it was a little bit lame, but not knowing what else to say.Why have you been avoiding me? Sorry I was a jerk.
