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“You go on ahead. You’ve been wanting to go for a while, and he’s got the horse here,” Lana said as she stood, getting a plate of cookies she’d made that afternoon off the shelf and setting them down for Nora to grab a couple.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. We’re going to be busy next week, because we’re booked solid, so enjoy a little bit of free time while you have it. Plus, evenings are your time.”
That’s what they decided. Since she was getting up early and helping to cook the breakfast that was offered as a part of everyone’s booking.
Most people had checked out by noon, although they had people who stayed three or four nights, and they offered a casual buffet-type supper for a small fee.
Jubilee helped prepare that, and she also helped clean up.
“Hurry up. He’s waiting,” Nora said, her mouth full of cookie.
“Come on. Let’s go out to the backyard, where Penelope and Scarlett are. They’ve been hoping you’d come.”
“Really?” Nora said, shoving the rest of the cookie in her mouth.
Lana glanced over her shoulder before they disappeared out the door.
Jubilee still stood in the middle of the room. She hadn’t been planning on going anywhere, but...she had to admit that part of her wanted to. A big part of her remembered what they said about being friends and all that. And she smiled a little as she remembered that she told Matt that maybe she’d show up.
It was just like Matt to take things into his own hands. She supposed she should be irritated, but it made her smile, because that was the kind of person Matt was. He didn’t sit around and wait for other people to act, but he moved himself.
She liked that about him for sure.
Deciding she didn’t want to keep him waiting any longer, she resisted the urge to take a look at herself in the mirror over the buffet as she walked through the dining room and to the front door.
She opened it and then couldn’t help but laugh. Matt indeed was on Boots, and he had Bucket saddled and bridled and waiting behind him. He sat in Boots’s saddle, watching the door.
When she opened it, a big grin split across his face, and maybe she was imagining it, but he looked relieved.
“I wasn’t sure whether you would come or not,” he said, giving her a smile before dismounting.
“I thought we agreed that if I wanted to go for a ride, I would walk down to the stable?” She couldn’t help but give him a hard time about it. Even though she appreciated him taking the initiative. If he hadn’t, she probably never would have walked down. And she would always have wished she had.
“You know, I think there is a time for a man to sit back and let someone else do things, but there’s also a time where a man needs to step up and get things done himself. This felt like one of those times. I could be wrong, but I’d be willing to bet that if I were sitting around waiting for you to come to me, I’d be waiting for a really long time.”
She lifted her shoulder but grinned and nodded in acknowledgment.
As she was walking down the walk, movement caught her eye.
“This is about the fourth or fifth time I’ve seen that dog walking the streets. Have you seen it?” She nodded toward the Great Pyrenees that she’d seen several times and just forgot to ask anyone about. He always seemed like he was...making his rounds of the town or something. He didn’t wear a collar, and while he didn’t seem wild and definitely didn’t seem dangerous, he didn’t seem to have an owner either. Although he walked with purpose.
“I’ve seen him too. And I guess I just assumed that it was someone’s dog who got out. The fact that he’s not running away or bothering anyone, I guess it didn’t seem like an emergency and slipped my mind.”
“Me too.”
“He just seems like he knows what he’s doing.”
“I think that’s a quality of Great Pyrenees. They have a tendency to make the rounds of their flocks since they were bred to be guardian dogs. I believe that’s the breed that I’ve heard is really hard to keep in, if you just have a small property. Because they want to protect their flock.”
“Interesting. I guess I don’t really know anything about them, but he just looked so serious. It makes sense to me that he would look serious if it’s his job to protect someone’s animals. That’s a pretty heavy responsibility.” There was humor in Matt’s voice, and she glanced at him. He was grinning.
“You’re not concerned about it?” she asked. In her mind, she had been going over whether or not they should catch it, maybe take its picture and put it up on the streetlights. Except Strawberry Sands wasn’t that big.
“Not really. I think I’ve seen it the most around Davis and Kim. And I actually did ask them. They said they didn’t know who he belonged to, but that they had been putting food out for him. Which he has been eating. Davis knows the vet down the beach a bit, and he was going to ask about a rabies shot, if they didn’t have any takers on someone claiming him. They said they talked to Griff and Chi at the diner.”
“I guess that’s the place to go if you want to get news around Strawberry Sands,” she said, having reached the gate and stepped through it. She looked at the horse. It had been a long, long time since she’d been on the back of one. “Maybe I should just pet him for today.”
