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“Okay. Stormy, you get online and look at the shelters. Decide together. I’m going to go work in the barn for a bit.”
“Thank you, Daddy.” Stormy stands and hugs me, with Willow following suit.
I’ve always wanted a dog, but it didn’t seem right with all the traveling I have to do. Now that the girls are home for good, my tour will be less and less and will have to be scheduled around their schooling. I won’t be like Iris and put myself before them. If anything, her death has taught me how to be a better dad.
Outside, the sun is still blazing, and for some odd reason, I look up to the sky as a plane flies overhead. It’s not like it’s the plane Zara is on, but something told me I needed to look. Which in hindsight is a good thing because Buck just pulled into my driveway.
Thankfully, he’s alone. Not that I mind if Lori comes over, but usually Maylene is with Lori and I don’t have anything kind to say to her right now.
“’Sup, shit stain?” he says as he walks toward me.
“Not much, just about to head to the barn.”
He looks back toward the house and sighs. “Something on your mind?” I head toward the barn, knowing he’ll follow me. When I get in, I go right to the small frig that I keep out here and offer him a beer.
“Saw some headlines today, thought I’d stop by and see how things are.”
Instead of answering, I take a long pull off my bottle of beer. “You or Lori?”
“Lori,” he admits.
“Right, well if you have a question, ask it.” There was a time when I considered Buck my best friend, but after the other night, I’m not so sure we’re on the same page where our friendship is concerned.
Buck shrugs. “Lori’s concerned that you have yourself in a pickle.”
“Would Lori feel this way if it were Holly who was pregnant?”
He runs his hand through his hair and grimaces.
“That’s what I thought.” I walk further into the barn and pick up my tools to muck the stalls. “I don’t know why y’all have an issue with Zara.”
“I dunno. I mean, she’s not one of us. I mean, she doesn’t even listen to our music.”
“And that makes her some sort of alien?” I can’t even look at Buck right now because I’m fuming. Friends aren’t supposed to be like this.
“No, but come on, Levi. She’s different. She doesn’t fit in.”
“She fits in just fine,” I tell him.
“How much do you even know about her? I mean, Lori’s going on and on about her being hitched up and how there’s a scandal brewing because you got her pregnant. She ain’t good for your career, and the girls just lost their mother. Don’t you think you’re moving too fast?”
“I know plenty about her,” I tell him, purposely avoiding the pregnancy rumor and anything that has to do with her divorce.
“Oh yeah, what’s her favorite movie? Color? Song?”
Unfortunately, I pause long enough to let him know that I don’t know those things. “That’s all trivial.”
“It’s all first date questions that you ask, man.”
I put down my shovel and sigh. “Except I don’t get first dates, Buck. Hell, it’s hard enough to find a woman that wants to be with me, for me, and my fame and fortune. Holly, she wants the fame that comes with dating someone like me. It oozes off her. I could tell from the moment I met her. But with Zara, she doesn’t care about any of that because she has her own.”
“But she’s nothing like you!”
“Exactly, and that’s why I love her.”
Buck takes a step back, almost as if I’ve stung him. It’s true, and she knows it. I’m in love with her despite the differences we share.
“Hey, Uncle Buck,” Stormy’s voice breaks through the tension. He turns toward her as she walks into the barn. She eyes me warily, making me wonder how much she’s heard. I know she had trouble accepting that Zara was going to be a part of my life in the beginning, but they’ve grown close and over the past few weeks have been inseparable. I’m not trying to replace Iris, but I wouldn’t mind Zara stepping into the role.
