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Trigger shifted toward Jake, sniffing his outstretched hand.
“I’ve never even considered being my own boss.” She shrugged. “I thought I’d someday maybe be head cashier at Hooley’s.”
He wished he could ask her about everything. What had her childhood been like? What was her favorite food? Book? Song? What made her cry, and what made her mad? What made her laugh?
“What would you want to do, if you could do anything?” He knew she’d attended Georgie’s first night class, and that her school had frowned on her attending normal classes when she started showing with Emma. An old-fashioned way of thinking, he thought, especially considering that no one had madeTroydrop out. High school had obviously taught him nothing about living in the real world or being a productive member of society. Maybe if the school had showed some compassion to Hannah, she might have higher aspirations for herself.
“Teach.” She said it quickly, without having to give it a moment’s thought. “When I first moved onto the farm, I’d go to Georgie’s classroom and help set up, give her a hand with prepping her lessons. I tried to save up enough to take college courses, but I only got through a couple before life just flew by.”
“What about now?” he asked. He could stay on with Ted and help pay her way. But he knew that Georgie and Olivia had probably offered to help pay for school already. Hannah would refuse anything she saw as charity.
She shrugged. “I was thinking about classes again the other day, actually.”
“I was, too,” he said. “I was thinking about taking an accounting or bookkeeping class. Maybe a farm management course.”
With the G.I. bill, he could go full-time if he wanted to, but he had no real desire. He didn’t want to sit in a classroom all day, he wanted to feel the soil on his skin. But the bookkeeping… that was another story. “Wish I could give you my G.I. loan, seems like a waste not to use it.”
“What was it like?” she asked. “Being a soldier?”
He thought about the gun now languishing in the safe. He didn’t even think about it anymore. He wasn’t sleeping through yet, but he didn’t need to spend another night going over what he could’ve done to save Victor’s life.
“Hard,” he said. “And a blessing.”
She leaned on the stall door and stopped petting Trigger, focusing all her attention on him, waiting for him to say more.
“I saw the worst in people, and the best.” He had to look away from her as images flashed in his head. “I certainly wouldn’t be here right now if I hadn’t joined up.”
“Did you meet your buddy there?”
“Victor?” He smiled, thinking of all their crazy conversations. “We were just kids when we met, straight out of high school, two misfits. Victor always talked about how one day, he wanted to own a ranch, just like his father, and his grandfather before that, and his great-grandfather.”
“So that’s where you got the idea?”
“Yup, and it’s almost perfect.” He looked at Trigger, and the pasture outside the wide-open barn doors. The whole landscape was everything he had ever dreamed of.
“Almost?”
He looked back at her. “I just want to share it with someone.”
And he removed his hat, took her hand, and kissed her softly on the lips.
* * *
Maggie got out the cookie jar while Olivia grabbed the milk. Georgie had come down from the ranch –in her robe– and they all waited for Hannah to start.
“Well, come on,” Olivia said. “Tell us everything.”
“It was great. Yes, Olivia, you were right, and I was wrong.”
Georgie clapped her hands and grinned.
“Shush, baby, sleeping.” Olivia rolled her eyes toward the second floor.
Maggie wrapped her hands around her mug of tea. “Why are you here, if it was going so well?”
“Nana!”
Maggie winked at Hannah.
