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“It might be good for you. You know, you’ve been working pretty hard. It would be good for you to take a little time off. It’s a beautiful day out. And... You know you miss riding.”
Her eyes narrowed a bit at the intimate way he spoke. Of course he knew that she missed riding. Anyone who was born to be on a horse the way she was would miss it.
“I’d really like it if you’d go,” he said, not sure whether that would convince her or drive her away.
“Please, Mommy?” Maddie said, squeezing her mom tighter but looking up with pleading in her eyes.
“I guess. But we can’t stay long. I do have a lot of work to do.”
“Maybe you could ride with us, and then the girls and I can get dessert at the diner, of course... If you want to do that with us, you could.”
“Maybe but most likely not,” Dakota said.
“Mommy. I like it when you do things with us.”
“I like doing things with you too, kiddo,” Dakota said with a smile and a squeeze.
“I just like to ride horses,” Rachel said, jumping up and down.
“You guys need to go change out of your school clothes, and I’ll talk to Mr. Ryan.”
Ryan figured by the sound of that that he was in big trouble, but he didn’t allow that to worry him. At least she had agreed to go, and her daughters seemed excited. As far as he could see, he was winning.
Chapter 13
“So you want to holdthe kite in this hand, and hold your string in the other hand, and then run along the beach.” Ryan held the kite up as an example, with the string in the other hand, as he spoke earnestly to Rachel.
Rachel had been determined to get her kite in the air, but so far, she had had no success. Dakota had forgotten that there was a bit of a knack to flying kites. She’d been doing it for so long, since the breeze that blew off Lake Michigan was perfect for kite flying, that she forgot that she actually had to learn.
It was like riding horses.
Her girls had had so much fun with Ryan for the past two weeks. He’d taken them horseback riding several times. They’d gone for walks along the lake, and on one especially warm day, they’d even gone swimming. This was the first time they’d flown kites. It turned out there were no kites left in his mother’s basement, and he had to buy new ones.
Dakota had wanted to stock them in her store, because it was something that the tourists would purchase, and so he waited for her order to come in.
The girls’ last day of school had been today, and they had celebrated by going to the beach.
