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“I told you I’d be here.”
“Good. Will you make a salad to go with these trout Aaron and I caught today?” He held up a plate with three fileted fish on it.
“Wow. Yes. I will. Just let me change.”
Dinner was great and Ember enjoyed spending the evening with Scott and Aaron. After they ate, she told Scott she’d do the dishes later, and they played a board game before Aaron had to go to bed. They played two rounds of Shutes and Ladders, then Scott sent Aaron in to get ready for bed. When he came to say goodnight, Aaron asked Ember to read him a story.
“Of course. I’ll be right in.” She looked at Scott. “Don’t go in there and do the dishes now.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He yawned. “In fact. I’m ready to call it myself. After you read the story, of course.”
Ember went into Aaron’s bedroom and found him hugging Billy Buck. She smiled. “I know what story we’re reading tonight.” She tookBilly Buck Makes A Friendfrom the shelf, then sat on the bed next to Aaron. She opened to the first page.
“It was a rainyday. A cloudy, wet, and miserable day. But Billy Buck didn’t mind. Billy Buck loved the rain.”
She read the entire book, then kissed Aaron and Billy Buck before leaving the room. Scott was on the couch, dozing. He woke up, and smiled at her when she came into the living room.
“Okay, Dad, time for you to go to bed, too.”
He stood and stretched. “All this time outdoors makes me tired.”
“Don’t you spend a fair amount of your time on the football field?”
He shook his head. “Not the same at all. Twenty sweaty teenagers or a crystal blue lake with just my son. I’ll take the latter.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
Scott headed for the bedroom and Ember went to the kitchen to do the dishes. Her mother had instilled in her that you don’t go to bed with a sink full of dishes in the kitchen. She started filling the sink and immediately started thinking about John again. This was one of their things. Doing the dishes together. They’d been together for such a short time, but they’d already fallen into a routine. It was nice, and comforting. And despite the short time frame, she was madly in love with her cowboy, John Sherlock.
She smiled. A cowboy.Who would’ve ever thought I’d fall in love with a cowboy?
But the best part was, the cowboy was in love with her, too.
Chapter nineteen
"Keep your eyes on the the trail, mister.""
Scott left on Friday and John moved back to the house. He and Ember were both off for the weekend and they spent a lot of their time in the bedroom. They ate long, leisurely breakfasts in bed, read a book together, and continued their rummy tournament. They talked for hours about Ember’s childhood, with John stating he could at least live vicariously through her memories.
On Saturday afternoon, they went out on the boat and John fished. He got two nice trout, and they brought them home to grill on the barbeque. Then they brought out the constellation book and studied the night sky. It took a while for them to figure out what they were looking at. But once they got the hang of it, they were easily picking out the constellations in the summer sky.
On Sunday afternoon, John took Ember to the riding stable and finally got her up on a horse. She seemed reluctant and possibly scared,but he gave her time to get to know the horse and help in the saddling process.
But when she was up on Ebony’s back, she was still looking a bit nervous.
John smiled at her. “You’re fine. You saw how gentle she was with Aaron.”
“How was he not scared up here? He’s so little and she’s so big.”
“You’ll get used to it. Hold tight while I get up on Sarge.” He mounted his horse, then looked at Ember. “If you want to feel like you’re in control, you can give her a squeeze and a click, but really, she’s going to follow Sarge and do what he does.”
“I’ll just let her do that, then.”
“Hold the reins. I only let Aaron hold on to the saddle horn because he’s six.”
She let go of the saddle horn and took the reins, then settled into the saddle as she tried to relax. “Okay. I’m officially riding a horse.”
He smiled. “You will be once we start moving.” He clicked out of the side of his mouth and both horses started walking. Ember gasped, then laughed.
