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Sawyer put a plaid flannel shirt over his tank, but didn’t button it, then nodded toward the door. “Let’s go meet some horses.”
They went into the barn, which had stalls on both sides of a walkway that was about twelve feet wide. The barn was exceptionally clean for a barn, with a few wooden benches to sit on positioned in the middle of the clear space. They passed a room filled with tack, and another which appeared to be the feed room filled with bins, barrels, and bails of alfalfa.
Sawyer stopped at the stall with a bay mare in it. “This is Button. She used to be Dad’s horse, but she’s middle-aged now and can’t do the hard work anymore. She’s highly trained, though, and will give you a nice safe ride. She’s still surefooted.
Button came to the gate and Ember rubbed her nose. The fact that the horse used to be Jake’s was all she needed to know.
“She’ll do just fine.”
Sawyer nodded. “Do you want to give her a spin? You can take her to the pen and get to know her.”
“Can we do that tomorrow? I need to go get some lunch, then your grandfather and I have a walk to take.”
“That sounds like loads of fun.”
“Your father said we should walk to thepond.”
“Yeah. Granddad shouldn’t have too much to say about that.”
“And maybe toward the end of the week, we can do a few things in the weight room.”
“Sounds good. Just let me know when and I’ll meet you there.”
“Thank you, Sawyer.”
They headed for the doors and stepped outside. “I’m glad you’re here. I think you’re just what Granddad needs.”
“I hope so.”
As Ember was getting into her car, Sage came running out of the front door. “Sawyer!”
He turned to her. “What?”
“Granddad fell.”
Sawyer glanced at Ember and she motioned toward the house. “Go. I’m right behind you.”
Sawyer ran for the house and up the stairs. He disappeared inside as Ember reached the steps. She went inside and heard Jacob cursing in the kitchen. As she entered the room, Sawyer was helping him up off the kitchen floor. A broken cup was lying in a puddle of coffee on the hardwood floor.
Sawyer led Jacob to a chair and set him down as Ember went and knelt in front of him.
“Jacob. Are you hurt?”
He scowled and shook his head. “I’ll probably have a bruise the size of Texas on my ass tomorrow, but other than that, no.”
Ember took a breath. “Okay. Just stay put for a moment. I want to take your blood pressure.”
She stood and headed out of the room before he had a chance to object. Sage followed her and when Ember glanced at her, she saw Sage was trembling and was close to tears. She stopped walking and took Sage’s hand.
“He’s okay. He just lost his balance.”
Sage took a deep breath. “I saw him on the floor. I was so scared. We just got Dad back. I wasn’t ready to lose Granddad.”
Other than Jake’s vague reference to being gone and out of touch when Jacob had his stroke, no one had mentioned Jake’s five month absence and the fact he couldn’t remember where he’d been. But she understood that. To them, she was just Jacob’s nurse. An outsider who didn’t need to be informed about the family issues. So Ember didn’t react or question Sage’s comment.
She patted Sage’s hand and repeated, “He’s fine.”
She retrieved the blood pressure cuff from Jacob’s room, then returned to the kitchen. Sage was sitting at the table with Jacob and Sawyer was pouring him a fresh cup of coffee. The mess on the floor had been cleaned up.
