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The door clicked closed behind her, and she locked it. Then turned the deadbolt. Ginger usually went around and locked up the West Wing when she came in, but Emma knew she was back already. She’d invited Nate for dinner.
Their voices filtered back to her in the hallway, and Emma pressed against the rising desperation in her throat. With shaking fingers, she walked into the kitchen to find Ginger and Nate still sitting at the bar together.
“Hey,” she said, slipping easily into her façade. She’d gotten very good at hiding things over the years, and she was proud of herself for it at the same time she loathed herself. “Horses are fed.”
“Great, thanks,” Ginger said with a smile.
“I’m going to go shower,” Emma said. “I feel hot and sweaty.”
“Welcome to another summer.” Ginger smiled and sighed, and Emma stepped around the counter to give her a quick hug. She hated lying to her best friend, but she reasoned that the fib today had been small. She wasn’t hot, but cold. The shower was meant to warm her up and remind her that she was still alive.
She was sweaty, and the chilly, clammy feeling in her soul was not pleasant. She also didn’t know what else to do to drive it away. So she stood in the shower for a long time, watching the water flow down the drain and wishing she could just as easily get rid of the uncertainty of her life, and the record of her past.
* * *
Emma leftthe West Wing the next morning about twenty minutes later than normal. Ahead of her on the wide path, a man walked with four dogs at his side. It wasn’t hard to know who that was, and Emma actually smiled at Ted’s back.
He’d charmed those canines in a single day. He probably had them all named by now too, and they seemed to know they’d found the one person who wanted to take care of them. Every once in a while, one would veer off to sniff something in the grass, and Ted would whistle, and the dog would come running to catch up to him.
He led them like the Pied Piper toward the stables, his step easy and light. Emma wondered how that would feel. She hadn’t felt light since the day she’d found out she was pregnant.
She wanted to ask him what life was like in prison, and she wondered if he could walk like that now, because this life was so much better than where he’d come from. Nate had said very little about life in prison, at least to her. Ginger probably knew more.
Emma increased her pace, but unless she ran, she would not catch Ted before he reached the stables. She couldn’t think of a reason why she’d need to be running, so she simply watched him stroll through the morning light.
One of his dogs suddenly sprinted away, and Ted’s step faltered until he’d stopped. He watched the dog, and Emma tracked him too. He’d seen Ursula, who was coming down the road alongside the ATV that Nick drove. He must’ve been out in the fields that morning, checking their irrigation system. Emma knew it had been having problems, because Nick wanted money to fix it.
Emma had directed him to Hannah, because again, she did the global ranch finances, and only she would know if they had money for a global thing like that.
Ursula barked, and she trotted toward Ted and his troop of dogs with the one who’d gone to greet her. Ted’s deep voice said something as he crouched down to love on Ursula, and Emma actually felt a rush of jealousy. For a dog.
But Ted had his hands on her, and he spoke to the dog in a kind, loving tone. Emma came up behind him, and he turned to look at her. “Good morning,” she said. “I see you’ve found your pack.”
He grinned at her and said, “Morning.” He looked back at Ursula. “She’s a real pretty dog. German shepherd. What’s her name?”
“How do you know she has one?”
“She doesn’t live outside with the other dogs,” he said. “My guess is she belongs to Ginger, which means she has a name.” He looked up at Emma expectantly, and with his dark eyes so open and so eager to know, Emma found him boyishly charming.
“Ursula,” she said. “What did you name your other dogs?”
“One is Simon,” he said. “Randy, Paula, and Ryan.”
Emma looked at him while she absorbed the names. She giggled and shook her head. “I see where you’re going with this. Let me guess…you only got to watchAmerican Idolin prison.”
Ted chuckled and shook his head, finally abandoning his administrations to Ursula so he could stand. “No, but my mother loved the show. I’d call her every week, and she’d spend at least half of our time updating me on the show, the contestants, and most of all—the judges.” He looked off into the distance, a happy glint in his eyes. “My mother sure did love the original judges. Simon was her favorite.”
“Ah, so that’s why you arrived at Simon yesterday.”
“Yeah.” Ted started walking again, and Emma fell into step beside him. “You going to the stables to feed your babies?”
“Yes, sir,” she said. “How did you like your morning yesterday? Get along all right with Jess and the other horses?”
Ted tipped his head back and laughed. The sound poured out of him and added to the beauty of the morning sky. Emma just kept her eyes on the ground, though a new measure of warmth filled her from top to bottom in less than a second.
“She’s kind of protective of those horses, isn’t she?” Ted asked.
“Jess is great,” Emma said. “But yes, she loves those horses as if they were her own flesh and blood.”
