AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her face brightened. “That’s right! She told me that Mr. Gregory left you his farm. That’s so exciting. How is it going?”
“There’s a definite learning curve… but Katrina…?”
“Right! She went out for a ride. I can tell her you stopped by?—”
Simon cut her off. “I’ll wait for her in the barn if that’s okay. I’m sure she won’t be out much later. She doesn’t like riding in the dark.”
Jennifer smiled. She was as close to a mother as he had these days and just knowing she was here seemed to calm his worried heart. “Of course. You know where it is.”
He nodded, waved, and hurried down the steps toward the barn. Simon found himself a bench to sit on and waited. He tapped his fingers on his knees and glanced at the clock several times in the span of ten minutes before he finally heard the sound of approaching hoofbeats.
Simon jumped to his feet the second Katrina entered the barn. She pulled up on the reins and stared at him with surprise. “Simon? What are you doing here?”
He fought the instinct to get upset with her question. Had she forgotten so quickly that she was supposed to be helping him? What had happened to their plans? His jaw tightened as he moved to her side and helped her from the saddle. It was more out of habit than anything else, but somehow it felt different when he lowered her to her feet.
His hands lingered at her waist, as did hers at his shoulders. Simon’s eyes locked with Katrina’s and for the briefest of moments, he could believe she had feelings for him. If his heart hadn’t already been running a thousand miles a minute, it would have started.
Katrina was the first to move. She blinked and pulled her hands from his shoulders, but due to the horse behind her, she couldn’t step back. Simon dropped his hands to his sides and cleared his throat. He had to remember why he came here in the first place.
“You didn’t come to my farm yesterday.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, I totally forgot to call you. We had some animals get out and I had to help bring them back. It was… a lot.” Her voice drifted toward the end of her statement, growing softer. “Is that why you came? To ask me why I wasn’t there?”
“You didn’t come today, either.”
She dropped her focus to her feet. “Brianne insisted on having a girls’ day after we went shopping last weekend. I could have sworn I messaged you, but maybe I forgot to press send.”
“Really? You expect me to believe that?” Simon shook his head and swallowed back the irritation that continued to grow. “You’ve never forgotten to let me know before. It’s like you’ve suddenly forgotten about me.”
Her eyes cut to meet his. “That’s not true,” she insisted. “There’s just a lot going on right now. First, the date went terrible?—”
“It did?” Simon almost hated how hopeful his voice. He cleared his throat again and lowered the tone in an attempt to cover it up. “What happened?”
She shrugged. “I don’t want to get into it. Let’s just say that he thought that I should let go of my dream job.” Katrina’s deep breath shook slightly even as she exhaled. “I think Brianne felt partially responsible and wanted to make me feel better.”
“He’s an idiot,” Simon muttered, drawing Katrina’s attention again. “If a guy can’t see that something makes you happy, then he’s not worth it. You deserve better.”
This was the closest he’d ever come to telling her his true feelings. He wanted to tell her that he thought she was amazing, that she could do whatever she had her heart set on. But something held him back.
Words were cheap, anyway. He’d said those things before in different ways over the years and they’d never quite had the impact he’d wanted them to. At this point, he might have better luck showing her that he wanted to toss his hat into the ring.
Simon inched closer, studying her eyes as he did. She didn’t shy away from him; if anything, she stood her ground more firmly. Katrina lifted her chin and her lips parted just slightly. She exhaled, and his heart thrummed with the anticipation of what he was about to do.
One kiss.
One kiss was all it would take to change their lives forever. This could go either way. They were standing on a tightrope, swaying one way and then the next. For all he knew, this kiss could destroy the friendship they’d built, though he felt that was more improbable than simply being embarrassed that they’d tried.
What if this kiss was all it took for them to realize what they’d been putting off for so long? He could sense it—the electricity, the anticipation. Everything hung on this moment.
And it all came crashing to a halt.
“Wow! Did you see that lightning storm in the distance?” Brianne’s call was followed by the sound of hooves approaching. Simon and Katrina flung apart as if lightning itself had struck the ground between them just as Brianne entered the barn leading a saddled mare.
How had he not seen her car? Was it even out there? He clung to the wall of the barn, watching as she strode straight toward Katrina.
“Geez, you ride fast. I thought you would have already taken off the saddle by now.” Brianne pulled her hat from her head and ran a hand through her pink hair. Simon’s presence caught her eye then because she glanced toward him and smiled broadly. “Hey, Simon! Why are you here? Are you finally asking Daniel for help? Katrina said you needed some.” She put her hat back on her head and placed her hand on her hip. “I’m still mad at you, by the way. How come you didn’t tell me about the farm?”
Simon pursed his lips, exhaling out his nose and pushed away from the wall. “Because you don’t care much about farming.” It was the only thing he could think of to say.
