Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
“But you’re not going to be there daily?
” Summer lifted her shoulder, watching a couple stroll by toward the parking lot, leaving the festival hand in hand and whispering to each other.
They looked so happy and in love, she almost forgot what she was going to say.
“I’m not trying to figure out when you’re going to be there and when you’re not, exactly.
I have no nefarious intentions. I was just curious. ”
“I can let you know what my schedule looks like, although right now, it’s wide open.” Gilbert laughed a little. “I don’t think it’s going to stay that way for long.”
“I hope not. I did call about the horses, and I know I can get them back, but I figured I might be being a little bit too optimistic if I called my clients and told them that I was back in business. But I can guarantee you that I’ll be doing that first thing in the morning.
Once I talk to Sunny and find out how long she wants me to work and what kind of notice she wants me to give. ”
“That makes me happy. I’m glad you think that you’re going to be able to get back into business that easily.”
“I’m hoping.”
“To answer your question, I shouldn’t need to be in the office at all, but I do want to keep my finger on things.
It’s too easy for people to run away with things, if I’m not there and they know I’m not going to be there keeping an eye on them.
At the same time, the whole point of me rebuilding the business, and getting it so that it was making money again, was so that I could spend time with my children.
As you probably know, since my mom and my sisters were the ones who had been handling the kids, I haven’t been around a whole lot for the last year, as I did that.
But I promised myself that whole year that once I got things under control, I was going to step back and spend as much time as I could with my kids.
I can’t believe Lucas is twelve. Before I know it, he’s going to be out of the house, and it’s going to make me sad that I missed so much of his life. ”
“I do think you have to cherish the time you get to spend with your kids, because it’s fleeting.”
“Yes. I’m starting to figure that out. How did you get to be so wise? You don’t have any children of your own.”
“No. I love kids, and I always thought I’d have some, but it just hasn’t been the way the Lord’s worked my life out so far.
” She didn’t say anything more. She really did want children.
And it felt like that opportunity was slipping away.
“Maybe I focused a little bit too much on my career and allowed the opportunities that I had to possibly develop a relationship that could lead to marriage and children slip by.”
“Or maybe God was just having you do something else until the right one comes along.”
“Like you did with your wife?” she asked, hoping he answered, because she was extremely curious.
“I suppose. Although, maybe not. We were high school sweethearts and got married shortly after I graduated from high school. I think I was twenty. And she was nineteen.”
“Wow. So young.”
“Yeah. I don’t have anything against kids getting married young.
In fact, I think maybe the whole idea of people needing to wait to mature is not as good of an idea as what everybody thinks it is.
You don’t need to see the world first, or fulfill yourself, or whatever.
If you’re following the Lord, He’ll provide whatever it is you need, and you will be fulfilled in Him.
I think we’ve totally missed that, especially as Christians, and we have a tendency to speak the way the world speaks, instead of the way we really should speak, according to the Bible. ”
“I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way, but when you say it like that, I have to agree. If we are following God, and we commit to our spouse, it shouldn’t matter how old we are when we marry, if we’ve been brought up to keep our commitments and do what we say we’re going to do.”
“Exactly.”
She laughed to herself that they had gotten so far off-topic. How were they talking about relationships and discussing what God wanted? She found she agreed with him, which surprised her even more.
“Maybe you’re not as old as I thought. You must be thirty?”
“Thirty-two.”
“I see.”
“So, you know how old I am. Can I ask how old you are? Even though I know I’m not supposed to ask that or your weight.”
“I don’t think I’m going to tell you my weight, but I’m twenty-seven.”
“I don’t think the world has passed you by at that age. You’re young yet.”
“Just five years younger than you.”
“That explains why I didn’t know you. My mom said the kids were taking lessons and you had gone to my school, but I was probably out of high school before you started in that building.”
“Since both of us grew up in Mistletoe Meadows, we would have gone to the same school, but you’re right. I was a while after you, although I knew about the McBrides, and I probably knew you, although over the years, I’d forgotten.”
“So you knew Isadora?”
“Yeah. And Roland. I think one was in the grade above me and one was in the grade below.”
“But you managed to avoid being stuck in a grade with a McBride. Life is good.”
“I guess. I didn’t realize that I was lucky that way.”
“Did you always know that you wanted to work with horses?”
“I did. At least I hoped that I got to. Since I was an only child, I did a lot of work on the farm. Back when I was growing up, there was more acreage, which Dad sold off when Mom started remodeling the house. But then he had to remortgage the house, because it cost more than what they thought it was going to. The nice part about that is Mom didn’t cut any corners and everything is top-of-the-line, and it’s done very well. It’s just…very expensive.”
“I got that impression. I was really impressed when I was walking through. The designer, whoever it was, did a great job of not completely obliterating the fact that there was an addition put on, but everything flows so well it doesn’t feel jarring, the way some additions do.”
“I agree completely. I was in some of my friends’ houses, where you have basically three houses slapped together. It’s weird, although those houses definitely have character.”
“That’s true, they do. A lot more character than modern-day houses, although if someone wanted to give me a brand-new house, I would not turn them down.”
“Same. But I do love the character that an older house has.”
“I do too. The wide staircases, the natural light, and the beautiful wood are just some of the things that really impressed me when I walked through the first time.”
“I kind of wished Dad wouldn’t have sold all the grounds, because it was a nice working farm, but the twenty acres that goes with it is enough to keep a few horses and give you some room to ride around.”
“That’s kind of what I thought. Did you help him make hay?”
She couldn’t believe how comfortable she found him as they chatted about their childhoods and different things that came up.
He talked a little more about his wife’s cancer, and how difficult it was for the children, and how they thought they had it beat until they started getting more bad news every time they went to the doctor.
She ended up telling him about the two serious boyfriends she had in college, although neither one of them were interested in moving to a small town like Mistletoe Meadows, and she ended up ending her relationships with both of them.
She told him about how she had been able to finish her degree online, other than her clinicals, and even those had been things that she had been able to do not very far from home.
They found out that they were both homebodies.
Of course, his upbringing was a lot different since he had five siblings, and he talked about that a little bit.
By the time she looked around, she realized it was almost midnight and the festival was practically deserted.
“My goodness, can you believe the time?” she said, standing up abruptly, when she saw it was almost midnight.
“Wow. I had no idea. I told my mom I wouldn’t be late. She’s watching the kids.”
“Your mom is amazing. One of my favorite people, and someday I hope I can grow up to be just like her.”
“Yeah. She can be a little bit intimidating because she’s so…wonderful. You know?”
“I guess I don’t find her intimidating, because she’s always been very friendly and sweet, quick to laugh at herself, and I’ve never seen her get upset or impatient.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that, too. But she does have a voice, and when she uses that tone, you know she means business, and people jump to do whatever it is she wants. She doesn’t use it very often, but it’s very effective.”
“I would imagine it would be, if she was a single mom raising six kids.”
“Yeah. She was quite a woman.”
“Well, hopefully she doesn’t have to use her tone on you whenever you come walking in at midnight, and after telling her that she wouldn’t be there for very long.”
“The kids are old enough that they really don’t need a babysitter, but I like to have an adult around just to keep an eye on them. I… Maybe I’m a little overprotective that way.”
“Somebody had to take them home anyway. And something tells me your mom doesn’t mind keeping an eye on them.”
They had started walking back toward the bakery.
“I assume you live over the bakery right now?”
“I do.”
“All right, I’ll walk you home, since I kept you out so late.”
Him saying that made it almost seem like a date, when it wasn’t anything close. But… She had never been out on a date when she lost track of time so thoroughly as they chatted about everything and anything.
True to his word, he walked her to the bakery, which had a closed sign hanging on the window.
“This might be a stupid question, but you have a key, right?”
“I do. And if I don’t, I have my phone, and Summer will let me in.”
“All right. If you don’t mind, I’ll wait until I see you walk in. Mistletoe Meadows is as safe as any town, but there is always a lunatic around somewhere.”
“Unfortunately, that’s true,” she said as she pulled the key out of her pocket and put it in the lock of the door that was directly beside the window in the bakery.
“I had a really great time, thank you so much for your offer and for being willing to talk to me, and… Yeah. Thank you.” She wanted to say she was looking forward to moving in with him, but that sounded a little weird, and for some reason, she couldn’t think of any other words.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry I didn’t think of this earlier. I should have. It wasn’t very nice of me to only be thinking about myself.”
“Nobody thought that you should be offering your home or not buying a place just because I needed it. Honest.”
“I thought about that, but then… Christians are supposed to be different, right? I shouldn’t have been just thinking about myself, even though I’m the protector and provider of my family and my children should come first. I should have been thinking about a way I could help you, that would enable you to do what you wanted. ”
“I don’t know about that. I guess I disagree on the one hand, but on the other hand, I do agree that Christians are supposed to be different, and too many times we’re not.
We’re just as selfish as everyone around us, and people have to look really hard with a microscope almost in order to actually see Jesus in us. It shouldn’t be that way.”
“You’re absolutely right about that. I don’t want them to have to use a microscope. I want Jesus to radiate off me in such a way that people barely have to glance at me before they know that Jesus is here.” He tapped his heart.
She nodded, charmed, despite herself. The evening had been…magical might have been a little too strong of a word, but it had been wonderful at the very least, and to know that he felt that way about the Lord made it even better.
She was completely and totally content and happy about moving in with him and his three children. And even more relaxed and unafraid about opening her business back up, even though she no longer owned the stable. She was confident that he would treat her right, no matter what happened.
“I’ll see you soon,” she said as the lock clicked and she opened the door.
“Thank you. You’ll let me know if anything comes up, right?”
She nodded. “You can expect a text from me tomorrow. I’ll tell you what Sunny said, and I’ll wait until after I know when the horses are coming to give you the lowdown on them.”
“Sounds good. Good night,” he said, but he made no move to leave.
“Good night,” she said, and then she had the strangest urge to move closer to him, like…like there would be a good night kiss.
But it wasn’t a date, not anything close, and she resisted that urge and turned, maybe a little faster than what she was planning on, and hurried in the door, closing it behind her.
Wow. She had not been expecting that.