Dani was shaking her head and about to say something when her colleague answered yes and took the menus, handing one to Dani. Hope caught the look of surprise in Dani’s eyes.
“We might as well get dinner, don’t you think?” Peterson said.
Dani glanced at her satchel next to her. “I don’t think my curriculum questions will take long.”
“Super,” Peterson said, smiling at Hope. “More time to find out what it was about Quincy that attracted you.”
Hope could see that wasn’t the response Dani had intended when she pulled a stack of papers from her bag and set them on the table. “I’ll give you two a minute,” she said, wondering if Dani would insist that she and her colleague simply have a quick cup of coffee.
“Thanks for covering me there,” Michelle said when Hope slipped back behind the counter. She had her pad poised, clearly ready to take care of the customers when they were ready.
Hope created a job at the counter and watched as Dani tried to gain control of her meeting. She turned her papers, pointing to the questions she had. Hope wanted to smack Peterson when he took the papers, glanced at them briefly, and set them aside. Hope watched Dani, knowing the woman was considering how rude it would be to take the papers back and force him to concentrate on her questions. Her eyes unexpectedly traveled from the papers to where Hope stood at the counter.
She wasn’t the relaxed person Hope had seen at the library or the confident horsewoman she’d met on the road. She looked befuddled, not trapped or scared, but clearly not where she wanted to be. Hope wanted to mouth I’m sorry when Peterson carried on without noticing that Dani wasn’t even looking at him. She remembered her conversation with Pauline about all of the “dates” Dani had been on since she’d arrived in town. Did she look like this on each of them?
Hope couldn’t bear to watch, so she slipped back into her office. Once there, she couldn’t stop thinking of how she could rescue Dani. She remembered Dani’s words on the road, You’re the one rescuing me. She wished they were alone again together. Considering that the attraction she felt didn’t have to be physical removed the fear she had once felt around her. Perhaps this newcomer could offer a fresh perspective for the dilemma she faced. She felt certain that Dani had come into her life for a reason and was key to finding her true path. She paced her office, glancing out to the diner. Dani still looked guarded and had long finished her meal, her empty plate sitting in the middle of the table while Peterson worked on his. Hope imagined telling Dani that Gabe had called with an emergency, just to get Dani away from Peterson, but she didn’t want to unnecessarily alarm Dani. An idea finally came to her.
She grabbed Michelle and asked her to relay a message. Puttering at the counter, Hope smiled when Dani sent a questioning look her way. Inwardly, she cheered as Dani abruptly ended the business meeting and strode over, Peterson trailing her.
“We haven’t talked about your curriculum questions,” he pressed.
“I’ll try to catch you on campus tomorrow.” She turned to Hope. “I’m so sorry I forgot about helping with that load of manure you need. Are we using my truck?”
Peterson didn’t relent. “I could wait here. Leave your paperwork with me, and we can get dessert when you’re finished.”
Dani’s eyes pleaded with Hope for an escape. Hope scrambled for a reason they wouldn’t be back. “Didn’t you say you thought the garden space was going to take at least three loads?”
“At least,” Dani said, looking relieved. She turned to her colleague. “I can’t ask you to wait that long. I’ll follow up on the link you suggested and see if I can’t figure it out myself.”
“If you’re sure,” he hesitated.
“I appreciate your help,” Dani said, her tone dismissing him. “You’re ready?”
“Yes, but I’ve got that bag of seed in the back. Would you mind grabbing it?”
“Sure ’nough.”
Dani followed her into the office and looked like she was holding her breath until she heard the bells on the door signal Peterson’s departure. With that she exhaled loudly. “Whew! Thank you for saving me. I was starting to think only the building burning down would get me out of there.”
“I’m glad it didn’t come to that.”
“How’d you know I was suffering?”
“Are you kidding? You looked miserable when he accepted a menu. Not that he noticed.”
“He suggested coffee. I thought that was safe. I thought that’s what colleagues do. I’ve smartened up a bit. I insisted we come here on my turf.”
Hope was tickled that Dani considered Cup of Joy to be home turf. She glanced to the door, wondering if Michelle thought it was strange that she’d disappeared into the back with Dani and had not yet emerged though Peterson was clearly gone.
“And then it turns into dinner? Are you kidding me? Is someone messing with me?” she asked, sinking into Hope’s nap chair, righting the book on the armrest before burying her face in her hands. “How does this keep happening?” She looked at Hope, who was still standing and then stood again. “I’m sorry. Did you really need some manure? I’m good for it, can get you as many loads as you like.”
Hope waved her hand, brushing away the offer. “I’ve got a garden to put to bed, but I’ve got some time. I usually stop by the school stable, and the girls load it up with the tractor. No problem.”
“You’ve got work to do, I’m sure. I can’t believe my manners.”
“No, sit. Please.” Hope pulled her work chair around and sat, glad that Dani settled back in. Though Hope wouldn’t say out loud, she was sure that part of the draw the men in town felt was due to Dani’s vivacious energy. She emitted a brightness that Hope herself was drawn to. It didn’t have to be sexual. It could be that she just enjoyed Dani’s company, she reasoned.
“These guys,” Dani said, shaking her head. “Has there been some kind of dry spell? What is it? Do I look desperate? Do I have sucker on my forehead?” She leaned forward as if she expected Hope to inspect it.
Hope started to pull away but stopped, feeling like she needed to respond to this woman’s sudden presence in her life. Remaining so close to Dani in the confines of her office, she felt strangely calm. Funny, it hadn’t occurred to her seeing Dani in her Wranglers and boots that she’d smell like the barn, that comforting mixture of horse and hay that used to come home on her mother. She had loved borrowing her mother’s barn jacket, feeling as warm from the earthy smell as from the fabric itself.
Dani rubbed her forehead. “I do, don’t I? Is it coming off?”
Hope reached to still Dani’s hands but then tucked her hands safely in her lap. “No, you’re not a sucker. They’re just desperate…”
“Oh, thanks. I’m female and breathing, and that’s enough?”
“You know that’s not what I mean at all. I mean he’s got to be, what? Fifty? What is it about creepy old men who think we’ll be interested in going out with them?”
“We? It sounds like you have experience with this. Your turn.”
“I’m not saying.”
“You’re the one who brought it up. Now you have to share.” Dani leaned back in the chair, obviously comfortable and prepared to wait for Hope to spill.
“Mine was worse. It was a setup, and I was even younger than you are.”
“You know how old I am?” Dani didn’t sound surprised.
“Watch what you tell your classes in a small town. It gets out.” Hope saw a hint of anxiety cross Dani’s eyes.
“I haven’t told them how old I am,” Dani insisted.
“You said it had been ten years since you’d been in high school. They can do math. That makes you twenty-seven, twenty-eight years old.”
“Twenty-eight,” Dani confirmed. “What was the age spread for you?”
Hope stalled, a little overwhelmed by the pace of their conversation. Having to keep up with Halley since she could talk should have been good practice, but she didn’t talk about her dating life with her sister.
Now she found someone who was equally dogged but asked questions that unsettled Hope. At the same time, she couldn’t resist continuing their conversation, exhilarated by Dani’s open-fire curiosity. They were two women talking about bad dates. That was the beginning of a friendship, nothing more. “I was twenty-eight.”
“So this was…”
“Two years ago.” Dani nodded, allowing her to proceed.
“My brothers were both married. They’re younger than I am, so the pressure was on for me to marry, but there aren’t very many members of the church in town.” She hesitated to bring up being Mormon, unsure of how Dani might react. Then she realized the absurdity of not telling Dani something so central to her identity. It was bad enough that she couldn’t discuss her attraction to women with anyone. If this woman was going to be her friend, she would have to really know her. She continued, “At the general conference, my dad met a Mormon man who’d just moved to Chester and decided we were a perfect match. He was forty-five.”
“And was it love at first sight?” Dani asked with a sly grin.
Hope felt relieved that Dani didn’t show any reaction at all to her talking about her faith. She remembered the date she’d actually agreed to go on. She rolled her eyes, reliving the awkwardness of spending an evening with someone who was closer in age to her father, how it had felt like the strained conversation she had with friends’ parents. Any romantic feelings she might have been able to fan under great pressure would have quickly been dampened by the fact that her father was the only real topic they could talk about. “You know when you go out with someone, you want to be able to talk about common interests, like movies you love or music you enjoy. We came from totally different generations. How could we ever communicate?”
Dani raised her hands in a pose of surrender. “Oh, I get it. Trust me. I get it. Was your father upset?”
“Of course. I ‘threw away so many opportunities to settle down.’”
“Were any even close to age- or interest-appropriate?”
“For a while, he’d invite the missionaries over for dinner. I always felt like some fairy tale character trying to show off my skills with cooking and dancing to impress the menfolk.”
“He made you dance?”
Hope shot Dani her best withering look. “It was the way he sold my attributes, oversold them.”
Dani held up the book that lay splayed across the arm of the chair to hold Hope’s place. “Is that what you read, fairy stories?”
Hope tried to snatch the book away from Dani.
“That only makes me more curious,” Dani warned, holding the book above her head. Hope slumped back in her seat, giving Dani time to read the back of the book. “Werewolves? That surprises me.”
“She’s an excellent author. I’ve read both her series. I bet if you gave her a chance, you’d be up all night reading.”
“You’ve got me there.” Dani laughed. “I’m an all-night reader, for sure. Guess you figured that having seen me at the library.”
Hope asked what Dani was reading, and the two sat discussing favorite books and authors for more than an hour, only stopping when Michelle poked her head back to let Hope know the cook was shutting down the kitchen and wanted to know if she wanted anything before he did.
Hope jumped up in surprise, shocked by how much time had passed. “Tell him not to worry about me, and if you’re clear, go ahead and take off. I’ll close up since I’m still here.”
“I’m sorry I’ve kept you so long,” Dani said.
“No. Don’t be. I really enjoyed talking to you.”
“Funny…” Dani started to say something and then seemed to catch herself.
“What?”
“This is the way a date’s supposed to go, when you find yourself all caught up and lose track of time.”
Hope flushed at her words, feeling the truth in Dani’s statement. Was she asking for Hope to acknowledge it as an impromptu date? “Wouldn’t that get the town talking,” she said, jokingly.
“I can well imagine what this town would do with gossip like that,” Dani said. She hesitated before stepping out of the office, and Hope almost thought she was going to hug her, but then she was gone with a line about early morning classes.
Hope locked the door, wondering when she’d be able to see Dani again. She’d so enjoyed such easy conversation, noting there was none of the awkwardness she’d complained about when talking about her father’s setups. Commiserating about their bad dates made her feel close to Dani. Pauline was a good friend, but not a contemporary. She reasoned it must be that which explained the attraction and validated her desire to seek out Dani’s company.
Chapter Thirteen
“Your horse is going to do most of the work to keep the cow from the herd, but that doesn’t mean you get to be a passive passenger. You’re still riding and have a lot of control over whether the run is mediocre or impressive.”
I surveyed my class through the drops falling from my felt hat. My students sat hunched in their saddles, still disappointed that I hadn’t taken them inside to a film about the technique of cutting a cow from the herd and then keeping it from returning. It had rained steadily all day, but by the time class started, it had eased to a light drizzle. Still, I could see that they were cold and uncomfortable, especially those who had no coats. Wearing plastic garbage bags, they now sat on their mounts waiting for their turn to chase down the automated cow we used for practice. It ran along a track zipping right and left, stopping and turning without warning, a good way to train agility without having to worry about a cow loose in the arena.
“Andrews, you’re up.”
Tim, the instructor who began the college’s equine program, had already started some nimble cutting horses. Although they were young, they were light on their feet if the students could get out of their way. I didn’t like Andrews’s overdependence on the reins she held. “Loosen that rein,” I ordered. “This cow is already cut from the herd, and now it’s up to your horse to keep it there.”
“I have my hand down,” Andrews answered.
“But you’re still riding like your reins will do the work. You’re too far forward, and you’re distracting her. Relax your body and square your shoulders.”
Andrews pushed her shoulders back, but her rigid posture indicated that she still found her control of the animal in her reins and hands, not in her body and legs. After the run was finished, I shrugged out of my coat, laying it over the rail near the gate. My Western Riding class was trickling in.
“Are we supposed to get our horses?” one student asked, even though several classmates were already sloshing through the mud in the pasture to catch up their horses. I was grateful one of the students from my cutting class answered.
“Dude, be glad your class is starting now. It was actually raining when we started, and she didn’t cancel our class.”
As usual, a few of the more advanced students stopped at the bleachers to watch the cutting class. It didn’t surprise me that Halley was among them. Though she claimed to know nothing about riding at the start of the semester, she had picked up everything quickly and was ready to move on to more challenging classes.
I was already smiling at the eager anticipation on her face when my eyes traveled to the student next to her. My heart fluttered, ahead of my brain in recognizing that Hope had joined her sister for the day. We hadn’t had an opportunity to talk since she’d rescued me from my dinner date with Peterson that had turned into more of a date with her. I’d spent the last week enjoying bits and pieces of that easy conversation. I nodded in their direction before continuing my lesson.
“Y’all are getting a false sense of control from these,” I said, holding up the reins. “The more you can do without ’em, the better.” I leaned forward and slipped off Daisy’s bridle, hanging it from the horn of my saddle. I leaned right, and she turned. We circled the huddle of students. I leaned forward, and Daisy sprung into an easy canter. I sunk my hips, bringing her to sliding stop. “
Midgett, give us a cow?”
He set another run on our machine. I told myself that my heart was hammering because cutting wasn’t what Daisy and I usually did. I told myself that I was nervous about how she’d perform. I knew Hope was at the barn to see her sister, but I wanted it to be about me. As illogical as it sounded, I wanted her presence to mean she’d enjoyed hanging out as much as I had.
The mechanized cow zinged to life, giving me no more time to think about Hope’s motives. Hands resting light on Daisy’s shoulders, I fixed my eyes on the neck area to anticipate her movements better. My legs held Daisy in place until the cow zinged right. Daisy drew back on her hocks and turned, keeping her shoulders parallel to the cow. Responding to the cues I gave with my legs, Daisy stuck with the cow until it stopped. Through the run, I pointed out the difference in my body posture, that in sitting up straight, I was helping Daisy balance and anticipate the cow’s next move. At the end of the run Daisy swung her head around, and I reached down and patted her neck, praising her. “Next week, no reins. You need some practice riding with your legs. In five minutes, I need the arena for Western Riding.”
Midgett raised his hand. “Blazer, can a few of us use the round corral for a bit?”
I nodded, moving Daisy forward with a slight pressure from my legs. We circled the arena at a lazy lope, stopping easily at the gate. Hope was alone, Halley having gone for her horse. The mist had dusted the hair that had escaped her ponytail giving her a dewdrop halo, and her cheeks were pink in the cool afternoon. I wanted to sit next to her and wrap my arm around her. I caught myself and looked away hoping she hadn’t read my desire. “You’re not getting too wet over here?” I asked casually. Oh, god. Had I just said what I thought I said? I couldn’t look at her and reached for my coat instead, hoping she’d see that I was only talking about the weather.
The Right Thing Easy Page 6
