20
Gabe clicked his tongue at Abner and Casper more out of habit than a need to guide them. The team had made enough trips back to the creek today, they could probably find it without anyone holding the reins.
“How did the exhibit turn out?” Amy swayed beside Gabe on the wooden seat, their shoulders occasionally jostling each other.
“Like an old home site with invisible walls. The ground has been leveled, and there’s a table, a couple of cots, that kind of thing arranged on what would have been the dirt floor.”
“Can you imagine living like that? No electricity or hot showers.”
“I think it might have been nice. Definitely preferable to . . .” He hesitated. “To Afghanistan.”
An awkward silence followed. He searched his mind for a way to end it, considering and rejecting a dozen different lines in as many seconds. He didn’t want to give Amy a line. His feelings for her ran too deep for anything that superficial.
She rescued him. “I’ve never been back this way before. I didn’t know there was a wagon path.”
“There wasn’t until last week. This is where I’ve been laboring.”
“With the help of Jason Owens’s tractor. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten this wagon very far on our way back to the Civil War era.”
“Brett and Dani have been out here most of the day, haven’t they?”
“Since after lunch. They’re telling the history, answering questions.”
“It’s still so hard for me to believe.” Amy shook her head as if to underline her words. “Until about a year ago, Brett never gave this place a thought. Except to be glad Sully willed it to AJ instead of to him. And now he’s a Misty Willow expert.”
“I think Dani’s the expert. She knows a lot of the family stories.”
“It’s her job.”
“She seems to love it. She’s lucky to be doing what she loves.”
“Do you enjoy working with AJ?”
“I do.” Definitely much more than prison life. “I like the short commute too.”
“What will you do once he runs out of projects?”
“There’s plenty to do at the stables.” Only problem with that option was that it didn’t pay anything. “How about you? Did you finish all your painting?”
“Every room.”
“What’s your next project?”
“The outside needs paint—”
“Wait a minute,” he interrupted. “You’re not doing that, are you?”
“I could if I put my mind to it,” she said indignantly. “But Brett and AJ have threatened to put me in time-out if I dare try.”
“Time-out, huh?” Gabe chuckled, but inwardly he sighed with relief that she wasn’t going to attempt that job. What if she fell and broke her neck?
“You would think I had two older brothers instead of just one.”
And one too-protective, well, whatever he was to her.
“Can’t blame them for looking out for you,” he said. “So what will you be doing instead?”
“I’m not sure. I feel at loose ends now.”
“It all goes back to what we were talking about before,” Gabe said. “Dani found a career that lets her do what she loves, and she’s great at it.”
“While you and I are at a crossroads. Not sure which road to take or where they might lead us.”
“And not knowing what roadblocks lay ahead.” Like how being a felon would affect his job prospects or whether Tess would be able to keep Whisper Lane. Driving the hay wagon back and forth from the creek had given him plenty of time to think about the future, but he still hadn’t come up with a plan. Somehow he felt like God was telling him to wait. But wait for what?
Amy eyed Gabe behind the dark lenses of her sunglasses, wishing she could read him as easily as she read most men. Somehow he seemed able to thwart her efforts. His face was impassive, and yet she sensed the passion deep within him. He only needed to figure out how to channel it.
If only she could be the one to help him do that. She squirmed on the seat. He didn’t need her assistance to integrate himself back into society. She was having enough trouble doing that herself. Besides, the people she knew, the friends she once had, weren’t the kind of people who would impress Gabe. He’d probably think they were selfish and ambitious for the wrong things. Just like her.
But that wasn’t who she was anymore. Was it?
She wasn’t even sure.
“I wish I knew what I was passionate about,” she said.
“I started to ask you what you would do if money wasn’t an issue. But money isn’t an issue for you, is it?”
But she had to live that lie so Brett and AJ didn’t find out she’d squandered her inheritances. Three of them—from her parents, from Sully, and then from Gran.
She couldn’t even figure out what had happened, though reckless investments and the time spent in the eating disorder clinics had played a major role.
So had her lifestyle. Expensive vacations. New clothes on a whim. Giving to political campaigns and causes—some she believed in, some she didn’t. But that was how the game was played.
“I enjoyed being a lobbyist,” she said. “At least for a while.”
“But not anymore?”
“No. I don’t want to go back.” She graced him with an engaging smile. “Your turn. Money is no object. What do you do?”
“I’m not sure I should tell you.”
“Why not?”
“It might give you the wrong impression of me.”
“I doubt that. Besides, how do you know what impression I have of you now?” she teased.
“Good point.” He avoided answering by paying close attention to the horses’ route past a fallen tree. “I’d want to do this.”
“What do you mean by ‘this’?”
“Own horses. Give hayrides. I don’t know, I guess devote my time to something good and wholesome. Remind myself there are honest people in the world, and I can be part of their community. If they give me a chance.”
“Are you finding that here?”
“Your cousin is a good man. He’s welcomed me into his home, into his life. Added me to the softball team.” He paused, then glanced at her before looking away. “It feels good to belong to something like that. I’ve been without it since leaving my unit.”
The sadness, the emptiness in his voice caused her heart to ache. Without realizing what she was doing, she tucked her arm into his and leaned her head against his shoulder. He glanced at her in surprise, but he didn’t seem to mind.
“AJ is a good friend,” she said quietly. “I hope you’ll think of me as one too.”
“I’d like that, Amy.”
His soft-spoken words, the gentle way he said her name, seemed to loosen a long-buried stone within her heart. Right now, she’d give all the money she had left for this ride never to end. For this feeling of comfort and acceptance to never go away.
As they neared the site of the old hunting cabin, Amy straightened. Gabe was sorry, but he understood. She wouldn’t want her brother to see her snuggling with a former con. He pulled up beside the hitching post.
“Have you heard what they have planned for this site?” Gabe asked.
“Brett told me Dani is trying to find an old log cabin to move back here,” Amy said. “I think they’re planning a trip to southern Ohio to look at two or three.”
“I heard that too. They also plan to rebuild the tree house that was used as a lookout.”
“Where Eliza Wyatt was hiding when she first saw Jeb Lassiter.”
“You know that story?”
“Elizabeth loves to tell it. She pretends to be Eliza and bribes Jonah to play Jeb.”
“Bribes him how?”
“Like giving up her turn at choosing our fun outing so he can. Playing the video game he wants to play. She’s a natural negotiator.”
“You admire that about her.”Gabe jumped from the seat, then reached for Amy. She felt light—too light—as he lifted her from the wagon. He gave her a quick smile as her feet touched the ground.
“I suppose I do.”
After greeting Brett and Dani, Amy pulled Gabe to one side. “I take it you’ve already heard the spiel?”
“Several times.”
“Then why don’t we take a walk over to the creek?”
“Sounds like a fine idea to me,” Gabe said, gesturing toward the overhanging willow. “Brett showed me his branch on the engagement tree earlier today. He sure is proud of it. But I guess you already know that.”
“He’s mentioned it a couple of times.”
Gabe caught her up short. “Wait a minute. He’s ‘mentioned it’? Does that mean . . . surely you’ve seen it.”
“No, I haven’t.” She slid a strand of hair through her fingers, then crossed her arms. “This is only the second time I’ve been out here.”
“So when we met here that day, that was the first?”
“I came out to look at all the initials I’d heard so much about, but, well, I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry I interrupted you—”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she said quickly. “I wasn’t in the best of moods, so it’s probably a good thing you showed up.”
“Is it because you don’t like Dani?”
“Of course I like her.” Amy pushed her lips into a pouty frown. “She’s a very nice person.”
“But?”
“She blushes easily. And she’s definitely got a style like no one else’s, and sometimes she sticks that tiny size-six shoe in her mouth.”
Gabe sensed Amy wasn’t used to being challenged. But he wasn’t going to let her off that easy. “Anything else?”
“She’s not the kind of woman I expected Brett to marry,” she said. “He’s changed, which is a good thing, but sometimes, oh, I don’t know.” She rubbed her arms as if to ward off a chill. But the sun-heated breezes weren’t frigid. “He changed so fast. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”
“Maybe because you need someone to talk to.”
“I’ve talked to plenty of therapists in the past few months.”
“I’d rather you think of me as a friend.”
“I don’t have a lot of those. Not close ones, anyway.”
Gabe wanted to ask her about the guy he’d seen her with. Wasn’t he a close friend? Instead, he cradled her face in his palm. “You’ve got me.”