“What do you think of her?” he finally asked.
“I think she’s one of the best girls I know. Terry and I both said about how good she is with your kids, how great she is with her job, how much she cares about people, and she doesn’t hesitate to go the extra mile, or two or three. Just like she gave your kids therapy for free, she often went over the allotted time, and not just with your kids but with the kids who were there before them. She’s just… She’s an impressive woman.”
“Then why are you insinuating that she might be after me romantically to get the farm?”
“I just know that some people will say that about her, and I guess that was my way of warning you.”
“I am more concerned about what they are going to say when they find out she’s living here.”
“There’s that too.”
They didn’t say anything more, because Gilbert wasn’t sure what to do about it. He’d already offered for her to stay, and he wasn’t going to go back on that offer. But he knew that there would be some people in town who would frown on it, even if they said that they were sleeping in different bedrooms, and there was absolutely nothing going on.
The Bible did say that a Christian was supposed to abstain from all appearance of evil.
He’d have to think about that and see if he could come up with something, because he didn’t want there to be any appearance of evil, but he also wasn’t going to not offer her exactly what he had or take his offer back.
Just then, his phone buzzed with a text.
Sunny asked me to work the weekend, then I’m done. I can buy all of my horses back, and Thatcher arrives next week. I could move in on Monday, if that works for you?
Gilbert stared at his phone, thinking about what Judd had just said to him and knowing that there was some type of attraction on his side anyway, toward Summer. But he would just have to be careful, and… If it developed into something more, he was going to have to be honest and upright. However that looked.
He looked up to see Judd with his brows raised, waiting. “She’s coming on Monday.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Iwas so excited about having a roommate and friend to do stuff with, and you no sooner get here than you’re leaving. I hope it’s okay for me to be disappointed,” Sunny said as they walked arm in arm toward church.
“Of course. I’m disappointed too, in a way. But in another way, I’m so excited about how God worked this out. He took all of the bills and worry off my shoulders and allowed me to continue to live on my farm, rent free, the place I’ve always loved. I…guess it shouldn’t surprise me the way the Lord worked things out, but it does.”
She was so focused on how good God was that she didn’t notice Mrs. Tucker until Mrs. Tucker stopped on the sidewalk right in front of them, her hands on her hips, the ever-present clipboard gripped in one of them.
“Good morning, ladies,” Mrs. Tucker said, and beside her, Summer could almost feel Sunny groan.
“Sunny, I wanted to see if you would be willing to donate six dozen muffins for our Thanksgiving breakfast?”
“Wow. That’s this Thursday.”
“I know it’s last-minute notice, but we thought we’d be able toget them from Nora’s bakeshop down in Whisker Hollow, but the Baplodist church there imitated our idea, and they’re having a Thanksgiving breakfast, and Nora is already booked up.”
Summer bit back a smile. Sunny and Nora were good friends, but there was a friendly competition between the two of them. All Mrs. Tucker had to do was mention Nora’s bakeshop, and Sunny was all in.
“Of course I’ll donate them. Does it matter what kind?”
“We’d like two dozen pumpkin, three dozen blueberry, and one dozen bran.” Mrs. Tucker was obviously prepared for that question.
“I need to write that down,” Sunny said, grabbing her phone out and repeating the breakdown, making sure she had it right.
As Summer started to walk away, Mrs. Tucker said, “Just hold on there a second. I have a question for you too, Summer.”
Summer stopped, thinking that she had almost gotten away. She just needed to be a little faster the next time.
Mrs. Tucker waited until Sunny had the order down before she turned to Summer. “I hoped that you would be able to donate your horses to the tree farm on Mondays starting after Thanksgiving. The church is sponsoring a little Christmas booth that Noah Tripp, the owner of the tree farm, has approved, and we were hoping that you would be there with your horses giving carriage rides to try to draw in a crowd. He has a carriage, but he sold his horses many years ago, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
Cricket and Bunny were both great buggy horses as well as riding horses, and she would have them back in time. What she found more interesting than anything was that obviously Mrs. Tucker was losing a step, since she hadn’t heard that Summer had sold them.
“I can do that on Mondays. They’re slow days for me with my therapy, and the one appointment that I typically have can be moved.” If they came back. She had gotten her horses and arranged things with Sunny, but she hadn’t been able to get a hold of all of her clients.
