“That’s kind of the way Mrs. Tucker is. I got roped into using my horses to give carriage rides at the Christmas tree farm on Mondays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it didn’t even occur to me to tell her no.”
“That’s the way she is, isn’t it? You feel like you’re not a good, patriotic citizen if you don’t say yes to everything she asks.”
“Exactly. Although… While she’s talking to you, you usually don’t even have time to think about declining.”
“No. But when you see her coming, your instinct is to run, and I don’t know why I didn’t follow that instinct.” He looked at her balefully. “Probably because I didn’t want to leave her with you.”
“I considered running, but she already got me for today, and I figured she wasn’t after me, so I guess I figured I could stick around and watch her massacre someone else.”
“Thanks. You could have pushed me down the steps. That would have been nicer.”
“I’ll remember that for next time,” she said.
“All right. I guess I’m spending time with Darla what’s her name on Tuesday.” He didn’t look very happy about it, and that did speak to her heart. Except, if he were truly interested in her, which she realized that, deep down, she was hoping he was, he would have said no unequivocally to Mrs. Tucker. “I need to go find my kids and sit down. If I don’t see you after church, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said as they walked into the sanctuary and prepared to go in different directions.
“Yeah. I’m looking forward to it.” And she realized, no matter what he had agreed to do with Mrs. Tucker and that Darla, it was true. She really was looking forward to it.
Chapter Seventeen
Monday morning, Gilbert found himself a little distracted as he got the kids off to school. Normally he enjoyed the time in the morning where he chatted with the kids, put their lunches together, and made sure that they had everything that they needed. He really did miss the time that he got to spend with his kids, and he was glad that they were back in the same house together. Although, his mom made cooking breakfast at six o’clock in the morning look easy and fun, and it was anything but.
He burned a batch of pancakes and dropped a measuring cup on the floor, breaking it.
But the kitchen was gorgeous, and Summer was coming, and he was with his children, together, and even the little annoyances couldn’t dampen his anticipation of the coming day. He and Summer were going to be fixing fence together, they were going to talk some more, and… He wasn’t quite sure why he was so eagerly looking forward to that. But he was.
He stood at the door while his children trooped out to wait for the bus, then hung out by the window, watching until they got on.They were old enough that they didn’t necessarily want him down there standing with them when the bus arrived. But they weren’t old enough for him to totally forget about them as soon as they walked out the door.
Would they ever be that old? He really didn’t think so. He couldn’t imagine not caring about his kids or not wanting to see them. Maybe that was made sharper by all the time he missed with them while Desire was sick and then while he was rebuilding his business.
At the thought of his business, he walked into the library, which he’d been using as his office, and opened his laptop.
He was not looking forward to this Darla person coming, and Mrs. Tucker couldn’t have picked a worse time. For the last almost year since his wife had passed away, and for almost four years before that, since he found the note where he realized she had been cheating on him, he hadn’t been the slightest bit interested in women or romance. He’d put his best effort into continuing to have a good marriage, but inside he had been bitter and angry.
Being with Summer last week at the festival was the first time that he’d sat and talked to a woman and truly felt happy and understood. Like… Like there could be something more than just conversation.
And now, Mrs. Tucker had to go and put a wedge between them.
He blamed Mrs. Tucker, but it wasn’t her fault at all. It was his. He could have said no. He could have looked at Summer who was standing right there and said that he had someone else in mind, and he wanted to be able to give all his attention to them.
But he didn’t know how Summer felt, and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, if all she saw was an older man who was doing something nice for her and giving her a place to stay, helping her out. Maybe even she considered him a friend.
He cringed. He didn’t want to be friend zoned.
But he probably deserved it. Since he could have been a lot nicerto her, could have tried to look for ways to help her save her farm. It occurred to him that whoever was the Secret Saint around town was doing that very thing. Trying to help people, rather than bettering himself.
Not that there was anything at all wrong with bettering himself, but he couldn’t really pat himself on the back for doing a kindness to Summer when he could have done a lot better, if he had been willing to put himself last.
He’d have to think about that a little more, because would that have meant he wouldn’t have bought the farm after all?
And then, he felt a little God nudge. Maybe God was working this all out, and he didn’t need to beat himself up about it anymore. Maybe everything was going according to the Lord’s plan. That it was perfectly okay for him to buy a farm, and it was even better for him to lend a helping hand to someone, no matter how he did it.
He smiled, thinking about his Bible reading that morning and how much he appreciated just the short time he’d been back home, getting back into the Word. For far too long, he’d been neglecting it and setting it aside, and he could already see benefits of the short weeks that he’d been spending with the Lord.
A calmness, a trust in God’s plan that hadn’t been there before, a knowledge that it was less about him and more about knowing that God would work everything out.
He had no sooner thought that than he saw Summer’s truck coming up the driveway.
He didn’t know where she had her horse trailer, because he hadn’t seen it along the street when he’d been walking with her, but it was hooked to her truck now as she came into view and pulled in at the barn. She backed the trailer in and unhooked it. And then she got back in her truck and drove to the house.
