And more excited than I’ve been about anything for a long time.Who’d have thought.
Chapter 8
Sutton
Thirty minutes out of town, I pull us into a small rest area. After parking up, we grab our stuff out of the trunk and lock up before moving to the start of the trail.
“How are the boots?” I ask, nodding down to Blair’s feet.
“Good. Stiff, but that’s to be expected. I put Band Aids on my heels, though. Just in case.” She looks around the path and ahead toward the hills in the distance. “Have you been here before?”
I shake my head. “Nope. I haven’t really taken the time to go explorin’ since bein’ here.” Haven’t had any reason to, I don’t say.
She looks over at me. “Thatsounds familiar. I’ve been so focused on my career that I’ve let other parts of my life pass me by.”
“The career part is commendable.”
A snort escapes her. “It’s been a while since someone’s said that to me.”
I look at her thoughtfully. “It’s the twenty-first century. Not all women should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Not unless they want to be, anyway.”
“I know, right?” she says with a startled laugh. “But there’s a lot of people in the circles I’ve found myself in that still believe that.”
“Your family?” My step falters when I realize that I’m dipping into interview territory. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.”
“No, it’s OK. Not them. No way. They’re blue-collar, work the land, live-and-die-for-it folks. Simple, but in a really nice, easy way. My parents have been together for forty years and will stay that way until the day they pass. That’s all they’ve ever wanted out of life–the potato farm, us kids, and each other. They always told us to follow our hearts. It’s all I’ve ever known so it’s something I’ve always done.”
“Another thing we’ve got in common,” I say. “You said kids. You’ve got siblin’s?”
“Two brothers and a sister. All older than me.”
“Ah, so you’re the baby,” I reply with a grin.
“Sure am. There’s John, who’s 43 and married to Anne. They have three adopted children that are the light of their lives–andus aunties and uncles. My other brother, Paul, is two years younger and perpetually single. To be honest, I think he’s married to the farm and that’s just how he likes it.”
“Chip off the ol’ block from Dad then?”
“Oh yeah,” she says with a grin as she carefully steps around a rock embedded in the dirt trail. “Last but not least is my sister, Lesley. She’s thirty-eight and has been head over heels for our next-door neighbor’s son, Holt, since she was old enough to know about boys. They’ve just had theirfourthdaughter.”
“Four? Damn. Not that I can talk. I’m one of four, as you know, and there’s our younger sister, Abby, who lives in Nebraska with her husband.”
She arches her brow and smirks. “Sounds like your parents were a lot like mine. Les is determined to keep trying for a boy.”
I snort. “And how does Holt feel about that?”
“He’d give Les anything she wants. He just wants her to be happy.”
“As my mom tells it, Abby was a ‘one last try’ situation. She said more than five kids and they’d need a bus, and she was not about that life.”
Blair laughs. “Holt has said the same thing before, but every time he gives in and lets Lesley try again.”
“And then there’s you…”
“Yep. Also perpetually single–but that’s more by choice and circumstance than anything else,” she replies, eyeing me curiously. “How about you?”
“Me too. First it was about keepin’ my eyes on the prize—so to speak–then it was just about livin’ my life and not lookin’ for anythin’. I think I’ve been waitin’ for somethin’ orsomeoneto find me.”
“I know exactly what you mean. My best friends are always trying to match me up with friends of friends, colleagues, the barista down the street. You name it. Even if they don’t live in the same city as me, they’d still scour the local community pages, hospital staff pages and the like.”
