“You’re a smart woman, Farrah. You’ll figure it out.” Darren turned to drain the potatoes while every emotion Farrah had ever experienced streamed through her. Hewaspushy and impatient, but maybe he was also right. At least about this.
Why did you tell him if you didn’t want him to lecture you?Because Farrah had known he would. Darren was kind, and caring, and gentle, but he was also loyal, and honest, and true. He said what needed to be said. He forgave easily.
Steam lifted above his head, and Farrah rushed up behind him and embraced him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered against his back.
He turned carefully in her arms. “Don’t be sorry to me.” He wiped her tears and cradled her face. “Want me to stay with you while you call your parents?”
She thought about the meatloaf, getting cold on the stove. She thought about the potatoes, which wouldn’t steam forever.
She nodded. “Would you?”
“Of course.” He lowered his head, and she thought sure he’d kiss her. He did, but not on the mouth where she wanted him to, where she could connect with him too. Instead, his lips brushed along her cheek, pressed against her temple, and lifted lightly away from her.
She held very still in his arms, the scent of his cologne, and horses, and the starch from the potatoes mingling in her nose.
“Do you want to eat first?” he asked. “Or after you call them?”
Farrah wasn’t sure she could stomach a single bite of food. “After,” she said, trying to absorb the strength and solidity from Darren before he released her.
She retreated into the living room to collect her phone, and when she turned to face him, she changed her mind. “I want to call them by myself.”
“That’s fine.” He advanced toward her, a look of acceptance and love on his face. “I’ll take Bolt into the backyard.”
“You hate Bolt.” Her smile shook, but she didn’t care. Darren was here, and he wasn’t running away from her. He hadn’t liked how she’d acted, but he hadn’t condemned her for it either. She could only hope and pray her parents would be as forgiving.
“We get along fine.” He scooped the gray tabby cat into his huge arms to the symphony of a hiss and left Farrah to herself. She watched him set the cat in the grass and settle into the hammock he’d installed last spring. They’d spent many evenings in that hammock, their legs tangled as they talked and kissed and made plans for the future.
Plans she wanted to resume. A future she wanted to have with him.
She squared her shoulders and dialed her mother’s number. After all, Darren wouldn’t want to be with her if she didn’t clear the air with her family.
“Farrah?” her mom asked. “Is that you, honey?”
Farrah’s emotions cracked, and tears rushed from her eyes. “Hey, Mom,” she said. “Can you get Dad on the phone too? I want to talk to both of you.”
Shuffles and scuffs came through the line, and then her dad said, “Farrah, is that you?”
The fact that they’d both asked if it was truly her, like they couldn’t believe she’d called, made her heart twist in her chest.
“It’s me,” she said, her mind still blank. But maybe she didn’t need to speak with her mind. Maybe she should let her heart take over. “I love you guys,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I’m so sorry I’ve treated you badly all these years. Can you ever forgive me?”
A sob came through the line, and then her mom said, “Of course, honey. We love you too.”
“We love you, Farrah,” her dad said, and Farrah nodded though they couldn’t see her, tears streaming down her face.
chapter
eleven
August melted into September,which promised cooler temperatures and less horses to take care of now that the summer riding lessons had ended. But there was still plenty to do around the farm as they prepared for winter. Outbuildings to repair. Fields to harvest. Stalls to clean and prep for the clients who would bring their horses by Halloween. Sometimes earlier, if Mother Nature decided to snow in early fall.
Darren loved his work on the farm. Tucker paid well, because he knew his men needed a way to support themselves and possibly a family.
Darren had started thinking a lot about a family again now that he and Farrah were dating again. He still hadn’t kissed her, but he’d been watching her for the go-ahead signal. He didn’t want to be pushy and impatient with her, so they spent time in restaurants, in the botanical boutique, at her place.
One day in mid-September, he asked Cody and Shiloh to finish his chores for him so he could go visit Jim and Corey. He’d been out to the farm, of course, but his time had been occupied by Farrah, and he missed his conversations with Corey and his whittling with Jim.
He pulled up to the house and got out of his truck, taking in all the colored and fallen leaves Jim hadn’t gotten to yet. He bypassed the front porch and went around to the shed in the backyard to get a rake.
