Snowflake shook her head and went to her stall.
“Okay then.” Mitzi headed for the door. She didn’t want to ruin the night with Forest, but the spell was already broken and real life crashed down on her. Outside the barn, she shuffled her feet and kept her eyes down.
Forest joined her. “Do you want me to stick around for a bit?”
She pressed her lips together. Yes. Yes, she wanted him to stick around. But tonight had been a dream. A crazy, wonderful dream. But it wasn’t her life. And the sooner she realized that, the better. “We’ll be fine. Thank you, though.” She turned, and something in the snow caught her eye. “Is that … is that yours?” She pointed to the shoe print.
Forest moved and put his shoe next to the print. “I’d say size 11.” His shoe was just barely larger. “I’ll stay with Billy while you check the house.”
She nodded. “Or … I could stay with Billy while you check the house.”
He chuckled. “I’ll be right back.”
Mitzi debated climbing back in the truck, but she decided she wouldn’t be able to hear Forest yell for help if she was in there. The lights in the house turned on one by one. She rolled her eyes at herself as she pictured the pile of clothes on her bed that she’d discarded in her efforts to get ready for their date.
Forest’s frame filled her kitchen door a moment later, and he came out, his breath puffing around him. “I don’t think anything was taken. Your room’s been ransacked, though.”
She groaned. “That was me.”
He chuckled, and she realized he was teasing her.
She whacked his shoulder. “Not funny.”
“It was a little funny.”
She did her best to stifle her grin.
Just when she thought they might be able to get some of the magic from earlier back, the truck door opened. “Mom?” Billy called groggily.
“Don’t say anything. I don’t want to scare him.” She moved fast to get to the truck. “I’m right here, bud.” Billy slid into her arms, and she set him on his feet, steering him past Forest.
“Did you want to callsomeone?”
She knew he meant the police, but there wasn’t much to report. “I’ll talk to someone tomorrow.”
“Do you think they’ll be back? Could it be someone you know?” He glanced down at Billy as he fell into step with them.
“No. He’s moved on with life.” Truly, she had nothing to fear from her ex. He wanted someone else and didn’t look back. “Maybe it was a homeless man.” She widened her eyes slightly, asking if it was someone he knew. His family, perhaps.
He shook his head. “They would have called. And I’m the only one who would break into a barn—the rest of my brothers are way smarter than I am.”
She snorted in response. “I’d call my landlady, but we’re on thin ice here.” She tried to keep the conversational tone in her voice so Billy wouldn’t pick up on her worry. “I don’t need her to have a reason to not like me.”
Forest nodded. “I get it.”
She suddenly realized that he did, in fact, get it. Forest understood all the things she said but also all the things she danced around. The sense that they were truly communicating, in a way and on a level that she’d never been able to find with a man, hit her like an avalanche.
Cruel, cruel fate. Here she’d finally found a man she could talk to—really talk with—and he was leaving.
“Mom,” Billy mumbled.
“We’re going in.” She waved at Forest, wishing she could offer him a better, sweeter good night.
He gave her a lopsided grin that said he had the same idea, and then he walked backward to the truck, which was still running. “I’ll stay until you flash the porch light.”
“Thanks!” she called over her shoulder as she helped Billy through the two doors.
Her room was just as she left it, Billy’s too. Whatever the man was after, he wouldn’t find it here. She didn’t have jewels hidden away or cash stuffed in the mattress. After walking through the rooms, she recognized that the house felt like no one had been there. She couldn’t explain the feeling, but she just knew. She went back to the kitchen and flashed the porch light. Forest answered by turning his brights on and off.
