“You say that like you’re surprised.”
“No, I’m not surprised. At first I thought maybe he was too good to be true. But he’s not. He’s a really good guy.”
The waitress brought their sandwiches and drinks and left after asking if they needed anything else.
“I’ve always heard he was but what convinced you?” Damaris asked once they were alone again.
“I’d thought he was from the time I started working for him. But a couple of days ago I found a runaway kid by the dumpster and called Trevor to help me. He was great.”
“Why did you call Trevor?”
“You know about Bikers For Kids, right?”
“Oh, that motorcycle gang thing of his?”
“Not a gang. A club,” she said, echoing Trevor’s words. “I’ve been to a meeting. They’re doing really good things.” She went on to tell her sister more about BFK and the whole story about Ricky. “I swear I think that if they can’t find a good foster home for Ricky, Trevor will try to foster him himself.”
“That would be interesting. Single guy fostering a runaway.”
“Trevor grew up in the foster care system.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize that. So he knows how it works.”
“Yes, he’s still close to his last foster dad. He’s a widower now. He and his wife adopted Trevor when he was a teenager.” Damaris considered her in that older sister way she had. The one that saw through Jedidiah’s bullshit.
“You’ve really fallen for him.”
“No, I haven’t. I like him. A lot—and it’s nice to have a man in my life again.” One who wasn’t risking his life every day. One she didn’t have to worry was going to get found out—and killed—by the bad guys. “But I’m not in love with him or anything.”
“Hmm.” Damaris didn’t look convinced. “Is he in love with you?”
“We just got together. It’s way too soon to be worrying about that.”
“If you say so.”
Thankfully, her sister left it at that and went on to talk about her new mare. Leaving Jedidiah to wonder if she might be in love with Trevor. But it was too soon. Besides, she wasn’t sure she was capable of falling in love again. Losing Noah—especially in the way she did—had made her very hesitant to commit her heart again.
*
Trevor and Jedidiahspent a lot of time together the next few weeks. Time outside of work. Early on they made a deal that the workday was for work and personal time had to wait until work was finished for the day. That rule tended to make them get their work done more quickly.
One Saturday Jedidiah took him out to the ranch to teach him how to ride a horse. She corralled her brother Marshall to help, saying she hadn’t taught anyone to ride in a long time but that Marshall was really good at it. Trevor had met all of Jedidiah’s family other than Cole, but he knew Gabe best.
Marshall took him through the basics, giving him Daisy to ride who, according to Jedidiah, was the mare they always started beginners on. When Marshall was satisfied he knew enough not to kill himself, he cut him loose to ride with Jedidiah.
“There’s a trail that goes down by the river,” Jedidiah said.
By now summer was turning into fall, although it was still hot most days. But the leaves were beginning to turn and the trail Jedidiah had chosen was beautiful. One of Whiskey River’s tributaries ran through the ranch and they followed it along as it meandered down to a river bottom where huge oak trees and pecan trees grew.
“Some of these trees are over a hundred years old. We’ve tried to keep it as it was years ago.”
Quiet. Still. As if it hadn’t been touched for a hundred years. “A place out of time.”
She smiled. “Good description.”
They rode in silence for a while until Jedidiah said, “Would you like to take a break? You’re probably going to be sore if you don’t stretch out.”
“Sure.” He dismounted. “What do I do about Daisy?” He held on to the reins. He knew that much.
