The Stable Boy (23 page)

“I told him I would keep an open mind about us, but I don’t know if I can.”

“Yes, you can and you will. Even if I have to come over everyday so you can talk this out, I will help you through it.”

“Thank you, I appreciate your willingness to come here everyday, but I think Bob would get a little suspicious. You weren’t here everyday when John was alive.”

“That is true, but if your boy wins the bet tonight, then Bob and whoever else he wants to tell will know about the two of you. I think Bob would understand.”

“Shit, that bet. I completely forgot about it. I have a feeling the entire town will know as of tomorrow,” I said as the phone shrieked to life. “That scared me to death.”

“Me too,” Alison said with a laugh. I grabbed the receiver, looking at the caller ID I laughed.

“It is your Montana boyfriend. You answer it. Let’s see how he reacts.”

“Oh, watch this,” she said with a huge grin. Josh walked back into the house to get a glass of sweet tea. I put my finger to my lips for him to be quiet. He obliged and stood next to me. “Good morning, handsome,” Alison said in a sultry voice. I stifled a laugh in Josh’s shoulder. He pressed his lips together to keep his from escaping.

“Um, good morning, is my, my sister there?”

“Maybe, I thought you would want to speak to me.”

“I am not even sure who this is,” Mike said. Then it dawned on him. “Alison, my sweet angel, how are you?”

“I am great, Mike. How are you?”

“I am wonderful, but I miss you. I hear you are going out tonight.”

“Yes, we are.”

“Has she been out of the house since John’s passing?”

“No.”

“Damn it. I know it was not for a lack of your trying. I need to ask you about this Josh guy, but I am sure he is there. Just answer yes or no, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Is he a good guy?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe that he likes her, I mean really likes her.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think he will hurt her?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Does Bob like him?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because I know that he will protect her like John did.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, now that is out of the way. When are you going to dump your husband and marry me?”

“Are you not getting married in a couple of months?”

“Yes, but I will gladly leave her at the altar if you promise to run away with me.”

“That is so wrong. Does she know this?” she laughed.

“There is no need for her to know. Are you coming to the wedding?”

“Yes, Bob and I will be there, but I will not be stopping it to profess my love for you.”

“Oh, so you do love me. I knew it. Will you at least dance with me?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe, as in, if I pour enough tequila in you?”

“No, maybe as in, I may dance with you to celebrate your wedding,” Alison said, rolling her eyes. The two of us could no longer hold back our laughs.

“I can hear my sister laughing. What is she laughing about?”

“I have no idea. You are going to have to ask her.”

“Well let me speak to her, sexy lady.”

“Okay, I will talk to you soon. Here she is,” she said, handing me the phone.

“Hey, Mike. What’s up?”

“Not much. I was just calling to see how you were. I know we said that we would speak on Sunday, but I had a feeling you might need one of your siblings to speak to sooner than that. I figured, since I was the only one that guessed about you and Josh, I needed to call you.”

“Thanks, but everything is great here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure. I don’t know what time I will be calling you tomorrow as I am  not driving tonight and been told that I will be drinking. I may stay at Vanessa’s house, since that is where my truck will be.”

“That is okay. You know you can call me at any time.”

“I know.”

“Did you tell Alison to answer the phone?”

“Yes, but I did not expect it to go to that magnitude. I can’t believe that you did not know who it was immediately.”

“I haven’t spoken to her in a while, so it took me a minute. Tell her she needs to answer your phone in that voice every time I call.”

“Oh my God. I am not telling her that.”

“What did the little shit say?”

“He said you need to answer the phone in that voice every time he calls.”

“Oh Jesus.”

“I am pretty sure you started something you shouldn’t have,” laughed Josh.

“So am I,” she said, shaking her head. Mike and I were both laughing.

“You go talk to your best friend and get ready for your evening out. I will speak with you tomorrow. Make sure you are alone when you call, okay?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a plan,” I said, catching my breath. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Claire. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Tell Alison, I love her, too.”

“I will do that,” I said, hanging up the phone. “Mike says he loves you.”

“I am sure he does.”

“Your brother makes me laugh.”

“He is a little crazy, Josh.”

“I don’t think he is crazy. I just think he knows what he likes and that is you, Alison.”

“I know he does. He has told me as much. Bob did not think a thing of it when he was 19. All he said was, ‘see babe you still got it.’ I was like, I never lost it.”

“Can I tell you a secret. If this gets back to any of them, I will deny ever saying it.”

“What?”

“All the guys that work on your farm, still think you got it and Bob is one lucky guy.”

“No they do not.”

“How many times have you caught any one of them looking through the kitchen window?”

“Are you kidding?”

“No, I am not. You were always the topic of conversation when I was there.”

“Jesus. I don’t know whether to be crept out or flattered.”

“Take it as a compliment. I did not mean to make you feel weird about the guys. They are just admiring you. None of them can understand how Bob landed you.”

“I was young and did not know better,” she laughed.

“That is a horrible thing to say. Bob is one of the best guys on the planet,” I said with a laugh.

“I know he is. I am a lucky woman to have him. He puts up with my craziness. I don’t think another man could handle it.”

“Probably not,” Josh said. We all laughed.

“On that note, I am going home. I will see you later. What time are you coming to pick me up?”

“I will be to your house at six.”

“I will be ready.”

“Great, thank you for coming over.”

“You’re welcome. Josh, Bob expects you to be at the house as soon as we leave, so you may want to follow Claire over.”

“Tell him, I will be there.”

“I will do that,” she said, getting up. She walked across the kitchen and out the front door. I watched her pull out of the driveway. Josh came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my midsection.

“We okay?” he whispered in my ear. The combination of his arms around me and his sultry voice in my ear sent a shiver down my spine.

“Yes, we are.”

“Good,” he said, kissing my shoulder. I turned around to face him, wrapping my arms around his neck. I kissed him. He returned it. “Are you sure you are going out tonight?”

“Yes, I am. Although I may be rethinking it,” I said with a smile. We heard a cry. We looked out the window and saw Cassie watching us. “I think your little girlfriend is jealous.”

“It does seem that way. This is the second time she has done that to us.”

“Yes, it is.”

“I guess I better go see what she wants before she gets louder.”

“She will do that. Was that her in the barn the other night? I could swear I heard crying.”

“When?”

“Two nights ago.”

“I did not hear it, maybe I was passed out.”

“You may have been, but I could have sworn I heard her cry. Maybe there is something in there scaring her or she is just missing you.”

“I have never had a pet cow before.”

“This may be your first, but the way these animals act on this farm, it will not be your only odd pet.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, John used to have all kinds of animals following him around. They all thought of him as their alpha. Now, it seems that you have become the alpha.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“It is. It means that they trust you. If they have someone they can trust, it keeps them calm.”

“Great, then I will work on becoming all animal friendly, instead of just one.”

“You already have. The colt likes you, too. The fact that he likes anybody astounds me. I could never get him to calm down and neither could Dave.”

“My grandparents had horses. I helped my grandfather break them and train them. He taught me a few methods of calming them down. It works every time. Now, I have never had any type of fruit trees before, but, thanks to you, I am now learning about them.”

“Thanks to you, I am learning the equipment. I am completely lost when it comes to that stuff. I don’t even know what half of it does. I just know that it was used quite a bit when this farm was booming.”

“We will get it back to that state. It may take a little time, but it will be the farm it once was.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Wanting to see it come back to life, for being here, and for waking me up out of the worst nightmare of my life.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, putting his arms around me, again. I rested my head on his chest. I closed my eyes and just breathed him in. He swayed from one side to the other. The phone rang. I did not want to let him go.

“I suppose I should answer it.”

“Probably,” he said with a laugh. I picked up the receiver to see that it was my sister.

“Hi Janie.”

“Hi Claire. How are you?”

“I am great. How are you?”

“I feel like a house that is about to explode.”

“I am sure you are not that big, yet.”

“Yet, thanks a lot sis.”

“You’re welcome,” I laughed. “We both know that once you are in your last trimester you can barely walk.”

“I know that is why I am not happy with our little brother.”

“He told me you were a bit mad at him because of the date he chose to get married.”

“Yes, he knows what I am like when I am pregnant. He can be such a vindictive person. I swear he is just doing this to get back at me for all the times I was mean to him when he was a child.”

“Janie, I don’t think he would be that spiteful. Maybe he did not choose the date. Maybe it was his fiancé’s choice. He did tell me he has nothing to do with the planning. He is leaving everything up to her.”

“Well, then she should have taken my pregnancy into consideration. I know she doesn’t like me, but still.”

“Why doesn’t she like you, Janie? What did you do?”

“I only did what I did with John. I questioned her. She took offense to some of my questions. She doesn’t even come to the house for the kids’ parties or for holidays. That is going to have to change when they get married.”

“Janie, you can’t go around demanding things to change. This is Mike’s life, not yours. I know as our big sister you feel you have to take the place of mom and dad, but we are all grown ups. We can take care of ourselves and make our own decisions, good or bad.”

“I know, but I worry about you both.”

“It is your right as a big sister to do so. We worry about you, too. It is what families do. Have you tried making peace with Mike’s fiancé?”

“No.”

“Janie, you need to before the wedding and the holidays.”

“I will try to. She is very uppity.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I have seen her since the questioning and she just refused to talk. She even walked away from me when I saw them in the mall.”

“Hmm, well try again. Maybe you can talk to her over the phone and just tell her that you would like to have lunch with her, just the two of you.”

“Okay, I will do that. I will see what she says.”

“Good. How are my munchkins and the hubby doing?”

“Everyone here is great. I called to tell you that your angel got an A on his book report. He said it was important that I called and told you.”

“You let him know that I am so proud of him. Is he there?”

“No, he is at soccer practice.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I am good. This pregnancy is going easier than the last two. It should. After all, I am a pro at this point.”