I smiled at him and moved on to Mr. Flowers. Emma had drifted to the other side of the table, giving each man a hug and a smile.
Mr. Flowers took my hand and shook it firmly, the way he always did, but, this time, he held our shake for a few seconds longer.
“Thank you, Pete,” he said.
I pulled my eyebrows together some, confused, but he looked past me at Emma, who was laughing at something Big Tom had said, that healthy color high in her cheeks. I turned back to Mr. Flowers, smiling myself. I couldn’t help it after seeing her.
He nodded at me, not saying another word, and I nodded, too. The words passed through us, unspoken, just like they had the first night we met. We let go of each other and turned to watch the girl who’d wrapped us both around her little finger without really even trying.
Epilogue
Emma
One Year Later
With Kasey in Austin full time working and going to school, Daddy and I spent a lot more quiet time in the house together or out back in the yard. We were in the living room today, talking about the last week.
He’d been passing more time with Big Tom and Tex during the day and, with their help, he’d started working his land again, making enough to quit his job in town. He hadn’t been unhappy before, but I could see this was what he’d really wanted to do. After the new barn was complete, he was going to take on a few more horses, stabling them for a few folks in town for some extra money. Pete had been helping him quite a bit, too. I loved seeing that — the two men I loved most in the world working together.
Daddy shook his newspaper, straightening it a little, though he’d been talking more than reading. “What did you say Pete was doing today?”
“We have a few more horses coming to the farm,” I replied. “He’s getting the new barn ready.”
Daddy wasn’t the only one who’d been doing some building. Pete had added onto the barn he already had, giving us enough stall space for ten additional horses on top of the ten we already had. We were going to be busier than we knew what to do with when we finally got all the horses in there. But we were excited about it.
“Y’all are gonna be pretty busy to hear him tell it,” Daddy said.
I nodded. “Yeah, all three of us are probably going to be living in the barn for the first couple weeks.” I laughed, remembering Lacey joking about bringing a sleeping bag and just going to bed in the middle of alleyway instead of driving home at the end of each night. Even I’d taken to spending most nights at Pete’s. I still went home to my little house one or two nights a week, but I was starting to see the point in that less and less. Most of my clothes and other things were on the ranch already, anyway. I didn’t know why I was resisting just moving in all the way.
The phone rang and Daddy damned near launched out of his chair to go get it. He usually couldn’t be bothered, but I figured maybe he was waiting on somebody today. He may have gotten more talkative around Pete and the old timers, but he still wasn’t much for chatting on the phone more than he had to. He went into the kitchen, speaking low for a few seconds before hanging up. He walked back out to the living room.
“Who was on the phone?” I asked. “Big Tom?”
He shook his head once. “It was Pete. He asked us to run out to the ranch to give him a hand with something.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. “He said he’d be busy all afternoon, but was planning to join us over here later for dinner.”
“I guess he changed his mind.” He walked off without another word of explanation.
I sat for a second on the couch, still looking after him, confused, before I got up myself and followed him out to his truck. I climbed into the passenger seat.
“Did he say what he needed?”
“Something to do with the barn,” Daddy replied as he got the truck started.
I rolled down the window as soon as we got going, closing my eyes, just enjoying that cool breeze blowing my hair back from my forehead and cheeks.
We pulled up to the barn a few minutes later. Pete’s truck was in the driveway, and the barn door was open just a crack. Besides that, no one was around.
“What the hell is he doing?” I muttered.
“Let’s go on up to the barn,” Daddy said.
We climbed out of the truck and walked over to the barn. He slid open the alleyway door, and I stepped inside. I froze just inside the doorway, my mouth dropping open and eyes trying to look everywhere at once to take in everything.
The other alleyway door at the rear of the barn was closed, sealing out the sunshine. Behind me, Daddy slid the door I’d just come through shut, not coming in himself. There were twinkling electric lights strung from banister to banister and all along the alleyway. Red rose petals were strewn all over the roughened concrete floors. Someone had put wreaths of colorful wildflowers around the horses’ necks and decorated their shining manes with more flowers. They were so beautiful. At the other end of the barn, Pete was standing with a big smile on his face, his hands folded in front of him, clearly waiting for me. He was dressed in a brand new dark blue suit, tie, and shiny brown dress shoes, his dark hair cut and swept back off his forehead.
“Pete?” I said, but I couldn’t think of a damned thing to say besides his name.