Page 9 of Tom's Chance
“Gold digger,” someone in the group called out.
“Yeah, I thought so too. Anyway, my second date was yesterday. I took her to Kora’s for a coffee and treat. That’s my style to get to know someone.”
“What happened?”
“She was arrested.”
“WHAT!”several people yelled at the same time. Tom held up his hand until they calmed down.
“You heard me right, she was arrested. Three days after the first date canceled, I accepted a date with a woman by the name of Leslie. Long story short, I was out at Erin’s Way working with the Riceman Stallions account and asked Erin’s new security guy to do a background check on Leslie.” Tom shook his head sadly. “It turned out that she’s wanted in ten states and all have a warrant out for her arrest.”
“For what?” several people asked.
“Identity theft. It also turns out that Leslie wasn’t her real name. Sheriff Jim contacted me late last night, and she used two names from the people she stole from to make up the name Leslie Warren.”
“Holy crap, what are you going to do now?”
“I’m trying to cancel the membership on the app, as well as trying to remove my profile, and sent in a long e-mail to the people running the app about my experiences and told them they needed to do betterbackground checks on the people they allow there. I haven’t heard back from them yet, and I don’t expect to.” He looked around the room at all fifteen people standing there and shook his head at them.
“I’m only going to say this once. Thank you for thinking of me, however, if any of you try to put me on a dating app again, you’ll be fired on the spot. I’m just a country boy, and I believe in God and family. With that said, if God wants me to have a wife, he will provide one for me. I honestly believe that if he believes I’m ready, then he will show me the right person.” He nodded, then told them he was done. He discussed the day with everyone and by noon, he was out the door to head out to the farrier he knew of. He first stopped at Mattie’s Diner and had lunch, since he didn’t know when he would get a call and be unable to grab a meal.
CHAPTER 4
Lorissa was poundingon a horseshoe for Misty with sweat running down her arms and face. Today was a hot one, not only because of the blacksmith fire, but also because it was almost ninety degrees outside. She wore a tank top and jeans beneath her blacksmith apron, and if she thought she could get away with it, she’d strip down to her bra and panties, it was that hot.
As she stuck the horseshoe into the water, she looked out of the door through the steam and thought she saw a ghost. She didn’t react, but studied the silhouette of a man standing in the entrance to the barn with the sun behind him. He was tall, broad shoulders, narrow-hipped, and from where she was standing, he had long, long legs. Much taller than her own five-foot five form. As the steam disappeared, she called out to the man.
“Help you?”
The man walked forward, and Lorissa sucked in her breath at his handsome face. She had to ask him to repeat what he said because she didn’t catch it the first time he spoke.
“You’re not Shelly Atherton.” It was a statement, not a question.
“No, I’m not.” Lorissa stuck the shoe back into the coals, removed her glove, wiped the sweat on the thigh of her jeans, then held out her hand. “Lorissa Gibson, and you are?”
“Tom Stolls.” They shook, and as soon as they made skin-on-skin contact, they both tightened their hands, which caused them to hold on just a little bit longer than necessary. To ease the sudden tension, Lorissa took the shoe from the coals and started pounding on it again.
“What can I do for you?”
“I’ll wait until you’re done.” He nodded at the shoe and stood back and watched her work. It took everything in her power not to drop everything and run into the bathroom to make sure her hair wasn’t all over the place. Since she never wore makeup because of her work, she always made sure her hair was neat and tidy. Today was no different than any other day, she still wore it in a thick braid to the middle of her back. Fifteen minutes later, she sighed in contentment as the finished shoe went into the water onelast time. Later that afternoon she’d go over to Broken and put it on Misty.
She walked around her work area and stuck out her hand again. “Sorry, but I’m Lorissa Gibson. What did you say your name was?”
“Tom Stolls, I’m the local veterinarian around here.”
“Ah, you work for Erin then.”
“I do. How do you know Erin?”
“I work for her, too.” She laughed as she waved her arm out in a sweeping motion to show the area around her. “Erin owns all this, and the land attached. I’ve been here for about three weeks. I’m the farrier for her.”
“For everything?” Tom asked in shock. “Wait, I thought Shelly Atherton took over her grandfather’s business when he passed.”
“She did. I don’t know all the details, all I was told was that Shelly went to Erin to ask if she wanted to buy the place. If she didn’t, then something about her grandfather’s will and a housing development were mentioned.”
“Shit, that would be bad.” Tom shook his head and smiled. “Let me guess, Erin jumped on the opportunity to buy Old Man Atherton’s spread?”
“Apparently. What I told you is all I know. I didn’t think it was my business to know any more.” She turned and looked around. “I didn’t move here by myself.”
