Page 6 of Cole's Joy
“Lorissa, this is Cole Mercury, he’s the manager over at New Double. Cole, this is Lorissa Gibson, if everything goes as Erin plans, then Lorissa will be the farrier for all the Riceman ranches.”
At first Cole only had eyes for the other woman, but as soon as he heard what Naomi said, he whipped his head toward the younger woman. “Come again? Did my Noomi say you were a farrier?”
“Yes, as well as a vet.”
“Is Erin firing Stolls?” Cole knew this already, but his brain seemed to be muddled after spotting the other woman, and it would take him a few minutes to get his thoughts back on track.
“Who’s that?”
“No, she’ll keep him on, but if something crops up, Erin wants us to call Lorissa in first, since she’ll be living right across the street if the job is offered to her. It’s my understanding that Lorissa prefers the job of farrier.”
“I do, and I haven’t been over to New Double yet, but I heard you had some pretty nice horseflesh over there.”
“We do,” Cole said proudly. “And to answer your question, Stolls is the local vet. He has a clinic in town, but prefers to go to the outlying ranches.”
“Well, I don’t plan to take over his business, but I would like to be called if any of Erin’s horses has a problem.”
“Good to know,” he said with a nod, and felt his throat close up when the woman of his affection came up to stand beside Lorissa. She did the initial introductions.
“Nana, this is Cole, I’m sorry, I forget your last name already.”
“Mercury, Cole Mercury,” he said as he held out his hand to the beautiful woman standing beside the farrier. “I’m the manager over at New Double.” He pointed in the general direction of the ranch and waited to hear her real name, and not Nana, which meant she was Lorissa’s grandmother. He would argue with her later that she didn’t look old enough to be a grandmother.
“Lois Gibson,” she said, and took his hand. They both tightened their grip when a shock went up their arms, and then she cocked her head to the side. “Cole Mercury? Erin told me I had to come see you.”
“Oh?” He couldn’t believe his luck that he might be able to spend more time with this woman. “What about?”
“Not now, but within the next couple of months Lor, my daughter, Laurie, and I will probably be moving to Fool’s Gold. Back home, I ran a nursery, meaning I started plants from seed and sold them when it was time for them to be planted. Erin showed me the place I’ll be staying and it has greenhouses. She told me that I need to talk to you about equipment that is stored where you are.
“Oh, I can do that. That won’t be a problem. Just let me know what you need, and I can see if I have the time to come help you.”He didn’t know whether he fell in love with her next statement or should be worried.
“Oh, I don’t need help, I know how to drive a tractor, and do all that stuff, I just need to know what you have. In the Spring, I’ll be planting a garden and I’ll have to get with someone named Ducky about canning equipment.”
“I can help with that, and if you don’t mind my asking, will your husband be coming with you?” He didn’t know whether he offended her or not because the expression she wore was of shock.
“Why would you think I have a husband?” Her question was pure confusion.
“Because you’re wearing a wedding ring.”
“Oh,” she said in shock as she held out her left hand to see a plain gold wedding band on her ring finger. Her expression told Cole that she was just as shocked at seeing it there as he had been.
“Oh,” she repeated, then gave a little laugh that turned Cole’s stomach into knots, but in a good way. “I guess I just never took it off. I lost my husband about ten years ago. I never really thought of removing my wedding band.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you, but he worked himself into an early grave.” She sighed and shook her head. “No, that wasn’t quite right, he had a heart attack, and it was what they called a widow maker. It wasn’t until the autopsy that they realized he had a heart condition. Nothing indicated he was in trouble until that heart attack.” She shook her head then looked at him in shock. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to dump such personal information on you at our first meeting.”
“Don’t worry about it. It sounds like you were happy.”
“I was, but I was in my mid-fifties when this happened, and though I had my daughter and granddaughter to help me getthrough it, I also had my work. I only just sold my business roughly a year ago, and to be perfectly honest, I think I felt a larger loss from that than when my husband passed.” She shook her head and apologized again.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that I didn’t love my husband, I did.”
Cole smiled at her, took both her hands in his, stared into her eyes, and said firmly, “Lois, take a deep breath… good, now hold it… good. Now, let it out slowly.” When she did that, he kept smiling and said, “Now, repeat that.” They stood there off to the side until she could get her thoughts under control and she nodded when she felt her nerves begin to settle.
“Thank you, I don’t know what came over me.” She tried to remove her hands from his, but he kept one as they turned toward the rest of the people. The only person that gave them any mind was Clem, Cole’s best friend, but Cole only grinned and mouthed that he would talk to him later. After the rest of the introductions were made, Cole stuck by Lois the rest of the night getting to know her better. He knew that if he was questioned about any of the conversations later, he would fail in his answers, because he didn’t listen to anyone except Lois.
When people started cleaning up, packing up, and leaving, Cole hadn’t realized that hours had passed. It felt like he had just gotten there. He wanted to get Lois alone, and wasn’t disappointed when she said she’d walk him to his truck. Thankfully, Clem and Ducky had stayed back.
