Page 30 of Maverick
“I can’t wait,” she says.
“Well, let’s get a real start tomorrow.”
There’s some barrier stopping me from throwing her on the horse right away, and anyway, I might as well show her to her cottage. Yes. That’ll be the next step. She can get her trailer parked, we’ll drive to the cottage, I don’t have to bring her into the house.
And I’ll just walk back when she’s settled.
She gets the trailer parked, and then we load back up, and I give her directions to her lodging. The cottage is on the edge of a grove of trees. Near a field that we often have moose, so I give her a disclaimer about keeping an eye out for animals.
“I don’t know if you have moose where you are,” I say.
She shakes her head. “No. No moose in Northern California.”
“So that’s where you’re from.”
“Yeah. Sonoma.”
“I’ve heard good things about that area. That it’s very pretty.”
“Oh. It’s gorgeous. Expensive, but beautiful.”
“Stands to reason that there’s a lot of dressage activities happening there.”
“Oh yes. Definitely. Lots and lots of horses and lots and lots of money.”
She parks her truck, and we both get out. I say a silent prayer that the place hasn’t been taken over by black widows. But everything looks pretty clean still, and when I open up the front door, the inside of the little place is still tidy, if a bit dusty.
“Sorry, I didn’t clean or anything. Obviously, I didn’t know that I was going to hire you in advance.”
“No,” she says. “You just… Thought of it.”
“I figured the two of us got thrown together for a reason. And I thought it might be this one.”
She lights up just a little bit. “That’s what I thought. That there was a reason. And I guess it is this. The horse.”
“Yeah. The horse.”
I remember meeting Sadie at a county fair. They wanted to do a bull riding exhibition, and I agreed, and she was there helping with the youth dressage show. I guess a horse brought us together in a strange way. But that has nothing to do with this. Nothing to do with Stella, and I don’t know why I’m having that memory now.
“Well, why don’t you take some inventory, and if you need anything, you can run up to the store. There’s one not super far from here. Get some rest, and tomorrow we’ll get Frank out and talk about a plan.”
“Okay. That sounds good.”
“Yeah. Real good.”
And when I leave her there, I try to leave behind all the strange tension, because I don’t have any room for it.
It’s one thing to appreciate her body, and another to start reflecting on meeting my wife like I’m comparing that to bringing her here.
No. I gave love a shot once. One time. It scarred me, nearly destroyed me.
I don’t have an appetite for feeling that way ever again.
Happily, I know how rare love is. So, I don’t think I’m in danger of accidentally falling into it.
Chapter Six
Stella
