Page 67 of There I Find Rest

“I don’t mind at all,” Kim said, noticing the stubble on his face, and the bit of shadow under his eyes. He was tired too.

Maybe she was allowing him to do too much?

He talked about the site, showed the pictures he had up of the horses, and scrolled through the pages he made, including the schedule, which was all automated, and connected to both of their phones, as well as the waivers the riders had to sign, hours for the stable, along with his personal cell phone number in case people were interested in sunrise or sunset rides.

They would offer them. They just weren’t going to open at those times. They had to be scheduled in advance.

“It seems like you thought of everything. I can’t think of a single thing to improve on that. This is amazing.”

“I have to thank Matt Landry. He is the one that’s been bringing our hay and lives just a short walk up the beach. He and his family have a riding stable as well, and he showed me their website, told me to copy whatever I wanted. Our horses are a little bit calmer than his, and are more suitable for beginners. But other than that, and the fact that they have a bed-and-breakfast right on their farm, we’re very similar in our businesses.”

“That was awfully nice of him. Maybe I’ll get to meet him when Kathleen gets out.”

“Or, if you go home to take a shower or whatever. He’s around a good bit, delivering hay. I told him he could fill up the barn.”

“How much is that going to cost?” Kim asked before she could stop herself. She didn’t want to think about finances right now. She had enough to worry about with Kathleen, and her own recovery.

“Don’t worry about it.” Davis’s voice was gentle, but firm.

She looked into his eyes, so deep and blue, and felt sweet peace settle down into her heart. He had made sure that there was absolutely nothing for her to worry about, other than herself, and taking care of her baby. She didn’t know how she was going to make this up to him, but she needed to.

“You’ve been so good to me,” she breathed. “I don’t deserve how good you’re being.”

He put a hand over top of hers on the table, and squeezed gently.

“You deserve all of that and far more.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to make it up to you.”

“Just letting me take care of you while you take care of our baby, allowing me to take care of the farm, just allowing me a little bit of access to your life is all that I want.” A slow grin. “Maybe that’s not all I want, but it’s enough for now.”

She couldn’t help but smile back at that grin, as his words thrilled her heart. Although, they scared her a little, too. Todd hadn’t felt like she was enough. Hadn’t felt like she was worth doing anything for. It scared her to think that maybe Davis would finally see whatever it was the Todd saw, and realize that she wasn’t worth all this effort. That it was all wasted or something.

“What? You look sad.” Concern entered his eyes. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No. You’re doing everything right, and that’s a little scary. No one’s ever treated me like this before.”

“Maybe you just haven’t been around the right people. Don’t forget, Todd’s a jerk. He never treats anyone well. You deserve so much better than him. Just... Let someone take care of you. Let someone...love you.”

She sucked in a breath. That was too much.

She cleared her throat and pulled her hand away, picking up her fork like she just remembered that she was ravenously hungry, even though she really wasn’t. She’d been forcing herself to eat for several days, just because she knew that was what she needed to do in order to keep her milk production up.

“The website looks great. Is it live?” she asked, after looking around at whatever she could find to take the attention off of her and whatever lay between them. It was scary. And she wasn’t used to all of those emotions swirling around her.

With Todd, it was her doing all of the effort to keep their relationship together. She wasn’t quite sure how to act when there were two people in a relationship, instead of just her.

“I scared you,” he said, not sounding upset or annoyed, just...making a statement of fact.

“You did. I’m sorry. I...am acting like a child who doesn’t know what to say. Probably because I don’t.” There, she was as honest as she could be. After all, that was part of the problem with her relationship with Todd. He hadn’t been honest. Although, that was probably just the tip of the iceberg. Because, he hadn’t cared, and that was a dealbreaker too.

“You’re not acting like a child. I think, coming from a relationship where you aren’t considered important, it’s a natural reaction. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t consider you important, or act like you are.”

“I think it’s the actions that are getting me. I’m used to Todd telling me that I’m important, but his actions always said something completely different. After all, how important can I be when he never follows through?”

“I will follow through. I’ll do more than follow through. But, I’m not just doing these things to convince you that you need to be with me, or butter you up, or whatever it is. I’m doing it because... Because I care, and I can’t imagine not doing these things, saying that I care, and not doing everything I can to show you that I mean it.”

“I know. I never thought that you were just doing them. In fact, I had been thinking that you are doing the exact same thing now that you were doing a week ago, and it hasn’t gotten old for you.”

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