Page 85 of Forever After All

Jess walked back into the barn, continuing to ignore him as she passed.

Linc propped the rake against the wall. “I’m going to the main house.”

“Kay!” Jess shouted back. Clearly, she didn’t care one bit whether he went to visit his boss or jumped off a cliff.

Linc shook his head. It was for the best. He was bound to ruin anything good anyway.

Just as he’d expected, Mr. Chambers sat in his usual rocking chair on his back porch. He raised his mug of coffee as Linc approached.

“Look what the cat dragged in. Coffee’s hot.”

Linc walked inside and filled a mug. He didn’t drink a lot of coffee these days, but having a cup with Mr. Chambers always seemed to bring back memories of the day they’d met.

One cup of coffee led him here. Mr. Chambers changed Linc’s life that day.

When he stepped back outside, he took in the view. All of this belonged to Mr. Chambers, and the guy deserved it. He’d worked hard his whole life, and he deserved to sit on his back porch and rest.

Linc would be paying dues until the day he died. It was only fair. He’d destroyed more than he could rebuild in a lifetime.

“You makin’ it this mornin’?” Mr. Chambers asked.

“Barely. I stayed at the barn last night. Applejack gave us a scare.”

“Jameson told me she’s fine. That still the case?”

“Yep.”

Mr. Chambers rocked for a few more seconds before speaking. “I saw another truck at the stables last night.”

Their boss didn’t miss a thing. He might spend his days at the house, but he had his finger on everything going on at the ranch.

“It was Jess.”

“She can’t leave a sick horse,” Mr. Chambers said.

The statement didn’t require a response. Jess might be rough around the edges, but she had a tender heart. She’d deny it until her dying day, but she cared more than seventy-five percent of people in the world.

“She can’t leave a hurting man either,” Mr. Chambers added as he took another sip of his coffee.

Linc kept his attention focused on the mountains in the distance. The pain in his chest grew from kindling to a roaring fire. “She should have better sense than that.”

“You’ve come a long way, son, but you’re not ready yet.”

Linc knew the truth when he heard it. Even Mr. Chambers knew he wasn’t good enough for her. “I know.”

“You can change that. It’s up to you.”

Linc shook his head. “There isn’t anything I can do to change the past, so I guess this is as good as it gets for me.”

Mr. Chambers scoffed. “You’re stupider than you look.”

Linc chuckled. “Thanks.”

“You’re missing something. Something you need.”

“Need for what?” Linc asked.

“Something you need before you’re ready to let her in. She knows what she wants–a man who can look to God first. A man who believes. You’re not there yet.”

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