told Susie she’d treasure them for life. The anger she’d felt toward her mother might not be gone, but it seemed to be on hiatus.
Mackenzie went to Bev’s to stay the night, which left Clarissa awkwardly alone with Jed for the silent ride home.
He didn’t try to talk to her, and she was thankful for that as she watched the fields pass outside her window. When they got to the house, Jed didn’t give her a chance to walk down to the bunkhouse by herself. He drove straight to her drive and then stopped the truck.
The urn of her mother’s ashes wasn’t heavy, but Jed still carried it for her, placed it on the window sill above the kitchen sink facing the area the rainbow had been. Until she knew where to spread them, Clarissa figured that was as good a place as any.
She started to thank Jed, to say I appreciate you, but he beat her to the punch.
“Walk with me?” An unsureness she wasn’t used to from him sounded in the undertones of his voice.
She waited a moment, tried to hear the inner voice that led her but there was nothing. “I don’t know, Jed. It’s late and I’ve already taken up too much of your time….”
“Let me take you around to the places your momma worked. Let you see what she did. I know you tried to stay away. This can be a balm for your heart.”
An inner struggle played out in her mind. All the while she heard Mackenzie’s voice saying you could be my new Momma. She needed to get out of here before she hurt them all more.
But what Jed offered, the chance to connect with her mother now in this way…
“Okay,” she said kicking off her high heels and replacing them with boots before following him out the door.
Fight for Her.
Funny the voice in Jed’s head sounded a bit like Tammy Jo Dye.
Clarissa grabbed the stick by the front door. He’d obviously scared her with the snake comment earlier, which was a good thing, he figured, because in the heat the snakes were everywhere.
He held out his hand, and she hesitated before giving in. But she did give in, and that left him elated.
“You’ve been to the horse stalls, so you’ve seen the work she did out there.”
Clarissa nodded. “I still can’t get over the change in her. It’s like she became a new person.”
“She did become a new person,” he said, pushing the fence and letting her walk forward first.
Inside the stalls he pointed out the fresh paint and the signs Tammy Jo’d made for Blue and Flower. Blue’s sign was a plain blue board. Flower’s a painted sunflower. Mack’s handprint stained both. Mack had gotten a kick out of that for sure.
Next they walked past Moo’s pasture where Tammy helped fix fences. They kept walking after that, and Jed wondered if maybe he should’ve broken out the ATV.
“How far you taking me?” Clarissa asked, not worried, just curious.
“The arbor,” Jed said. “That’s where your momma helped us most.”
The sun was setting in the west, the direction they were headed.
“Hold up,” he said, and he helped her climb up to the top of a fence so they could watch.
Around them the sky turned brilliant shades of red, orange and pink. And then the sky went grey except for the barely visible tiny sliver of a moon, the two bright stars he thought were planets and the space station.
“Wow,” Clarissa said. “That was just wow.”
She sounded at peace.
“Wait until dark kicks in. You just think wow now.”
He jumped down and grabbed her waist to help her off the fence. Only he didn’t want to let go when her feet touched the ground. She looked up into his eyes and he saw the same longing there he felt himself.
She bit her lip, and he saw the question in her eyes. He wanted to pull her close, but while he came to the conclusion that a kiss was the answer they both were looking for, she stepped away and cleared her throat.
“So we’re going to the arbor?” she asked, her voice husky.
He took her hand in his and started up the small hill that would lead them to the area he wanted to show Clarissa.
“We’re going to the arbor’s edge,” he said. The arbor is huge. We’d definitely need ATV’s to get through.”
“Wait, you have ATV’s?” she said and stopped.
“Too late now,” he said, pulling her arm to keep her moving.
And then they were there.