easy to imagine that they didn’t want things to change.
Thoughts of Mrs. Ludlow’s fund made her remember the lady’s granddaughter. Seeing the little girl with her curly pigtails had made Emily’s heart just about tighten up in her chest. It used to hurt every time she walked past a stroller or a school bus or a ball field. But she couldn’t keep living in that constant state of depression, or she might never come out of it. She had a future, a good one. She was doing something about her wish for a family, beginning with the repairs on the building. It wouldn’t happen overnight, but she could be patient, waiting for the day she had enough money to adopt. She’d spent too many weeks and months of her life wallowing in the wreck of her marriage and dreams, as if she didn’t have the power to change things.
Just looking around at the restaurant made her realize she’d already made a dent in the chaos. And she was doing her Internet research each night on putting up drywall and ripping up damaged flooring. It didn’t look too hard, she told herself. Nate might be unconvinced, but she would show him what she was capable of.
No, he wasn’t her motivation. She would show herself.
Over the next few days, Emily spent most of her waking hours focused on the building. Occasionally, the widows dropped food off to her at midday, as if they didn’t trust her to remember to feed herself—or if they thought she wasn’t spending her money on that.
And they were right. The longer Emily remained in Valentine, the more she realized she was going to have to look for part-time work soon. Yet she took the time to put flowers in the planters out front, so that her bare building wouldn’t hurt any of the other businesses nearby.
She’d become acclimated to the altitude at last, and found some wonderful hiking trails up behind the town hall. Running brought her such peace in this beautiful mountain country, leaving her feeling stronger than she had in a long time.
She didn’t see Nate at all, and told herself that was a good thing. Brooke occasionally mentioned how busy they were at the ranch, with the stress of haying season coming up in June. If they didn’t harvest a good crop, they’d have to purchase hay at the end of winter to feed the cattle, cutting into their profit.
Monica and Brooke were proving to be a welcome distraction, occasionally insisting she accompany them to a movie or out to eat. Brooke dragged them to Outlaws, the local honky-tonk bar, where Brooke fit right in with her cowboy boots and hat. She did a mean line dance, but Emily felt like she had two left feet though she gave it a try. Her ex didn’t like to dance, so they didn’t. Why had she been so stupid as to let that stop her? Because she’d let go of her high-school and college girlfriends, that was why. She’d been a fool.
At Outlaws, they were each drinking beer, turning down requests to dance until they could get their breath back. A Kenny Chesney song was blaring in the background. Even though Emily was only wearing jeans and a shirt over a camisole, she noticed more than one admiring glance, and as the evening went on, her spirits lifted. She watched the crowd, a mixture of young and old, and found herself focusing on the older men, gathered in a booth near the back, playing cards.
Could one of them be her father?
Angry with herself, she took another swig of beer and glanced at Monica, who was picking the label off her bottle absently.
“Is something wrong?” Emily asked.
Monica glanced up with a jerk. “Sorry. Guess I got distracted.”
Brooke studied her. “With what? Everything okay at the store?”
“Busy, and Mrs. Wilcox was sick again today, so I was alone.”
“Poor old lady,” Brooke murmured. “What about Karista?”
“She’s still in high school, remember? She’s only evenings and weekends. But that’s not the real problem.” Monica heaved a sigh. “My sister’s coming to visit.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Emily asked.
Her friend shrugged. “It should be. But sadly, Missy always manages to make sure I know she thinks I’m wasting my life.”
“She says that?” Emily was aghast.
“No, not in so many words. But I know. She thinks you can only feel ‘fulfilled’—her word—with an important job in a city.”
Brooke smiled without amusement. “You can only imagine what she thinks about me.”