told my mother as much, she’d go into detective mode, and poor Stacy would find herself meeting the Wheeler family's matriarch. Worse, she would scare her away when I already seemed to be doing a good enough job of that on my own.
“Alright, ma, who is she?” I asked. “Not that I’m going to say ‘yes,’ but I’ll play along.”
She sighed. “She is a very nice young lady. Her mother is part of my bridge club. She just came back to the area. Now I have to warn you, she is divorced. At first, I wasn’t even considering her, but you are a hard man to please.”
“Why would I care if she was divorced? That doesn’t mean anything. I wanted to know what she was like, not her bloodline, ma.”
“Oh, fine. She is a receptionist. She is a sweet young woman, though. I don’t think her first husband was very well-off. He left her. It was a bit of a scandal, but I think things have died down enough for you to go out with her.”
“Mom, I really don’t feel like going on any blind dates right now,” I muttered.
“Sweetheart, you need to put yourself out there. After Jackson's wedding, I just assumed you’d be next to walk down the aisle, but now I’m wondering if it will be Thompson before you!”
“I don’t need a wife to make me happy.”
“You are starting to sound like Jackson and look where he ended up. Happily married with a growing family. Isn’t that what you want?”
“I would love to find someone to travel with and spend my time with, but I’m not going to force that just because you think I’m getting to be over the hill.”
“Listen, if you go on this date, I promise I won't set up anymore for you for the rest of the year.”
I fell silent. It was a tempting offer. There was no way the woman would work out, but I had to hope that, at the very least, I would be buying myself a little bit of peace. It felt dishonest to be agreeing to a date when I knew where I wanted to be. It was the means to an end, though, and it was the only one I saw that would get my mother to back off.
“Fine tomorrow night. Send me her address, and I’ll pick her up at six.” I muttered.
“Oh, Walker! I knew that you would see it my way.”
I groaned, giving her my love and ending the call. I sat in my truck for a few minutes before curiosity overcame me, and I typed Stacy’s name into my phone. Instantly a website came up. Beautiful paintings of local scenery, along with towering skylines and famous architecture, grabbed my attention. The work took my breath away. I felt like I was looking at each noted scene through the lens of a camera.
Even though her gallery had just opened, it was already gaining popularity. The social media page seemed to have more pictures of her on it. It felt a little strange to be logging into the account I hadn’t touched in years. The only reason I had a social media page was for the farm. Most of the time, I had a plethora of sales experts running it. Still, as the owner, I had the information to log into the app. Stacy’s smiling face greeted me as she stood next to a large painting.
Her eyes shone through in the image, stirring at my heart. There was so much life inside of her. I wanted to take her across the globe where she could paint to her heart's content. Off to the side, a little boy grabbed my attention. He was turning away from the camera, but a tuft of dark blond hair made my heart jump. He couldn’t have been very old in the photo, barely sure of the step he seemed to be taking off-camera.
When a truck pulled into my driveway behind me, I was happy for the excuse to stop obsessing. Climbing down from my truck, I greeted the man who got out behind me with a firm handshake. Greg Dodger owned a neighboring ranch, an inheritance much like The Calumet was for me. He didn’t know the first thing about ranching, though, and we’d quickly formed a bond as he learned the ropes.
“How are the new heifers working out for you?” I asked as we sat on my porch. I tossed my phone onto the end table.