A Love Undone (9 page)

Actually, she knew almost nothing about him, but for the first time in her life, she liked the idea of getting to know a widower.

Andy took the last bite of cantaloupe and perched his fork and knife on the edge of his plate. The food was great, but what he really wanted was to know if Jolene had reached the traveling blacksmith. He’d hoped she would volunteer the information since it was clear she hadn’t wanted to call him. He’d rather not have to ask if she’d followed through. Seems as if she had, she would’ve said so.

Still, he had to admit that this meal was like a Thanksgiving feast, only for breakfast. He’d eaten his eggs, meat, and fruit, so he picked up a cream-filled pastry and alternated between it and his coffee. Delicious. Too much so. Surely the Keim girls wouldn’t cook all summer the way they had yesterday and today. If so, he’d have to ration himself. Sadie was a good cook, and she fixed a lot better meals than he or Levi. But her goals were more like his and Levi’s: make it healthy, get it done, and move on with the day.

Uncle Lester pushed his plate back. “So what’s the first thing to do today?”

Andy wiped powdered sugar off his lips. “Calm a few of the horses enough that they’ll let us bathe them. Most are matted with mud and manure. No matter what task we undertake, I’d prefer that you and Tobias stay away from the barn and corral at least until the horses settle.”

Lester nodded. “I broke my hip messing with a high-strung
horse a few years back, and I can’t afford to do that again. But Jo will be here to help.”

Andy nodded. That was good news. When he’d called to ask his uncle about using his facilities, Lester was on board. He’d assured Andy he could get him some skilled help, so apparently Joe was that help. But what time would Joe arrive?

“Daed said they’ll likely break free and bolt.” Tobias ran his finger across his empty plate, scooping up some spilled filling. “They’ll need shoeing too.”

Uncle Lester frowned at Andy. “You’re bringing in a smithy, right?”

“I haven’t made plans for that, no.”

“You need to. I was sure you knew some other smithy than Van Beiler … since you work with horses.”

So Lester wasn’t a fan of Beiler’s either. What had the man done? Andy tucked his napkin next to his plate. “You want me to try to bring one here from Apple Ridge?”

Jolene shook her head. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Yes, I do.” Lester propped one leg on the other. “I won’t pay money to support any man who has no business living in Winter Valley.”

Andy knew Lester could be as difficult as the day was long once he was set against someone. He was known in the family for being that way. Thankfully, his great-uncle didn’t have anything against him.

So what did he do when his horses needed to be shod? Whatever it was, it must not be a current option.

Jolene intertwined her fingers and leaned in. “Lester, I appreciate
your sentiments, but Van is a good man. I keep telling you that.” She angled her head, her eyes narrowing at the elderly man. “And Andy needs his help. End of discussion, please.”

Uncle Lester tossed his napkin onto the plate. “A good man,” he mumbled.

“Ya.” Jolene nodded. “He is. Do you want us to argue about it in front of my little sister, Andy’s son, and a man who’s nearly a stranger to me?”

Lester grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t think about that.” He pushed back from the table and grabbed his cane. “Unless I can round up some volunteers, you’ll have to make do with Van’s and Jo’s help.”

“Actually,”—Jolene shrugged—“Van is currently out of town. I left a message at the shop for him to call me. We haven’t spoken more than a passing
hello
in years, but I’m assuming if he gets the message, he’ll return the call.”

“Of course he will.” Hope stood and began gathering plates. “Whenever I see him around town, he’s quick to do anything he can to help out us Keims. My horse threw a shoe a year ago, and I walked him to Smithy Beiler’s place. The fires were cold, and Van was locking up. But he unlocked the place, fired up the furnace, and put all new shoes on my horse. We talked about gardening and my family and stuff the whole time.”

Lester didn’t look impressed, but when he opened his mouth, Jolene arched an eyebrow at him, a clear warning that Hope didn’t see.

Andy thought it best to change the subject. “So what time can I expect this Joe fellow to get here?”

Jolene raised her hand. “Present.”

“You?” Andy jolted, knocking the flatware off his plate and onto the floor. “I … I’m sorry, Jolene.” He turned to Lester. “But that won’t do.”

Jolene and Hope gathered several items and went into the kitchen.

Lester scratched a scraggly eyebrow with one shaky, weathered hand. “Jo is the available help, and it’ll have to do. You’ve given your word to the Humane Society.”

“And when we talked last week, you said there would be skilled men to help. This change means we don’t have the needed manpower.”

“You have womanpower. Make it work.”

“I know you like and believe in Jolene. That’s obvious. But we’re talking feral horses. I need someone with experience, someone who can watch my back as much as I’m watching his—emphasis on the word
his
. Horses are stout, massive creatures, Lester. You know that. One unexpected kick, especially to the head, and she could be seriously injured.” He picked up his flatware and put it on his plate. “I mean no disrespect, Uncle Lester, but what are you thinking?”

“You trained Levi to help you back when he was no bigger and had no more muscle than she does. Am I right?”

“I was young and careless about a lot of things back then.” Including his confidence that he could marry a young woman with a few emotional issues and help her get stronger. “Since Levi was thrown from a horse and fractured his neck a couple of years ago, I’m far more cautious.”

“You aren’t trying to ride these horses. You just want them to get
used to being near humans and touched by them so you can wash the horses.”

“I’m not teaming up with an inexperienced woman.”

“I tell you what. Why don’t you walk into the kitchen and be a horse’s rump to her about it? Would that satisfy you?”

While Andy was growing up, his cousins had told many tales of wanting to avoid Uncle Lester, and Andy was beginning to see why. Since he rarely was around the old man, he’d not seen this side of him.

“Uncle Lester, has it dawned on you that maybe I’m not the problem here?” Sometimes old men who had lived by themselves for years were just ornery. They had spent too much time without anyone challenging their perception of situations.

“Look”—Lester placed the flat of his hand on the table and tapped it—“we’ve signed papers, agreeing to what we would do with these horses. We will calm them, then wash and shoe them as quickly as possible. The only other people available on short notice are Tobias, Hope, me, Naomi, and Jolene.”

Tobias swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Sadie helps Levi, and they have fun.”

“That’s different. Levi doesn’t work with rogue horses.” Some were high-strung and traumatized, but Levi would never put Sadie in a small space with an animal that could suddenly get out of control, and that’s where he and Jolene would need to be—in a small space with a terrified animal. Hope returned and began gathering butter and jellies and whatever was left.

Andy picked up his plate and Tobias’s and started toward the kitchen.

“Andy.”

He paused.

“Be nice to her.”

Andy nodded and went into the kitchen.

Jolene had her back to him, washing dishes. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d needed to tiptoe around a woman’s feelings—six years ago maybe. Eva’s response to all stress was to crawl into bed sobbing, and it was his job to calm her and cajole her out of it. “I … I hope you understand why I feel the way I do. It’s not you. I’m sure you’re quite capable in the right circumstances.”

Jolene turned, lips pursed, eyes fiery with displeasure, but there were no tears, and she certainly didn’t give off a hint of a vibe that she might crumble. “I agree with you, and I told Lester that.” She scraped bits of food into the trash. “But with no other alternative available, let’s figure it out.”

“Do you know anyone else who could lend a hand?”

“No, Lester and I put some effort into it, but no one could miss time from work to help. I’m all that’s available right now.”

“Surely you have a Daed or husband or boyfriend who would object to Lester’s plan of putting you in this kind of dangerous situation if he knew about it.”

Hurt reflected in her eyes. “I have none of the above. Thanks for reminding me.”

Jolene went to the hutch where there was a stack of white flat cardboard. She grabbed one piece and unfolded it while returning to the island. The container reminded him of an oversize pizza box, and she began putting pastries in it.

He hadn’t meant to hit a sore spot. Who would’ve dreamed that
a woman her age would already be without her Daed? Or that one so beautiful and skilled at running a home wouldn’t at least have a boyfriend? But despite feeling like the horse’s rump Lester had mentioned, he wasn’t wrong to try to protect her. Actually, her lack of someone to stand up for her made him more right.

“I … I didn’t mean …”

“Look, you need the help, and I’m all you’ve got.” She stopped filling the box and focused on him.

Was she waiting for him to respond?

He found himself staring into the sapphire eyes of an auburn-haired beauty who was studying him.

His heart lurched, and he walked out of the kitchen.

The cab of the delivery truck smelled of stale tuna fish and decades-old cigarette smoke. Ray’s stomach churned a bit as the big vehicle lumbered toward their destination—Coldwell mansion.

The driver leaned forward, rummaging through old invoices and trash between the dashboard and the window. “Stop squirming, Ray.”

How could he? It stunk in here, and even if it smelled like fresh air, he wanted out. Out of the cabinetry business. Out of being the little brother Jolene and Josiah kept an eye on. Out of being hounded by his Mamm’s whispers.

Josiah pulled his attention from the scenery. “Maybe he’d stop squirming, Chad, if you’d quit leaning across him.”

Chad sighed and sat back, evidently giving up on whatever he’d been searching for.

Josiah nudged Ray’s arm. “You okay?”

He shrugged. “Feeling sort of nauseated.” Probably because he made himself sick.

Josiah nodded. “Sorry about that. Did you eat?”

“Jolene was gone, and I slept through the alarm.”

“You know she left you a plate of food in the oven or fridge. Did you look for it?”

“I sort of thought of it, but then I forgot when you arrived, rushing me to hurry up.”

Josiah shook his head, chuckling. “Well, that means I win, right?”

It was a running joke. Josiah often pulled some sort of trick or made a wordplay and then said, “I win.” And the other person would say, “Ya think?” It was a game Jolene approved of, one intended to make Ray think of ways to get back at Josiah. Ray won at times, and that was particularly fun. The game also made him better at understanding horseplay between others when he saw it, which was good, because a couple of times when Ray was younger, he didn’t realize what was going on between two people, and he’d thrown a few punches, angry at one person for picking on another.

Josiah fiddled with the knob to the window. “We will get you something as soon as we can. This delivery could be interesting. I’ve heard about the Coldwell place for years.”

Nothing here would interest him, and he longed to do some kind of job he was good at, but what? At least he wouldn’t be around for Old Man Yoder to scream at him. On those days Ray hated himself the most, and then his thoughts became a garbled mass of pain and confusion. It was as if being yelled at in front of people made him step back in time, to the months following his accident, when his sentences were choppy and childish.

Last night his sister had suggested he help a man named Andy Fisher with some rogue horses. Yeah, right, as if somehow dealing with the unpredictable behavior and manure of wild horses would be any different than his current job.