If the Shoe Fits (9 page)

“Hah!” he exclaimed, tapping Christie’s sides with the heels of his boots and flapping the reins gently. “Let’s go, girl. Show me what you got!”

He sensed the horse’s excitement as she immediately took off into a full gallop. Alec often said he thought Christie waited longingly for Will’s visits because there was a four-beat gait harnessed inside her that no one else accessed. She’d been saving it up for him, and Will let out a bellow of a laugh as they climbed the last hill on the property.

“Whoa. Whoa, girl.”

With a slight tug on the reins, Will guided Christie to a stop and he dropped over the side of her, both feet thumping to the ground.

“You’re a great horse, Christie,” he told her, running both hands along the sides of her shiny golden muzzle, scratching into her thick white mane. He gazed into her amber eyes and nodded his head. “That was a great ride, my friend.” Christie snorted and lifted her head with a jerk. “I know. You liked it too, right?”

Will produced a small bag, and the rustle of the plastic drew the horse’s full attention until he offered her a chunk of apple on his flattened palm. She lapped it up greedily.

When she’d finished all of the treats he’d brought along, Will led her by the reins toward an overgrown patch of soft green grass. He wrapped the reins loosely around one of the lowest branches of a mature elm before plunking down beneath it and leaning against the whitened trunk.

He stared out across the vista of green, tracing the property line fence until it disappeared behind a dense grove of trees. In the distance, beneath a darkening pink and blue sky, cars had just begun turning on headlights. Will knew he would have to head back soon. But not just yet.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back against the tree.

“Father, I need Your help right now. I need to look at her and just see my friend, instead of seeing that
Property Of
sign I stuck to the back of her jacket when she wasn’t looking. Help me let her go and face reality, to get my eyes off Julianne and back onto You. Lord, help me to move on. I’m ready to move on.”

Christie snorted, and when Will opened his eyes and looked up at her, she stared right at him, and it seemed for a minute as though the horse
laughed
.

“What?” he asked her, and one corner of his mouth twitched slightly. “There’s nothing funny here. What are you laughing at, huh?”

Will’s cell chimed, and he pulled it from his pocket. Beth Rudd, Jimmy’s wife. He wondered why she might be calling.

“Beth. How are you?”

“I’m good, Will. How about yourself?”

“Pretty great. I’m out for a ride, actually. A buddy of mine from school lets me take one of his horses out every now and then.”

“Oh, that sounds perfect!” she squealed.

“You like to ride?” he asked her.

“Me? No. Absolutely not.” Will’s mouth quirked with a smile. “But my baby sister does. You remember Alison? You met her at the Christmas pageant.”

“Sure. The schoolteacher.”

“Yes! I’m so glad you remember because she’s why I’m calling you, Will.”

“Does she need a lawyer?”

“In a manner of speaking, I think she might.”

“William, I am so
happy you agreed to have lunch with me,” Lacey sang as she sliced her already-cut salad into small bite-sized strips. “I’m just over the moon about being nominated for Person of the Year. Can you imagine?”

Well, in fact, he could imagine. Julianne was ecstatic after hoping to make the cut for three years running.

“So what did they cite as your outstanding accomplishments?” he asked before taking a bite of his orange chicken.

“Oh, that’s the best part,” she crooned. “They didn’t just name my pro bono work for the women’s shelter, but they also included the fact that I was elected to the governing board.”

“Were you?” he asked. “I don’t think I knew that. It’s great, Lace.”

“Thank you. I’m very proud of the work we do over there, William.”

Will chuckled inwardly. No one had ever called him William outside of a couple of teachers in middle school, but Lacey had latched on to his full name since the day they’d met.

“How about Julie? What did they pick for her?”

“Ah, she’s involved in every nonprofit in the Queen City,” he said with a smile. “They named a few of them.”

“Oh.” Her ladylike expression slipped away for a moment, and Lacey curled up her face in reaction until she caught herself. “I suppose you’ll be escorting her to the gala?”

Will considered how to answer. “I don’t know, really.”

“Well, it’s not like she has many other options,” she speculated. “I mean, the poor girl doesn’t exactly keep them around for more than a date or two, does she? And for something like this—a formal evening and all—”

“She’s been seeing someone new, actually.” He didn’t know why he felt so compelled to jump to her defense, but Lacey’s catty remarks about Julianne’s inability to snag a good man had started to become rather legendary. And Will didn’t like it.

“Really.” He watched as Lacey’s wheels turned, but what came next caught him by complete surprise. “Then would you be willing to escort
me
to the gala, William?”

He took another bite of orange chicken as a short reprieve before answering.

“Can I get back to you on that?”

Dean and Maureen Alden’s quaint two-story home sat on a small parcel of land punctuated by a slight grade in the front.

Not even enough of a slant for kids on sleds to pick up any real speed
, Julianne thought as they pulled up out front.
But even if they could, the closeness of the street at the bottom of the descent would make sledding impractical
.

“You’re measuring sledability again, aren’t you?” Will asked as he pushed the doorbell.

How did he always do that?

“I give it a 2-rating,” she replied. “Too close to the street.”

Will shook his head and grinned as the front door opened, nudging the brushed nickel knocker to rap lightly.

“Hey, you two!” Pastor Dean greeted them. “Come on in.”

Maureen served glasses of iced tea on a bamboo serving tray as they all sat around the glossy dining room table. She straightened the floral centerpiece and set down a plate of butter cookies.

Will’s favorites
.

He reached for a cookie and thanked her as he plopped it into his mouth.

“So I’m hoping I know why you wanted to see me,” Pastor Dean said with a sly grin. “Why don’t you tell me if I’m right.”

Julianne and Will exchanged perplexed attempts at smiles.

“It’s about Emily,” Will told him, and Dean belted out a laugh.

“Oh! Well, I wasn’t even close.”

Maureen emerged from the kitchen. “Our granddaughter, Emily? Can I sit down with you then?”

“Please,” Will said, waving her into the room.

Once his wife had settled beside him, Dean sighed. “Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind.”

“I guess you know that Rand Winters—”

Maureen wrinkled her nose and groaned loudly at the mention of his name.

“—accidentally shot Emily’s pet pig last week.”

“Accidental!” Maureen exclaimed. “That’s not the version Emily and her father told when she sat right here at this table in hysterics.” Dean pressed his wife’s hand with his own, and she touched her lips with two fingers. “I’m sorry. Go on.”

“I used to work with Rand,” Julianne told them, “when I was at the public defender’s office. I know better than anyone what a challenging man he can be. But Rand isn’t the kind of person who would do something like this on purpose. He is so sorry for what happened. He feels just terrible.” When her conscience poked at her, she clarified. “You know. As terrible as he can
feel
, he … feels it.”

One look from Will told her she wasn’t helping at all, and Julianne leaned back against the chair and sighed.

“Rand is concerned,” Will picked up from there, “that this accident is gaining momentum that can adversely affect his reputation.”

“You mean that people will find out he shot a young girl’s pet?” Dean asked.

“Well, frankly,” Will replied, “yes.”

“And what are you looking for from us?” he asked, glancing from Will to Julianne.

“Well, I was hoping we could start with finding some way to put a lid on the smear campaign.”

“What smear campaign?”

Julianne pulled the pink flyer out of her bag and unfolded it, straightening the creases against the edge of the oak table. She handed Will the paper, and he laid it out in front of them. Maureen’s eyes grew wide and glossy, and the corner of Dean’s mouth quivered.

“Did Em make this?” he asked.

“She’s put up dozens of them in their neighborhood,” Julianne expounded. “She’s left them on parked cars, even handed them to people coming out of Kroger.”

After a long moment of silence, Dean sighed. “She’s a very passionate girl. And that pot-bellied pig of hers was …”

“Part of the family,” Julianne said with him in unison.

“Yes,” Dean confirmed.

“We know,” she told him. “But we’re hoping you can help us come up with something that will make this right enough that Emily will stop the … umm … counterattack.”

Maureen’s expression told Julianne that they weren’t going to get any constructive assistance from her. In fact, she might have gotten an idea from Emily’s flyer, might have started wondering how to make one of her own.

“I think an apology might have gone a long way,” she said, her face tilted slightly upward. “Frank says the man never even said he was sorry.”

“So do you think if he goes over to the house and makes a heartfelt plea for Emily’s forgiveness … do you think that will put this to rest?” Will asked her.

“I think that would be up to Emily.”

“But it certainly couldn’t hurt,” Pastor Dean added.

Will and Julianne decided to walk the few blocks from the office to Taqueria Mercado, and Julianne slipped her arm through Will’s as they trekked up Walnut and crossed Seventh.

“Are you ready for your big date tomorrow?” Will asked, and her heart fluttered like the wings of a dozen butterflies trapped in her chest.

“So ready. Although the reality of it started to close in on me around three o’clock this morning.”

“What reality is that? The one where you’ve accepted a date with a perfect stranger based on a toolbox and a work boot sitting in the road? Or the one where you notice that the chasm between your
Once Upon a Time
and your
Happily Ever After
is murky and gray?”

“Yes,” she stated. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she let out a burst of tension by way of a snort and a laugh.

“I have a date of my own tomorrow night. Maybe we should make it a double.”

Julianne’s fluttering heart went eerily still. She stopped in her tracks, yanking Will by the arm as she did.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Foot cramp again? I don’t know why you insist on wearing those heels, Jules. They can’t be good for—”

“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “You have a date?”

He grinned at her and tipped his head to the side as he admitted, “Yeah. I have a date. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?”

“Do tell.”

“Alison Reece. Beth Rudd’s sister.”