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It was peaceful, even with his mind on a special little boy with a very special foster mom.
“Nice night for a walk?”
The voice startled his heart into double time until he realized it was his brother, Joe, sitting in the dark on the back porch of the farmhouse. He walked a little closer. “A little chilly, to be honest. What are you doing?”
“Having my celebratory bedtime root beer. Want one?”
Ash shrugged. “Sure.”
When Joe came back from the kitchen, Ash took the cold amber bottle and smiled. “You got the good stuff.”
“Yes, well, by this time of day, I feel the need to treat myself.” Joe took a swig, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said, “So what’s going on with Jordan?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Joe pierced Ash with a look from his ice-blue eyes. “You have a reputation with the ladies. Nothing wrong with that—until you set your sights on my sister-in-law.”
“I...umm...I don’t have my sights set on anyone. If you must know, I asked her out and she turned me down.”
“Great. Now you’ll see her as a challenge.”
“I won’t. I don’t, Joe. I like her. She’s different than the women I date. We’re friends, I think.”
“You think?” In the relative darkness of the porch with only the glow from the kitchen windows for light, Joe’s glower was still spectacular.
“Do they teach you to do that in cop school or were you just blessed to be able to use that look at will?” Ash grinned. “I’m kidding. Yes, we’re friends. I’m her foster son’s pediatrician, that’s all.”
Joe drained the last of his root beer and set the bottle down none too gently. “If you should happen to change your mind about that, don’t.”
“I’ll consider that carefully.” Ash handed Joe his own empty bottle and walked down the steps. “You know, I’m not as shallow as you think, Joe.”
“I don’t think you’re shallow, but your relationships usually are. Jordan deserves better.”
As he walked to his car, slightly irritated by his older brother’s characterizations, he had to admit that Joe was right. His relationships usually were shallow by design.
And Jordan did deserve better than him.
Chapter Five
Jordan pulled the body brush out of her grooming kit and went to work brushing off the dirt and dust she’d loosened with the curry comb. She had Leo tied off on one side of the barn door while Amelia worked on Freckles on the other side. During the week, the volunteers who came in to assist with clients did the daily grooming before tacking up. They were awesome, but she wanted her own hands on her horses at least once a week. She was the one who knew them best and she could recognize a little problem before it became a big problem.
Joe’s daughter, Amelia, laughed as Freckles’s tail smacked her in the back. Again. “I really think he does that on purpose.”
“He definitely does.” Jordan scraped a stubborn mud spot off Leo’s shoulder. “He thinks it’s hilarious to grab the end of my braids. We should’ve named him Rascal.”
Sundays had become—hands down—Jordan’s favorite time of the week at Red Hill Farm. Since they got their first foster crew in, Claire had insisted they have family dinners on the lawn after church. Every Sunday the family gathered and ate together on the long row of picnic tables. When it was cold, they had a fire. When it rained, they ate inside in all the nooks and crannies of the old plantation house.
Most of the time the spread was a hodgepodge of makings for sandwiches fruit, and whatever anyone else wanted to bring. Sometimes they had a lot of green bean casseroles, but the point wasn’t the food.
It was being together.
Over the last few months, as foster children had come and gone, their families had been included in Sunday family dinner, too. It wasn’t unusual to see a birth family sitting with a foster family. Black, white, grandparents, young parents. In Jordan’s mind, it was a picture of what a table in Heaven would look like.
Church, family, horses, perfect.
“Can I help?” One of Claire and Joe’s younger ones, a tiny six-year-old named Penny, stood at the fence. Behind Penny, Jordan could see a group of kids around Ash, who had brought his guitar and had them squealing with laughter at his silly songs.
She smiled at Penny. “How about I finish up with Leo here and then we bring Hagrid out for a ride? He could really use the exercise.”
Penny nodded, big brown eyes wide on Jordan’s face. A month ago those eyes wouldn’t even connect, the trauma she’d experienced evident in every inch of her. Narrow shoulders had curved in as if to protect herself from some potential attempt to steal more of her childhood. And Jordan was reminded again that the children at Red Hill Farm weren’t a distraction, they were the reason they did this.
Penny’s eyes were still on Jordan, taking everything in. Jordan held up the tool she was using. “This pick cleans Leo’s feet so that his hooves stay strong and healthy.”
Scraping the dirt and muck out of Leo’s hooves, she checked for any sores, cracks or infection. She’d been Penny once, a long time ago, just wanting to be close to the horses. “See how easy that is? But remember that Leo is used to me. He’s been my horse for a long time, so he’s comfortable with me around his feet. Even so, I still put my hand on him when I’m moving around so he knows where I am when he can’t see me.”
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