The Right Thing Easy

by Laina Villeneuve

  “Just a bit, but it’s worth it.”

  She was talking about the weather, wasn’t she? I met her eyes and saw a little devilish gleam that released a wave of butterflies in my stomach.

  “Now I get why Halley wants to come early,” she said. “I’ve never seen riding like that before.”

  “I’m showing off a little,” I admitted. Who am I kidding? I flirted. What was I doing flirting with a Mormon? We’d had a good time talking, but it wasn’t like we’d been exchanging coming out stories.

  “Are you now?” Was she flirting back?

  She looked pleased. Or I wanted her to look pleased. I thought about how I used to ride for Candy, how first thing after my run, before I even looked at the timer, I’d find Candy’s eyes. I always knew from her expression whether I’d nailed it or not. Now I’d traded stands packed full of people for a handful of students and one set of bleachers. “I used to ride rodeo. That environment kind of encourages it.”

  “Do you miss it?”

  “At times, I guess. The competition, the adrenaline and thrill of it all. But I have to admit at my core, I’m kind of a homebody. Quincy suits that part of me.”

  She nodded. “It seems like this is a good fit for you. Halley doesn’t talk about her other classes, just what’s happening here at the stable. It’s the elective that’s got her all fired up about school.”

  “She’s got a lot of talent. Maybe she’ll pursue the Equine Science degree. If she’s anything like you, she’s got some business sense already. I could see her training or running an outfit of her own.”

  “I wonder if she’ll come back to it.” Her voice had a wistfulness in it that made me curious.

  “Come back?”

  “She’s only here for the year until she’s old enough to…” She looked like she was searching for the right word. “She’ll be traveling next year.”

  Hope looked off in the direction of the barn. She was lost in thought, and I wished I knew what she was thinking. I lifted the bridle from my saddle. Daisy took the bit easily, and I buckled the throat latch, trying to forget that I’d started to flirt with Hope, a little embarrassed that I’d let myself go that far. I needed to rein myself in, not wanting to risk making her feel uncomfortable. With the dating comment, I should have been worried that sitting there talking to Hope as long as I had might invite some questions, but I couldn’t seem to get away. Each time I was around her, the air seemed charged with energy, and I didn’t want to lose that. I told myself good friends are important in life. I didn’t want to miss my opportunity to forge a good friendship.

  My dozen students had started leading their horses into the arena. They were green enough that I circled around to check that their cinches were secure before the student mounted. Halley I trusted and nodded to her to mount on her own. I rode back to the rail. “Circle the arena a few times and then we’ll move into a trot, get y’all warmed up before we head out on the trail,” I hollered.

  “What is it you see in her?” Hope asked. “To me she looks just like the rest of the class.”

  I shrugged. “It’s just intuition, the confidence she has handling the animals, the way she treats her classmates, how charismatic she is. Human behavior isn’t so much different to horse behavior. It’s easy to see she’s a leader. You’ll start to see it as we get to working here. Glad you could make it.” I went for offhand in my farewell as I joined the class, trying to convince myself that our whole exchange could have been interpreted as supportive teacher to family member.

  It took all my mental power to stay tuned in to my class instead of the bleachers. The few times my attention lapsed, Hope was watching Halley. I’d forgotten myself, overread the connection I’d felt in her office. Considering how dedicated to the church her family was, it was crazy to think that she might have enjoyed my company.

  Once we’d done a few exercises, we filed out of the arena for our trail ride. I asked Halley to ride drag, knowing she was best equipped to handle the fences we needed to secure after we passed through. I wished her sister were as easy to figure out.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Hope pushed aside the werewolf book she’d brought in to loan to Dani. Out of character, Dani hadn’t been by for her afternoon coffee for days. The weekend was upon them, and Hope pictured Dani getting sucked in to the book on her days off, certain that Dani would love it as much as she did. She sighed and turned back to her work. The woman on the cover of the book distracted her. She piled some papers on top of it and seriously tried to stop thinking about it or about whether Dani would stop by again. She rested her head against her palm, trying to remember what she used to think about before she obsessed about seeing or talking to Dani.

  “Migraine?” Michelle asked, stepping into the back office.

  Hope stretched. “No. Just can’t concentrate today.”

  “Your brain’s already on to the weekend? Big plans?”

  “I should get my garden to bed.”

  “I thought Blazer helped you out with that weeks ago,” Michelle said.

  “No, we got to talking…it got late.”

  “Oh.”

  Hope remembered Dani’s comment about it feeling like a date and blushed. She didn’t think that Michelle’s thoughts were going that direction, but she was trying not to think of Dani, not have a whole conversation about her. “Is it busy out there?”

  “Decent, but nothing I can’t handle. I just came back for an elastic. My hair’s driving me crazy.”

  Hope turned back to her desk, pretending to work.

  “You should take off,” Michelle said, sweeping her hair into a ponytail. “Give yourself a break and work when you’ll be productive. I’ll close.”

  “It’s tempting,” Hope said, eyeing the book. No, she would not think about the book. What would Dani think if she drove all the way out there just to give her the book?

  “Go. You’re here way too much.”

  * * *

  The book sat next to her on the passenger seat. “You’re crazy,” Hope said to herself. “What are you going to say to her?”

  Her heart raced as she drove out past the high school and the ranches along Chandler Road, past the spot where she’d stopped the mules and up to the Owens’s ranch. She passed by, noting that Dani’s huge white truck was parked in the driveway. She told herself to turn. She told herself to make the left, to slow down and turn the wheel, but she chickened out and passed it.

  Hope stopped at the next intersection, tapping her thumbs nervously on the steering wheel. Slowly, she hung a U-turn and headed back the way she came. She forced herself to stop her car even though she could feel Mrs. Owens looking out the window wondering why she was stopping. She didn’t want to go to the main house. Could she get away with going only to Dani’s, drop the book with a quick, “I was in the neighborhood,” and get out of there without making a complete idiot of herself?

  “Hope! Girl, it’s been too long since you’ve stopped in,” Mrs. Owens called before Hope had even closed her car door. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine,” Hope answered, wondering what Mrs. Owens was going to think if she asked after Dani.

  “And your brothers?”

  “They’re both well. Harrison’s son is two now, and he’s got another baby on the way. Hyrum’s wife is due in the spring.”

  “Oh, your father’s got to be pleased about that. A grandfather.” She sighed deeply, and Hope wanted nothing more than to disappear. At least Mrs. Owens, unlike the old biddies at the church, didn’t ask about her own plans toward procreation. “Well, I’m sure you didn’t stop to talk to me. Gabe’s loading up some hay in the barn. Lovely to see you.”

  “Thanks. You too,” Hope said, shuffling off in the direction of the barn, holding the book awkwardly without any way to hide it. She tried to think of what she would say to Gabe about appearing at the barn. It wasn’t like she had any lost mules to return. She had no reason to talk to him at all. The barn south of the main house glowed rust red
in the evening sunlight. Near the barn, three donkeys stood in a row, their eyes and long ears intent on the wide double-door opening.

  Gabe’s laughter, one of her favorite things about him, rang out from inside. He was talking to someone, joking around. Hope crept to the edge of the barn and peeked in. Gabe’s truck was parked next to a huge stack of baled hay, and Dani stood in the bed, howling obscenities. Hope blushed at the long list.

  “You trying to flatten me out?” concluded Dani’s tirade.

  “They’re only eighty-five pounds. They can’t do any serious damage.”

  “From that height they can.” She sank a hay hook into the bale and pulled it toward her with a grunt. Her left hand swung around and caught the other side of the bale. She spun it to her knees and stacked it against the back of Gabe’s flatbed. Dani’s strength surprised Hope. She told herself it was the surprise that made her whole body feel warm, not the thought of how strong Dani’s arms had to be and how they would feel wrapped around her.

  “Head’s-up!” Gabe dropped another. He stood, hands on hips like he was king of the mountain, and watched the bale bounce before Dani caught it.

  “What do I get for helping your ass out again?”

  “Supper.”

  “That’s your mama’s doing, and she’d feed me for free just because she likes my company better’n yours.”

  “Ouch.” Gabe kneed another bale off the edge, sending another cloud of dust and hay leaves up. “What do you want?”

  Dani bent to wrestle the bale, and Hope was forced, once again, to think about just how well she wore her Wranglers, tight around her thighs that were clearly all muscle. She should clear her throat or say something instead of standing there staring, but she was mesmerized by Dani’s body at work, the fluidity with which she balanced the bale on her thighs before hoisting it to her chest and leveling it with the others.

  “Hope?”

  Gabe’s voice startled Hope out of hiding. She took a few steps into the barn, and Dani swung around, a bright smile on her face. Dani ran the back of her wrist across her forehead, and Hope’s mouth went dry, unable to keep her eyes from the quick rise and fall of Dani’s chest as she caught her breath.

  “Is he trying to sucker you in to work as well?” She turned her smile in Gabe’s direction. “What’d you promise her?”

  “I don’t even need your help. I was just trying to get your sorry ass out of the house. Once you go in there, you hermit up.”

  Dani winked at Hope. “See how he plays it like he’s the one helping me?”

  Gabe dropped another bale, unleashing another series of expletives as Dani hopped out of harm’s way. “Bastard! You owe me so much more than a meal.”

  Hope noted their ease with each other. Gabe dropped down from the loft on to the flatbed and helped stack the last few bales in place. They looked good together with their dark complexions, dramatic dark brows on healthy tanned faces, and their matching Western attire. Dani started to brush hay leaves from her arms, and Gabe reached over and swatted her back clean.

  Dani smacked at him playfully. “Worried your mama will think we had a roll in the hay?”

  “I just don’t want hay in my truck,” he smiled wickedly.

  Maybe they were sleeping together. She had to admit that when she’d sent Dani out to look at Gabe’s place, the fact that she and Gabe might be a good match had crossed her mind. She liked them both. Gabe she wished she liked more, and Dani she wished she didn’t like so much. If they were together… “You should take her dancing,” she said, suddenly.

  Dani’s face lit up, looking toward Gabe. “You dance?”

  “I haven’t been in a long time, but I can manage a two-step pretty well.”

  “He was kind of famous for it in high school,” Hope said.

  “I’ll have to pump you for information.” Dani laughed.

  “I bet there’s a band at Plumas Club tonight. Let’s check it out!”

  “I’m game,” Dani said, though her eyes were on Hope. “You want to join us?”

  Her question startled Hope. She hadn’t been angling for an invitation, just helping as she usually did. Hope held up the book. “No, thanks. I really just brought this by on my way out to Mrs. Wheeler’s. I’ve got to go. I’ve got perishables in the car,” she lied.

  Dani accepted the book, turning it over immediately to read the back. “The first one in the series. Thanks! You saved me a trip to the library. I was fixin’ to look it up the next time I was in.”

  “I’ve got all her stuff,” Hope answered. “So if you like that one, just let me know.”

  “I will, thanks,” Dani said. She rolled the book in her hands, her palms gliding over the surface. Hope willed her eyes away from Dani’s hands only to find herself caught in Dani’s questioning gaze.

  “Have fun tonight,” she said, breaking the unsettling eye contact.

  Gabe slapped his gloves against his hand, and his face brightened. “You know, you’ve got wagons of time to drop off Mrs. Wheeler’s stuff and still join us at the club.”

  She did, it was true, and she had no other plans. But she liked the idea of Gabe and Dani going dancing together. That sat well in her brain, lifting some of the questions she didn’t really want to answer. She’d dropped off the book. That was the extent of her bravery tonight. “I never was very good at it, remember.”

  “Never too late to learn,” he pressed.

  “You two have fun. Maybe I’ll join you next time.”

  “I’ll hold you to that,” Gabe said, bumping the cab of his truck with his fist before climbing in.

  Dani held up the book before she climbed into the cab. “Thanks again.”

  Hope let out a deep breath as they pulled on to the road and disappeared around the bend. It would get easier to be around Dani. Coming out to the ranch, seeing her with Gabe, Hope could see that being gregarious and flirty was a natural thing for Dani. Spending a little time with them both had made Hope feel safe. She paused on that feeling, considering what it meant, that being in Dani’s company alone felt dangerous.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Hope vowed not to be that girl, the desperate one who so very wanted her friends to like everything she liked and gush over the books or movies she liked. She’d heard Dani come in and had peeked to see if she was hanging out at the counter as she often did, chatting with other regulars or Halley, but she’d settled in to the seating farthest from her office. Hope remained there, determined to not be distracted, denying that every nerve in her body was on high alert for Halley or Dani bringing the book back. Dani had only had the book for one full day. For all Hope knew, it was still sitting untouched on her coffee table. She stretched, unable to focus, a totally different thing than being distracted. She decided a cup of tea could fix focus, and headed to the counter.

  “Sis, I gotta pee like a racehorse, and Dani’s sandwich is up. Cover me?” Halley said, dancing in front of her like she was waiting for a hall pass.

  “Go,” she said, shaking her head. She retrieved the BLT from the kitchen and would have set it in front of Dani at her table had there been any room. Her table was spread with papers, as well as her laptop.

  Dani glanced up at Hope and then at the table. She quickly stacked a few papers together and accepted the plate. “I have something for you,” she said, reaching for her satchel. Dani pulled out the book, and Hope’s heart did an excited flip.

  “Finished?” she asked, surprised.

  “Finished.”

  There was something in Dani’s tone that Hope couldn’t read. Resigned? Disappointed? She didn’t sound excited, but if she’d finished, she couldn’t have hated it. Hope was confused. “Do you want the next one?”

  Dani waved her hands in front of her. “God, no. That thing was addictive. I couldn’t put it down. I have this huge program review thingie due at tomorrow’s department meeting and thought I was going to have all weekend to work on it. I thought ‘one chapter.’ Then ‘just a few more pages. I’ll stop a
t the next text break, at the bottom of the page.’ Nothing worked. Hours later, I’m finished with your book but…” she waved her hands at the papers in front of her. “I’m screwed for tomorrow.”

  Swearing and using God’s name outside of prayer was usually a turnoff and deterrent for Hope, but she enjoyed Dani’s company enough that she set aside her reaction to think about later. She wanted too badly to hear what Dani had to say about the book. “You liked it that much?”

  “I haven’t lost myself in a book like that in a long time. I felt completely transported, which was lovely until I had to return to this deadline hanging over my head.”

  Hope realized that Dani was neither eating her sandwich nor working. “I’m sorry to distract you. If you get a break and need another distraction, you know where to find me.”

  Dani took a bite of the BLT and stared over her papers forlornly.

  “What is this, anyway? What exactly do you have to do for this program review?”

  “You know they brought me in to build up a Rodeo Certificate, right?”

  “I didn’t know they were expanding like that, but it makes sense.”

  “They set up a few classes as electives this year, but part of my job is to create some new classes for the certificate and sketch out what building projects to prioritize. It’s built into this three-year projection…” She flipped through some papers.

  The Dani that Hope saw on horseback, confident to take a bridle off and guide the thousand-pound animal with her legs alone, contrasted with the Dani intimidated by a computer and some papers made Hope smile. It hit her that when Dani felt lost, not knowing where to find a new place to live, not knowing how to deal with her colleagues and now not understanding the paperwork aspect of her job, she turned to Cup of Joy. Hope wondered how much of that was coincidence.