Two hours later, after running all of her errands, she headed for home. Seven letters had come for her and sixteen for Jake. She looked at the large bundle of Jake’s posts, and without warning or understanding, jealousy snipped at her. Why, she didn’t know. She wanted her friend to be happy. And if one of the women in those letters would make that happen, she’d be happy, too.
A light breeze swept by her and over the field of blooming camas. The purple flowers waved as the gentle wind drifted over them. Spring was her favorite time of the year. It meant winter was coming to an end and new life, new growth and new births were being ushered in.
From afar, she noticed Jake out in the field tending to the cattle and grinned. He had a way of making her smile. Another click of the lines, and she coaxed Lambie into a fast trot.
Jake spotted her, swung into his saddle and headed toward her. Her heart picked up as he neared. That happened a lot lately.
“Howdy-do.” Jake pulled his horse up alongside her buggy and rode next to her.
“Howdy-do yourself.” She pulled her horse to a stop and raised her hand to block out the sun as she gazed up at him.
Jake moved his horse until he blocked the sun from shining in her eyes. “Did you have a pleasant trip?” He thumbed the brim of his hat upward, and she got a clear look at his tabby-gray eyes.
“I sure did.” It was even more pleasurable now that her best friend was here. “How’d your day go? Did my brothers work you too hard?”
“Naw. I’m used to hard work. Think they went easy on me today, though.” There was that lazy grin she enjoyed.
“Why’s that?”
“’Cause. Didn’t do much.” He leaned over and rested his arm on his saddle horn and gazed down at her. His horse shifted and stomped its leg, trying to get rid of a pesky horsefly. Jake didn’t even flinch but remained relaxed.
Leah envied how relaxed he always was, whereas she was always restless and fidgety inside and out. Oh, to have his peace. Someday. Someday soon, she encouraged herself. “What all did you do?”
“Milked the cows. Doctored a few heifers. Cleaned the barn. Checked to make sure the pigs were all okay. That was it. I’m done for the day already.”
“Already?”
“Yep.”
“Sweet twinkling stars above. They really did go easy on you.” She grinned and nearly laughed outright.
He chuckled. “Yep. Told you they did.” Jake sat up straight. “Before I forget, did I have any mail?”
“Oh. Um. Yes. You did. Quite a bit, actually.” She moved her reticule, grabbed the tied bundle of his mail and handed it to him.
“You weren’t kidding.” He took the generous bundle from her and turned it around.
“Sixteen, to be exact.”
His attention drifted to her. “Sixteen, huh?” A knowing smirk accompanied his question.
Heat rushed to Leah’s face. She wished she could blame it on the warm sun, but the sun had been there for hours, and her red face hadn’t. She dipped her head and only let her eyes look up at him. “Yes. Sixteen.”
There was that chuckle again. “How many you get?”
“Seven.” She raised her chin, hoping her face was no longer red.
“You busy now? I mean, after you take your supplies home.”
“No. Why?”
“Well, was wondering if you’d help me go through these.” He raised the package of letters.
“Sure. You want to go through them now?”
“You mean right here?”
“Yes.”
“What about your supplies?”
“They’ll be fine. Besides, I got done earlier than I thought. Mother won’t be expecting me home for another hour or so. We could...” She looked around and pointed to the trees. “We could go sit on that rock over there in the shade?”
Jake followed her line of view. “Works for me.”
He dismounted, gathered both reins under his gelding’s neck, and wrapped them around the saddle horn and let go.
“Won’t he leave?” Leah asked, referring to his dun-colored horse.
“Nope. Dun’s trained not to go far when his reins are tied to the saddle. We do this all the time.”
“Our horses are trained to stand still when the reins are down, but I’ve never seen anyone do it like that before.”
“Yeah, well, I’m different.”
“That’s for sure.” A smile lit up her face.
It must have been lost on Jake because he whipped his head in her direction and his tone sounded defensive. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh. I see how that must have sounded, but I meant that as a compliment. Truly. That’s one of the things I like about you, Jake. You do things differently than most folks.”
“Like what?” His forehead wrinkled as he tied off the lines on her carriage.
“Well, for one, you keep that silly goat and put up with her silly antics when no one else would.”
“Yep. I do. ’Cause I know if I gave that little escape artist to someone else they would probably destroy her. That’s why I keep her.”
“Exactly. They would have put her down. And so you put up with all the trouble she causes rather than risk someone else destroying her.” Leah watched as he shrugged off her compliment. “You’re a softy when it comes to animals, Jake. That’s one of the things I admire about you. And another thing you do differently is... You asked another woman to help you pick out a wife. I don’t know anyone who’s ever done that. Do you?” She danced her eyebrows up at him and sent him a smirch of a smile.
“Got me there.” His lazy grin appeared. “Speaking of. We’d best get to it so we can get ready for Phoebe’s wedding.” Jake slipped the tied bundle of letters from her hand.
Under the clear blue sky the knee-high bunchgrass rustled as they walked through it side by side until they reached a large flat-topped boulder and sat down.
“Okay. What do we have here this time?” Leah pointed to the letters Jake held.
He untied the string and handed her the first one. Leah opened it and scrunched her face.
Jake leaned toward her. His breath brushed the hair near her ear, sending chills rushing up and down her back. Not understanding why that would happen, she turned her head, and her face was inches from his. Her gaze soared to his gray eyes. Eyes that searched hers, questioning hers, as her eyes did his.
A moment passed in which neither moved.
Then Jake pulled back, cleared his throat and looked straight ahead. Leah, realizing she hadn’t been breathing, drew in a long, quiet breath, wondering why her insides were suddenly fluttering.
* * *
Jake willed his heartbeat to return to normal. The urge to kiss his friend just now was so strong that he’d almost given in to it. Nothing good would have come from it, of that he was certain. And he would do nothing to risk his friendship with her.
No one understood him like she did.
No one accepted him just as he was like she did.
And no one filled his thoughts more than she did.
And therein