“Are you all right?” Myra demanded after shooting her brother-in-law a dirty look.
Lila waved a hand. “This morning the spot is only slightly tender to touch. I wish Seth had kept quiet. I didn’t want anyone to know I hit my head hard enough to rattle my teeth. I don’t want my mom to hear. The last thing she said when Tawana and I left the café was to drive carefully.”
“I’m sorry, it slipped out,” Seth explained and patted the empty chair next to his. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
“No. Rory and I ate earlier. In fact...” Pausing, she checked her watch. “I need to run out and feed the horses then load his bike. If I don’t hurry I’ll be late getting him to school. His teacher is a stickler for punctuality. But, you guys...” she said, glancing at Zeke’s three friends. “It’s been great having you as guests. Safe travels, and do come back when you can stay longer.”
Seth shoveled in a bite of egg, took a swig of juice and picked up a second wedge of coffee cake Myra had cut for him. Getting out of his chair, he said to the groomsmen, “You can put your bags in my rental, guys. I’ll help Lila.” He pulled his keys from his jeans pocket and tossed them to Ben Archer.
“No,” Lila protested. “You’re a guest.”
“One who plans to take a trail ride soon. So far, I haven’t had time to ride. As you feed the horses you can give me a rundown on the one least likely to dump me.” Seth polished off his coffee cake before he reached the arch. He hesitated briefly until Lila offered a guilty shrug to the others and hurried after him.
“Seriously?” she hissed at Seth as she plucked a jean jacket from the coat tree by the door. “What will everyone think?”
He held the door for her then jogged after her down the porch steps. “What’ll they think about what?”
“Mostly Myra and Zeke. I don’t want them to get the idea we, uh...well, as a business owner it’s not decorous to play favorites among my guests.”
Laughing, Seth fell into step beside her. “‘Decorous’? What kind of a three-dollar word is that? Are you saying you’ve never gone to the barn with any other guest?”
Obviously flustered by his question, Lila buried her hands in her jacket pockets and kept her gaze on her boots. “Not one who’s male, single and near my age,” she mumbled. “Or who is related to my best friend who knows my mom and all of our other friends,” she added. “It could be misconstrued.”
“There you go spouting big words again,” Seth teased, moving ahead of her to slide open the big barn door. “What could be misconstrued?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb.” Lila took a swipe at his arm, glaring as he deftly avoided her swing. “You’re breathing and single, and I’m a youngish widow. In this town if anyone were to mention those two things in the same sentence, rumors would fly. Before you could say Jack Robinson, townsfolk would whisper that we’re having a torrid affair.”
Seth grinned wolfishly and stopped beside the first stall. “Sounds like something worth exploring. I’ve never had a torrid affair before. Have you?”
“Stop it. You don’t know the people in this town like I do. Last night a couple of the Artsy Ladies poked me about you for no reason other than you’re staying here and you were my escort at Myra and Zeke’s wedding. They thought they were being funny, but I’m a mother of a boy at an impressionable age, for pity’s sake.” She flung open a bin of grain and filled a scoop.
Watching her fitful motions sobered Seth. “Point taken. Tell me about the horses,” he said, walking with her to the first stall, where a dark horse with a white blaze whickered.
“This is Pendragon. I didn’t name them. My husband did. Guiding guests on trail rides was to be his end of the business. After he died, I tried to sell the horses, but money’s tight all over.” She went back for grain for the second of the four animals, a brown-and-white pinto mare.
“This is Guinevere.” She rubbed the mare’s silky nose. “The last two geldings are Galahad and Merlin. Kevin loved King Arthur stuff. He planned to name new horses Lancelot and Mordred.” Her voice wobbled.
Seth took the scoop and fed the remaining horses, giving her time to gather herself. “Ben wanted us to rent them,” he said. “But Gavin didn’t think Hunter should risk riding. Not after Zeke told us how Myra got dumped from her horse.” Seth set his hand on the neck of the big dappled gray named Galahad. “If they aren’t exercised regularly, are they apt to buck?”
Lila shrugged. “Guests have ridden them without problem. I carry extra insurance in case anyone gets hurt. That’s mostly why I want to sell them. Are you not a good rider?”
Seth returned the scoop to the grain bin and closed the lid. “I’ve ridden horses and mules in mountainous terrain leading to some gem sites. It’s nothing I’ve done a lot. But I’d be willing to take them on a few turns around your corral to stretch their legs while I’m here,” he said, stopping to close the barn door as they exited.
“That’s nice of you.”
“No problem. Now, where’s Rory’s bike?”
“Oh, please, I can get that—I see your passengers gathered at your rental. Rory and I have gotten good at loading and unloading his bike. It’s a junior mountain bike, so it fits easily through the Cherokee’s hatchback.”
“All the same, when you have help available why not take advantage?” He’d no more than finished his suggestion when they saw Rory, weighed down with his backpack, wheeling his bike around the corner of the bed-and-breakfast.
Striding away from Lila, Seth intercepted the boy. “If you open the hatch, I’ll toss your bike in and you and your mom can be on your way.”
“Uh, okay.” Rory ran to the Cherokee. “Thanks,” he added after Seth easily slid the bike inside.
“No problem. Have a good day at school.” Seth closed the hatch, flung a wave at Lila and crossed over to his friends. “I see Zeke and Myra left,” he said, accepting the keys from Ben.
“Yeah. They had chores. Zeke said to call him. He said if this weather holds you can start reroofing the barn soon.”
“Lucky you,” Gavin said as they all climbed into the SUV. “I mean it,” he stressed when the others laughed. “I’d rather be here roofing a barn than returning to Afghanistan.”
“How much longer do you and Ben have there? Aren’t we bringing all troops home?” Seth asked.
“Not all. I have another sixty days on my assignment,” Ben said.
“Three months for me,” Gavin admitted. “Who knows after that? I intended to make the army my career, but after coming here...” He stared out his window without finishing.
“I’m only staying until it’s time to re-up,” Ben said. “Being here made me realize how many places I’d like to see in the U.S. I have a college friend who bought a fishing boat in Alaska. He said anytime I want I can have a job.”
“Once the docs fix me up as good as they can, I may come back here,” Hunter added. “What about you, Seth? It was hard not to notice the way you leaped up to help Miz Lila. What’s her situation? I assume she’s divorced?”
Seth screwed his lips to one side. “She’s been widowed awhile. But her voice still gets choppy when she mentions her husband. I could be interested, but the few women I’ve liked enough to get serious have all insinuated I’m a rolling stone. And I don’t know what I’d do but hunt for gems.”
They left the town behind and their talk turned to travel and other things.
* * *
“DID