“Okay, okay,” Julie said, holding up both her hands. “I won’t mention it again. Promise. Just, you’re going to see him around town. You realize that? You’re going to see him around the ranch. You do realize what you’ve gotten yourself into, don’t you?”
I shook my head. “Julie, it’ll be fine,” I said.
Inside, I was nervous, though. I’d thought about writing to Trethan before I’d come back to town. He must have known
, thanks to Dad, that I’d be coming home. I doubted Dad would keep that information from the guy, knowing Trethan and I had been so close.
But at the same time, Dad didn’t know exactly how close Trethan and I had been to one another, and I’d felt like maybe I owed it to Trethan to say something, to address the awkwardness that was already looming between us.
“If you need me to talk to him, or you need anything else, you know where to find me,” Julie said.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said. I stared down into my coffee for a moment, then sighed. “But seriously, on the work front. My dad’s been really supportive, but I still need to find something. Do you know anyone around town who’s hiring? I’m not looking for a permanent position or anything like that, just some way to get a little extra cash while I figure out what I’m doing.”
Julie frowned and shook her head. “I’ve been keeping my ears open for you,” she told me. “I mean, I asked Mr. Verbier, but he doesn’t have any openings at the moment. Or rather, he does because he definitely could use another secretary so that I could take a day off more than once every couple weeks, but he doesn’t want to hire anyone else. It would have been fun for the two of us to be working together again, though.”
I laughed. “Aren’t we a little old for that now?”
“Maybe,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “But still, it would have been fun.” She sighed. “But anyway, I haven’t really heard from anyone else who’s hiring.”
“Maybe Dad will give me a little part-time work,” I said. That was the way my job hunt had been going so far. Nothing but dead ends. I wasn’t upset. It was more frustrating than anything.
Julie paused, and I knew what she was going to say before she said it. “Are you sure you could really work alongside Trethan?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course, I could,” I said. “There’s nothing between us, Julie. We crossed that bridge a long time ago.” But had we really?
I couldn’t help thinking how things might have been different if it hadn’t been for that one night, five years ago. Maybe we’d be working together right now. Maybe we’d be growing into owning the ranch and into a position where we were something more to one another. But I was never going to know that.
I had to stop thinking about the past and what could have been. As long as I was back home, I had to concentrate on the future — and I had to forget about Trethan.
“So, when are you coming to brunch with me?” Julie asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I made a face. “Is that really what we do now? Brunch?”
She blinked in surprise. “Sorry. I guess that sounds lame. But most of us have kids, so getting together late is impossible. The only time to meet up is in the mornings. So, we have brunch. I enjoy it, anyway. It’s nice to get out of the house every once in a while and have some fun.”
I felt bad for making her feel uncomfortable. I felt bad that I had slammed something she apparently cared about now.
Settling back here in White Bluff would take some adjustment, even with Julie. I wasn’t entirely sure where to start, but I felt confident we could get back to the way things had been before I left.
I hoped so anyway because I could definitely use a friend, as long as I was going to be hanging around these parts.
“Saturday?” I suggested.
Julie looked pleased, the wrinkles and worries smoothing out of her face. “Saturday would be great,” she said, grinning. “I can get a sitter for Danny and get away for a couple hours. Yes, Saturday morning would be perfect.”
I smiled back at her and took a sip of my coffee, hardly tasting it. I had known that coming home wouldn’t be easy, but I hadn’t expected how difficult it was going to be. Falling back into old friendships and old routines was going to take some time. And the awkwardness was going to be so incredibly uncomfortable, but I’d survived other things before. I would survive this.
It wasn’t as though I had a choice in the matter.
I took a deep breath and forced a grin on my face. “So how have you been, anyway?” I asked. “Is Danny walking yet? Is he talking?”
Julie grinned and started babbling about her son, looking happy that I’d asked about him.
Chapter Three
Trethan
Getting out of bed the next morning was difficult, but it was nothing compared to how I was going to feel working on the ranch over the course of the day. It wasn’t just the headache, either. With the bruises down my sides and the bruises crossing my back, I doubted I could sling a saddle up a horse in my condition, let alone muck out stalls or do other manual labor.