“Butch?”
“Yeah, I guess you could call her that. She wasn’t butch in the same way that —” She started tosay that “you are,” but stopped herself. “In the same way that Mick is, but yeah, you could call her butch.
Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. I guess I was just curious about your...type.”
They walked out of the barn and into the sunlight. “Well, Charlotte was definitely my type.” Shethought of Charlotte in her various guises — in her jeans and blazer, in her motorcycle jacket, in nothingat all. “I miss her so much.”
“I know you do.” Jack draped a companionable arm over Lily’s shoulders. “I know you do ’causeI miss Daddy. I know it’s not the same thing, but I did live with him my whole life except when I was offat school. ’Course, it was easier for me. I was expecting him to go.”
Lily was sobbing now. She was embarrassed to be doing it, but embarrassment wasn’t enough tostop her.
“I’m sorry, Lily. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just...you mentioned Charlotte earlier, so I thought itwas okay to talk about her.”
“It is okay. Sometimes, though, this wave of loss just sweeps over me.”
“I know. And if I hadn’t brought her up, it wouldn’t have happened.” She produced a clean whitehanky from the pocket of her coveralls and handed it to Lily. “I want to make you feel better, not worse.”
“You do make me feel better. Thanks for the tour ... and the peaches.. . and the snot rag.” Shewiped her eyes. “I’ve gotta go, though. I’ve got to meet Ben so we can pick up Mimi, after our allegedovernight trip.”
“Don’t forget those books you left on the porch.”
“Thanks.” Lily retrieved the books and opened her car door. “Well...see ya.”
“Yeah. You still wanna go see those mares this week?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, I’ll carry you there, then?”
Lily smiled at Jack’s Southern speech. “That’d be great.” Lily backed out of the driveway andwatched as the receding figure of Jack stood in front of the farmhouse, watching Lily drive away.
CHAPTER 15
When Lily came into the living room to announce that dinner was ready, she found Jack lying onher back on the floor, holding up Mimi, whose little arms were outstretched like the wings of an airplane.
“She’ll play airplane forever,” Lily said. “My arms get tired before she does.”
“Not mine. If I can carry a calf, I can play airplane with a baby girl.”
Lily and Mimi had gone with Jack this afternoon while she vaccinated the mares. Mimi had playedin a pile of sweet-smelling hay while Lily had sketched the beautiful animals.
Lily had been planning on cooking dinner for Ben and Ken tonight, and so she had invited Jack to