Page 30 of Seeing Harper

The front door opened and Travis leaned inside, without actually stepping in the house with his work boots on. “How much longer you gonna keep this boy waiting?” he called out.

Harper and Libby looked at him, then at each other. “What boy?” Harper asked.

“This boy! Clay’s been out here for thirty minutes leaning on your car waiting for you to come out here.”

Harper’s entire face lit up. “Clay is out there?”

“He is.”

“He’s waiting for me?” Harper asked excitedly.

“He’s sure not out here before dawn to wait for me,” Travis said.

Libby laughed.

Harper grinned at her mother and kissed her cheek quickly, then rushed outside with her purse and a backpack gripped in her hands.

Travis winked at Libby.

Libby blew him a kiss.

Travis pretended to catch it, then pulled the door closed after himself.

Libby hurried over to the window to watch Harper and Clay.

“Y’all got everything you need?” Travis asked as Harper walked over to Clay.

“Yes, sir,” Clay said.

“You remember what I said, you take care of my girl,” Travis said.

“Always,” Clay said, his gaze swinging back and forth between Travis who continued to talk to him, and Harper who was approaching with a delighted, but surprised look on her face.

“I gotta get back to work. Y’all have a good day,” Travis said.

Harper watched her father walk around toward the back of the house where the gate would let him into the plots of trees, then she looked at Clay. “What are you doing here?”

“I decided it would be fun to spend the day with you and your horses again.”

“You really want to spend the day with me, mucking stalls, mowing the pastures, exercising horses, and…”

“Yes. Yes, I do. Yesterday was the best day I can remember.”

“I think you’re secretly a glutton for punishment.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, I might be. But I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be today. So, here I am, with lunch in hand.”

“Lunch? What did you bring?”

“Fried chicken sandwiches with Pimento cheese and bread and butter pickles, chips, and two big jugs of ice water.”

Harper blinked, her senses screaming all kinds of information at her at once. “That’s my all time favorite sandwich.”

“I know.”

“And I love ice water.”

“I know. You’re the only person I know who drinks ice water, all day, every day, even in the winter.”