Lone Star Hero. Jolene Navarro

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СКАЧАТЬ counter, her cell phone started vibrating.

      “Victoria, he should...”

      “Sorry to cut you off, Mom, but Lorrie Ann is on my cell. I should take it.”

      “Oh, I hope everything is okay. Why would she be calling you?”

      “I don’t know. Love you, bye.” With a flip of her thumb, she received the call while hanging up on her mother.

      “Lorrie Ann?” She couldn’t image why Pastor Levi’s fiancée was calling her. Slight nausea rolled her stomach. In Vickie’s darkest moments, she delivered some of her ugliest words straight at Lorrie Ann. Bitterness, jealously and anger filled her thoughts just two months ago. Embarrassment made her want to disconnect the call.

      “Hi, Vickie. Sorry to be calling late, but I was organizing my weekly schedule. I have a couple of ideas I would love to talk to you about. Could I come over Friday night? It’s about the wedding and the youth program.” She laughed. “Right now it seems everything in my life is about the wedding. Would seven o’clock work for you? Oh, sorry. I’m being a little pushy. Between Aunt Maggie, my mom and Yolanda, not to mention every woman in the church who sees John as their adopted son, I’m going a little crazy.”

      “Um...no problem. You can come over.” Vickie had no idea what to say. “You’re always welcome here, and I owe you so much. Whatever you need, sign me up.”

      “Be careful what you say. I will hold you to it. See you Friday, and please have an open mind. Bye.”

      Vickie ended the call and sat there on the tall stool, looking at the phone. Twelve years ago, she had been jealous of Lorrie Ann and Jake’s friendship, and pulled the mean-girl trick. She started lies about the girl she considered a rival. Hurtful, horrible lies and when they grew, she remained silent. She didn’t do any better when Lorrie Ann came back to town over three months ago. Her eyes started to burn.

      Somehow she was the girl everyone hated, but they were too afraid to say anything to her. The idea of someone treating her children like that tore at her heart.

      She took a deep breath. Take the good in. She exhaled, pushing her lungs until they burned. Forcing all the bad out. “God, thank You for this opportunity to make it right.”

Chapter Three

      Friday arrived too soon. Tonight Lorrie Ann Ortega would be in Vickie’s trailer. She swallowed down the butterflies that fluttered up from her stomach. Maybe she should call her and meet somewhere in town. No, doing this in public might even be worse.

      Vickie practiced her apology, but it never sounded right. Putting away the clean dishes in the cabinet, she checked the small living room to make sure it was as clean and neat as she could get it. Jake’s sturdy jacket lay over the back of one of the ladder-backed chairs. Picking it up, she ran her hand over the brown fabric.

      Maybe she should take it to him. Vickie imagined showing up at his house. Would he welcome her or ask her to leave?

      Okay, now she was overanalyzing returning a jacket. As she hung the coat in the hall closet, she heard a vehicle pull up to her drive.

      Checking her clock, she figured it was Adrian. He had volunteered to pick up Ashley and take her to the regular horse club meeting.

      Her daughter stomped from the tiny hallway. “Mom, my boots hurt my feet.”

      She hunched down in front of Ashley and checked the toes of the red boots. She sighed. Sure enough, the little toes pushed against the rounded end of the boots. She did a quick calculation of her next paycheck versus bills to be paid. Well, there went the last bit of her savings. “Sweetheart, they’re too small for you. You’re going to have to wear your tennis shoes until we can get you some more.”

      “I can just curl my toes.” She looked down, her hair covering her face. “See. It doesn’t hurt.”

      “Oh, baby, you can’t wear shoes too small. You’re not riding tonight, so go get your tennis shoes.”

      As Ashley stomped back to her room, she heard a knock. Opening the door, she greeted Adrian. Vickie glanced over his shoulder where his truck idled.

      Mia waved from the backseat of the black truck. A large horse trailer with two horses inside filled her driveway.

      “Oh, no, I thought tonight was just a meeting. I’m sorry, Adrian. I could’ve asked my dad to take her and one of his horses.” Ashley was going to be so upset.

      Adrian smiled. “No worries. We single parents have to stick together.” He winked at her.

      Vickie glanced to the side, not sure how to respond. Did Adrian just wink at her? He was younger than she was by a couple of years. Not knowing what to say she just stood there in silence.

      He pointed to the silver trailer. “I have Cinnamon. She’s old but refuses to be left behind. Ashley can ride her. Jake offered to go over some basic horse safety guidelines with the kids, and we thought it would be fun if they all actually had a horse. Hands-on learning.”

      Ashley came to the door. “Hi, Mr. De La Cruz. Is Mia with you? Oh, you have horses.” Bright eyes filled with worry looked up at Vickie. “Mommy, you said we weren’t riding. I need my boots.”

      Vickie glanced at Adrian and gave him a weak smile. “It seems like overnight they got too small for her.” She pulled Ashley against her side. “Sweetheart, it’s okay.”

      He pointed to the horse trailer. “I’m sure we have some of Mia’s old boots in the dressing room.” He gave them a lopsided grin. “I’m not the best at cleaning out the old stuff, and Mia seems to grow faster than a newborn colt, too. We probably have some you can borrow.”

      Vickie hated charity of any kind. “Are you sure? It would just be for tonight.”

      “Hey, you would be helping me out.” He looked at Ashley. “You ready?”

      With a nod, she hugged Vickie. “Love you, Mommy.”

      “Be careful.” Vickie’s words landed on departing backs. As they climbed into the huge truck, a Jeep Cherokee approached the trailer. Vickie didn’t recognize the SUV. Adrian honked as he drove past the Jeep.

      Lorrie Ann got out of the vehicle and went to the backseat. A knot formed in Vickie’s stomach. She had thrown some hateful words at Lorrie Ann over the years, first in high school then even worse a few months back when Lorrie Ann had returned to town.

      As a grown woman, she had no excuse for such behavior. Jealousy created some ugly side effects. If she really wanted to be a better person, God was giving her a great opportunity to make it right and start on her list of apologies.

      She would start right here with Lorrie Ann. Tomorrow she could move on to Jake then maybe find a way to ask for forgiveness from the whole town of Clear Water.

      She started down the steps. “Hi, Lorrie Ann. What happened to your BMW?”

      Lorrie Ann opened the back door and leaned in. “Traded it in for something more practical.”

      “Do you need any help?” Vickie asked.

      Lorrie СКАЧАТЬ