Page 26 of Ropers Can't Tie Knots
“So, this 4-H meeting thing…tell me why it’s helpful. Is there something I should do or say? People to pay attention to?”
“Well…all of them are important, Gabe. Even the kids, because they will probably grow up and remember how you treated them. But the adults here are people with established farms and businesses. They often need financing for various things. While you don’t give them financial advice, they need lawyers to take care of registering property liens, severing lots, even selling off milk quotas.”
Gabe nods along, and I know he’s nervous about this. Considering how he’d never even heard of 4-H before he moved here. My crash course one night over dinner helped, but he wasn’t kidding when he said he knew little about raising animals.
“Okay. Right. So be nice to everyone and hope they think of me when they need stuff.” He nods firmly. “I can do this.”
His words are confident, but his body isn’t, and I reach over to squeeze his hand.
“Gabe, I promise this will be okay. Just be yourself.”
He snorts and shoots me a skeptical look. “I’m afraid of a groundhog, Hunter. How can I be okay around farm animals in the first five minutes?”
“This is about animals, then?”
He shrugs and looks away, and it’s so unlike his usual demeanour. The cocky confidence and professional attitude have disappeared, and he’s like a child scared to enter kindergarten for the first time because maybe someone will laugh at him.
“I made a change in my career, Hunter. I took a huge chance to come here and I’ve…I’ve never failed. What if this is the first time?”
I shouldn’t care, but I know how he feels. It’s scary to cross into something you know little about, but I know he’ll be a hit. He’sa man most will like easily. A few people in town won’t warm to him, but they’re the minority.
“Come on. Once you meet Margie, you’ll feel better about this.”
Gabe stands with me. “Who’s Margie?”
“She’s the best,” I say with a giant smile, because there isn’t any other way to describe her to do her justice. “Trust me, okay?”
He puffs out a breath as we walk to my truck. “I don’t have much choice, do I?”
“Nope.” Opening the door, I pull out a shopping bag and pass it to Gabe. “Try these on. I guessed your size, so here’s hoping they fit.”
He peers inside the bag and pulls out one of the generic black rubber boots with an orange sole.
“Good guess. I’m a twelve, so these work.” When he moves to put them on the floor, still in the bag, I laugh.
“Put them on, Gabe. Those shoes won’t hold up in a barn. That’s our first stop.”
“I guess that makes sense.” He puffs another breath and rubs his neck. “So, ah, do you tuck the pants inside or leave them out?”
The peal of laughter comes out before I can stop it, and thankfully, Gabe joins in.
“Tuck them in, counsellor. We’ll make you a country boy yet.”
“Hunter Burke, why have you been a stranger!?”
Margie grabs at my ear like she used to when I was a boy, and I let her give me shit. I deserve it. After she tugs my ear, she pokes me with her cane and smiles. “I’ve missed you.”
My throat swells as I bend to hug the tiny woman. My grandmother’s best friend and the one to whom I came when she died. I owe my life to Margie, and for the last few years I’ve been absent for reasons I’m sure she’s aware of, but it’s no excuse for me to stay away from the woman who was and still is a huge part of my life.
“I’ve missed you, too, Margie.” Glancing behind me, Gabe waits with a nervous smile, and I lower my voice again. “Don’t get mad, but I’ll explain later.”
Straightening, I motion for Gabe and wrap an arm around his waist. “Margie, I’d like you to meet my husband, Gabe.”
A mix of emotions swirls across Margie’s wrinkled face, and I know she’s trying not to curse me out and cry.
Gabe extends a hand to her. “It’s nice to meet you, Margie.”
She bats his hand away and motions for him to hug, and Gabe does so easily. My heart lurches along when I imagine what she must think of me for not keeping her in the loop and introducing my husband while we were dating.
