“Come in.” She could barely hear Henry’s voice over the rain hitting the porch roof, and it dawned on her then that he had probably answered her the first time she knocked, but she simply hadn’t heard him.

This had been somewhat of a strange day for Jessie. Almost as soon as she finished watching Henry ride out in the early morning rain and fog, she found herself fighting an overwhelming urge to want to talk with him. She didn’t know why she wanted to talk with him, and she didn’t really have anything to talk with him about. Yet, no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t seem to shake the feeling. She felt like a teenage schoolgirl trying to get a glimpse of a new boy as she spent the next few hours interspersing her morning household chores with glancing out the windows to see if he’d returned. By the time he had returned, Jessie had come up with something to discuss with him, and after waiting what she felt was an appropriate amount of time, she made her way through the rain and muck and knocked on his door.

It was only after seeing Henry standing next to the woodstove trying to warm himself that Jessie came to understand why such a strong urge to talk with him had come over her. She realized then that she knew absolutely nothing about the man. Normally she would get to know a little about the people that work for her before she hired them by reading a few paragraphs on a resume they had submitted, or by checking their references on a job application. But with Henry she had neither. She had hired him more or less as day help, not knowing if he’d be there any longer than it took to get gas money. She didn’t think to ask for a resume, and she doubted whether he had one anyway. She hadn’t even had him fill out an application. All she really knew about him was what she saw. And what she was seeing was beginning to intrigue her. After all, it was obvious he was well versed in ranching and livestock, but even with that, what Jessie was having a hard time figuring was: what kind of man would go out in the middle of the worst storm in nearly twenty years to check on horses that didn’t even belong to him?

“Mornin’ ma’am,” Henry said with a slight uncontrollable quiver in his voice. The outside of his body was beginning to warm, but the inside was still chilled. “I just put some coffee on, here. It’ll be a minute or two before its ready, and I doubt it’ll be any good, but I’d be happy to pour you a cup if you’re up for it.”

“No thanks,” Jessie smiled, “I’ve had my fill for the morning.” She hesitated, debating which direction to go with the conversation she was getting ready to start. Did she begin by asking him some innocuous question about his personal life, like where he was from, or if he had any brothers and sisters, or should she stick to the subject she had come up with while waiting for him to return from checking horses? In the end, she decided it probably wasn’t the right time or place to be asking any kind of personal questions of a man she barely knew.