Then, as if something unseen was drawing him, Henry sat his cup down and walked out to the horse pasture. He stood for a minute outside the pen, then crawled through the wooden fence rails and made his way over to where the horses were grazing. The sun was setting as one by one, the horses raised their heads and made their way over to him. Two of them approached him, then two more, and three more after that. It wasn’t long before the entire herd enveloped him and, smiling, he took the time to pet each horse, calling them each by name.

Jessie had finished her conversation with Mrs. Rodriguez and was now standing with her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the corner of the open door and peacefully watching Henry and the horses. It was then, in the hazy light of the fading day, that she began to understand something about Henry that had been eluding her. Henry was a lot like those horses. The herd only went to him when it was right for them, not when it was right for him, no matter how hard he tried or how much he wanted to make it happen. For some time now, Jessie had wanted to invite Henry to stay with her, to share her life, her home and her bed, but something had always stopped her short of doing so. As she watched him there in the pen, she now understood the reason. It was because something deep inside had been telling her while the time may have been right for her, it wasn’t for him. He would come to her when he was ready, and until then, she would wait.

Jessie smiled at the thought of her wanting to push the man faster than she would have thought about pushing a horse, and shaking her head in spite of herself, she turned and walked back to the porch swing, where she would practice waiting.

CHAPTER 41

Henry had parked his truck near the front porch of Jessie’s house. He had packed his belongings next to him in the passenger seat, rather than placing them in the bed. The pre-dawn sky was threatening rain. His saddle, bridle, ropes, saddle pad and the old beat-up satchel that held all his clothes were packed and stacked in a three-foot area inside the cab. Henry realized as he was packing up that he had never fully unpacked the satchel when he placed it in the footlocker the day he had arrived at the ranch. It seemed ironic to him: now that he wanted to stay, his bag was packed to leave.

Henry climbed the porch steps and stopped at the front door. He knocked, but hearing no answer, he shaded his eyes and looked through the screen at the dimly lit interior of the front room. “Jessie?” he called. “Jess? Are you there?” He waited for several seconds, and hearing no answer, he called again. Again, there was no answer, and wondering if Jessie was down at the barn or perhaps doing chores, he walked toward the truck and contemplated which direction he should go to try and find her.