When Alex returned, Katie had supper ready, but Carmen declined, saying she didn't feel well. It was the truth. In fact, she couldn't remember a time when she had felt worse. Physical ills were miserable, but this depression was unbearable. She curled up on her bed and cried herself to sleep.
The dawn brought cool air and dense fog. It was a good match for her mood. The dairy door groaned as she opened it and Ed whinnied from his stall in the barn. She smiled in spite of everything. It was going to be nice to hear him every morning.
She opened the barn door and flipped on the light. Ed peered over the stall at her and nickered softly.
"Hold your horses," she said, snickering over the pun.
She hurried to his stall and hugged his neck. He nibbled at her jacket and nickered again. She rubbed her cheek against the soft hair on his neck. "You're such a sweetie," she said, patting his neck. "We're going to have to take a ride pretty soon. I thought maybe yesterday . . . but I guess he had a lot on his mind." She rubbed his jaw. "I guess he thinks I'm going to ransack his wallet or something." She moved back and patted him on the neck again. "I'll get you some hay."
She cut the strings and pulled a few leaves from a new bale of alfalfa hay. As she lifted the hay and turned, a figure moved in the hay on the floor. She screamed and leaped back before she realized it was Alex.
"What in the world are you doing in here?"
He lay with his arms behind his head and his eyes held a twinkle of humor that never reached his mouth.
"I couldn't sleep. I've been out here since about three this morning. I was just getting off to sleep when you turned the light on." The twinkle left his eyes. "Funny, the things you can say to an animal, isn't it?"
Warmth surged up her neck. "You were eavesdropping."
"No I wasn't, I was listening." He pushed up from the floor and brushed hay from his clothes. "Which was more than I was doing yesterday, it seems."
She handed Ed a clump of hay and he delicately plucked it from her fingers.
"You were listening," she said. "You just didn't like what you were hearing."
He made a face. "That's true. I wasn't here five minutes before you mentioned Josh. The next thing I knew you were talking about marriage."