Stephanie Dees - The Dad Next Door

His eyebrows drew together. “I still don’t get it. You don’t even know me. And I definitely don’t know you.”

“Maybe I have a soft spot for a daughter who never knew her dad.” She tossed the words over her shoulder as she swung the front door open. “Plus, you’re armed and I don’t have a donkey yet.”

Bertie slid a to-go cup of coffee in front of him as the door swung shut behind Claire. “She’s cute and she seems nice.”

His eyes were on Claire as she walked toward her car. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Hopefully, Amelia will eat with you tomorrow.” His mom smiled as she reached for the dirty dishes on the table.

He laughed softly, shaking his head. “Who knows?”

“Well, don’t give up, bud. She reminds me of someone else I knew once who was pretty bullheaded. Besides, you need her.”

It wasn’t until he was on the street walking back to his mom’s house that he realized his mom had said you need her. That was ridiculous. Daughters needed a father, not the other way around.

But there was something there, some restlessness inside that he couldn’t identify. His mom had said God was preparing him for something big. Something risky.

Like moving-across-the-country-to-start-a-foster-home risky?

He curled his fingers into a fist and stretched them out one by one, refusing to wince at the pain that shot up his arm. Sometimes just getting through every day seemed like a risk.

Chapter Three

Claire shoved the pole into the slot on the fence, tested the fit and fell against it, trying to catch her breath. She dusted the gloves on her pants and pulled them off, stretching her fingers. Her whole body ached. She hadn’t expected to have to rebuild the whole corral when she arranged for Freckles to be trailered in today.

A honking horn caught her attention. She smiled, something easing in her chest as her twin sister, Jordan, pulled into the lane in her truck.

Jordan shoved the gear into Park and jumped down, enveloping her in a huge bear hug. “Wow! It’s been too long.”

“Hasn’t even been a week yet.”

Jordan’s reddish-blond hair was twisted into two short braids and she was dressed, as usual, in boots, jeans and a flannel shirt. They were fraternal twins, but people had a hard time even believing they were sisters. She shrugged. “I’m not the only one who thinks so. Freckles went into a depression after you left.”

Claire lifted the latch on the trailer gate, lowering it gently to the ground so as not to spook her horse inside. Freckles turned his head and sniffed, one big brown eye catching sight of her. He snorted.

She laughed as she climbed in and patted his rump. “I get it. You’re mad at me now, buddy, but come January, when you’re not trying to find the one remaining blade of grass under a half foot of ice and snow, you’ll be thanking me.”

He nudged her with his nose and she pulled out half an apple she’d scrounged from her car. After a good scratch and a minute to warm up to her again, she backed him out of the trailer. The second his hooves hit the ground, he lifted his head and sniffed the air.

“It smells different, doesn’t it, boy?” She scratched along his mane and patted him before she turned to Jordan. “I don’t know how to thank you for bringing him.”

“No problem. How is it?”

“Rough. The whole place needs to be renovated.”

Jordan walked a few steps away, taking in the property. “What do you think he was doing, Claire, leaving us this property? He didn’t know us, barely spent two hours with us once he found us. Was it guilt?”

A familiar hollowness settled in Claire’s chest. “I don’t know. Maybe. It’s not like it’s a giant prize. It’s a mess.”

Jordan walked a few steps, her hands on her hips, then turned back with her arms outstretched. “Yeah, but it’s awesome. Just imagine the organic vegetable garden over there to the left, the pond stocked with fish. A load of teenagers doing all the chores and cheerfully learning to be responsible.”

Claire snorted a laugh as she walked her horse in a large circle. “You do have rose-colored glasses. When did you ever know teenagers to be cheerful about chores?”

“Hey, there’s always a chance.” Jordan’s blue-green eyes were shining.

“I’ll call you and let you know how that goes.”

Jordan leaned on the fence to the corral, facing Claire. “Yeah, about that.”

Claire stopped midstride. Behind her, Freckles went still, glanced at her and went to nibbling the green grass around the fence posts. “What?”

“I want to move here and work with you.”

“In a second! But you know I can’t afford to pay you.” She led Freckles through the gate to the corral, where, for the time being, there was still some grass. She unhooked his lead rope and looked, really looked, at her sister. There were lines in Jordan’s face that hadn’t been there last week and she looked tired. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“I lost the lease for the barn and the land. I have sixty days to get the horses moved somewhere else. I was thinking maybe you would be interested in having hippotherapy here. It would be great for your foster kids.”

Claire’s heart sank. There was nothing that would make her happier than having Jordan as a partner and being able to provide that kind of service for the kids, but she couldn’t afford it. “Jordan, I’m not sure I have enough money to get this place up and running, much less for the upkeep of twenty horses.”

Jordan leaned over the fence to scratch Freckles between the ears. “I thought about it all the way here. I have some money left from the life insurance, which I’ll throw in, but it still won’t be enough. I’ll sell all but four horses and start over. There’s nothing keeping me in North Carolina now that Mom is gone. Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”

Claire studied Jordan’s face. Her sister loved a joke, but it was clear she wasn’t kidding. “We’ll have to work on the barn.”

Jordan grabbed her and pulled her in for a tight hug. “We will. It’s going to be amazing.”

“Do you want to stay the night? This place isn’t ready for overnights, but we can find a hotel somewhere close.”

“I really can’t. This timeline is a killer. I need to get back on the road while there’s still daylight.” Jordan’s face lit up. “Oh, I almost forgot. I brought you a present.”

She walked to the trailer and opened the door of the first compartment and reached in for a lead line. A very pregnant goat came barreling out.

Claire laughed. “Mama Goat?”

Jordan looked to the sky and shrugged. “What can I say? She missed you, too.” She pressed the rope into Claire’s hand and squeezed it. “Man, I wish I could just stay right now. I would love to help with the reno.”

“I know. I promise there will be plenty of work left when you get here.” Claire rubbed between Mama’s horns, the familiar scratchy head so welcome after the day she’d had yesterday. She looked up at Jordan and clamped her lips together so she wouldn’t beg her sister not to leave. She took a deep breath. “Sixty days?”

“Sixty days.” Her twin and forever best friend hugged her tight enough to cut off her breath, ran to the cab of her truck and swung into it. As she drove away, she yelled, “Send me pictures!”

Claire laughed. Thoughts whirled in her mind, so fast she couldn’t even grasp them. It was a dream come true to have Jordan with her, but Jordan’s decision slapped another layer of responsibility onto an already teetering pile. She had to get this place up and running, and now, with four more horses coming, getting the barn ready would have to be a priority.

Plus, she was going to have to get Mama Goat a friend or she would eat everything in sight.