She noted that he said it was hard, not that it was impossible. “Good. You still have to teach me to ride.”
“Figured you’d changed your mind.” His stiff strides deepened her concern. Anger or something else?
“Figured you’d tell me when you had time to teach me.” She shot the quip at him and grabbed the toolbox out from under his hand. “That’s how conversations work. You tell each other what’s going on so there’s no miscommunication.”
His eyes tightened at the corners in a way she found vaguely familiar. She’d seen the expression before, but not on him. Not this deeply, anyway. “Whatever problem you have with me, spit it out so we can get past it.”
“I don’t have a problem with you.” He said it so fast, his body reacting too hard with a savage jerk away from her, that she read the lie as easily as counting the horses in their stalls.
She let it go. “Fine. Then let’s get to work.”
After a silent ride across the bumpy pasture, she spotted the downed fence and whistled. “That’s a lot.”
“Yeah.” That familiar grunt burrowed through her. “One of the cows probably ran her head through, and when the wire snapped, they all pushed until the posts came down.”
“Can you fix it?”
He faced her fully for the first time in a week. “Yes, but I’m going to need your help.”
“That’s what I’m here for.” She retrieved the gloves and covered her hands. “Tell me what to do.”
“First we have to get all the barbed wire off the posts and pulled back out of the way.” He tugged on his own gloves. “It’s sharp, and the wire likes to bounce back. Try not to pull on it. If you get it stuck in your gloves, don’t yank it back.”
“Got it.” She approached the wire and bent to examine where a metal loop secured it to the fence. “What if I take off the loops, and you handle the wire? I’m not convinced I won’t end up wrapped up in it like a mummy.”
“Works for me.” He stepped on the strands, holding them down. “That’ll make it easier and less likely to pop toward you.”
“Thanks.” She used the pliers he handed her to twist the metal away from the post, then pulled the post to the side.
He picked up the strands and walked them in a slow arc away from her. “Same thing with the other side. After that, we set the new posts and reattach the wire.”
“How do we do that when the wires are split?”
“We weave them together with more wire. It’s not ideal, but until we can come through and replace all the old wire, it’ll have to do.” He anchored the wire to the ground with a rock and helped her with the other fallen post.
“Isn’t there a Bible verse about putting new wine in old bottles and how it’s a bad idea because the bottles will burst?” The fragmented words danced around in her head, refusing to form a solid thought but teasing her with familiarity.
“Yep.” He hissed through his teeth when a barb caught on his glove. “Hold still until I get that loose.”
She froze. “Okay. New question. What’s your favorite Bible verse?” She’d found an old Bible in the side drawer and had started reading a chapter every morning before driving to the ranch. The words soothed her, even when she didn’t understand half of them. The rhythm and cadence lightened her heart and offered a hope she wanted to seek more of.
Chase grasped the wire behind the barb and worked it free from his glove. “Ephesians chapter three verse twenty. ‘Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.’”
He repeated the verse with a kind of reverent hush that lifted the hairs on her arms. She repeated the verse under her breath. “I like that. I’ll have to look it up tonight when I go home.”
Chase removed his glove and checked his hand, thumbing away a drop of blood that he wiped on his jeans. “Do you read a lot?”
“I’m going through Psalms. Aunt Sarah recommended I start there.” She’d asked Sarah after that first church service spoke to her and started a craving to know more.
They finished moving the poles and wire. Her shoulders burned from lifting the metal, and she relished the feeling of physical exertion. She’d not pushed herself in months, and it felt good to put some effort into a physical project.
“I like Psalms,” Chase said several minutes later. He retrieved a strange T-shaped contraption from the bed of the truck. “It’s one of my go-to places when I need encouragement.”
“What’s that?”
He slung the metal cylinder over his shoulder. “Post driver. You’re going to hold the post, and I’m going to use this to drive it into the ground.”
“Huh.” She picked up the last post they’d discarded. “I thought you just hit it with a hammer.”
