She knelt on the other side of the coffee table and wet a cotton ball. Her hair fell loosely around her face. “Give me your hands.” He held one out and she took it between her own. “You have nice hands,” she said without looking up.
So did she, but all he could think of was showing her what he could do with his, where he wanted to touch her and how.
She rubbed the cotton over his thumbnail. “How was Pony Town?”
“Great. My new favorite book.”
She rewarded him with a soft smile that matched the gentle glow around her from the single lamp. “She’s a bit obsessed with horses right now.”
“I noticed that.” He watched her gently wipe each of his nails with the cold, damp cotton, loving the feel of her soft hands, imagining them other places and…He needed to think about something else. “My sister-in-law, one of them, has a place for kids where she does hippotherapy. It’s called Freedom Farm.”
Paige stopped and rocked back on her heels, her mouth open. “You’re kidding. That’s one of the best horseback riding therapy places in the country. She does camps and has cabins. If I could ever send Casey somewhere like that, it would be at the very top of my list. Wow. Small world.” She shook her head slowly and wet another cotton ball.
“Maybe I could get her in. I designed some of the equipment she needed, pulleys and lifts,” he said, feeling an unusual sense of pride.
“That’s sweet, but I have no idea when I could go, much less afford it. Maybe when Casey’s older.”
“I think it’d be good now,” he said, staring at the top of her head.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “She’d love it now, but—”
“I bet you could find a few days. Just let me look into it.”
“Okay.”
The smile she gave him said thanks for the thought. Nothing about it said she thought it would actually work out. That only made him more determined.
He’d take care of the money, though he doubted Hannah would let him pay. He’d buy them the plane tickets, send them out there for a mini vacation. Getting Paige to accept it, to take off work, would be the hard part.
He readjusted his leg and bumped the table, knocking askew a stack of papers and notecards. When he straightened them, he revealed a textbook beneath. “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire,” he said, raising a brow. “Heavy reading.”
“Well, a person can only take so much pony land before their mind begins to turn to mush. It’s for the class I’m taking. It’s a condensed summer course, not much credit, but I wanted to get started.”
“Get started on your life?” His gaze met hers, remembering what she’d said to him the first night he’d kissed her. He figured he remembered every word she’d ever spoken to him.
“Right,” she said, rubbing at his purple-pink cuticles. “It’s one of my core classes. I’m still waiting to hear if I got in for the fall term. If I do, I’ll take two classes, maybe three if I can handle it.”
He shook his head at the amount she’d piled on and the fact she still reached for more. He’d seen the fatigue in her eyes and it worried him. He didn’t think he’d ever met anyone who worked as hard as Paige and he bit back what he wanted to say about her overdoing it. “Do you know what you’ll major in? What you want to do?”
“No.” She went back to the task of his nails. “I used to think business, maybe finance.”
“Ride the train?”
She flashed him a quick, appreciative smile he could get addicted to. “Yeah. I’m not sure now. An associate’s degree maybe? Something that would get me a steady, salaried job while Casey’s still young. That’s my plan.”
“But what do you want to do?”
“I want to be a good mom,” she answered without pause. “I want to make Casey happy.”
Not exactly what he’d meant, but he knew that was her honest answer. “When do you study?”
“At night, after Casey goes to bed.”
“So, I’m cutting into your study time.”
Her lips curved the slightest bit, but she kept her eyes on his nails. “I don’t mind,” she said softly. “You’re helping Casey. You’re helping me too,” she added and glanced up. “I’m realizing except for Jenny and Casey, I mostly only talk to strangers. I haven’t been here long, so I don’t really have any other friends yet.”
“Did you have a lot of friends you left back in Texas?”
She laughed softly. “No, not really. I worked, I came home.”
“Same. I work out, I have Simon to grab a beer with, watch a game, but it’s mostly work.”
She smiled and his heart thudded hard against his chest. “Maybe you could grab a beer with me sometime.”
“Mmm…Maybe. I have Casey—”
“Or a Coke.” Because he’d like to just talk to her, and to Casey. He’d like to know more about where and what she came from and where she wanted to go. Her dreams, Casey’s dreams, and maybe how he could help them get there. “I noticed Bob is looking like he’s had a rough time,” he said after another minute.