Another Chance Read Free

stay
with them instead the house she grew up in.  She lived for a while in a
fog of heart break and pain.  Her memories of the funeral and the days
that followed had been obscured in a blurry haze.
    After the
funeral, David had to return to his job, but Jordan had to stay a while longer
to take care of insurance, funeral expenses, dispose of the livestock and other
things that fall on the shoulders of an only child.  Mac, his wife and
Jordan’s parent’s friend Sheriff John Davis, helped her get through all
that.   There were also friends she had
grown up with offering help but after about three weeks; she too was ready to
return to Poplar Bluff.  She wasn’t sure she could ever go back ‘home’ again.
    She had
decided to keep the house and land, at least for the present.  Mac would
see that it was looked after.  She had her father’s pick-up truck and the
horse trailer, so she loaded Tempest and all her tack and with Mac going along
to share the driving, drove straight through to Poplar Bluff.
    They found a
stable that would board Tempest and allow her a place to park her
trailer.  It wasn’t far from the apartment she and David were still living
in.  She insisted that Mac stay in the spare bedroom for a goodnight’s
sleep, and then the next morning, he caught a bus back to Lake City.
    Jordan hated
to see him go.  It was like losing the last connection to her
parents.  She held her tears until the bus pulled out, but then she went
back to the apartment and had a good long cry.  David was at school and it
was really the first time she’d been alone since her parent’s deaths.  She
needed the time to try to accept what had happened.
    David’s mother
had wanted Jordan to spend the day with her, but as much as she loved David,
Jordan found his mother stiff and distant so she politely declined the
invitation and remained in the apartment.
    David’s father
was friendly, but seldom around because his business kept him busy and when
David was present; his mother seemed to genuinely try being open and accepting
of Jordan, but there just wasn’t any warmth there.  Because they both
loved David, the two women got along, but just barely.  Jordan had hoped
things would change with time.  She truly wanted to have a warm friendship
with her mother-in-law.  She even hoped it would bridge the gap losing her
own mother had left in her life, but it just didn’t work.
    She and David
had their first disagreement over her bringing Tempest to Poplar Bluff. 
He knew she owned the horse and loved him, but he just assumed that horses were
a part of her past.  He had thought she would go to all the football games
with the team and be like a team mother, but that didn’t fit in with the person
that Jordan was.  She loved David, but she had no intentions of playing
mother for his football team of high school boys.  They were too close in
age, and where it gave David and the team a sense of camaraderie it made Jordan
uncomfortable.  It took them several weeks to work things out, and by then
they were moving into the new house.  Jordan would go to all the home
games, unless they were on the same night when she was scheduled for a horse
show, and when she was at a show and David was free, he accompanied her to the
show.  To his surprise he discovered he knew a lot of the people she had
met and even though he hated to admit it, he enjoyed watching her in the
ring.  He was impressed with her poise and grace and was astounded by her
knowledge of horses and horsemanship.  His chest puffed with pride when
she placed high in a big class.
    Once they were
settled in the new house, Jordan made arrangements for a pasture to be fenced
and a small barn with a tack room and a hay room to be built.  It took
several weeks to get that done, so Tempest stayed at the boarding barn.
    It was buying
horse feed at the feed store that Frank Lambert came into her life.  He
was an employee there and loaded her feed.  Jordan had become