Another Chance Read Free Page A

acquainted
with the store owners at a horse show and spent a few minutes chatting with
them.  When she returned to her vehicle, a man was just dropping the bag
of feed into the back of the truck.  She smiled at him, thanked him,
wished him a good day, then she got in her truck and drove away.
    She didn’t
look in her rear view mirror and see the way he stood transfixed and watched
until she turned onto a distant street and disappeared from his view.  In
fact, she didn’t give him a second thought.
    When she
stopped by the feed store again the next week to pick up some paste wormer for
her horse, she smiled and spoke to him again when she saw him near her truck as
she was leaving.  That became the norm when she had to go to the feed
store.  Whenever she returned to her truck, Lambert seemed to somehow
always be near-by.  It was a small business so it didn’t seem unusual for
the employees to be solicitous of the customers.  Jordan assumed they were
encouraged to be customer friendly.
    She and David
had been in the new house for a few months when his mother began to question
them about when they planned to start a family.  David was an only child
and she wanted a grandbaby to spoil.
    Silently
Jordan wondered what her reaction would be when they did have a child and it
started calling her grandma.  In her imagination, she could just see Mrs.
Larson cringing.  Thankfully, David stood up to his mother and affectionately
told her that they would have a baby when they decided it was time and it
wouldn’t happen before he and Jordan made the decision together.
    He knew there
was some strain between his wife and mother and had hoped it would change, but
it hadn’t.  He made sure his sometimes over bearing mother did not push
Jordan around, not that Jordan wouldn’t have stood up to her.  David was
thankful they at least managed to be social for his sake.
    Jordan had
made a point of having her in-laws over for supper at least once a month. 
She enjoyed cooking a good meal for them and wanted to make sure Mrs. Larson
knew her son was not being neglected.  It was also her chance to show her
gratitude to her in-laws for the wonderful gift of the house.
    Mrs. Larson
hadn’t disguised her displeasure when she saw the barn and the horse in the
field behind the house, for the first time.
    “I had
imagined this piece of land with a big yard, a pool with landscaping behind the
house and just acres of beautiful lawn.  I don’t understand why anyone
would house a farm animal so close to their home.”  She had daintily
placed a tissue over her nose as she spoke.
    Jordan felt
her anger beginning to surface as David took her hand, but they were both
relieved when David senior spoke up.
    “Peg, stop acting
like a meddling mother-in-law.  This is David and Jordan’s home and you
don’t tell other people how they should live.  Jordan loves her horse,
just like you do that little piece of fluff of a dog that you call your baby.”
    His wife
practically gasped at being scolded by him in the company of their son and
daughter-in-law and having her precious pet referred to as if she were a common
dog.  “My little Sparkle is an AKC Champion Maltese!  She is not
livestock!”
    Again Jordan
was opening her mouth to speak when this time, David cut her off.  “And
Jordan’s horse is a registered American Quarter Horse and has a few
championship titles of his own, Mom.  You aren’t a horsewoman, so don’t be
so quick to judge what you don’t understand.”
    Jordan squeezed
her husband’s hand in gratitude as his mother turned to look at Tempest grazing
quietly in the field.  “Well, if he’s a show horse, that’s
different.  I’ve always admired competitors and the people in this
neighborhood shouldn’t object to a show horse.”
    Jordan heard
the phone ringing and stepped back inside to answer it.  “Hello,” she
spoke into the receiver.  There was no answer, so she hung the phone up
and rejoined the family as