Chapter 46
“I’m sorry. I may have a late farm call. But if you don’t mind my being late, I…well…I guess it’d be okay.”
“I was just kidding you. I’m glad you want to. How about you call when you’re through for the day. Late doesn’t matter. Here’s my number.”
Bill and Dan exchanged numbers and said goodbye. Dan’s puzzlement over what Bill was intending, returned. He wasn’t ready to go into another relationship. However, he wasn’t sure that was where Bill was going with this, and Dan could be reading more into it than there was. It could be the guy just wanted to be friends. Or maybe he just wanted a fuck buddy—something Dan wasn’t interested in.
He went to the office and greeted Rose.
She smiled and got up from her desk, carrying the day’s schedules.
Just then Ezra came in. “Sorry you got called away last Saturday. Must have been a biggy since you didn’t come back.”
“Yeah, one of Maude Dubberman’s mares put a leg through a wire fence. The mare peeled most of the skin off trying to free herself. Took a lot of stitches. The horse will be fine. I don’t know about Maude though. She was a real mess.”
“Well, we’ll have to try having you over another time.” Ezra then turned to Rose, who was standing at the counter. “What ‘cha got for us today, Sweetheart?”
Rose gave him an oh, go onlook and handed the men their schedules. Dan quickly scanned to the bottom and was disappointed not to see Scott’s name there. Dan had assumed he would’ve called to have Shadow checked as Dan had requested.
They’d turned to leave when Rose called, “Oh, Dr. Parker I almost forgot. Mr. Wagner phoned this morning. He wants you to call him.” Bolstered by this bit of news, Dan left the office and went out to his truck.
Once on his way, he used the voice activated phone connection to call Scott.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Scott. it’s Dan Parker.”
“Dan, I’m glad you called.”
That was the first time Scott had called Dan by his first name. Scott had always addressed him as Dr. Parker on his previous visits.
“Do you want me to come out to see how Shadow is doing?”
“Actually, I don’t think that’ll be necessary. He seems to be doing fine. Susan has been riding him, and Holly, that’s our trainer, says he’s sound. She said his hoof is healing well.”
Dan felt a sense of disappointment. Not that he didn’t want Shadow to be all right, it was just that he’d hoped he’d be going out to see Scott again.
“What I wanted to call you about is setting up a time for you to come out for those burgers I owe you.”
Dan’s mood swung from discouraged to encouraged in an instant. “Sure,” he said eagerly. “When are you thinking?”
“Well, this coming weekend Adalin is taking the girls to see their grandmother and do some shopping. Next weekend the girls are taking the horses to a small local show on Sunday. But I thought we could do it on Saturday afternoon. That work for you?”
It didn’t. Dan was on call. He couldn’t be that far away if he got an emergency. But he wasn’t going to let the opportunity to be with Scott pass. He’d ask Ezra to switch weekends with him. After all, Dan had just done that favor for Ezra recently.
“That’d work fine,” Dan said enthusiastically. “What time should I come out?”
“How about two? That way you’ll have time to meet the girls and their mother before we start getting Sugar and Shadow ready for the show.”
Scott’s reference to Dan’s meeting his wife brought Dan back to reality. Scott was married, off limits. It didn’t matter, having the man as a friend would be a good thing, too.
“It’s a date,” Dan said, thinking that it wasn’t the kind of date he’d prefer with the handsome Mr. Wagner, but if fate wanted it this way, Dan would accept it and enjoy it for what it was. 10
Dan was uncomfortable as he sat in a booth at a local bar in Taylor. Bill sat across from him, relaxed, completely at ease, and too damned handsome. Dan’s previous encounters had all been with men he’d met in gay bars or online. This took the question of whether or not they were on the same team off the table. Dan wasn’t sure what Bill’s intentions were. He didn’t know how that could be determined without possibly making the situation even more awkward than it was already. He also wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved with someone again so quickly after Steve. But what he was sure of, was that if Bill was showing an interest in him the way Bill’s words and actions toward him seemed to indicate, Dan wouldn’t be able to resist this hot, sexy man.