Chapter 58
Dan turned at the sound of the female voice to see a strikingly beautiful woman coming out of the house, carrying a large tray laden with burgers and brats ready to be grilled. She was tall and slender and had the same strawberry blond hair as the twins. This had to be Adalin, Scott’s wife
He looked at Scott. Of course, this handsome hunk of a man would have a beautiful wife such as this. They looked like they had just stepped out of a TV ad for a romantic get-away at a secluded tropical resort.
“The chef’s right here,” Scott called. “Come on, Dan. I want you to meet Adalin.”
Dan took a deep breath, smiled, and followed Scott to where Adalin was standing, holding the tray of food. Scott took it from her and set it on a table beside a large gas grill.
“Adalin, this is Dan,” he said, once more placing a hand lightly on Dan’s shoulder.
Adalin came forward and gave Dan a hug. “I’m so glad to finally meet you,” she said, as she stepped back. “Scott has told me so much about you. And the girls talk about you all the time, too. Especially Susan. Well, if she were to make a list of her favorite superheroes, I’m sure you’d be at the top.”
“So I’ve heard,” Dan said with a small, embarrassed laugh. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
“I better get started on the grilling or we may have a protest on our hands. Come on and help me, Dan,” Scott said.
Dan laughed. He gave a quick explanation of his lack of culinary prowess, concluding with, “I’m ashamed to admit I never even mastered the manly art of backyard grilling. So, unless you’ve got a gastroenterologist on call, you’d be better off with me just being your cheering section.”
“I’ll settle for that,” Scott said, smiling at Dan before walking away.
Dan turned to Adalin and her mother. “I’m glad I had a chance to meet you both.”
“Thank you,” Adalin said.
“I’m quite sure we’ll be seeing a lot of you,” Greta added.
Dan hoped she was right. He turned to join Scott at the grill.
While Scott did the grilling, he engaged Dan in a conversation that ranged from their respective professions to an exchange of some biographical information. Talk then moved onto the girls and how they were doing with their horses.
“They want to ride in both western and English classes at the show,” Scott explained. “They’re working with Holly on both. Since they’re twins, they’d ride in the same classes. We decided at this point it would be better to have one do western and one do English. They’re pretty competitive. By separating them I hope to avoid some hard feelings when one does better than the other. Holly decided Susan should do western since Shadow is better at that. Sugar is a good English horse, so Sarah will ride that seat. When they’re a bit older and can handle it, we’ll let them do both.”
Dan listened attentively. He was impressed with Scott’s perspective on parenting. He wistfully wondered if he would have been good at it. With the way his life was going, he’d probably never know.
Everyone sat at one, long picnic table to eat. The twins insisted Dan sit between them. Dan could see what Scott had meant by their being competitive. Both tried in various ways to get Dan to declare which of their horses was the best. He hoped he’d diplomatically avoided doing so.
As he ate, he looked around the table at the assembled group and listened to their happy conversation. He watched Adalin and Scott’s interaction. They obviously enjoyed being together, and the affection between them was also very apparent.
Dan felt a mixture of gratitude at being included in Scott’s circle and an envy of the relationship between Adalin and Scott. They projected the very relationship Dan was hoping to find.
There was a twinge of guilt, as well. For, not so far beneath the surface, Dan knew he could easily develop strong feelings for this man if Scott’s situation were different. Dan found himself wishing that it were different, and chastising himself for doing so. 12
“Time to start getting those horses ready for the show tomorrow,” Holly announced to the group in general.
Susan and Sarah were off the picnic table bench in a flash. Each grabbed one of Dan’s hands, pulling and begging.
“Come out to the barn with us, pleeeease!”
“Well, I guess I know where I stand now,” Scott joked. “Yeah, Dan, if you’ve got time, come on out and watch this process.”
Despite being an equine vet, Dan hadn’t had horses as a kid on his family’s farm. He’d become interested in them during his large animal rotation in vet school and had done a specialization course in equine care post graduate. His knowledge of the mechanics of horse showing was limited. He’d be glad to learn more about it. However, his real reason for saying yes was to spend more time with Scott and his family.