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“By the look on your face. It was clearly someone you like.”
“Is it the girl who friend zoned you?” Langston asks.
I sigh. “There really is no privacy in this family, is there?”
Jenni grins. “Nope.”
“You fit right in. You’re going to be as bad as Callie and Mom. Ariana too. They’ve all been hounding me to start dating since I’ve been home.”
“What’s holding you back?” Langston asks. “Yourfriend?”
“Something like that.” But the truth is, it’s exactly that. Faith has never seen me as anything more than just a best friend. And she’s all I can think about.
But I’m not in the mood to go deeper in the subject, or next thing I know, they’ll be pressuring me to tell her how I really feel and blah, blah, blah. And if I were to reveal my feelings to Faith, I could lose her friendship. I’m just getting her back. The last thing I want to do is mess everything up. She’s the main reason I didn’t want to leave Kenya. She’s amazing. Like the sun. Always bright, hardworking, and optimistic. Never speaking a word against anyone.
“How’s the racing going, guys? I’m sorry I missed the race last week. I was working late at the office.”
“Jenni’s new horse, Blazing Star, is taking out all the competition. Including me,” he groans.
I laugh. “That sounds about right.”
“It’s the story of my life.”
“Maybe it’s time to retire Thunder and move onto a younger horse,” I suggest.
“As much as I hate to admit that, you might be right. Thunder didn’t even place in the last race he did.”
“I might try getting a horse myself.” I gaze out to the pasture where the horses are chowing down. “All this racing stuff looks like a lot of fun.”
“You should try it,” Jenni says. “There’s nothing like the rush of seeing your horse cross that finish line before all the others.”
“I have a feeling with you around, I’ll never experience that.” I laugh.
“Probably not,” Langston says. “I can’t win now that Blazing Star is in the picture. But it doesn’t matter.” He kisses Jenni’s cheek. “I’ve already won the woman of my dreams.”
I glance over to see Hayden holding James with Amanda’s assistance. “And your long-lost son.”
“I’m the luckiest guy alive. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t had our rough patches.”
“It’s interesting that you invited Amanda to your engagement party.” I look out to see her smiling down at James and talking baby talk to him.
“We’ve made our peace with her.” Langston glances over in their direction too.
“She looks like she’s feeling better.” I’ve been out of the loop with her progress since I’ve been working so hard at the company. “I take it her treatments have been working?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe. She just found out last week that her cancer’s in remission.”
“You’re kidding,” I exclaim. “That’s fantastic news.”
“It really is.” Jenni nods. “She’s going to move into my old house with Hayden after Langston and I marry. I offered to rent it to her. Now that the court papers are signed, and she’s getting the proper amount of child support as well as her back pay, she can afford my place, and we wanted Hayden to have a nicer place to live. The neighborhood where they were before was a little rough.”
“I want a safe environment for my son,” Langston says.
“How’s the family therapy going?” I ask.
“Remarkably well,” Jenni replies. “Hayden was having nightmares when Langston and I first got together, but with therapy, he’s been able to talk through his feelings some.”
“Amanda too,” Langston adds. “Every other week, we have her join us. It’s been a really great experience.”