Page 186 of Boyfriend of the Hour

Nathan nodded. “After the break. Easter’s on Sunday, and then the campus is open again.”

Isla pinched her cheek lightly as she nodded in the exact same way he just had. “Good. I don’t like it when we have to leave.”

“I know you don’t,” Nathan said. “I’m sorry for that. I know it’s disruptive. But you seem to be doing well.”

“They have a lot of horses there.” Which was as close to Isla’s agreement as he would get. “My favorite’s name is Aurora. She’s a gray mare and very gentle. I get to ride her on Tuesdays, so long as I finish my math homework on time. I don’t like algebra.”

Nathan nodded. The school for autistic children Isla had attended since age twelve included an equine therapy center.It was one of the reasons for the girl’s obsession with horses and had been a major motivator in some of her social skills development. Even just a few years ago, holding a full conversation with Isla in this way would have been unthinkable.

He was also glad they had something they could share.

“Are you interested in riding this weekend?” he asked. “I’m sure Spencer would take you out.”

That seemed to get Isla’s attention. Her gray eyes, so like her mother’s, flashed at him before quickly moving away as she reached up to pinch her cheek again. “Why aren’t you riding?”

Nathan sighed. “I have to leave tonight. I’m going to Paris.”

“To get your girlfriend?”

Nathan peered at Mary, who shrugged, then back at Isla. “How did you know I have a girlfriend?”

“People talk a lot here when I’m around. They act like I don’t listen, but I do. Especially when it’s about you. They don’t like your girlfriend, though. Why don’t they like your girlfriend?”

Isla was tapping her fingers on her book now. A clear sign that she was agitated.

“I don’t know,” Nathan said honestly. “They don’t know her very well.”

“Do you think I would like her?”

Nathan nodded. “I think you would. She’s very nice, talkative, and open with others.”

“Why doyoulike her?”

That was easy. Nathan had spent more than one evening cataloging exactly that on too many pages in his little black notebook. The list was very long, but most of the items could be condensed into a few key traits.

“She’s honest,” he said. “She is who she is, and she doesn’t try to be anything different. And she appreciates the same in me and anyone else.”

“Is that all?” Isla didn’t seem satisfied. “That doesn’t seem like very much to like. Does she have any other interests? Does she like horses too? What kind? Has she ever ridden a thoroughbred?”

“I don’t know. But there’s a lot more,” Nathan said. “Too many things to list right now.”

Things like the way her green eyes sparkled when she made him smile. Or how she tried extremely hard at everything she did, even if she didn’t succeed. Or her abject loyalty to the people she cared about, even when they didn’t always return the favor.

Too many things to explain to himself, much less a seventeen-year-old.

“Do you love her?” Isla wanted to know.

Nathan blinked. It wasn’t often he was taken off guard by Isla’s brutal bluntness, but it did happen. Like it had right now.

Particularly when she was asking something like this. Since when had Isla cared about the concept of love? Or even thought about it?

She reallywasmaking progress.

“What do you think loveis?” Isla pressed on. “I read about it in theLife Lessons from the Heart of Horses, which was really less about horses than I thought it would be, but the concept is always confusing. Is it a thing or a verb? I know it can be used as both. But how do you know what it is? How do you know which one you are feeling? Or which one someone else is feeling?”

Nathan thought about that for a moment. “I don’t know. It’s difficult to identify.”

Isla nodded. “I mean, Ilovehorses. I love learning about them, I love riding them, I love drawing them, and I love everything about them. I’m going to go to college first to get a degree in zoology, and then I’m going to become a big animal vet just so I can continue taking care of them until I’m old. But I don’t think that’s the same thing as loving a person, is it?” Shelooked at Mary. “That was four, and then I stopped. But I don’t think the first one counted.”