Love Finds You

Love Finds You - Part 6

Chapter 6

The two of them spent afternoons enjoying iced tea, great conversation, and homemade vanilla ice cream topped with delicious berries grown in Aunt Gabby's garden. June was in full swing and Ohio was getting hot. Aunt Gabby's home had a swamp cooler, but it was hardly sufficient for the entire house. On certain days Jen felt she would die of heat stroke.

On the second Saturday after the "mud incident", as Jen appropriately named it, Aunt Gabby woke her early. "Get up Jenny." It wasn't a suggestion.

Jen rolled onto her side refusing to acknowledge her aunt's existence at that particular time. Maybe if she ignored her, she'd go away and let Jen sleep. It was a vain hope.

"Jennifer, I said get up."

Jen suddenly felt like she was in high school again with one of her stepmothers trying to get her up so she wouldn't be late. Luckily, she loved Aunt Gabby far more than any of her father's flings. "What time is it?" Jen asked.

"Quarter to," Aunt Gabby responded.

"Quarter to what, Aunt Gab?" Jen was trying not to sound annoyed.

"Six."

Jen cringed and buried her face in her pillow.

Aunt Gabby sat on the side of the bed. "You need to get up honey, you can't hide here forever. I won't let you make my home your little escape from the world. It's time to get back in the saddle."

Jen looked up at Aunt Gabby; her wrinkly old face didn't match her bright, fierce blue eyes. "And what saddle might that be?" Jen asked. "I'm not going branding again if that's what you're saying."

"Nope, not branding, the next best thing," Aunt Gabby said excitedly. She stood up and opened the closet. "Annie will be here at six-thirty to pick you up, so you'd better get dressed." She opened Jen's closet doors and began throwing shirts on the bed. "Don't you have any jeans?"

"No." Jen still wanted to sleep.

"Are you kidding me?" Aunt Gabby looked incredulous. "My goodness child, what do you work in?"

"Skirts and slacks." Jen refused to open her eyes. She burrowed deeper into her blankets and focused on the dream she'd been having before she was so rudely awoken on a Saturday morning.

"Well, I know that, but what do you do real work in?"

Jen rolled her eyes and looked at her aunt. "Real work?"

Aunt Gabby just nodded slowly, her hands on her hips waiting for Jen's reply. They looked at each other for a moment and Jen decided she wasn't going to step into Aunt Gabby's trap and make an argument about it. She knew that's what she wanted so as to wake her fully. Instead, she rolled over and covered her head with her blanket.

"I'll call Annie and tell her to bring you a pair of jeans and some boots," Aunt Gabby said as she walked out of the room.

"For what?" Jen called after her.

"I told you darling, you have to get back into the saddle." And with that she headed downstairs.

Jen grumbled under her blanket, "Stupid... saddle... dirt... mud..."

"Coffee's done!" Aunt Gabby yelled up the stairs.

Jen heaved a sigh of defeat, threw her covers off and made her way downstairs, not even bothering to get dressed. Annie was there twenty minutes early.

"Good morning, good morning, good morning!" she sang as she walked in the house. Jen held her head and mentally thanked God that Annie had never been around when she had a hangover.