Promise Canyon by Robyn Carr Page B

Yaz will be looking for me.”
    “See you later, then. And if you change your mind…”
    “Thanks,” Lilly said, her mind changing even as she walked away.
     
    When Clay went to the clinic office, Annie was at the computer. She looked up, smiled and asked, “How are things going with Streak?”
    “Slowly, but he’s doing a little better every day. I noticed I have an audience every day, also. Is that typical of Lilly? Observing the animals?”
    “We’ve been seeing a lot of her since she rescued Blue and since you started working with the colt. I think all of the above has caught her interest.”
    “Have you known her a long time?” Clay asked.
    Annie pushed away from the desk on her roller chair. “Longer than I’ve known Nathaniel,” she said. “In fact, Nathaniel has known Lilly longer than he’s known me. She’s been delivering his feed since he took over the practice from his father. And I cut her hair.”
    “Huh?”
    Annie laughed. “I grew up on a farm, had horses, had a prize-winning bull, in fact. But when I met Nate I was a hairdresser. I have my own little shop in Fortuna, although it’s being completely run by my manager and I spend all my time here now.”
    Clay leaned one hip against the other desk in the office. “No kidding? Hairdresser?”
    “Not something you have a need for, I take it?” she asked with a laugh. “I plan to sell the franchise eventually, but I’m kind of waiting for my manager to work up to buying it, and she doesn’t have the cash yet. Tough economy, you know. As for Lilly—I think she has a major crush on a horse.” Annie leaned back in her chair and rocked slightly. “I have a feeling we’re going to keep seeing her as long as Blue is here. I suggested we put a saddle on her, but Lilly declined. She said it wasn’t a good time to fall in love. I take that to mean it’s already too late.”
    “Maybe she’ll take Blue,” Clay said.
    “She asked what we charge to board and said it was out of her reach.”
    “But there’s Grandpa,” Clay said.
    “And I think Yaz would move heaven and earth for the girl’s happiness—it’s just the two of them, you know. But as you get to know Lilly better you’ll see—she’s very proud of her independence. She works hard to maintain it. We’ve been friends for years and she won’t even take a free haircut from me.”
    That caused Clay to smile. “I recognize the tendency to be proud….”
    “Oh?” Annie asked, lifting her eyebrows. “Spoken as a man who won’t accept dinner with his friends more than once a week at most.”
    “Poor Annie,” Clay said. “Have you and Nathaniel been together long enough that you have already run out of things to say to each other when you eat alone?”
    “Oh, get out!” she said with a laugh.
     
    Lilly discovered yoga her second year of college; it kept her flexible, fit and serene. After college she found some yoga and Pilates classes offered at a community center not too far from her little rented house and managed to take them at least three days a week. Then she discovered a funky little coffee shop nearby, in an old storefront that had been painted turquoise and stuck out like a sore thumb. When she could make that late-morning yoga class, she stopped at the Loving Cup for lunch afterward, where she had green tea and a croissant sandwich of avocado, tomato, sprouts and sliced zucchini, or some similar vegetarian treat. Over lunch she’d visit with one of the owners, Dane, who had become her closest friend.
    She looked forward as much to seeing Dane as to the tea and sandwich. In the few years she’d been droppingin, they occasionally met for dinner or a movie or even a hike along the coast. Dane was the closest thing to a boyfriend Lilly had. Although he’d never really qualify as a boyfriend, he made an amazing best friend. Even though Lilly had had the occasional date with other guys over the past several years, none of them at all serious, she vastly