Page 49 of Cowboy Falling Hard

“I think that’s a pretty sober conversation. While I’m really enjoying it, I did kind of want to tell you that I really enjoyed my day with you today. I had fun.”

She was relieved with his statement. She loved that she could talk about deep ideas with him, but she also loved that they could lighten the atmosphere. “You can be honest. Snapping beans is not fun for a lot of people.”

“I can see how it would get boring. It’s not hard work, just monotonous.”

“Yeah. I’ve never had a problem doing monotonous work. My mind entertains me, but some of my sisters would rather pull their hair out in handfuls and clumps and roll over hot coals rather than be stuck in the kitchen snapping beans or shelling peas.”

“Maybe it just depends on the company.”

The sun had faded even more, but there was a three-quarter moon, and there was just light enough for her to see the flash of his teeth.

“I think Mrs. Brown’s pretty awesome as well.” She hesitated for a minute. Could she talk to him about their relationship? She didn’t want to gossip, but she wanted to have the kind of relationship where both of them were aware of the pitfalls that could happen to couples who had been married for a long time. She wanted both of them to be interested in avoiding those.

One person could probably save a marriage by refusing to give up on it, no matter what the other person did, but that wasn’t a picture of a beautiful marriage. It was a picture of someone who sacrificed in order to do right.

She didn’t mind sacrifice, and she wanted to do right, but she didn’t really want it to be what kept her marriage together.

“I wasn’t talking about Mrs. Brown.”

It took a minute for his words to penetrate her thoughts, and then she laughed. “I guess that’s a compliment?”

“It sure is. I told you I had a good time with you today.You. Mrs. Brown... She’s nice to know, but there’s something...odd between her and her husband.”

“I was wondering about that too. That’s actually what I was just thinking. I didn’t want to gossip or talk about them, but I wonder if there’s something in the relationship that could be fixed. Neither one of them seems happy.”

“Neither one of them seems to like the other one too much. After all, Mr. Brown could have been helping Mrs. Brown, and Mrs. Brown could have gone out and given Mr. Brown a hand. But it seemed like they couldn’t get away from each other soon enough.”

“That’s sad. I don’t think anyone stands at the altar on their wedding day thinking that’s going to be them in twenty or twenty-five years.”

“No. Absolutely not. And yet...there they are.”

“It makes you want to help, but I have no idea what to do. And you really can’t help someone who doesn’t want it.”

“No. But you can use them as an example.”

They laughed softly and without much humor.

“An example of what not to do, you mean.”

“Sure. There are good examples and bad examples. We can learn from both.”

“They’re both in the Bible.”

She liked that he knew they could learn from examples as well. That he was interested in learning. So often people thought that love was easy. You fall in love, have the gushy feelings, and that was the end of it.

“As much as I love romance and the fun things to go with it, relationships are a lot of work.”

“I agree. I’ve heard people say they’re natural, but maybe that’s when two people are completely living for the Lord and not being selfish.”

“I think relationships would be perfect if we kept our eyes on Jesus and treated the other person the way we want to be treated. But yeah, that’s pretty uncommon.”

“So that’s when they take work. When it’s not natural to try to figure out what the other person wants or needs, and do your best to be that for them, while they are doing their best to be someone who’s a blessing and help to you.”

“That’s the kind of relationship I want.”

He pulled his hand out of his pocket and stepped closer, cupping her cheek.

She leaned into it.