Instead of beating Jimmy senseless, he took a deep breath to calm himself. He mentally took control of the raging emotions inside of him and let the anger and jealousy drain out of him. So what if Lou and Jimmy had been talking and laughing together. They had a right to talk and joke with one another without anyone trying to make more out of it than what it was: two friends sharing events that had happened during the past couple of days. He should know that by now. Just because he knew Jimmy's real feelings for Lou, didn't necessarily mean that Lou was aware of them. They all knew how carefully Jimmy guarded his thoughts and emotions from everyone else. There was a strong chance that Jimmy would never get up the nerve to actually say or do anything to make Lou aware of how he really felt about her.
That thought alone made him feel so much better about the whole situation. If that thought alone wasn't enough to make the last of his jealousy and anger drain away, then the odd expression on Lou's face would have. He had noticed how her soft eyes had lit with love for a fraction of a second, when she had first seen him. Now they had a hooded, guarded look to them, as if Lou was purposely trying to keep her inner feelings from shining through. He had never seen such a strange expression in Lou's eyes before and it puzzled him. Lou was not a person who hid any of her thoughts from anyone that she loved. She was as open with her feelings, as Jimmy was closed with his. Never in their entire friendship had Lou given him such a look before, and he couldn't help feeling that he didn't have anyone else to blame but himself. The look made him even more determined to work things out between him and Lou. Even if they never got back together as a couple, he wanted Lou to know that she could always trust him enough to share her feelings with him.
As soon as he had his emotions under control, he had pointedly ignored the scowl that Jimmy was shooting at him and had asked,
"I was wondering if you would like to go for a ride after you've rested up some, Lou."
The drastic change in Lou's expression was enough to make him want to laugh. Instead, he bit his lip and waited, hopeful, for her to respond to his question. When she had agreed to accompany him on a ride later, he couldn't help smiling at her. He couldn't keep from throwing Jimmy a triumphant smile before exiting the bunkhouse. He stepped off the porch and headed in the direction of the barn. He still had a lot of work to do in the barn. He didn't know what had possessed him to tell Teaspoon that he would sort through the barrels of used tack that needed to be mended or tossed. Yes he did, he had wanted to stay around the waystation and wait for Lou to get back so that he would have the chance to talk to her before Jimmy did. Lou was definitely worth the long and tedious job ahead of him.
Send Wendy FEEDBACK