Fifteen Minutes: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

met. Zack wouldn’t do anything to hurt what he and Reese shared.
    His grandpa looked concerned. “How does she feel about this?”
    “She believes in me.” Zack looked at his grandpa, deep into his eyes. “Same as you.” He moved to the spot beside the old man and crouched low as he put his arm around his grandpa’s thin shoulders. “It’ll be okay. You know me.”
    “I’ll pray.” In a move that told Zack the depths of his concerns, his grandpa rested his head against Zack’s. Reese walked up the porch steps slowly, her eyes on the two of them. Zack remained where he was, his arm still around his grandpa. “I’ll be fine.” He gave the man his black cane and helped him up. They walked together back to the house.
    His grandpa stopped at Reese and took both her hands in his. “I prayed for you today.”
    “I count on that.” She smiled at him, her eyes shining.
    The two of them hugged and Zack’s grandpa looked from Reese to Zack. His eyes said what his words did not as he nodded, turned, and headed back in the house. When the door shut behind him, Zack turned and faced Reese, looked deep into her pale blue eyes. If for some reason he became crazy successful on Fifteen Minutes, that would be fine. God’s will. Because nothing—absolutely nothing—would ever get in the way of what he had here. The farm, his family. And the girl standing in front of him.
    The one he loved with all his life.
    ZACK TOOK THE spot next to her, the two of them leaning on the porch rail. Her eyes shone with a trust he didn’t take for granted. But something was different. As if already she were protecting herself from the imagined storms ahead.
    “Let’s walk.” He held out his hand. “When do you go to work?”
    “I have an hour.” They walked down the steps toward a path that wound through the estate to the barns and beyond. “How’s AJ?”
    “Sick.” Zack eased his fingers between hers. The closeness ofher, the touch of her skin against his, the familiarity of it—the sensation was always special. Today he felt more aware of her, the gift of her in his life. Of course he did. He was leaving tomorrow. He stopped when they were out of sight from the front windows.
    “We miss her at the center.” Reese was an equine therapist. For the last three years AJ had been one of her students.
    “She can’t wait to get better. She misses you and the horses.” He stopped and took her other hand, facing her. She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. Her beauty worked its way out from her heart, through her eyes. But today her joy didn’t shine as brightly. “Hey . . .” He studied her, reading her. “You’re sad.”
    “No.” She worked one of her hands free and ran it over her hair. “Nervous, maybe. Not sad.” She smiled, and their connection felt stronger than ever. “I’m proud of you, Zack.”
    “Why are you nervous?” He searched her eyes.
    “I don’t know. Everything feels . . . up in the air.” She squinted in the sun. “Unsure, I guess.”
    “Baby.” Zack took a step closer, breathing in her perfume, the nearness of her. “Nothing’s going to change. You and my family . . . Give me more credit. Even if something crazy happens and I make it through, nothing will shake me. Nothing ever could.”
    “How do you know? You’ve never done anything like this.” She smiled. “And you will make it through. You’re the best.” The sweetness of her tone told him more than her words could. No one believed in him more.
    Zack pulled her close, swaying with her beneath the summer sun. When he drew back he found her eyes again. “You said you wanted to talk?”
    She slid her hands in the pockets of her dark shorts. “It’snothing bad.” A hint of nervousness flashed in her expression. “I got a call today. From a woman in London.”
    “London?”
    “Yes.” She looked to the distant parts of the property and then back to him. “She runs a horse farm. She wants me to help bring equine