Twenty minutes later, I skipped down the stairs again, heart lighter than it had been all morning. I took the final step and looked around, scanning the busy main floor. And there he was—leaning casually against the wall near the front entrance—Jeffrey.
The moment I saw him, a smile broke across my face without permission. I could not help it. Jeffrey was always easy to be around, kind in a way most people in this house weren’t, and never failed to c***k a joke or lighten the mood when everything else felt heavy.
He looked up at me and grinned. “Are you ready?”
I nodded, still smiling. “Yes.”
“Come on then,” he said, pushing off the wall. “Not every day I get assigned to go play with horses in the countryside.”
I followed him out to the garage, a massive space that echoed with the low
