The Caregiver by Shelley Shepard Gray

going to kill her, making her work like that . . .” His voice slowed when he realized she wasn’t listening.
    Instead, she seemed to be looking beyond him, at something that wasn’t quite there. “You grabbed his shoulder.”
    Calvin remembered that well. “I know I did. He turned away when I was trying to show him the swell—Lucy, what is wrong?”
    “Everything.” With measured movements, Lucy closed the magazine and set it neatly next to her. “I’m sorry to say this, but . . . I have no desire to be in your company again.”
    “What?” Surely he wasn’t hearing her right. “Lucy, what did I do that got you so upset?”
    “Before . . . before I saw you yell . . . I had thought that maybe you were different. I mean . . . you seemed like such a calm person.” Her eyes softened as she turned to his sister. “Katie, this has nothing to do with you. I’ve truly enjoyed getting to know you. Perhaps our paths will cross in Jacob’s Crossing.”
    Biting her lip, Katie simply nodded.
    But it wasn’t in Calvin’s mind-set to give up so easily. “Lucy, you’re not making sense.”
    “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
    Irritation sliced through him. “And once more, I am a calm person.” When she merely raised her brows, he amended his words. “Well, all right. I guess I do sometimes let my temper get the best of me. Sometimes I just can’t help myself. But I am working on it. The Lord knows I try my best.”
    “You couldn’t help yourself,” she echoed.
    His shirt collar was getting tight. “That’s right. It’s a fault of mine,” he said, struggling to find a way to tell Lucy about how he just couldn’t abide to see animals abused. How something inside of him just snapped, and he’d known he had to at least try to make things better.
    Just like he was doing now.
    But instead of looking like she wanted to hear what he had to say, she scooted a bit farther away from him. “I see.”
    “No, you don’t. Lucy, that man’s gall . . . that horse, well . . . Someone needed to take its side, jah ?”
    But instead of warming to him, or talking about how she, too, had felt sorry for the horse, Lucy picked up her magazine and flipped it open.
    Leaving him dumbfounded. “Are you going to ignore me now?” Feeling Katie’s unease, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “You’re going to ignore us both?”
    The magazine snapped shut. “Calvin, please. Please just give me some space.”
    Though her expression was pleading . . . though he heard almost a desperation in her voice, Calvin didn’t feel he could do that. “But we just spent the day together,” he protested. “We had popcorn, and walked and walked  . . .” And he was remembering the way she had smiled at him . . . remembering the way she’d laughed by his side, and struggled to come to terms with what she was saying. “Lucy, I thought you enjoyed yourself.”
    “I did. It was wunderbaar .” A flash of pain entered her golden eyes before she blinked and it went away. “But our day is over now.”
    Over . He stepped back. It seemed as if Lucy had just decided to reject him because he dared to defend an animal. Rejecting him just as Gwen had done when she’d gotten tired of waiting for him to propose to her.
    Hurt and confusion flowed through him like a raging river.
    But he was still enough of a man to know that he didn’t need this. “All right. I trust that you will get on the train just fine without my assistance?”
    “I got on it just fine without you, Calvin. I’m sure I will be able to board again, too.”
    “Then I’ll leave you.” Looking at Katie, he added grimly, “We’ll leave you in peace.”
    “Katie, I am sorry,” Lucy murmured.
    Bending down to his sister, Calvin said, “Let’s find something else to do.” Then he took her hand and walked away. As the space between him and Lucy grew, Calvin found himself waiting for her to call out to him. To tell him she was sorry. To tell him to