“Thomas.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
She did not look up.
“That must have been exhausting.”
He frowned.
She smiled slightly.
“Continue.”
Thomas watched her work.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said.”
“I say many things.”
“You know which.”
Margaret set down the fencing tool.
She looked at him.
“Ten years?”
“Yes.”
“Thirty years?”
“That too.”
Thomas took off his hat.
“I concluded I don’t know what you meant.”
Margaret stared.
Thomas added quickly:
“I know what I hope you meant.”
“That’s different.”
Her expression softened.
“Then ask.”
Thomas looked at the fence rail.
“I’m fifty-five.”
“You’ve mentioned.”
“I’m not doing arithmetic to annoy you.”
“It’s working anyway.”
“Margaret.”
“Thomas.”
He looked up.
“I need you to understand I cannot promise you what a younger man can.”
“What?”
“Time.”
Margaret leaned against the fence.
“Nobody promises time.”
“Statistically—”
“If you say statistically, I may climb this fence just to slap you.”
Thomas almost smiled.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She stepped closer.
Only the fence separated them.
Thomas continued:
“In twenty years, I’ll be seventy-five.”
“And I’ll be forty-five.”
“You say that very casually.”
“Because forty-five does not frighten me.”
“It frightens me.”
“Why?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Because you might spend those years caring for an old man when you should have had—”
Margaret interrupted.
“Stop.”
He stopped.
She placed both hands on the top rail.
“You do not get to decide what I should have.”
Thomas said nothing.
Margaret continued.
“You think love is generous when you deny yourself on somebody else’s behalf.”
“Sometimes it is.”
“Sometimes it is arrogance.”
Thomas stared.
Margaret’s voice softened.
“I know your age.”
“I know your hair is gray.”
“I know your knee bothers you in cold weather.”
“I know you wake before sunrise even when you don’t need to.”
“I know you pretend not to like sweet coffee and then add sugar when nobody is looking.”
Thomas frowned.
“You’ve been watching.”
“For three years.”
She stepped closer.
“I know you repaired my south fence the morning after the flood without being asked.”
“I know you left lumber and walked away before I came outside because you did not want thanks.”
“I know you sit with sick calves through the night.”
“I know you talk to Gerald like he is qualified to offer advice.”
Thomas looked embarrassed.
Margaret smiled.
“And I know when you smile for real, you look younger anyway.”
He looked down.
She continued.
“So stop explaining yourself to me as if you are a defective purchase.”
Thomas’s mouth twitched.
“That is a strange comparison.”
“You started with arithmetic.”
“Fair.”
Margaret took a breath.
“When I said ten years would not be enough, I meant ten years younger would not make you more what I want.”