Barking Up the Wrong Tree

by Sawyer Bennett

  Jake pays our bill when he says it’s time for them to hit the road, and we all walk out of Central Cafe together. Jake’s rental is parked parallel on the street just half a block down. I walk with them, and I don’t shirk away when Jake takes my hand in his.

  He opens the door for Darby. When she settles herself into the passenger seat, he closes it gently. I take a step back, but he’s having none of it, his hands going to my waist to pull me close to him.

  “Can I see you tonight?” he asks as his eyes bore into mine, and I know the need in them is probably mirroring my own. It’s been a long two days without.

  “Of course,” I tell him, and lean in to give him a sendoff kiss so he can get to the airport.

  Instead, his hands move to my shoulders to hold me slightly away from him. My head tilts in question.

  “Pap still getting out of the hospital tomorrow?” Jake asks.

  “Yeah… that’s the plan,” I confirm. Pap has done amazing since the surgery and his “innards all seem to be working fine” is what he told Mama last night. She then relayed it to us kids.

  Jake nods, looks down the street for a moment, and then back to me. “I know you’ll want to do some visiting with him.”

  I just nod at him, because he’s being a little weird right now and I’m not sure what he wants me to say.

  “I’ve got to go back to Chicago on Sunday,” he says, and I’m not prepared for the crushing feeling that takes root in the center of my chest, because I can hear it in his voice.

  He means he’s going back for good.

  “But… Miss Goatikins,” I stammer, because she’s my only real hope of keeping him here.

  “Things have been so busy with Kelly and Darby being here, and Pap’s surgery, that I didn’t get to tell you. MG’s eating from Carlos as well as nursing a little from her dam.”

  “That’s great,” I say with a plastic smile, cringing internally as I hope Jake doesn’t notice how fake that sounds even to myself.

  Jake nods distractedly, and I can tell his mind is far away from his little goat. He slides his hands from my shoulders up my neck to frame my face. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. Darby will be here in two weeks, Carlos is doing fine, and well… MG doesn’t need me.”

  I bite down on my tongue so I don’t scream, But I need you.

  And oh, God. This is it. It’s goodbye.

  “Will you come to Chicago to see me next weekend?” Jake says, and I jerk in surprise by the invitation as I obviously wasn’t expecting it.

  “You want me to come to Chicago?”

  “Yes,” he says with a smile. “You can get some big city that you love, and we can maybe catch a baseball game or something.”

  My gaze falls to the sidewalk, and I stare at my work boots and Jake’s fancy loafers standing almost toe to toe.

  “What’s the problem, Laken?” Jake asks, and I’m forced to look up to him to answer.

  “You want to still see each other?”

  Jake digs his teeth down into his lower lip for a moment, then says, “I like you, Laken. I’m not ready for this to end, and I thought maybe we could see each other long distance. You could come up to me some weekends, and I could come down here. I have no clue if it’s workable, but I’d like to try.”

  My mind starts trying to filter through every single reason why I should say no, and I can’t think of a single one. I like Jake. I do want to continue to see him. I think I could get crazy about him too, as long as we continue to take things slowly and I can continue to build trust.

  “I couldn’t come a lot,” I point out. “I’m not made of gold like you, so I can’t afford too many plane trips there.”

  Jake grins at me. “I’ll buy your plane tickets so that’s not a problem.”

  I don’t smile back. “Actually… it is a problem. If you want me to come to you, then I’ll pay for my own fare.”

  No way am I going to fall back into a trap where some man snookers me with trips and jewelry and other luxuries. That’s not been an issue here because Jake’s been just like a regular farmer dude while he’s been here. He’s going back to a lifestyle that I know a little about and don’t trust at all.

  “Okay,” he says with a nod. “You pay for your ticket. But I’m paying for everything else because it’s a date weekend and that’s just the old-fashioned way I roll.”

  “Fine,” I say with a smirk. “Then I’ll come this weekend. I have to change a few appointments, but they were just routine exams I can put off to the following weekend.”

  “Awesome,” Jake says, and this time his smile is blinding. He pulls me in and my mouth touches his for the softest, sweetest kiss he’s ever bestowed on me. When we break apart, he murmurs, “That makes me very happy.”

  “It makes me happy, too,” I tell him honestly.

  CHAPTER 21

  Pap

  Figures.

  No sooner do I get settled in my recliner so I can watch Live with Kelly and Ryan—which is nowhere as good as Live with Kelly and Michael—there’s a knock on my door. I’m still sore from the surgery a week ago, but I don’t want anyone to know that, so rather than just yelling, “Come in,” I push out of the chair to see who’s visiting now.

  I love my family.

  But I also want them to leave me alone for a bit. This past week I’ve been swarmed by them all feeling the need to come babysit Pap, and this old man doesn’t need to be coddled or treated like a child.

  So I’m a bit cantankerous when I pull the door open and say, “What?”

  Laken stands there, her hand raised to perhaps knock again. She levels me with a big, sassy grin and says, “You’re awful cheerful this morning.”

  I growl under my breath, but she’s undaunted, walking right past me into my apartment. I close the door and lay it out straight so hopefully this will be a short visit. Kelly and Ryan are waiting for me.

  “I’m fine. Have all my energy back. A little sore, but nothing that can’t be knocked out with a few Ibuprofen, but I’m too tough and ornery to even take them. So I don’t need you checking up on me, and I don’t need anything.”

  I say all of this to her back because she ignores me as she heads to the couch. She sits on the edge, folds her hands over her knees, and says, “I’m not here to check up on you.”

  “You’re not?” I ask suspiciously as I ease myself down into the recliner. I do an admirable job of holding back the slight wince as there’s still a pinching pain where they cut into me to remove ten centimeters of my colon.

  She shakes her head. “I talked to Lowe and Mely yesterday. They told me they came to see you and you said the same exact thing, so I figured you’re fine.”

  I narrow my eyes at her even more. This sounds way too easy and there must be an ulterior motive. “Then what are you doing here?”

  Without hesitation, Laken says, “I need your advice.”

  I blink in surprise, not because one of my grandkids needs advice. They need advice all the time, and I impart it to them without any invitation. I am surprised that she’s asking for it as Laken is the headstrong one in the family who always finds her own way on her own timeline.

  I’m also surprised she’s coming to me. I’m no fool, and I know her wanting advice has to do with Jake. I’m not sure why she’s sitting here rather than at her twin sister’s.

  “Why me?” My curiosity is dying to know.

  She rolls her eyes at me, and I’m not sure if I like the truthfulness of her answer. “Because you’re older than Methuselah which means you have the most wisdom in this family.”

  I let that pass because it’s a legitimate statement and I’ve never ever tried to curb my grandkids’ sass and snark. They get it honestly from me.

  “Lay it on me,” I tell her as I settle back and kick up the footrest on my recliner.

  Laken leans forward, her hands clenching tight. “Okay… so as you know, Jake went back to Chicago for good as he’s not needed at the farm anymore.”

  I nod. �
�He came to say goodbye.”

  Laken gets a wistful smile of appreciation on her face, which tells me plenty. She’s utterly charmed that he would come say farewell to her old pap.

  But then she shakes her head as if to clear it and continues. “I’m on my way to go visit him for the weekend. He wants to try to date long distance.”

  “Sounds like a legitimate plan.” I knew that boy was crazy about my Laken, so this doesn’t surprise me.

  “But does it?” she asks me almost aggressively. “He lives in Chicago. He runs a corporation from there. I have a business in the middle of nowhere. Our lives couldn’t be more different, so what’s the point of this?”

  I blink in surprise at Laken, because she’s never once in the thirty years I’ve known this child ever sounded so pessimistic. Sure, she can be stubborn, headstrong, closed off at times, and unpredictable. But she’s always met challenges head-on and chin up. She may be scared on the inside, but I’ve never seen anything shining from her eyes but hope for the best.

  “The point is,” I tell her gently, “that you continue to see if there’s something strong enough that will push you closer together.”

  “Or it will prove we don’t have what it takes to make it,” she says glumly.

  “There’s that,” I agree. “But since when do you shy away from a risk like that?”

  I don’t know what happened to my spitfire Laken Mancinkus somewhere in her past, but the shadow that falls across her face tells me that something significant happened to make her feel vulnerable and unsure of herself when it comes to Jake and the distance between them.

  There’s no sense in asking her about it because it’s clearly personal, but I go about it in another way. “What do you want out of life?”

  She blinks at me. “Huh?”

  “What are your long-term goals?”

  Her brows furrow inward, and it’s like the child has never once considered her future. How that can be at thirty years of age is beyond me, but then she says, “I want what every Mancinkus wants.”

  My lips curl up, because she’s getting somewhere fast. “Go on.”

  “We’re all about family. I want that one day. A family of my own. And I want it with someone I can trust and who will respect me for me. I want it with someone who drives me crazy in a good way.”

  “And where do you want that to happen?” I ask.

  Again, her brow furrows. “I think I want it here.”

  “You didn’t always,” I take a guess. Because Laken didn’t come home right away after veterinary school. She stayed in Raleigh at some big fancy practice for a few years.

  “The big city isn’t all it’s cracked up to be for me.” Her voice is hollow and defeated, but I know her knocking big city life isn’t what this is all about.

  “Cities are just a location. You can have a family anywhere.”

  “Maybe,” is all she says as her gaze drops to her hands.

  “It doesn’t matter where you are,” I say, and her eyes come back to me filled with desperation for the right answer. I’m not sure if it’s right, but I give her the advice she originally asked for. “As long as you’re with the right person, and that is something you will know in your gut. If you don’t know it in your gut, then he’s not the right person.”

  It’s fascinating but I see both relief and fear in her eyes, and I suspect it’s because I just told her exactly what she wanted to know, what she already knew her in heart, and still didn’t have a clue how to take the risk to see if there’s a reward.

  So I offer one more piece of advice. “Just take it day by day and see where it goes. You don’t have to have the exact answer right now.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Jake

  I unlock the door to my condo and push it open for Laken to precede me in. I carry her suitcase and note that my hands are sweating from nerves.

  Nervous because I see my condo exactly the way Laken must be seeing it right now. Before it was a source of pride and a measure of my success. Expensive hardwoods, sleek high-end appliances, and elegant furniture. A view of the city that many would kill for.

  But I’m worried Laken is seeing nothing but the type of life that was ripped away from her when she was in love with a guy who probably had a similar standard of living that I do.

  Will she remember I’m still just the same Jake McDaniel who rearranged my business life so I could return to Whynot and nurse a baby goat several times a day?

  “It’s beautiful,” Laken murmurs as she moves to the living room balcony. She doesn’t step outside but just looks over the city.

  Setting the suitcase down, I decide not to let my worries ruin the weekend and give Laken the benefit of the doubt. She said she wouldn’t compare me to Dr. Jackass, and I’m going to have to assume that still holds true.

  I step up behind her and she sinks into me as I wrap my arms around her waist.

  “I’m glad you came,” I murmur. “Even if we do nothing but stand right here, I’m a happy camper.”

  Laken laughs and turns in my arms. She links her hands behind my neck and smiles up at me. “I think we can come up with some better things to do.”

  “Well, yeah,” I drawl like she’s the one being obtuse. “Totally tons of other fun stuff. Much of it we could do right in my bedroom down that hall.”

  “Now that sounds like an excellent plan,” Laken practically purrs, and my skin seems to tighten all over with need for her.

  “But I have reservations for us at this fancy-schmancy restaurant that I wanted to impress you with,” I tell her, but by the tone of my voice, she can tell I think the idea that we head to my bedroom is way better.

  “Do you have food in your refrigerator?” she asks.

  “Probably. I think so. I have someone who cooks for me each week.”

  “Lifestyles of the rich and famous,” she mutters, but her smile doesn’t lessen. “Let’s stay in tonight. It’s been a long week, I just flew in, and I’d kill to just chill with you.”

  “And by chill, you mean sex, right?” I ask with a grin.

  “Yes, that’s what I mean,” she says drolly.

  “Let’s go do that first,” I say as I take her by the hand and start dragging her toward my bedroom. “Then we’ll eat.”

  I’m rewarded with Laken’s husky, sexy laugh behind me all the way.

  ♦

  “This isn’t bad,” Laken says as she takes a bite of the rice pilaf.

  She has on one of my white undershirts and her hair is a tangled mess. Sitting cross-legged on one of my dining room chairs, she looks casual and sexy and like she was made to live in this condo with me.

  “Helen has a way with food,” I say after I swallow a bite of honey-Dijon chicken.

  “I wish I had someone to cook for me,” Laken muses as she waves her fork at me. “Fruit Loops get so boring after a while.”

  “Come visit me more often and you’ll get to enjoy Helen’s food,” I quip right back.

  Stabbing the fork in the air at me, her expression turns smug. “You’re addicted to me, aren’t you?”

  “Quite possibly,” I tell her honestly, because this past week while I’ve been here in Chicago and she’s been back in North Carolina, I’ve only thought of her about a thousand times a day.

  My revelation causes Laken’s cheeks to turn pink and her eyes to lower bashfully.

  I’m sitting across the table from her so I can’t just reach out and make her look at me. So I tease her instead to get her attention. “Surely that admission didn’t make confident, take-no-prisoners Laken Mancinkus uncomfortable?”

  Her eyes snap back to mine and there’s fire in them now. “Of course not.”

  “It’s not like I asked you to marry me,” I continue teasing her.

  “And I’d say no if you did,” she huffs.

  “I mean… I’m completely fine with just having sex all the time,” I offer.

  “Exactly,” she says as she puts her fork down and stands up from her chair. “
In fact, let’s go right now and reestablish the way things are.”

  Laughing, I push out of my chair, round the table, and sweep Laken up into my arms. She grumbles and huffs, pushing uselessly at my chest as I dump her over the back of the couch. I then hop over and lower myself down onto her.

  She’s trapped beneath me and looking totally affronted.

  Bending down, I kiss her nose. “You’re cute and so easy to rile up.”

  “I’m not riled up,” she sniffs.

  “Laken… you know this isn’t casual anymore so why don’t you just fess up and admit you might be addicted to me, too? It would make things a lot easier if you quit fighting this.”

  “Fighting what?” she tosses back at me with a tiny snarl of frustration. “You live in Chicago. I live way far away from Chicago. Our lives are so different, and I don’t want a long-distance relationship.”

  This surprises me enough that I push up slightly so I can see her better. “Laken… baby… this is new. This is all we can do right now. It’s either go our separate ways or take the bits of time that we can have together.”

  “I know,” she snaps angrily, but just as quickly she sucks in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. Her voice is calmer and apologetic. “I know. I’m just… this is just discombobulating for me. I shut myself off so tight to the possibility of any relationship because I didn’t want to be hurt again.”

  “You said you wouldn’t compare me to him,” I can’t help to point out.

  She shakes her head. “I’m not comparing you to him. It’s not about the similarities you have but really about the differences.”

  “We can work around the distance issue,” I tell her confidently.

  Laken pushes her hands against my chest, and I sit up to give her some space. She pulls herself up into a sitting position on the couch, coming to her knees so we’re face to face. “You want children one day, right?”

  This takes me by such surprise I can’t actually answer for a moment. My head is nodding before the words come out. “Yes. Of course.”