The Farm Hand

by Katie Cole

  “Isa, what’s —”

  “They want an interview!” she interrupts in English before he can even get his question out. She strolls into his apartment, standing by the couch with Dee and petting her on the head. “Syracuse wants to interview me! They fast-tracked my application.”

  It takes a moment for his brain to catch up with what’s going on. Minutes ago, he thought everything between Isa and him was over. Now, she’s in his apartment, the biggest grin ever on her face.

  When he absorbs her words, he smiles. “That’s incredible. I’m excited for you!” She’s going to Syracuse. He won’t be leaving her, not really.

  He strides over to the couch and wraps her in a hug. She stiffens for an instant, then puts her arms around his waist. Her breath is hot on his neck as she tucks her face into him. This was supposed to be a friendly, supportive hug. Now, though, he doesn’t want to let go as he breathes in her pomegranate scent.

  “I’m really happy for you,” he says, his tone much more subdued. They don’t usually speak English with each other, and gets a deep satisfaction from hearing her speak his language for once. He doesn’t let go, and neither does she.

  They stay like this for a few minutes, her wrapped in his arms.

  “Isa,” he says gruffly. She pulls away just enough to meet his eyes, but neither of them lets go. “I have to leave in a few weeks. My visa is about to expire.”

  One side of her mouth tilts down. “I see,” she says.

  Adam is about to continue speaking, but Isa’s lips close over his.

  This is not what he’d been expecting.

  He moves his hands up, one cupping her face and the other tangling in her hair. When she reciprocates by moving her hands down to his hips, he groans and tilts her head back so he can kiss and nip at her neck.

  “This is a bad idea,” he says between kisses. “I’m leaving soon.”

  Instead of pulling away, though, she takes his lips back in hers, kissing him like there’s no tomorrow.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Adam

  Adam wakes in the wee morning hours with Isa sprawled over him. He smiles and brushes his fingers through her hair gently. He has to get up and get started on his chores, but he wants nothing more than to lie here. The feeling of Isa in his arms is absolute bliss. He wouldn’t trade it for anything.

  After a few minutes, she stirs, her hair tickling his chest as she turns over to stretch. This puts her in the perfect position to spoon, so he turns on his side and pulls her into his chest, burying his face in her hair. She smells like pomegranates and horses, and he’s absolutely addicted to her.

  “We have to get up,” she mumbles with a sigh, but she just burrows further into him.

  They lie together until Adam’s alarm goes off. It’s not nearly long enough, but he groans and gets out of bed despite Isa’s protest. He goes to get dressed in the bathroom, and Isa curls the blanket around herself. As soon as he’s gone, Dee steals his place on the bed and rests her head on Isa’s waist over the blanket.

  “Rude,” he says, raising an eyebrow at his dog. She really seems to like Isa more than she likes him these days. He doesn’t blame her.

  When he returns and begins to put his shoes on, Isa is just to the point where she’s sitting up and stretching. He rests his hand at the hem of her top, rubbing a thumb over her hip bone and leaning over to kiss her neck. She groans and leans into him, lifting an arm to run her fingers through his mess of hair.

  Just as he’s beginning to think that they should stay in bed a little longer, Dee jumps off the bed and goes to the door, scratching her paw at it and whining, the signal that she needs to go outside. He sighs.

  “I’ll see you out there,” he says, kissing Isa on the cheek. Before he can stand again, she puts a hand on the back of his neck and pulls him in for a kiss. Her tongue traces his bottom lip tantalizingly.

  He pulls away with a groan when Dee whines again.

  “Later,” he promises, giving Isa a peck on the tip of her nose.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Isabel

  Isa spends her mornings working with horses while Adam cleans. Whenever they cross in the stable, she steals a passing kiss. At night, after her parents think she’s gone to bed, she sneaks over to Adam’s room. During the next two weekends, which both involve horse shows, they manage to spend quite a bit of time together, flirting when nobody else is around and kissing just out of sight in the tack stalls.

  Her video interview passes in a breeze, and it’s a lot less nerve-wracking than she thought it would be. Adam assures her that she’ll definitely get into Syracuse.

  She smiles but avoids talking about it any further. She’d checked tuition. She’d known the United States could have expensive universities, but there’s no possible way for her to come up with nearly seventy thousand dollars for a year of school. Even if she does get in, and even if her parents do allow her to attend, there’s no way it could happen. They aren’t poor, but that amount is far too much.

  Two weeks later, she’s lunging a saddled two-year-old bay Westphalian filly on the opposite side of the arena from Jen when her phone dings with an email alert.

  She switches the filly’s direction, and Jen calls tauntingly, “Is that your secret boyfriend?”

  The comment makes her drop her lunge whip, and the filly takes the opportunity to prick her ears back and toss her head, the bridle jingling. Isa catches a glimpse of Adam walking by, trying to stifle his laughter.

  “Of course not,” Isa says, plucking the whip from the ground. It’s not a lie, but it sure sounds like one. At least if Jen thinks a secret boyfriend is the cause of her discomfort, she won’t mention to Isa’s parents that something’s up. And they won’t have a reason to suspect that she’s with Adam.

  Jen snorts, pulling the Quarter Horse she’s riding to a stop, and then she backs him up quickly. The palomino stallion is supposed to be on the show track, so Jen has been working with him a lot lately. “What’s this boy’s name?”

  Isa rolls her eyes. Of course Jen is going to be nosy. She says the first name that pops into her head. “Sebastian.” It’s German enough. There’d been two Sebastians in her University classes her final term alone.

  The stallion stops just outside of Isa’s filly’s ring, and the filly tosses her head again. In response, Isa taps the end of the whip on the ground behind her. “Ignore him,” she instructs even though the filly doesn’t understand her words. The point of loping her in a circle is so that she learns to listen to her handler and ignore all outside influences. The point of the whip is to keep her moving, although she generally doesn’t have to so much as tap her lightly with it. A flick to the ground is enough.

  “Sebastian,” Jen says, the name rolling off her tongue. She purses her lips. “Do I know him?”

  Isa shakes her head. “No, we met at University.” Lies, lies, lies. But she has to say something to satisfy Jen so she doesn’t get suspicious.

  Jen doesn’t speak again for a while, and Isa thinks she’s going to drop the topic altogether. However, when Isa faces her in the circle, Jen is just busy dismounting the stallion.

  “I’m ready for the next one,” Jen calls toward the stable. While she loosens the stallion’s tack, she looks at Isa. “Is he cute? This boyfriend of yours?”

  At that moment, Adam walks in, a spirited Friesian colt at the end of the lead. Isa glances at him and blushes, turning her attention back to her own horse. “Yes, he is very cute.”

  She can practically feel Adam silently gloating. She knows if she looks back at him, he’ll have that adorable, smug grin on his face. She really doesn’t want to be having this conversation. She halts the filly’s lope as soon as the other two are out of her eyeline.

  “He couldn’t possibly be cuter than Adam,” Jen says, her tone teasing.

  Isa doesn’t turn to look. Jen always teases their stable hands. She’s a good fifteen years his senior, and she’s not interested in dating anyone, anyway.

>   “Oh, about the same,” Isa says, laying it on thick. “They could be related, if I think about it.”

  Adam chuckles behind her, but by the time she’s collected the filly to continue the lesson, he and the stallion are gone. He probably went to the stable to gloat some more. Or, far less likely, to do his job.

  She does her usual exercises with the filly, pulling her head each direction with the reins until she gives, tugging on the stirrups, holding herself up by the back of the saddle. These are all exercises used to prepare the filly to be ridden, but she’s not quite ready for that yet. Isa drops the lead on the filly’s neck and lets her follow her around. She has to go to the edge of the arena, where she’s stashed more tools. The one she needs is a long stick with a plastic bag on the end, meant to test the filly’s reactions and warm her up to different dangers that she could encounter so she doesn’t panic on a ride.

  Isa takes the lead back and carries the stick to the middle of her half of the arena. The bag is wrapped around the end so it doesn’t flutter and spook the filly, and she unwraps it by slowly twisting the pole on the ground. When she lifts it slightly, the filly panics at the noise and skitters to the side.

  This exercise is one of the hardest to adjust young horses to, but it’s important. Isa has been to several shows where seasoned horses startle and injure themselves or someone else because something was swept along the aisles by the wind. She just has to be patient with the filly, and, eventually, it pays off. By the end of the session, the filly is only looking at the bag warily instead of panicking at the sight of it.

  “Good girl,” Isa coos, patting her on her neck and scratching her chest. “You did so good today.”

  She puts the stick away, slowly as to not spook the filly and ruin all their progress from the day. Afterwards, she takes her into the stable. Adam is busy preparing Jen’s next horse, so Isa decides to clean up the filly herself. She untacks her in the wash bay, then proceeds to brush her before spraying her down with cool water, starting at the feet and working her way up.

  After brushing her one last time and releasing her into her stall, Isa turns around to find Adam waiting behind her with a smile on his face. “What are—” she starts, but he cuts her off by kissing her and pressing her up against the stall door.

  She groans and wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Their bodies press together, and he crooks a leg in between her thighs. There is nothing appropriate about making out with her boyfriend in the middle of the stable, but she can’t stop herself.

  A throat clears from the middle of the aisle, and Adam leaps back.

  Jen is standing there, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

  “You must be Sebastian,” she says sarcastically. Isa’s face heats up, and she has to look at the ground.

  “It’s not—” Adam starts, but Jen raises a hand up to shush him.

  “I don’t care what you two do in your spare time,” she says. “I’m not going to tell Isa’s parents, but I think you two should. Meanwhile, I would prefer it if you would do your job so that I can do mine.”

  She doesn’t really seem mad, but it’s hard to tell with Jen’s stern face. Isa bites her lip as Adam apologizes. As soon as Jen walks away, they burst into giddy laughter.

  Isa savors the moment. She doesn’t know how many of these instances they have left, and Adam is leaving in a week. In one week, this will be over.

  It’s not enough.

  It has to be enough.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Adam

  The shower water is cold tonight, but Adam doesn’t care. He wants to hurry through it anyway so he can get back to Isa, who’s waiting in his bed. He wants nothing more than to lie with her and sleep now.

  Her voice breaks through the falling water, and he’s about to call back when another voice filters into his room.

  Vinny.

  Oh, no.

  And he’s yelling.

  Adam rinses the shampoo out of his hair and hops out of the shower, barely managing to towel himself off before tugging on the sweatpants on the sink.

  When he bursts into the room, Isa is clutching his blanket to herself, eyes red, and Vinny is yelling in German too quickly for him to understand.

  “Sir, I can explain,” Adam starts, but Vinny spins on him. His face is red, his eyebrows bunched together in anger. Thank God Germans don’t own guns.

  “You don’t get to say anything. I told you to stay away from my daughter.”

  This is the type of patriarchal crap that Adam hadn’t been prepared for when coming to Germany. He’s never had to deal with an angry father, especially not while the girl is in bed. He should be prepared to defend her, but he’s so unprepared for this bizarre situation that he freezes up.

  “Leave him alone,” Isa says in German. Despite her stricken face, her voice is strong and clear. Adam should say something, needs to say something.

  Vinny doesn’t respond to his daughter’s comment, just continues to glare at Adam.

  “I want you out of my house by morning,” he says, spitting the words out in English.

  Adam’s blood runs cold. He’s getting kicked out? For what? Being in a relationship with a girl that likes him? There are so many words he wants to say, none of them polite.

  He sets his jaw. He doesn’t want to make this worse. “Fine.”

  Vinny takes a final look at Isa and storms out. He slams the door behind him.

  As soon as the door is shut, Adam goes to Isa, climbing into bed as her face collapses. Other than her reddened eyes, she’d seemed alright through the whole interaction. Now, though, she breaks down into giant heaving sobs. He pulls her into his arms and lets her cry. Of course she’s upset. He’s upset, but he isn’t going to break down, not as long as she needs him.

  He brushes one hand through her wavy brown hair and rubs her back with the other. Soon, she’s calm enough that her sobs have evolved into quieter sniffles.

  “It’s gonna be okay,” he says. “I’m sure he’s just shocked. It’ll be fine.”

  She shakes her head. “No, it’s not that. He has his reasons, but I just…I can’t…” She makes a frustrated sound and pulls away. He immediately misses her weight on his chest, but he lets go and watches her.

  “What do you mean, he has his reasons?” he asks, his voice low and gentle. He wants to understand why she isn’t mad at her father, because from Adam’s perspective, there’s nothing forgivable about that kind of behavior.

  She breathes out slowly, then pulls in another breath through her nose.

  “When I was in secondary school, I think I was sixteen,” she says, fingers playing at a loose thread on the blanket, “there was someone else living here. Another stable hand.”

  Adam’s throat closes up. He can already see where this is going. He wants to stop her, but that’s not going to erase whatever has already happened. He takes her hand, not for her, but because he needs her skin against his own.

  “I would meet up with him, spend time with him in the barn…” She hesitates, and Adam lays a hand on hers. She peers up at him, her eyes swollen from all the crying. “I slept with him.”

  Adam doesn’t want to ask.

  He has to ask.

  “How old was he?”

  She looks away, pinching her eyes shut. Adam’s heart races. No matter what the number is, he’s going to be pissed. Anything above nineteen, though, and he’s going to commit a crime.

  “Twenty-four.”

  Adam’s blood boils. He’s going to kill him. Whoever did that to her. Anyone who thinks that’s acceptable behavior needs to disappear. “What was his name?” he asks through his teeth.

  “Does it matter?” she asks.

  Yes, so I can find him and kill him.

  The fear on her face stops him in his tracks, though. “I suppose not.” He wants to wrap her in his arms and protect her. He wants to find the man who’d hurt her and destroy him.

  Dee is curled up at the bottom of the bed, and Adam run
s a hand through her silky fur. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do right now. There are no words for this.

  “Are you okay?” he asks, his voice small.

  She shrugs. “I should probably go inside and talk to him. Maybe I can convince him to let you stay.”

  Adam nods. “Okay.”

  He only has a week left, and he wants every moment he can get with her. If she can convince her parents to let him stay, it will be alright. And for a moment, he lets himself imagine that he’ll see her again in a couple months when she comes to New York for school. Maybe can get an apartment in Syracuse if he needs to.

  He watches Isa leave, and he lets out a sigh.

  No matter what happens with her family, Adam is completely screwed. Just like he knew he would, he’s fallen for Isa. Hard.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Isabel

  She can do this. It shouldn’t be hard to speak with her father. He’s generally a reasonable man. She knows that he only got mad because he’d been surprised. She goes through the house until she finds the office door open, and Mom and Dad are sitting at the desk, staring at the computer screen. They look fairly serious, and they’re speaking in hushed tones.

  Is there something going on with the farm that they’re agitated about? Or is this about Adam?

  She opens the door before realizing her mistake. The laptop on the desk isn’t Mom’s. It’s Isa’s laptop. She’d left it there after she finished finding a hotel for the NRHA futurity, a huge reining event in the United States that her parents want to attend.

  They look up at her at the same time, and her father’s face harden’s while her mother’s falls.

  “Isabel,” Dad says. He never uses her full first name. “What is this?”

  He spins the laptop around, and her email is open. Across the screen is an email from Syracuse.

  She opens her mouth, then closes it again. She must look like a fish. She should be able to explain, but really, she just wants to know what the email says. Had she forgotten something on her application?