by Kristi Rose
She rolled away from him.
Jace laughed. “Want to see the sun come up over the plains? It’s stunning.”
She stretched and buried her face in her pillow.
“Come on. Wake up.” He used his palm to give two quick prods.
“Are you serious?” She looked at him with one eye open. “What time is it?”
Jace chuckled. “Well, using my skills of deduction and seeing as how I asked if you wanted to watch the sun rise, I’d say it’s about thirty minutes until sunrise.”
She swiped at him. “It feels earlier.”
“Come on, get your lazy ass outta bed, and get dressed. Not much else prettier than a spring sunrise other than a sunset.”
She made like she wasn’t happy about it, but sprung from bed and shooed him out of the room so she could dress, but not before he got an eyeful of her long legs in the fancy silky shorts she slept in. He hadn't made it to the bottom of the stair before he heard her come out. Wow, she'd been quick about dressing, and he was impressed. His sister, Willow, took what seemed like hours to do any part of grooming. He'd assumed a city girl like Meredith would be no different, if not worse. In the kitchen, they worked as a team to get the coffee going and pack a few snacks. Jace took a coat from the hall closet and handed it to her.
“Here, use this when you’re working on the ranch. That pretty cream thing won’t last a day.” The coat, a heavy Carhartt, was one of his favorites, but he liked seeing it on her more than he wanted to wear it.
They drove in silence to the side pasture and parked so the bed faced the direction of the sunrise. They sat in the back with wool blankets across them as they sipped coffee and waited.
When the fading night moved away to allow for the multiple shades of blue and yellow to crest over the earth, Meredith sat up and set her coffee aside.
Dark blue became bright, light blue became white, and yellows burst around the edges.
“What do you think?” Jace asked from behind her.
“I’ve seen pictures in magazines,” she whispered but hated to disrupt the moment. As the minutes passed, the world came alive. Birds began to sing. In the distance, a cow lowed. “But they don’t capture this. This is…” She shook her head, unable to find the words.
“Worth getting out of bed?” He chuckled.
As the sun broke over the horizon, Meredith closed her eyes, leaned forward into the beams of sunlight, and soaked up their warmth as it fell over her. She pulled energy from this new dawn. She could do this every day. Here she could breathe. After feeling the sunrise deep into her bones, she sat back and opened her eyes. Color exploded around her.
“You are so lucky to have grown up with this.”
“Yeah, I think so, too. That’s why I won’t leave.”
She turned her attention to him. “Why would anyone?”
Jace’s laugh was more a cynical bark than amusement. “You’d be surprised.”
“No wonder your parents want to come back.”
“I think it would be good for Pops.” Jace poured her more coffee.
“Have you thought about what I suggested? The manager’s cabin.” Meredith sipped at the delicious brew that she made. Only her second pot, and it was perfect, if she did say so herself. Maybe slightly weak, but completely palatable. How lucky Marjory told her how many scoops to add per cup of water or she’d likely be drinking brown water or black sludge. Probably brown water since she had the tendency to under-do everything, thanks to her father.
“Let’s go take a look at it,” Jace said. “Ready to leave?”
She glanced back at the sunrise, which was seconds from ending. “I’d like to do this again.”
“We should make a point of doing sunrises in each season. They’re all incredible.”
“Deal, now let’s go to the cabin.” She slid from the truck bed, taking the blanket with her.
The drive back was quick, and she waited with eager anticipation as Jace walked through the cabin, pulling open closet doors and staring for far longer than she thought necessary at the bathroom. He came to stand before her, his hands on his hips, and shook his head.
She was instantly deflated. “You don’t think it’ll work for us?” Maybe he didn’t want to be this close to her; the setting would be more intimate than the house.
“I think it would be great for us, actually. But my folks will never go for it. There’s this tradition about passing down the house, and they’ll want to pass it down to us, especially while Pops is alive to see it.” Jace ducked his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “But all this place needs would be a rehab of the bathroom, and my folks could live here. It’s perfect, really. No stairs, lots of space. I could build on a sun room to the back and give them more space.” He looked around and nodded. ”Yeah, I think it’ll work, and it was a great idea.”
Meredith beamed and clapped her hands in excitement. “I’ll start cleaning it out today.”
Jace shook his head. “Don’t go nuts. When I have someone redo the bathroom, it’ll make another mess.”
She pointed at him. “Good point. But I’ll at least wash what I can. When can you get someone out here to do the restroom?”
Laughing, he wrapped an arm around her. “How about we go into town for dinner, and I can talk to a few fellas at the diner?”
Meredith pushed him away, surprised by how natural it felt to have his arm around her. There was something very pleasing about the familiarity of the entire exchange. “You better get to work then so I can get my stuff done. The sooner we do, the sooner we can start on this and give your mom and dad the privacy they deserve.” She spun on her heel and left the building.
“Where you going?” he called after her.
“To get the eggs.” It was freeing to have a task. She liked participating, and knowing she’d come up with the solution for his parents made her stand tall with self-pride. She was not as her dad wanted her to believe—useless. She wasn’t some pawn to be used in his machinations. She was a person with purpose, and now a life. Meredith fairly skipped to the coop. Letting herself into the gate, she made sure to latch it behind her. The space was large, nearly half the length of a football field, and gave the flock range to roam. The coops ran down the center of the space.
After snagging the basket from the fence, Meredith lifted the roof from the first coop and took out the eggs like Marjory had shown her. She hoped Jace was watching.
At the second house, she flipped open the roof, stuck in her hand, and let out a blood-curling scream.
Meredith hopped around the yard, chickens scattering at her feet, flapping her hands in the air wildly, and pausing only seconds to wipe them down her jeans. A basket of broken eggs lay on the ground.
Jace raced to her, jumping the fence. He caught her by the shoulders and gave a small shake. “What’s happened? Are you hurt?”
“I touched it! I had it in my hand.” She gave a violent shiver and wiped her hands again.
“Touched what?” Jace grabbed her hands and inspected them.
“The snake. Bleck. It’s a big fat snake.” She jerked her hands from his and spit on them, rubbing them together immediately following. “I will never get that feel out of my brain. So gross.”
Jace laughed and pointed to the hen houses. “Which one?”
“The second.” She moved back.
Jace lifted the roof then smiled at her from under his arm. “Milksnake. Old wives’ tale is that they drink milk from the cow’s teat. Not poisonous.”
“Oh, my God. I don’t even want to think about that.” Meredith fanned herself, not wanting to show weakness, but had the urge to plop to the ground.
“You know why he’s still in here?” Jace reached in, and with lightening quick reflexes, pulled the snake out. It dangled and coiled from his hand.
Meredith dropped to the ground. “Uh, because he was hungry?” She thought she might puke.
“That’s what brought him here, but not what kept him. He’s too fat to g
et out the small hole he came in through.” Jace pointed to the bulge in the body of the snake.
“What is that?” Meredith asked before covering her mouth.
“Looks like two eggs. Greedy bastard. If he wants eggs he’ll have to do his share of the work around here.”
“What are you going to do with him?” She rose from the ground, brushing off her jeans, but making sure not to get too close.
“I’m gonna kill him. He’s likely got a den nearby and will be back often. I can’t have him eating the chicks.”
Meredith gulped. She scanned the yard and started counting the little chicks. Unfortunately, she had no baseline to know if one was missing.
“You okay? You look a little pale.” When Jace stepped toward her, she scurried back.
“I’m a little freaked out.”
“By what? The snake or the killing?” He made a large circle around her, heading toward the gate.
“All of it I guess.” She folded her arms around herself.
Jace held the gate open for her, the snake still wiggling in his hand.
“You go on ahead,” she said.
He sighed then looked at the snake. “I can’t let him go. He’ll be back.”
“I’m not asking you to let him go.” She waited for him to walk away before going to the gate. Jace went to his truck and took out a shotgun before heading toward the copse of trees down on the east side of the prairie.
“Where are you going?” she called, walking behind him but keeping a fair distance.
Jace turned and stopped. “Listen. I’m sorry you find all this disturbing, but this is life on the ranch. You don’t like it, you should go now because this here is nothing compared to what can happen. I’m sure there’s an angry tirade about our antiquated ways and cruelty to animals but—”
“Are you telling me to go home?” She stopped in her tracks.
“I’m saying that you should leave sooner than later if this kinda thing is gonna bother you.” He nudged the snake with the tip of his gun.
Meredith searched for words, but most of the ones that came to mind were some she’d never said before. Clearly, she was feeling strongly about something, and it wasn’t the killing of a snake.
“You’re an ass.” She swiveled on her heel and marched home, mumbling those stronger words she wanted to say earlier. She’d hit the first step of the porch when the shotgun firing caused her to jump. She looked out across the prairie and found him looking in her direction, the gun pointing toward the ground. She stomped up the stairs and slammed the door, hoping the sound would echo across the range as much as the gun had.
She paced the house, looking for something, anything, to channel her anger through. She should leave? Is that how it worked here? They had a deal, and he was backing out of it? Her reaction was more disturbing than making his father happy? It made no sense.
She thought they were becoming friends, but now she should leave over being grossed out by a snake?
Men were weird.
She stomped into the kitchen and stared at the stove. As if she was going to make him any breakfast. She ate a banana and two pieces of toast while she gathered cleaning supplies, finding long latex dish gloves under the kitchen sink.
She stomped back outside and refused to look for the dumb-dumb. Passing the chicken coop, her footsteps faltered. Any eggs that had been gathered were on the ground, but there were five houses left to be cleared of eggs. She really wanted to get them. She didn’t like leaving the chore hanging. Setting the bucket of supplies on the ground, she put the dishwashing gloves on and went back to collect the eggs, pausing to check out each coop before sticking her hand inside.
Once the eggs were collected and stored back at the house, she went into the cabin. While taking down the curtains, she let the bucket in the sink fill with hot water. With the light shining in, she could see the areas that needed the most work and was making a mental list of where to start and how to progress when the front door flung open.
Jace stomped in with the shotgun in hand.
He didn’t frighten her, though. Now, had her father done the same thing, that might have scared her.
“Come with me,” he demanded.
“Please.”
He paused and looked around like he thought she didn’t hear him correctly. “Ah, um, I said come with me,” he repeated.
“No, I mean you should say please.” She’d been bossed around enough to last her a lifetime. She mixed cleaner into her water then dragged the bucket to the corner. After dipping her rag and wringing it out, she began to wash the windows and sills.
“What are you doing?” She heard him shift behind her but refused to look at him.
“I’m cleaning the cabin.” She pointed to the bucket. “This is cleaner.” She pointed to the window. “This is a window. I’m trying to get the two of them to work together since they both sort of need each other.” She finally looked at him when she said. “So far so good. Let’s hope the window doesn’t think the cleaning towel is judgmental and made from thin, useless fibers.” She swung back to the window and scrubbed until it squeaked.
“Ah, am I the window or the towel? Because earlier outside I was an ass.”
Meredith hesitated, wondering if she should back down. In reality, they barely knew each other. Though she knew he’d never get aggressive like her father, and after the finger-in-face incident on their wedding day, he seemed to mindfully choose his actions. He set the gun to lean against the side counter and tucked his hands in his pockets, his Stetson not so low on his face she couldn’t see his expression.
She bit her lip, the anger so ready to spill from her. He’d negatively judged her, and it had hurt.
Jace sighed. “Why don’t we get in the habit now of saying what we think and feel and worry about the collateral damage later.”
It was the collateral damage that scared her. Granted, an argument wasn’t as severe as losing a wife and mother in a plane accident, but the aftermath of that had changed her world drastically. She knew that an outcome’s severity could never be predicted.
Jace crossed his arms. “Listen, I’m not trying to be short, but I got some things to do and I wanted to make sure—”
“You just assumed I was judging you about your lifestyle and decisions with that stupid snake instead of asking me anything,” she said in a rush of words, shouting over him.
“It was clear you didn’t approve of what I was doing.”
“Exactly what did I do to make it clear?” She tossed the rag into the bucket and then crossed her arms.
“You nearly passed out. You went all pale and shaky.” He looked…smug? She leaned in to get a closer look. Maybe it was the shadows from the hat because, by God, if he was going to be smug, she was going to come undone.
“Did you think for a moment that maybe I was pale and shaky because I’d just picked up a snake unintentionally? Something, mind you, that I have never done before, and I had no idea what kind of snake it was or what it would do to me. You just assumed…and well, you know what they say about assume. Except this time I think assuming only made an ass out of you.”
She took a step closer, and he pushed up his hat. “You can’t tell me you were happy with me killing the snake. Lots of city folks believe animals have rights, and in some cases that is true, but this reptile—”
“Again assuming. I didn’t and still don’t care what you did to the snake. I only asked because I wanted to know what typically happens. My main focus was to get my hands washed as quickly as possible because I was pretty skeeved out.”
“So you don’t care that I killed the snake?”
Meredith snorted. “I wasn’t friends with the snake. He wasn’t my pet. It was the first time we’d met, actually.”
Jace narrowed his eyes, looking confused.
“Do I sound ridiculous? That’s because you do as well. Why not ask me what I think about something and if, by chance, I have an issue, maybe discuss it with me. Educate me. Yes, I gr
ew up in the city, but I’m not so shortsighted that I can’t understand someone else’s perspective.”
Jace’s mouth went into a thin line. He took off his hat and brushed back his hair before setting his hat back on. “This is where I should apologize to you.”
“Yes, it is.” The weight of worry lifted from her.
“Well, then. I’m sorry. You were right. I was an ass.” He gave her a small smile.
She gave him a bigger one back. “Should I record this moment? For prosperity and record keeping?”
Jace chuckled. “You might.” He took another few steps closer until he was in front of her. “I suppose this was our first fight.” He took another step and backed her against the wall.
“I suppose it was. Should we be concerned that it’s not been forty-eight hours, and we’re fighting?”
He shook his head. “I hear good things happen after couples fight.”
“Like what.” She stared up at him, her breath caught in her throat, anticipation eating her up. Her decisions from last night evaporated from the heat of her need.
“Things like this.” He ducked his head and wasted not another second pressing his mouth to hers, caressing her with his tongue.
Meredith wrapped her arms around his neck and melted into him.
“Maybe we should try this just once,” he murmured against her lips.
“It's worth considering,” she said while stretching closer to him.
The sound of a horn repeatedly blowing outside as it came closer broke them from their intentions. Jace leaned and looked out the window she'd been cleaning.
“It's Willow,” he said, following it with a heavy sigh. “Get your game face on. If my sister were a dog, she’d be a pit bull. She's tenacious.”
Meredith pressed a finger to her swollen lips before straightening her shirt and then patting her hair. “Do I look disheveled?”
Jace scanned her before grabbing her hand and tugging her to the door. “Yes, but that's a good thing. It'll help with getting her to believe our story.” Once out the door, he slowed his stride and slung an arm around her shoulder. Willow, a tall dark-haired girl in a skirt, flowy shirt, and cowboy boots was half way up the stairs to the house when Jace let out an ear-piercing whistle. She stopped short and swung around, then bounded back down the stairs toward them.