The Great Gift (Contemporary Romance - Urban Life)

by WRIGHT, MISTY

  "I've about had enough," she yelled into the wind. "Kent, you can take your good looks and masculinity and go back to your cows. In two weeks, I'm out of here."

  The cowboy turned around. "Did you say something?" he called from the edge of her sight.

  Alyssa stormed up to him and raised her fist. "Men!"

  Together they struggled against the wind in silence. Alyssa was fuming on the inside. She wasn't in the least bit interested in what Kent had to say as he showed her around the outpost.

  "Workaholic," she whispered behind his back.

  The area was comprised of dirt and dried weeds. To their left on top of a small rise, a windmill was whizzing around in the wind and pumping water into the dam at a high speed. Overhead, an eagle stopped circling and flew away.

  "What are you thinking?"

  "The Oasis, is it like this place?" Alyssa yelled.

  Kent reached out and patted an escaping curl on the side of her head. "Don't," she snapped, and pushed his hand away. "It's a bad hair day, and-"

  "And what?"

  She lowered her gaze to ground level. "I want out of the bet," she blurted. Her shoulders sagged slightly when she heard the words she was only thinking. They sounded dry, almost hostile. She suddenly wanted to run, to get away. She didn't want to hear Kent's remarks to her request. It wasn't as though she cared what his response was. Why had she agreed on making that stupid, childish bet? She stiffened as he touched her hair again.

  "I like your wind-blown locks," he whispered. "I love the way your long hair would cascade over your shoulders and glisten in the sun if it weren't tied back." He reached out and pulled at her hair tie, allowing her hair to fall.

  Alyssa watched his eyes soaking up the look of her as her hair fell over her shoulders and hung heavily. She rudely pushed his hand away. The look he gave her betrayed how he might feel about her. She wondered how he could be so callous if he wasn't at all interested in her. She reached up, slipped her fingers through his black hair and pulled him close. He squinted as she felt warm liquid ooze over her fingers.

  "You're bleeding," she said, pulling her hand away.

  Kent grabbed her hand and gently closed her fingers one at a time, then bowed his head and kissed her knuckles. "It's okay. I'm tough."

  "You're hurt. You have to let me take a look," said Alyssa.

  "Later."

  Lightning lit up the sky. "Why are you so stubborn?" she said.

  "There's no time. We have to be going. Besides, I think you're trying to put me off- guard about the bet."

  Is this moment all it was, only a moment? "Was this your plan all along, to get me off- guard and surrender all hope in winning the bet?" Alyssa said.

  Kent looked hurt.

  Alyssa glared and took a step back. 'Don't you dare,' she screamed inside her mind. 'I'm here for two weeks, I'll win the bet and then I'm going back to the city, to my office and my desk and when I get home, I'm going to forget all about you and this desolate place. How dare you look at me through big seductive eyes? I've seen that look too many times before. I totally gave my heart to Brandt and he tore it in half. He didn't love me. He only wanted to use me for his stupid television advertisements.' She turned and walked towards the plane.

  Kent followed, caught up and grabbed her by the arm. "I'm sorry if I've offended you."

  She pulled her arm away. "Don't you have work to do?" she snapped.

  He bit his bottom lip. "Yes, we do," he said. Kent started unloading the plane. He looked up. "I need you to help. That's the job description of a jillaroo."

  Alyssa stood square to her employer in silence. Together they had the plane unloaded in fifteen minutes. The wind had picked up drastically and she felt the first drops of rain on her bare arms. She couldn't believe the sky could get any darker, but it was happening before her eyes.

  A lightning bolt hit the ground and following close behind was the all too familiar deep rumble of thunder. Alyssa's eyes widened as fear tugged at her mind. She felt a tingle travel down her spine from the warmth of the lightning bolt. She let go of a muffled scream.

  "Apology accepted," she puffed, and wiped the sweat from her face. "Do we have to spend a lot more time out in this storm?"

  "Come on," said Kent. "If we hurry, we'll be inside the house before the rain turns into a downpour."

  "Hurry to do what?" Alyssa didn't really want to know, but she was there to work and was determined to see it through to the finish line.

  "We have to walk the fence line," said Kent.

  She frowned and followed him as another rumble nearly deafened her. "Why? It's about to rain." She was convinced it must be an initiation test to see if she'd buckle.

  Kent looked at the dark swirling clouds overhead. "I agree. We have to move faster. The quicker we check the fence, the quicker we can get out of here."

  His words were blown away in the wind and then drowned in the rumble of the thunder. Kent forced Alyssa to stop every few minutes as he tugged on the fence wire. She studied the wind as it swept across the dust-dry topsoil at full tilt. The few weeds that managed to survive in the dry conditions were bent and touching the ground. The dust stung her eyes and buried grains of clay in her hair. A large drop of rain fell on the bridge of her nose.

  Alyssa looked to the heavens and copped a drop of water between her eyes. "Kent, it's starting to rain," she said. He faced the wind and was immediately stung by flying dust. He looked skywards, nodded and grabbed her hand.

  "We've no time to waste," said Kent.

  Alyssa wanted to pull her hand free of his strong grip, but she was tiring in the gale and decided against it. She could hear the reverberating throb of the windmill as it whirled around. The water that was being pumped up out of the ground had already half filled the dam. The wind started to wobble the wire fence, making a high-pitched howl. She looked back at the shrinking house through slits, spat dirt, cupped her hand around half her mouth and yelled over the noise of the wind.

  "I think the storm's going to beat us to the finish. Do you want to stop and check the rest of the fence tomorrow?" she said.

  "No," Kent yelled back. "We can check the wire fence as we jog, but we have to keep going." Alyssa watched his shrinking form as Kent sprinted off along the fence.

  "Easy for you to say," she groaned, and started to trot.

  The wind lashed at her jeans and forced her to walk time and time again. She could barely make out Kent's frame through the swirling dust. She watched him stop, pull at the fence and then run off again. Alyssa stumbled on a weed and fell face-first into the dirt. She groped for the fence and grimaced in pain. She felt warm liquid trickling along her arm. Staggering to her feet, she looked up, hoping Kent had seen her fall. All she saw was dust, swirling dust. The rain started falling hard and fast. Double lightning bolts lit the sky.

  "The sun's long gone," she mumbled as she started to count the seconds, waiting for the thunder. "Three. The storm is only three or so kilometers away."

  She squatted as lightning again forked across the sky. Again the thunder boomed. She hugged the ground as the next round of lightning hit a tree not far from the windmill.

  "Two kilometers," she rasped, counting the seconds again.

  Alyssa stood and almost immediately felt defeated. Dropping to her knees in the middle of a dry outback paddock, she cried. Her tears created dirty streaks over her cheeks as they mixed with the dust and sand that was flying through the air. Alyssa searched the land ahead. Through her tears, the rain and dust, and half-closed eyes, she called for her knight in shining armor.

  "Kent, please come back."

  All she heard was the wind lashing harder against her light shirt and jeans. Dust stung every part her skin that was exposed to the elements. Directly above her, the sky had lost all light. Was it her imagination or was the thunder unbelievably louder? She was so exhausted she couldn't be sure. Forked lightning again lit up the sky. The desert landscape resembled a picture out of a disaster movie. The dry, dusty la
nd was fast turning into mud.

  "Welcome to the desert," she mumbled. Her mouth was instantly filled with dirt. Her hair flapped behind her like a flag in a storm and started to knot.

  Puddles of water were flowing together to form small creeks that were gaining momentum as the rain changed to a torrential downpour. Flash after flash of forked lightning lit the sky. Thunderclaps seemed to roll together as one.

  In the semi-darkness, Alyssa lifted her hand and saw blood pouring from a second hole in her arm. A piece of barbed wire had broken off and had found a new home in her skin. She yanked the rusty metal splinter out and threw it at the ground.

  "I don't remember gouging myself on the wire fence," she said.

  Lightning split a tree in half fifty meters to her right. She ducked and covered her head as the tree crashed to the ground.

  "One and a half," she counted. The heavens rumbled and the earth seemed to shake under her feet. "The storm's closing in fast."

  Alyssa staggered onwards, determined to catch up to Kent and give him a good scolding. She fumed at each step, wondering why he had left her all alone. This must be an initiation to see how much mud she could move as it stuck to her boots. Or was it a practical joke gone horribly wrong?

  "The jury is out on both ideas," she said.

  Alyssa could barely see through the torrent of rain. She clutched at the wire fence, hoping her arms would help her feet to move.

  At last, her fingers felt the corner fence post and she changed direction. The wind was no longer in her face. Instead, it was pushing her sideways, away from the fence and toward the huge dam. She felt relieved. As long as she clung to the fence, the dam would not be a problem. She shuddered from her head to her feet.

  "I would certainly drown if I was to fall in the dam," she mumbled.

  Alyssa pulled her hair from her mouth and pressed on with a renewed confidence. It was like a small victory. She smiled inwardly and tried to pick up her slow snail's pace.

  Alyssa had walked twenty-seven paces when she started to feel tired again. Her legs felt like concrete-filled pipes. She knew her strength was depleting, and fast. She stopped to wipe the blood from her fingers and managed to scrunch her last tissue over the cut.

  Alyssa looked ahead. The noise wasn't the thunder and the dull light she was focusing on wasn't lightning. She frowned and shielded her eyes with bloody hands that were wet and muddy.

  Alyssa tried to walk towards a small light that seemed to be heading her way, but the mud under her feet made stepping almost impossible. She started to slip and slide. Her headway was practically zero.

  "This is worse than ice-skating," she groaned.

  She was beyond exhaustion. The warm feelings she had toward Kent had been reversed to total anger over being abandoned. Standing in the rain and bleeding from her hand, she started to cry.

  The light came steadily closer. It seemed relentless in its quest to collide with her. The noise that accompanied the light, Alyssa thought, sounded familiar. She squared her shoulders. Her mud-caked eyelids strained to stay open as she squinted through the rain, trying to focus on what was coming toward her. Though she was completely exhausted, she stared at the light as it slowly brightened. It was traveling at a high speed a meter off the ground. Whether she liked it or not, the light was coming. She gave a rock near her foot a cursory glance and grinned as she stooped to pick it up. Her long, wet fingers curled around its jagged surface. Taking careful aim, she hurled the rock through the air. She heard a thud and frantically searched for another. The small bouncing light was relentless.

  Wet, muddy strands of Alyssa's long hair flapped in her eyes. Her new jeans were soaked and clung to her legs.

  The next rock she found was bigger. It was the size of her hand. She lifted her arm and concentrated all her efforts into the perfect throw. The rock hovered in her hand over her head as she waited patiently for the light to come within kicking distance.

  The light stopped a few meters from her and she dropped the rock. The familiar chug, chug, chug glued a weary smile to her face. She stumbled, one foot in front of the other, and stood in front of the light. She was too tired to know whether to scream, shout, or kiss Kent. Standing in the middle of a storm, soaked to the skin looking at a grinning man on a motorbike was too good to refuse. Her chiding could wait for later.

  "I believe I'm going your way. Care for a lift, miss?" said Kent.

  Alyssa swung her leg over the seat and grabbed Kent around the waist. Through his rain-soaked shirt, she could feel his washboard abs and hugged him tighter.

  The bike fishtailed down the fence line and back to the house. At full throttle, Kent steered the bike into the huge steel shed and stopped at the last second. He killed the light and flicked the bike's ignition switch to the 'off' position.

  For a long moment, Alyssa remained frozen on the back of the bike listening to the wind and the rain. Lightning and the thunder melted her hands away from Kent's waist and eventually she slowly stepped down from the bike.

  "Come on, let's get inside the house and put the kettle on," said Kent, producing a large brass key.

  They tracked mud into the small back room, which was not much bigger than a toilet cubicle. Kent closed the outer door, blocking out the storm. For a few seconds, the silence was uncomfortable.

  Kent opened the inner door and stepped out of his muddy boots. He turned his head and held out his hand. "Surrender your sneakers to me and then we can go inside." He grabbed Alyssa's sneakers and placed them upside down on two waist-high poles, in the rain. "Don't worry about them; it won't be long before they're clean. I call the vertical poles the bush washing machine."

  Alyssa didn't argue the point. She was glad to have the extra weight off her aching legs. Inside the house, she was shocked at the neatness. No dust, no draft and no water on the floor.

  "Nothing but the best for the Stanton folk out here," said Kent. "I know the house looks bad on the outside, but I've worked hard to make it livable."

  "You?" she asked.

  He looked sheepish. "Yes, my brother and I have worked on this place for six months. You should have seen it before we started. What a mess! My brother helped where he could."

  "What about the broken window, the decayed front steps?"

  "My brother broke the step and fell through the window last week. He fell off the ladder fixing the gutter, too. He's okay. We had a good laugh over a beer. That's what the glass is for in the plane. I wanted to fix the window before we sold the place."

  Alyssa watched Kent gaze at the window and sigh.

  "The financial problems are not of your concern." He walked into the kitchen and put the kettle on. Alyssa heard a generator start up and smirked.

  "Country living," she mumbled, and slowly walked around, taking in the room's décor- what there was of it-a couple of wooden chairs and a broken wooden coffee table. The mantelpiece over the fireplace had seen better days, though the brick chimney looked like it was in mint condition.

  Outside, the wind kept up its howling. Alyssa peered through the window and spied her luggage sitting in the rain, in the mud. She squealed.

  Kent came running. "What's wrong?" he asked.

  "All my dry clothes are in that bag. I must have dropped it when we were unloading the plane." Kent rushed out into the rain and rescued the wet bag.

  "It's okay," said Kent. "I'll start a fire and dry some of your clothes."

  "Thank you."

  He brought the bag into the lounge, raced back into the kitchen and returned with two steaming mugs of coffee. He sat Alyssa in a chair and told her to rest.

  She managed a faint smile. Then her grin faded and was replaced by a frown. "Where were you? Why did you have to leave me alone in the rain?"

  "Sorry, I thought the best thing was to sprint all the way to the house as I checked the fences. I knew where you were and knew you'd be safe until I returned with the trail bike. If I hadn't done what I did, we'd still be out there in the storm." Kent raised his
eyebrows that changed his wet face into that of a soft and friendly little boy's. "I apologize. If it wasn't for me making you walk the fence line, you'd be dry as powder."

  He shed his soaking wet shirt and flung it outside on top of another wooden pole. Alyssa's anger melted as her eyes feasted on his upper muscular torso. He had a magnificent athletic shape, washboard abs and shoulders as wide as a body builder's. She chuckled. "Let me guess, the poles are your only means of washing."

  "You guessed it."

  Kent started humming as he brought a cooler into the room. He reached in and grabbed two bottles of beer. "Like one?"

  Alyssa raised her hand. "No thanks."

  He noticed her bloody hand and turned her arm over.

  "That looks bad," he said, looking more closely. "I'll fetch the first aid kit and do a bush patch-up job." Alyssa grinned at his schoolboy expression and pushed deep into the chair. Every muscle in her body ached and she felt exhausted, but didn't want it to show. She kept a steady, determined look and decided to keep up with Kent no matter what.

  A moment later, Alyssa closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  Felt Like Being in the Middle of a Tug of War

  Alyssa moaned and then stirred from her sleep. She slightly opened her right eye and stared as if hypnotized by the flickering fire. She felt the warmth of the flames on her face. She then struggled to open her left eye. Slowly it matched the other; then, tilting her head, she looked around. The room was shrouded in darkness and shadows danced on the walls. No one else was about. She swept the blanket from her face and started to replay the day's hours. The office where she had met Kent, the plane trip, the storm, the fence and then a photo flash of Kent's muscular body brought a smile to her lips.