She nodded and said, “Thanks.”
Okay, definitely time to change the subject. “So what do I need to know in order to be prepared for Zumba?”
Ruthie smiled big again, did a little wiggle of her hips and said, “You just need to be willing to shake your hips. And with your ass, I’m sure that you will look fabulous doin’ it. And, um, really the only other thing is that you hopefully like Shakira and similar music, because that’s what you’re gonna live with for the next hour or so.”
********
Back in my apartment, freshly showered and lotioned, I was deciding what clothes to wear.
Zumba was awesome. It totally kicked my ass, but it was totally enjoyable. I decided to take off the breakfast shift every once in a while and go with Ruthie. Jezzy seemed to like it too, though let me tell you, if I thought her boobs bounced before, they really did in a tight workout halter while she shook her hips with all she had.
After debating for awhile, I pulled on my jeans and a pink tank, and tied on my converse. Who knew what we would be involved in today, and I wasn’t going to wrestle a calf in Mary Janes. I planned on being involved in everything. If we were going around because Tuck had to help people, I was going to help too. I wasn’t one to sit back and watch the action.
A knock on my door startled me. Sweet holy Jesus, was it Eleven already? As I made my way down the hall and past the kitchen I looked at the clock on the microwave. 10:45. He was early. Oh man, this was trouble. I had planned on having another Coke before he got here.
I opened the door, ready to call him out for committing such a crime when he stuck his hand towards my face. I took it in to notice that, enclosed in that hand, was a Coke. Okay, so I could hold off on killing him.
“You’re lucky. I was just plotting your murder because you had cut off my second Coke of the day. Turns out I’ll let you live for a little while longer.”
He chuckled and I used that moment to take him in. He was wearing jeans (of course), a tight navy blue t-shirt and his workboots. He also had on a fitted black ball cap, backwards, and a day’s worth of stubble on his face. He was rugged. And fucking gorgeous.
“I would never come between a woman and her Coke. Well, this woman and her Coke, anyway. As for being early, I have no excuse. I’m just usually early.”
Well, there were worse qualities in a man, I suppose. Though, if he was early with other women, he probably spent some time waiting. “Alright, well, just let me lock up and we can go.”
I headed to the island to get my keys and purse and shouted, “So where are we headed first?”
Only, I turned around and found that he had followed me in and was right behind me.
“Well, hello there.”
He ignored me and stated, “Place looks good.”
“Why, thank you. I had not one thing to do with it.”
That got me another smile. His smile was the best. That was going to be my goal for the day. I wanted to get as many smiles out of him as possible.
We walked back towards the door, I set the alarm and locked up, and then followed him out. I froze. Holy shit, there were two horses there. Saddled and ready to go.
“Um, horses?”
“Yep.”
“Am I going to get any more explanation than that?”
He just shrugged. “Figured this would be easiest and the most fun. We’re gonna need ‘em later at the Anderson place anyway.”
“Weren’t you worried that I might not know how to ride?”
“Nah. You don’t seem like you’re scared of much.”
Well, he got that right. When it came to myself, I was never scared of much of anything.
“Alright, well lucky for you, I can ride. It’s been awhile, but you never forget.” I had ridden quite a bit in Georgia where I grew up. Nothing intense, but we used to do trail rides and a little team sorting for fun.
“Nope.”
“Okay, who am I riding today?”
Both of his eyebrows shot up, reminding me that I was talking to a male. Jesus.
“What horse! Geez! Get your head out of the gutter!”
He chuckled, took the reins of a bay quarter-horse, and pulled him over to me. He was pretty short and stocky with a white star on his face. “This is Hatch. He’s a gelding, he’s not too temperamental, and we had a talk about him bein’ real careful with you.”
I stepped over to Hatch and held the back of my hand out for him to smell me (A horse gets to know you by smell.). As he got familiar with me I turned my hand over and rubbed it up and down the middle of his face. He leaned his face into my hand and seemed to savor the attention.
“I think you and me are going to get along just fine, Hatch.” Tuck watched closely as I bonded with his horse. He looked like he liked what he was watching but snapped his face back to it’s mocking smirk and said, “Ok. If you girls are done gabbin’ we better get movin’.”
I ignored him and kept murmuring to Hatch, “Don’t you listen to him buddy. He’s just a grumpy old man. If you’re a girl, you’re the most handsome girl I’ve ever seen.”
I vaguely noted Tuck chuckling again as he grabbed my waist with both hands, picked me up, and set me up on Hatch’s back. I was startled by the abrupt movement but more so by how good it felt to have my waist wrapped up in Tuck’s hands. Not to mention, he lifted me like I weighed nothing. I wasn’t heavy, but I wasn’t a feather by any stretch of the imagination.
I pulled myself together and settled myself in the saddle, taking the reins from Tuck and putting my feet in the stirrups. I was just finishing adjusting and got to watch as Tuck walked around my horse to the one next to me (Another gelding, this one sorrel in color with a blaze on his face), grabbed the saddle horn, and swung himself up into the saddle. Without using the stirrups or anything. God, that was hot. I did not tell him this. Instead, I did what I did best and teased him.
“Show off.”
The end of Tuck’s lips twitched and he said, “Only for you, darlin’.”
Darling. Not even knowing what hit me, I subconsciously reacted to that word. I could hear Andrew’s voice running through my head. You’re going to learn your lesson one of these days, Darling.
Noticing my unease, Tuck tried to calm me, “Relax, Babe. Hatch can feel you get tense and he’s gonna react to it.”
I tried to calm myself and said quietly, “Please just don’t call me that.”
Tuck immediately agreed because he could tell how much it had gotten to me. “No problem, Babe. I don’t ever wanna do anythin’ that’s gonna make you react like that.” He paused to look me over for a few seconds. “You ok?”
“I’m fine,” I lied. Because I would be fine, I just never knew how well trained my body was to disliking that word. I guess people had used it with me before, but never another man.
Ready to move on from this and have fun doing something different for the day, I made an effort to get us back on target. “So where are we headed?”
Tuck took my cue and dropped it. We both picked up our reins, gave our horses a bump with our heals and moved out. “First thing we gotta do is go over to Mrs. Tanner’s house and bring all of her Fourth of July decorations back up into the attic for her.”
My head whipped around to him as I tried to wrap my head around what he said. “Fourth of July decorations?”
He just smiled. “Oh yeah. An elderly woman in small town Tennessee? No way she’s gonna pass up an opportunity to fly all her American flags.”
I nodded my head in understanding. “Okay, so what do we do after we help the elderly store their patriotism?”
Tuck’s face lit up in a smile filled with warmth. Man, I was starting to love his smile. “I thought we could stop and have some lunch before we head over to the Andersons’ to help herd some of their cattle.”
That sounded awesome. Both parts. Lunch and herding cattle. So I downplayed it just a little and told him. “That sounds pretty good on both counts. I like food and I can be down with herding some
cattle.”
Tuck just kept smiling and walked along beside me headed for Mrs. Tanner’s house. I followed his lead because I hadn’t met Mrs. Tanner yet and had no clue where she lived. We fell into a comfortable silence and just enjoyed each others’ company. And it really was, just that. Comfortable.
When we got to Mrs. Tanner’s house, which I discovered was just past the other side of Main Street, kind of behind the diner, we walked the horses right onto the front yard. Tuck jumped down, threw his reins on the ground, and rounded the horse to help me down.
I felt it was necessary to tell him that I could do this myself. “I can get down myself, you know.”
He just said, “Like it better this way.”
Okay. Whatever. It wasn’t worth a battle because, quite frankly, I liked his hands on me too.
He threw the reins of my horse on the ground too and headed for the house. “Wait. We don’t need to tie them up?”
He shook his head. “My horses ground tie. Just drop their reins on the ground and they stay.”
I was flabbergasted. I mean I had some horse experience, but I had no idea there were horses out there good enough to do that.
“Really? That is so cool! I had no idea that was possible.”
“Really. Now, come on. Let’s do this so we can go get some food.”
“Wow. Somebody’s impatient.”
Instead of answering, he just grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the door. Before we got there, it opened and Mrs. Tanner stepped out. “Hello, my dear Tucker. Thank you so much for coming to help me again.”
Tuck stepped onto the porch and kissed her cheek. “It’s no problem.”
“Always so sweet, Tucker dear.” As if she just noticed me standing there- which maybe she did; when Tucker was around he stole the show- she sing-songed, “Oh! And who is this pretty little thing you have with you today?”
I stepped up and held out my hand, “Hi Mrs. Tanner. I’m Natalie Jenkins. I’m just helping Tuck out today.”
A smile settled on her face and she murmured, “I just bet you are, dear.” Just noticing my hand she shooed it away and pulled me in for a hug. “What is this nonsense with a handshake? I want a hug, dear. I don’t have that many years left to get as many as I can.”
Turning back to Tuck, she continued, “The boxes are just in the hall. Mr. Tanner helped me take down the decorations, but I told him he wasn’t allowed to take the boxes up with his new hip. He didn’t take too kindly to that. Stubborn old man.”
As she headed down the hall, Tuck and I followed but not before I bugged my eyes out at him. He laughed.
Man, he was attractive when he laughed. Who was I kidding? He was just attractive, period.
********
After we finished carrying the boxes up to Mrs. Tanner’s attic (I only got to carry one box) we mounted back up on our horses and started walking once again.
I was starting to get hungry so I was glad food was the next part of the plan. I hadn’t eaten anything the whole day and Zumba had done a number on me. “So what’s the plan for food?”
“Well, I figured you’d be hungry, but I also figured you wouldn’t wanna eat at the diner since you spend every day there. So I put in an order for us to pick up at noon yesterday, thinkin’ that would give us enough time, even with your ability to talk.”
Wow, that was actually really sweet. Even though he threw in an insult there at the end. “Thanks. That sounds good, actually.”
He surprised me with what he said next. “You’re different today.”
“Different? Different how?”
He shrugged and said, “I dunno. You’re nice.” And then smiled huge.
Instead of getting mad or throwing sass, I just giggled. I guess that proved his theory right. Maybe I was nicer today.
********
Tuck went in and grabbed the food, and we sat on the bench in the park I had used for soaking up sun to eat. He did good. He got me a burger, just how I liked it, with mustard, pickles and ketchup and nothing else and fries with ketchup. Obviously, someone in there had a big mouth because Tuck had never seen me eat a burger.
Lunch was quiet until Tuck started in on a subject that I wasn’t willing to give any answers to.
“So what brought you to Joplin?”
Oh boy. Okay. I needed an honest answer that was supremely vague. That was the only way to go.
“I needed a new start, and Joplin felt right.”
He nodded as though he understood. “I know what you mean.”
I couldn’t help but ask. “Which part? The needing a new start or Joplin feeling right?”
He shrugged. “I guess you could say both. New starts can be good and I know all about somethin’ just feelin’ right.”
I was really curious, but I also suspected the more I asked the more permission it gave him to ask. So I shut my mouth. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I couldn’t tell him either.
After we finished our food, Tuck collected all of our garbage and took it to throw away. I stood up and stretched side to side trying to prepare myself to spend some more time on a horse.
Tuck came back and asked, “You ready?”
I just nodded and headed in the direction of the horses. Just like before, he took his position behind me with his hands on my hips and lifted me onto Hatch’s back.
And then, he ruined a perfectly good moment. “I can tell you just ate. You’re heavier.”
I was floored! What an asshole remark! I started to berate him but when I looked at his face I stopped. He had a huge smile on his face and I swear was just waiting for me to throw attitude at him. And beyond expecting it, he was inviting it! He must like it when I was a nasty bitch. Interesting. “You just love to incite my anger don’t you?”
“Nothin’ better than watchin’ you get all fired up, Babe.”
I wanted to be upset, but I couldn’t. He was too much fun.
We rode across town passed what I knew to be his farm, though he didn’t mention it, and up the road to the Anderson place. Apparently, the Anderson place and Jace’s place were one in the same. I kept learning that I had yet to discover so much about Joplin and the people in it. I guess time and days like today would fix that eventually.
As we were riding up the drive I asked, “Didn’t you just help Jace the other day?”
He nodded. “I did. Takes a lotta work and a lotta help to run a place like this. As long as I’m free and don’t have other work to do at my place, I try to help out.”
“Wow, he’s lucky to have you.”
Tuck just lifted one shoulder as if to say it was no big deal. It looked like once again, I needed to eat my words from when I had told Annabelle that Tuck was lazy. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
********
Tuck did a great job explaining what I needed to do while we were herding the cattle. He was patient and kind and took the time to explain everything while it was happening. I had a little experience with cattle work from team sorting back in Georgia, but nothing like this.
I had also found out that Jace was one of his closest friends here in Joplin. He had apparently been pretty wild in his younger days, but spent pretty much all of his time working anymore. That or spending the night with an occasional woman. Tuck seemed a little frustrated that Jace had mentioned it, but I wasn’t naive. With the way he looked and his alpha-like nature, I knew the girls were crawling all over themselves to get to him. Hell, I had just met one last night.
Jace had been friendly and welcoming and overwhelmingly grateful for my help. I hadn’t minded at all. I had fun. Actually, I hadn’t had that much fun in a long time. I hoped I would get to help out more. I’d have to take more time having a life outside of work. He also had a great sense of humor, so I could see how him and Tuck would be good friends.
As usual, having such a great day brought my thoughts full circle. I couldn’t help but think of Jenny and be sad that I had never known her like this. Her life had already been too serious when I
met her for us to have the fun-loving relationship that I was sure we could have had. I wondered if she had ever had fun like this before Andrew had stolen her life away. If she had ever known kind people like this who did their best to make you feel welcome. I hoped she had that.
As we rode our horses up in front of my apartment again, I felt a little pang of disappointment that our day was coming to an end. I really enjoyed Tuck’s company. It was just easy with us.
He jumped down off of his horse, who’s name was Sonny as it turned out, and came around to help me off of Hatch. This time when we picked me up, he slid me down his body all the way down. I shivered.
“Thanks for today, Tuck. I had a really good time. Hopefully, I can come with you again sometime when you’re helping the townsfolk.”
He grinned and said, “Yeah, Babe.”
I turned and headed for my door when he called after me, “Oh, Talie, wait. I forgot.” He reached into his saddlebags on Sonny and pulled out what looked to be a cell phone.
Turns out, that’s exactly what it was.
“Ruthie wanted me to give this to you. You shouldn’t be out by yourself without a phone.”
I reached for the phone and he finished, “You know, girls lookin’ out for girls and all that.”
“Yeah, I know all about that.”
Looking up to see him still standing there I repeated, “Well, thanks again.”
He leaned forward, touched his lips to my forehead, and murmured, “Anytime, Talie.”
Chapter 12
Light Dawns
The next morning I got up and got ready and headed to work as usual. Back to the routine.
The day went well, mostly because I was in such an upbeat mood. I expected Tuck to come in at breakfast or even lunch, but started to lose hope as dinner approached. Oh well, we had a good day yesterday but that didn’t mean anything. We had a good time, but that was it. Not to mention, I’m sure he had a lot to do on his farm after spending all day yesterday doing stuff for other people.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized he must be busy all the time. Always working on his farm or with other people. I guess that didn’t leave much time do anything else. He came into the diner all the time, but he had to eat and coming here was probably quicker than making something at home.
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