He's Got Her Goat

by Christine

  She didn’t apologize. In fact, the opposite. “Then, leave. Just go!” She stood with her pointed finger unmoving. At least her confidence was back.

  He’d done what he set out to do and was content. “Fine.”

  “Wait.” He hadn’t even taken a step before she recanted. “Do you need me to pay you for your time?”

  Sterling couldn’t help but laugh. “You’d pay me when you think I did nothing?” His boss would be interested to know this broke soap maker was so free with her money.

  Paige softened. “I mean, you did wait here most of the afternoon, and frankly, you look like you could use some cash.” Nearing the table, she touched the paper he had spread out. “What’s this list you have?”

  He lifted the page and straightened his shoulders. “It might be the sales I made this afternoon.”

  Her gaze flit to the leftover soaps, and she crossed her arms. He could tell she wasn’t buying it.

  “If you had looked more closely at the soap that remained,” he lifted one and held it in front of her nose, “you would have seen that each cake has two little words written below them.”

  Paige touched the writing as she read it, “Display only?”

  Sterling made a clicking sound with his cheek like one would make to get a horse moving. “I told the women who were interested that their soap would be custom made and ready for pick up tomorrow morning.”

  “Really? That’s pretty good.”

  Sterling fished a wad of cash from his pocket. “And this is even better.”

  She took it but didn’t count the bills or even look at them. She was staring at him, wagging her head in amazement. “You collected money?”

  “Only half up front.”

  “Now I know why Austin admires you. His instincts have always been stellar.”

  “Austin?” He wondered if she was referring to the guy that wanted to take her to dinner.

  Her eyes narrowed. “You know, that person who introduced us?”

  “Oh, the inter—esting guy we both like so much.” He had almost said the intern.

  She laughed. “That’s exactly how I’d describe him. Interesting.” She took the list and fingered the parchment-like texture. “This is different paper.”

  He was surprised she'd noticed a detail like that. “Actually, I didn’t have anything to write on, so I asked the florist next to us if I might use some of hers.” He omitted the part that the older woman had charged him a five dollars for it.

  Obviously impressed, she put the display soaps back in the box under the table. “If you’re really up for dinner, I know the perfect place, but we’ve got to make it quick. I wasn’t lying to Joe when I said I have something else to do.”

  “Lead the way.” As he walked behind the goat girl, he realized how hungry he was.

  A New York style deli around the corner had a note in the window that said it stayed open late on the nights of the farmers’ market. The salty smell and sudden warmth from the chilly night made Sterling feel at ease for the first time since he got up that morning. They ordered and sat at a booth in the corner. He meticulously unwrapped his sandwich, folding the paper down to reveal the part he would eat, and rewrapped the rest, so it wouldn’t fall on his clothes. He was determined to take control of the situation, both the one in his hand and the one across the table.

  He swallowed before speaking. “Now are you going to tell me what took so long?”

  She opened her sandwich, picked it up unwrapped and took a big bite while a bigger chunk of innards fell on the wax paper wrapping. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she said between chewing.

  “Try me.” He still hadn’t touched his sandwich.

  She swallowed then put the sandwich down. He thought he saw her eyes mist a little, and her voice was so soft he could barely hear her. “There was a stranger in my house when I got there.”

  He wasn’t sure what she meant. “Like an unexpected visitor?”

  She clasped her hands together, her eyes glued to them. “An intruder. I had to call the police.”

  His lungs deflated. His previous remarks must have stung. “I’m so sorry. Were you hurt?”

  “No.” Every muscle in her face seemed to tighten. Her eyes, only slits, still stared at her clenched hands.

  He thought he knew that look. “Scared then? I understand.”

  “No.” She hadn’t moved.

  “Then what?”

  Her gaze lifted and caught his. He saw fire in her eyes. “Angry. How could someone come into your life, extend a hand of friendship and then totally betray you? What kind of a person does something like that?”

  Sterling wasn’t going to touch that question with a ten-foot pole.

  She picked up her sandwich, took a huge bite, and kept on talking. “At least Deputy Dunn was on my side. When I went down to the station, his captain had the nerve to question my sanity. At first he wouldn’t believe that Blanche even existed. In the end, he said it didn’t matter because no crime had been committed. No crime. My neighbor breaks into my house, knocks me to the ground, and admits she was trying to steal from me. But, do you know what the biggest crime of all was?” She stared at him, expecting a reply.

  He’d barely taken a bite and felt like he was at the dentist’s office when the dentist asks you a question while your mouth is full of cotton. He chewed and swallowed as quickly as he could but had forgotten the question. “What?”

  She was in full rant mode. “Lying. That’s the biggest crime. I mean, this woman told me she wanted to help me from the goodness of her heart. When I think of how I let her into my life. I trusted her, and it was all a lie. That’s what hurts the most.”

  Not hungry anymore, Sterling put down his sandwich. Wasn’t that what he was doing to her? “I’m sorry.”

  “So am I.” Almost calmed down, she took a sip of her soda. “Mostly because I don’t have anyone to milk the goats tomorrow morning. Now I’ll probably have to close down my booth for the rest of the season.”

  He felt for her. It was hard to deal with unexpected reversals but part of any business. “Do you need the sales that badly?”

  “Not really. My website is generating more traffic than I can keep up with.” She dropped the sandwich back on the table and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I’m doing the farmers market for me. Day after day alone at the house, sending out orders, mixing new formulas is lonely. I like interacting with my customers and rubbing elbows with the other vendors. Without it, the police chief might be right, I may become a crazy goat lady after all.” She peered at him with a look that reminded him of his sister when she was begging for a compliment.

  He laughed. “No arguments here.”

  She broke into a grin and sat back. “So, what do you do for a living?”

  Sterling paused. “I’m currently looking for opportunities.” That was true in a way. If he had to write a job description of his responsibilities, researching opportunities was as close as anything he could think of.

  She pinched the tomato, lettuce and sauce that had fallen from her sandwich with her bare fingers and stuck it in her mouth. “Any way I could hire you?”

  “Why would you want to?” After her little rant about lying, he was losing his nerve. Did this girl let just anyone into her life?

  “I’m desperate. It’s you or close the booth.” She began folding up the remaining half of her sandwich in the paper wrap. “Was Austin lying about you?”

  “No!” Sterling sat forward. “In fact he made me promise to be nice to you.”

  “The nicest thing you could do right now is help me out. It would only be for the next two days. Then you never have to see me again.” She bit her lip and held her breath, waiting for his response.

  This was not in his plan. He was going to get this initial meet done, report in, then spend the weekend doing what he’d been looking forward to for weeks. Cursing his boss in his mind, he relented. “Okay, but it’s only for this weekend.”

  “It’
s a deal.” She lifted her hand across the table to shake but still had mayo on her fingers.

  He hesitated for only a moment before taking her hand, amazed at the strength and surety of her grip. He hoped she could keep it up through the mess that was sure to come.

  Chapter Six

  “OKAY.” PAIGE SAT TALLER in her chair. “If you’re going to work for me, we’ve got to get a couple of things straight. First, I’ll pay you in cash, but not until the end of the weekend.”

  “Huh.” So she wasn’t a total fool. That way he’d have to stay the whole time. Clever girl, he thought to himself. “Go on.”

  “The booth opens at seven-thirty sharp and goes until nine on Saturday then half a day Sunday. I’ll need you there the whole time. Now we only have to decide on your wage.” She pursed her lips then clicked her tongue in thought.

  “$250 a day?” he suggested. He got twice that per hour for consulting.

  “That’s a little steep, but if it’s what you want, fine. I’ll see you in the morning then.” Paige shoved the leftover sandwich in her purse and rose to her feet. She took a step to leave then stopped and cocked her head. “Can I give you a ride to your car? General parking is quite a walk, and it’s getting nippy.”

  Adjusting the wrapping on his hoagie and making himself comfortable, Sterling shook his head. “I’m taking the bus.”

  “No, you’re not,” Paige said.

  Man, she was bossy. “Yes I am,” Sterling said with conviction.

  She sat down and stared at him. The gold flecks in her brown eyes seemed to burn. “The busses stopped running an hour ago.”

  “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” His father used to always say that. Odd, he’d successfully not thought about home for years now. No wonder when the man’s favorite phrase reeked of animal cruelty. Rewording his response, he said, “Then I’ll take a cab.”

  “Where are you headed?”

  He couldn’t tell if she was asking to check up on him or to offer him a ride. “Into the city.” To discourage her he added, “It’s a good hour drive.” It was really little more than half an hour.

  She slapped the table with her open palm. “Are you crazy? That would cost you eighty dollars at least. You’re out of work.”

  All he wanted to do was change out of his wet shirt, sleep in his own bed and get this girl off his back. “It’s alright. I can handle it.”

  She squinted and stared at him for a solid minute. He couldn’t meet her gaze and wasn’t sure why. It felt like guilt, but what did he have to feel guilty about? He was offering the whole weekend to her for a fraction of what he’d normally charge.

  Unexpectedly, she put her hand on his. Her skin was like velvet. He hadn’t noticed before. “I’ll tell you what,” she said. “I’ve still got to milk the goats. If you’ll help me, I can be done in half the time. Then I’ll drive you to the city tonight. Deal?”

  Waiting for a cab in the sticks would take half an hour at least, so it wouldn’t be that much longer to go with her. Besides, his boss would be happier if he could get a look at the goat girl’s place. “Sounds like a plan.” He chucked the remainder of his dinner in the nearest trash can, and they headed for the door.

  As they walked to her car, Sterling realized how right she had been. The temperature had plummeted, and the wet front of his shirt felt like someone had pressed a blue icepack to his chest. Paige was wearing a red sweater and seemed unaffected by the cold.

  Upon reaching the hatchback, Sterling hopped into the passenger seat. While she started the ignition, he played with the climate controls on the panel, hoping to blast the car with heat.

  “Sorry,” she said as she slid the car into gear and pulled onto the empty road. “My heater’s broken.”

  Folding his arms tight across his chest, he sat back. “It is what it is.”

  They hadn’t driven far before she flipped her head his direction once and then again. “Are you shivering?” Her face was turned toward him with her eyes still on the road.

  He felt he owed her an explanation. “It’s silly. I got my shirt wet.”

  “Oh.” She bobbed her chin. “While changing the bucket under the pump. I’ve got half a mind to chuck the whole contraption tomorrow.”

  “No!” Sterling said. “How do you think I sold so much? I had women try out the type of soap that would be best for their situation. Brilliant product.”

  “Thank you.” She returned her focus to the road.

  He could only see her profile, and it was dim in the car, but even with those impeded conditions, he could tell her smile was beautiful.

  She took a left. “Okay, I’ll keep the pump. Besides, it would break Joe’s heart if I threw it away.”

  He supposed she was talking about the guy in black. “So is he a boyfriend?”

  “He wishes he was.” That’s all she said.

  Sterling hoped she’d elaborate. Was there something the guy did that bugged her, or was she just not interested in men in general. He had to ask. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Oh nothing.” Her tone was light. “I have other things on my plate right now.”

  “I hear you.” Sterling had said those identical words to other women many times lately, but coming from her, they seemed cold. He shivered again.

  “We’ve got to get you out of that shirt.” She rotated the wheel and pulled into a rustic turn of the century stone farmhouse facing a red barn with white trim. It reminded him of the scene on a tacky jigsaw puzzle. She cut the engine and opened her door. “You look to be about Uncle Bill’s size. I think it’d be okay if you borrowed some of his clothes.”

  Funny, he had assumed she lived alone.

  Chapter Seven

  THE PORCH LIGHT ILLUMINATED a little circle around the generous oak door, and Paige stood with her hand on the knob. The deputy’s reaction to the mess made her nervous. She turned to look at Sterling, but her focus fell to his lips. They were almost blue. Oh, well. Why delay the inevitable?

  Pushing the door wide, she gestured to the cluttered rooms. “Welcome home, such as it is.”

  He stepped in the entry. She closed the door behind him and headed into the living area. Halfway there she realized he wasn’t following her. She turned to find Sterling simply standing in the entryway as if mesmerized. Was he worried he might catch some dreaded disease by venturing in? “I assure you it’s completely biohazard free.”

  At last he moved, if only to look at her. “No, it’s great.” His eyes shifted further up the hall. “The living room is painted the same color as the house I grew up in.” With careful steps and his hands clasped behind his back, he walked forward with the reverence of a man walking through a museum.

  “Oh.” She hadn’t expected that reaction. “Where did you grow up?”

  “Dallas,” he said absently.

  She hadn’t detected an accent. “Texas?”

  “No, Dallas, Oregon.”

  “Never heard of it,” Paige tried to straighten one of the piles of invoices on the counter but seemed to only bend the pages.

  “Most people haven’t.” He shrugged. “It’s a small town a little more than an hour south of the city.” He put his hands in his pockets.

  “So you’re from the other Dallas.”

  “That’s about the size of it,” he said.

  Paige slid off her sweater and was about to hang it on the wooden peg inside the closet but couldn’t bring herself to do it. After what happened that afternoon, it would be quite a while before she went into that closet again. She laid her sweater across the back of a chair instead, grateful Sterling was in the room with her. “How nice to be so close to family. I bet you see them often.” She led him toward the back hall.

  His pace slowed. “Nope. My mother died ten years ago, and I haven’t been home since.”

  From his scowl, she could tell the subject was still tender. “I’m so sorry.” She understood about grief and loneliness.

  He interrupted her thoughts. “About
that shirt.”

  She hurried to the bedrooms. “It’s over here.”

  In her uncle’s room she opened the closet to reveal about a dozen button up shirts, each some shade of blue, two light jackets and one white dress shirt with frayed sleeves. It was his spare. Two items were missing. Her uncle’s best shirt and black suit that he was buried in. She could imagine what Uncle Bill would be saying now if he could see her. Just like you to be taking in a stray… but a good one.

  While she selected a denim work shirt and corduroy jacket from the closet, she could hear Sterling shifting from one foot to another behind her. What was she doing alone in a room with a strange man who was probably taking off his shirt that very second? She could imagine his muscled chest, but not what was beneath it. What kind of a man didn’t even interact with his family when they lived so close? This was so wrong. How could she trust him? She’d trusted Blanche and look where it got her. Memories of the fear she had felt that afternoon bubbled to the surface, making her mouth feel dry. She pivoted toward Sterling and caught her breath.

  He hadn’t even started undoing his buttons.

  “I thought you were going to change your shirt,” she said.

  He tipped his hat. “I will, once I have some privacy, ma’am. I don’t imagine your uncle would take kindly to me not being a gentleman in his bedroom, if you know what I’m saying.”

  “Wow.” Paige blinked. “I know exactly what you’re saying. Meet you in the barn in a few.”

  She left the clothes on the bed and ducked out of the room, wondering what was really going on. In her generation, she’d never met a man who behaved that way. There had to be a reasonable explanation for not wanting to take his shirt off. Maybe he had a really hair chest, dark brown fur that continued to his back, or maybe he had a huge tattoo of his last girlfriend in a suggestive pose, or maybe he had man boobs. Assuming he was hiding something was easier to believe than the alternative—that he was just the sort of man she was looking for.