The Sage After Rain A love story

by Jaclyn Hawkes

  Matt tried not to act overwhelmed. "What about Hyatt? He's already not very happy with me. Am I going to get sued over this?"

  "No. Hyatt has fallen down on every single clause of his contract and it's legally null and void. And the equipment that's in the lot at the hotel is owned by my company. If there's anything left after their shenanigans. You'll have to go and take stock and get back with me about what you need. I'll do anything I can to help you, but I need to have this thing tied up and delivered by October fifteenth. I can cut the scope of it down to a certain extent, but that's the latest I can go."

  "You don't even know me. Are you sure you're willing to offer me this?"

  "I've talked to Mac at length. He assures me that you're hard working and honest and good to work with. I've met you now and feel good about it, and I know from the data you've already sent that you're smart and competent. Now I just need you to be willing to commit to an incredibly tight deadline."

  He pulled a stack of papers out of a file folder he had on his desk. "I had these drawn up in the hopes I could talk you into taking over. Take as long as you like to look at them. If you'll excuse me for a minute, I need to step down the hall and have a quick meeting, but I'll be back within the half hour." He stood up and extended his hand to Matt. "I know this is a lot to ask, but I'm in a tight spot and will do all I can to expedite things as well as making it worth your while financially. I'll hope you'll consider this offer. If there are concerns about the contract, we'll discuss them when I come back. Excuse me."

  It was a good thing there was no one there he had to talk to after Jim left, because Matt was stunned speechless. After the door shut behind the man, Matt sat there in shock. He'd come hoping to be able to talk him into giving him a break, but the man had offered him more than he'd ever dreamed of. He'd just been handed the opportunity to go from a hired scientist to a business man with a great contract ready for the taking. He took a deep breath and picked up the contract. Just about now he was incredibly grateful for Taya's prayers. He was out of his depth here, but he was going to jump right in.

  He read over the contract three separate times looking for questionable fine print. Other than the looming deadline, there was nothing. This was a great deal. If he could finish in time. That was the kicker. If. But it was too good a chance not to try for.

  As soon as Jim returned, he signed the paperwork and taking his copy, went back out to the Jeep. It took all of his self control to not throw his fist into the air. He owed Taya big time for encouraging him to make this appointment in the first place. Doing his laundry and grocery shopping were so anticlimactic that he almost decided to forget it and just go home to Taya, but he needed food and clean clothes, so he didn't. He even controlled himself and only bought his usual groceries except for the ingredients for his favorite Chinese stir-fry, before heading back out into the desert. He stopped at the hotel and took stock of the equipment stored there and was encouraged again to realize that most of what he would need was still there, intact.

  When he made it to camp it was late afternoon, and she was nowhere to be seen so he went to work chopping vegetables and chicken. By the time she came in at dark, he had dinner ready and had been able to come to terms with the fact that his life had taken a huge turn in a good direction for the third time in three weeks. He was almost wondering what he had done to deserve it all.

  She came past his camp table on Horse with Zeus and stopped nearby. "You look happy. How did it go?"

  It was a good thing she was on the horse, because he probably would have hugged her. "I am happy. It went better than I ever dreamed. I signed a new contract that I own and you were right. The owner will make much more than the employee. I was so stoked that I was going to take you to a celebration dinner, but since I've just signed onto a contract that's going to kill me to finish in time, I decided to cook here instead so I can go straight back to work. Can I interest you in sesame chicken?"

  "Are you kidding me? I could smell that a mile out in the sage. I'd arm wrestle you for some if I had to. Since we're celebrating, can we eat on real dishes and a table cloth?"

  "Um, only if you have real dishes and a table cloth, because I don't."

  "I do. And I'll do the dishes since you did all the food. Your place or mine?"

  "You're the only one of the two of us who owns a sink, so let's eat at your house. It'll be done in about ten minutes."

  Ten minutes later when he walked over carrying the pan, he was amazed to see that she had meant like real, real dishes. It looked like a real white linen table cloth and napkins and she had china plates with sterling silverware and stemware to drink out of. "Wow, you weren't kidding about real dishes. What kind of a sheepherder are you? Let me guess, you keep these in the same place as your matching shoes and purses."

  She laughed and admitted, "Close. Sometimes I have to keep things in perspective with the dishes. I've only used them a few times and it's only been me and Zeus until now. It will be great to use them with another human being." She lit a candle on the table. "Do you like cranberry juice?"

  "Anything that's cooler than eighty degrees is great as long as it isn't alcoholic." He filled their plates and then set the pan up on the hood of her truck so he wouldn't get soot on her fancy linens. As he sat in the canvas chair, she folded her arms and bowed her head and waited and he prayed over their dinner before they dug in.

  She took one bite and made all of his time spent cooking and shopping worth it with her praise. "Oh, my gosh! This is the best Chinese food I've ever had in my life! Where did you learn to cook like this? It's marvelous!"

  "It's good Taya, but the best in your life? You've been living in the desert too long is all."

  She shook her head and finished another bite. "No. Honestly, this is incredible. Are you a chef or something on the side?"

  He chuckled at her expression, "Nope, no chef. I just like to eat a lot, and in college I couldn't afford to eat out all the time, so I had to learn or starve. Plus, my mother was a big proponent of her children being self sufficient."

  "I think I like your mother. She sounds like a good woman. You should thank her next time you see her for that."

  "For being a good woman, or making me learn to cook?"

  "Both. How do you get the chicken to be this tender?"

  "It's a secret that can never be revealed, except on threat of death."

  "I may come threaten you some night, when I'm making chicken. So, I want to hear all about your big appointment."

  He knew she probably wasn't truly all that interested, but he was so stoked about it that he told her what had transpired that day. She ate and listened attentively and he told her about the contract and the money and the deadline. By the time they were through eating, he'd decided that between encouraging him, and then fueling his enthusiasm, she was the best thing that had ever happened to him since that good mother they had been speaking of. He'd never been around someone who helped him to feel this capable and confident. There was something about the way she talked to him that left him feeling like she believed he could do anything, and it made him believe it too.

  She was very good for his ego, and when she reached across the table and squeezed his hand and said, "That is so awesome! I'm thrilled for you. You'll be great! He won't regret taking a chance on you. Maybe this contract will be a wonderful start of a whole new professional direction for you!" he knew she was being sincere. She truly was thrilled for him and it did wonders for his outlook on life. He knew it was going to require a grueling couple of months, but it had the potential of helping him to become financially set for the future and he looked forward to the challenge. He just wished he could hire her to hang around and fire him up forever.

  Finally, they blew out the candle and she sent him back to his tent to get started on processing his data and she disappeared inside her trailer with her ridiculously elegant dishes. It had been a dinner he would never forget, that was for sure. He was coming to expect the unexpected from her every t
ime. If he tried to tell someone about her who had never met her, they'd think he was making it all up. It certainly made for an interesting friendship.

  The next day, he got back to camp just as it was getting dark and he was on his way to the shower when he realized another vehicle was headed their way through the brush. He glanced over at her camp just in time to see her disappear into the shadows on the edge of the valley rim behind her trailer with Zeus. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he remembered the two men who had been looking for her that evening, and he detoured to her camp and sat down in her chair with the rifle again. This time it was a big, new pickup truck and only one tall dark haired man got out. He seemed to bristle when he saw Matt sitting there and stalked over toward him to demand, "Who are you? Where's Taya?"

  Matt stood up just as she slipped back into her camp with the dog that seemed to not have any issues with this visitor. "I'm right here, Zan." She came toward the two of them as Matt looked over at this guy wondering who he was and why he thought he owned her. "Matt, this is Zan Bear. My friend I've been telling you about. Zan, this is Matt Maylon, my good friend and neighbor. He's camping nearby while he works on a seismic mapping project in this area. Is that the right thing to call it, Matt?"

  Matt didn't look away from the tall man in the business clothes as he said, "Sure, that'll do. You know this guy? He's okay?"

  Taya came and put a hand on both of their arms. "He's more than okay. I'm fine. Thanks for coming to check on me."

  Matt was still staring at Zan. "Excuse me then." He picked up his shower bag from where he'd left it on her table and headed out of her camp to continue on to the shower. She'd said Zan wasn't going to be very happy to find him there, and she'd been right. Zan had tried to kill him with just his eyes.

  Matt smiled to himself, wondering what the tall Indian man would have thought about their candlelight dinner last night. He couldn't imagine it would have pleased him. Taya thought this guy "used" to have a thing for her, but it had taken Matt about half a second to ascertain that it wasn't a thing of the past. Zan still had a major thing for her and had tried to stake out his territory in one pointed glare. It might have worked for some men, but to Matt it had been like a challenge. Only good manners and the knowledge that conflict would make her uncomfortable had gotten him to leave just then.

  After showering, he stayed well out from her camp on the way back to his, and got out his laptop and went to work at his table. His camp had gotten closer to hers with every move until now he was only about one-hundred-fifty feet out behind her and their voices carried well in the still desert air. He could hear her trying to mollify Zan, and he could hear Zan not appearing to be very mollified. She told him flat out that she had asked Matt to come because she felt safer with him nearby.

  When she finally convinced Zan that they were fine and that not only was Matt not a problem, but he wasn't going away if she had anything to do about it, Zan gave up and changed the subject. They were talking about Taya having to take a trip the next week and were making arrangements for someone else to come in for a couple of days to watch over the sheep.

  Matt didn't think he had ever heard such a sad note in her voice and at one point she actually broke down and cried on Zan's shoulder before he left. Matt didn't understand what was going on, but he wished he did. He also had to stop and step back and examine the feelings he had felt when he had glanced up to see her in Zan's embrace. That simple hug had troubled him far more than finding Stacy in much more involved circumstances with Justin. It didn't make sense, but it was true and it made Matt have to think again about how he felt about Taya. They were just friends and neighbors weren't they? He had better watch himself or he'd find himself heart broken even if he finished the contract in good time.

  That night he sat up late at his fire with his guitar. Taya with Zan had put him in an introspective mood and the guitar and the firelight and the night intensified it. For the first time, he was thinking long term professionally and it seemed to lead to thinking about the fact that he was almost twenty six and wondering if it wasn't time that he finally settled down and got serious about his future, and all that that entailed.

  The only other time he'd thought about things like this was when he had found himself living with Stacy and had felt obligated to try to get her to agree to marry him. In retrospect, he was more grateful than ever that she had hesitated. None of the positive things that had happened to him lately would have come about if he'd been stuck with her, and he knew his widening plans for the future would never have happened with her lack of vision and foresight.

  When he finally put the guitar in its case and stretched out on top of his sleeping bag, for the first time in a long, long time, he felt like he could pray. He had a lot to be grateful for and he finally felt like he was far enough from the questionable life he had been living to dare to face God.

  Chapter 13

  Taya was back on the swing with her comforter again, listening to Matt's enchanting music. He'd played a few times over the last couple of weeks, and it had been incredibly moving every time. Tonight even more so than usual and she wondered why. Part of it was talking to Zan about going back east to testify in the assault trial against John, and part of it was remembering the way Matt and Zan had acted when they'd met each other tonight. She'd known it was coming, but she honestly hadn't thought Zan would be that upset. Was he still having feelings for her? It would appear to be so, and while she loved Zan dearly, she knew their friendship would never be more than just friendship, and she hated the idea that she would hurt him.

  He and Matt had looked like two political opponents at the beginning of a rather hostile debate. They were both strong men and she had been nervous for a minute. She would have to thank Matt when she saw him for leaving so discreetly. They had been interesting standing there though. Zan's tall dark good looks in his business clothes straight from his office, and Matt's even taller sun bronzed and bleached outdoorsman muscly good looks glaring back at each other. She made a mental note to start immediately calming the troubled waters between them. She needed them both to be firmly on her team together to face the coming weeks.

  She wondered again if she should tell Matt exactly what had gone on in her life this spring. She trusted him enough now to let him know what her background was, but she was almost hesitant to have him think she was anything different than the girl who had become his friend. And was she putting him in danger here in this situation? There were times she thought not at all, but then there were times that she realized he would be right in the middle if trouble ever showed up again.

  She let the magic of his music make her forget everything except that warmth she felt from the guitar and his mellow, sexy voice. She was too tired and happy to worry about anything else right now.

  She woke up on the swing again and spent the day remembering his music of the night before. The memory of it preserved her sweet sense of all being right with the world, right up until she saw a car driving up to her camp late that afternoon. She went back down below the rim again until she realized it was a lone female who got out of the car and looked around. She didn't look like anyone John would have sent and Taya went back up the hill into camp again, with Zeus at her heels.

  Taya approached the pretty blonde young woman wondering what was going on. She decided to let Zeus go ahead with his threatening posture until she found out what she wanted. "Did you need something?”

  The blonde turned and looked at Taya with about the same look Zan had given Matt the night before. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Matt Maylon. I was told he was camping somewhere near here. Do you happen to know where I could find him?"

  For some reason, Taya didn't want to help this girl at all. She let Zeus continue to growl softly beside her as she answered, "Matt shows up here sometimes. Leave whatever it is you wanted to give him and I'll see he gets it when he drops in."

  The scowl on the blonde's face deepened. "No, I wanted to see him. I know that's his
Jeep. I'll just wait here until he comes back."

  That idea rubbed Taya the wrong way. She was relatively sure Matt would have warned her that there would be a friend dropping by if he'd been aware of it, and somehow she didn't want this girl hanging out in her camp waiting for him. "No, you won't. If you want to talk to Matt, call him. I'm sure if he wants to see you he'll agree to meet you." Without any visible signal, Zeus cranked up his low growl to a snarl and the girl backed up and got into her car and headed away. Taya knew she wouldn't stay gone, but at least she didn't have to feel obligated to entertain her.

  When the helicopter came in to drop him off at dusk that evening, Taya was feeling sufficiently penitent to walk over to his camp and be honest about how she had turned his friend out on her ear. She apologized for doing so and then went back to her camp and was in the middle of eating Chinese leftovers she had kept some of the other night, when the car showed up again. She recognized it and was sitting comfortably on her swing with Zeus at her feet when the blonde got out of her car. Zeus began to growl again and Taya just let him and said, "Matt's in the shower. He'll be out in a minute."

  The blonde looked shocked and then outraged and then scared of Zeus. "I'll just wait in the car thanks."

  You do that. Taya thought to herself, and then felt guilty again, both for being inhospitable and for letting the girl think they were on closer terms than they were. She didn't want her to think she and Matt were doing anything that was the slightest bit inappropriate here, but she wasn't terribly thrilled to have a pretty girl show up to see Matt either.