by Allison, J
“It’s so beautiful.” I breathed, Robert took my hand and pulled me down onto the grass with him. We lay on our backs staring up at the thousands of stars that dotted the sky, so close and so bright that I felt if I reached out, I would be able to touch them.
“Is this better than a movie then?”
“Hmmmm,” I sighed with faux thoughtfulness, “Maybe not better than Avatar.”
“Hey!”
“Just kidding,” I laughed, kissing him softly, “This beats the hell out of any movie.”
17.
I was in extremely high spirits today, everything seemed to have a glow of wonder to it. Nan and Pop had returned really early this morning, Pop, anxious to inspect the stables, had badgered Nan into leaving Denver at dawn. The night at the waterfall had been amazing we had stayed at the falls for hours, talking of our pasts and laughing, returning back home so late I had fallen instantly asleep, with Robert, hot as a glowing ember, on the bed next to me. I finally pulled myself out of bed, knowing I had slept late and feeling instantly guilty when I looked at the time.
Wolfing down breakfast I put my iPod on and sidled out the house in a quick and no doubt terrible imitation of the moon walk.
“Good Morning Billie Jean,”
I almost leapt out of my skin, pulling the earphones out in one quick jerk to find Robert standing at the base of the stairs, I felt my cheeks catch fire.
“Is Fred in there?” he asked politely, not mentioning my burning face or Michael Jackson moves, however a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“No,” I answered sweetly, my cheeks beginning to return to a normal temperature.
“Do you want to come in anyway?”
This time he did smile,
“Perhaps later, I’ve got things to do now, namely building a stable.” he cocked one arched blonde brow at me.
“Maybe I could help.”
“Maybe you could…” he eyed me speculatively, taking in my small frame and pathetically weak arms.
“I could hold a bag of nails at least.” I shrugged innocently,
“Come on.” he chuckled, holding his hand out to me, I took the stairs quickly, grabbing his hand, he gave it a quick squeeze and then let go, we hadn’t gone ‘public’ yet so it was probably best not to let Pop find out by seeing it from across the yard. Suddenly, in my state of ignorant bliss, my foot slipped from under me, Robert caught me just an inch from sprawling face first in the dirt. Standing me back upright he snickered to himself as he helped brush the dust from my pants, that was when I noticed two things, the first was the stock code on the pile of Timber, written in ten inch high lettering, GH425, go figure. The second was the reason I had slipped, a large pile of fresh green cow manure, which was now smeared all over my left boot.
The glow of wonder I had woken with this morning lessened a little.
After a quick trip back inside to change my boots and an innocent stroll past the tree in the cattle yard to determine that there was in fact a nest of birds in it, although who knew what sort, woodpecker or not, the day passed quickly. All hands were on deck to help rebuild the stable, even a few of the workers from neighbouring ranches turned up after lunch to help, by the time we called it quits the entire frame was up as well as the roof.
Pop was speaking to Shaun gesticulating madly towards what would be the eastern wall, the four other men from neighbouring ranches had left and Robert was gathering up the tools to take back to the shed, I made my way nonchalantly over to him bending to gather an arm load as well.
“Not bad for a day’s work I guess?”
He chuckled, “Not bad for you guys I suppose.”
“Oh and I suppose you would have been finished?” I asked, grunting a little as I swung the heavy bag of tools over my shoulder.
“I would have been finished by mid-morning.” he smiled his unbearably beautiful smile before lifting the rest of the tools far too easily, “And I would have managed the rest of the chores by lunch.”
“Well,” I grinned, trying to picture this, “Perhaps you should tell Pop to fire Jed and Shawn and run the place yourself.”
He laughed a long deep laugh startling me, I had never heard him like this in front of the others before, I guess they hadn’t either, both of the erstwhile builders paused and glanced up curiously.
We made it to the cover of the shed, briefly out of sight of the others and I gladly surrendered my heavy bag to Robert who placed it on the shelf where it belonged.
“You know,” he spoke easily, the laughter still present in his voice, “You really should go inside, it’s far too tempting to kiss you when we’re alone and if anyone gets fired I imagine it will be me, when Fred finds me harassing his granddaughter.”
My voice caught and my heart beat a little faster, he seemed to be able to send my pulse into overdrive.
“It wouldn’t be harassment,” I smiled up at him sweetly, his arm moved in a flash bringing his hand against my face, he let the back of his fingers trail gently down my cheeks, my heart rate sped again, I wondered briefly if he could hear it.
Then as quickly as it was there, his hand was gone. And so was he, I stood blinking, a little confused, a split second later Pop and Shawn appeared at the front of the shed.
“Where’s Robert?” Pop asked squinting into the dim interior, twilight had ended and it was almost completely dark. I tried to gather myself, I knew my thoughts always showed far too clearly on my face, I was thankful that my expression was hidden in the gathering shadows.
“Err, he said he had something to do and disappeared.” literally!
“Probably gone to check on Bell, she’s due to foal in a few weeks,” Shawn offered.
“Hmm,” Pop gave me a thoughtful look, I dodged his gaze, staring at the ground and moving off towards the house where the light in the windows held promise of a delicious dinner.
Pop followed me through the darkness, I was very aware of his towering presence just a few steps behind me as well as the look he had given me just moments earlier. I paused outside the back door bending to remove the steel capped work boots Pop had insisted I wear.
“So you and Robert seem to be getting along,” he mused, without looking up, the question hung heavily between us.
“Yeah he’s not too bad once you get past the arrogant persona.” I joked trying to make light of the question despite the nerves I felt.
“Right.” Pop sounded thoughtful, I could feel his eyes on me, finishing with my boots I set them aside and stood to meet his gaze. His eyes seemed to penetrate mine and I had the uncanny feeling that he knew everything, I shook it off, Pop, after all, had years of experience when it came to getting the truth out of teenagers, he had raised three of his own.
“Let’s go in,” he smiled, the questioning look vanished, “I’m pretty sure Norma said she was making meatloaf tonight and I don’t know about you but I’m starved.” He led the way into the house without waiting for my answer, I followed behind, feeling suspiciously as though Robert and I were no longer a secret.
“I don’t know why you’re so worried,” Robert smiled a little later, his entire body seemed to radiate a soft glow as he sat casually on the end of my bed.
“Fred loves you, and I don’t mean to sound arrogant but I’m pretty sure he likes me too, so if he knows or he thinks he knows then what’s the big deal?”
“I’m not sure,” I sighed, lying back against my pillow,
“I just feel as if we’ll be continually watched once they know, you know, once it’s official.” I fiddled with my blanket, rubbing the smooth woollen fibres between my fingers.
“At least when they know I can come around during normal socially acceptable hours, we won’t have to wait until you’ve ‘gone to bed’ before I come sneaking through you window.” he punctuated sarcastically with his fingers.
“I like you sneaking through my window,” I smiled,
“Oh don’t get me wrong,” he laughed gently again, “I’ll still come through you
r window.” his hand found mine, his insanely warm fingers gently stroking the back of my hand sending small electric shocks up my arm.
“So it turns out you’re a rebel…” he joked softly, his impossibly dark eyes burrowing into mine.
“Hiding your boyfriend from your grandparents, and here I thought you were a very proper and responsible young lady?”
“Well it seems you don’t know me very well then.”
“Oh, and what other rebellious things have you done then, drugs, smoking, tattoos?” he raised his eyebrows at me, the smile never leaving his face.
“Okay I admit it, I’ve done none of that,” I smiled, “I’m an old woman in a teenagers body, I was never the rebellious sort.”
“Good.” he smiled, “I like you better that way anyway.”
“Do you?” I asked, not meeting his eyes but watching my own fingers as I trailed them gently down one of his bronzed arms.
“Okay”, he murmured “Time for the human to go to bed I think.”
“Oh so you’re not human now?” it was my turn to raise an eyebrow at him,
“Not human in your sense of the word anyway.” he gave me a cheeky half grin before leaping from the bed so silently it was like watching a ghost.
“Good night Ava,” he bent towards me, kissing me softly on the lips before pulling back.
“You don’t have to go yet.” I said hopefully,
“Yes I do, you need your sleep otherwise Fred will really start to wonder when you’re walking around like a zombie.”
“Spoil sport.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Wild horses wouldn’t stop me.”
He chuckled quietly at that, no doubt picturing Beaut and I, and then he was gone, vanishing as quickly as he had from the shed earlier. Only the slight swaying of the curtain betrayed any movement as he breezed out of my room and into the night.
18.
The morning in Denver was cool and I was glad for the jacket Nan had insisted I bring. Finding the lawyers office hadn’t been much of a problem with Robert lending me his GPS.
He was a constant source of surprise, who would have thought a ranch hand living in one of the smallest towns conceivable would have a GPS. For that matter who would have thought Robert was out of the ordinary at all, it seemed every time I saw him I was blown away, he was magnetic.
If there really was one person out there for everyone, surely I couldn’t have been lucky enough to have found that person already.
Could I?
Whatever power Robert possessed it pulled me to him and I wasn’t going to fight it, I would be happy to feel this way forever.
I was a little early for my appointment, the drive had taken less time than I had anticipated and so I decided to go for a walk, I needed to stretch my legs.
It appeared I was near the center of the city, I didn’t know Denver at all but the streets were lined with fashion shops, department stores and a few high rises that climbed towards the sky. Trees swayed prettily next to the wide sidewalks and the foot traffic was light, I had missed the morning rush and the lunch rush hadn’t yet begun. Driving into Denver had been breathtaking, the city was so green with its lush backdrop of the Rocky Mountains it was a picture postcard place to see, perhaps I would have to come back some time to shop. I didn’t think I would be in much of a mood to after my visit with the lawyer today.
I made my way slowly down the street trying very hard not to focus on what I would be discussing when it was time to meet Mr Bannister.
I really didn’t care what was in the Will, My parents were gone, what else was important?
True to form I found a Starbucks on the next corner, the smell bringing a rush of memories from Chicago, Julia and I used to go to Starbucks most days after class.
I ordered a Latté and made my way to one of the small tables, after my initial heavenly sip I let my thoughts wander again.
Invariably they went straight back to him. It was almost impossible to get him out of my mind, his gorgeous smile, his bottomless brown eyes, even his voice held me completely transfixed whenever I heard it. He had been a little anxious when I left this morning, I remembered the pained look in his eyes as he kissed me goodbye, I knew he didn’t want me doing this on my own but there was no way I could do it in front of anyone else either, it had been hard enough talking Nan and Pop into staying on the ranch. This would be enough to deal with by myself without other people surrounding me with their sympathetic looks and words, that would have made it impossible. I was shy with my grief, I dealt better with these types of things in privacy.
“Ava!”
I lifted my head at the sound of my name, something I definitely hadn’t expected here. I turned in my chair to find Will making his way between the tables towards me, a huge steaming takeaway cup in one hand.
“Espresso Grande,” he exclaimed with a smile, lifting his cup in salute as he sat in the vacant chair beside me.
“So what are you doing here?”
That was the thing about Will, he didn’t beat around the bush.
“Ahhh,” I paused not wanting to tell him, “I, err, thought I would get a few things for school before it goes back.” I noticed his eyes were particularly bright today, reflecting the light like shiny pieces of Jade.
“Sure, great, I’m here for the dentist,” he pulled a face of mock horror before taking a long sip of his coffee. Damn it, why hadn’t I thought of some easy alibi like that, I took a sip of my own coffee, it really was good.
“What times your appointment?” I asked.
“Not till one, so I have a few hours to kill, wanna hit the shops together?”
“Err, I can’t, I’m ah, I’m meeting someone at eleven.”
“Oh okay,” he tilted his head to one side regarding me seriously, I couldn’t be sure but it looked as if some sort of understanding dawned on him and he pulled back, smiling once more.
“So are you keen for another raft trip, or an impromptu camping expedition again soon?” his deep green eyes were playful.
“No!” I laughed, “No offence but I think I’ll keep away from the river, unless I’m swimming.”
“Well perhaps we can go to the swimming hole in town at one stage then?”
“Perhaps,” alarm bells were sounding in my head, although I wasn’t sure why, Robert popped into my mind and I wondered if he was the jealous type, Will snickered.
“What?”
“Ahh?” he looked shocked, as though he hadn’t realised he had laughed out loud.
“What’s so funny?”
“Ah, just an inside joke, sorry, something that happened at the swimming hole.” He waved his hand in dismissal,
“So after you’ve met ‘somebody’,” he continued on, “Do you wanna catch up, maybe go for a movie?”
“I can’t I’m sorry,” I didn’t want to lead him on, “I have to head back, my grandparents are crazy overprotective and if I’m much later then the time I told them I’d be they’ll panic, especially after the whole camping thing.”
“Hmmm,” he looked thoughtful, staring at me again in that completely disconcerting way, like he could read every one of my thoughts.
“Okay then,” he continued, relentless, “so I was wondering, if we have to keep things nice and safe for you, if you would like to go to the Ranchers Ball with me, everyone around here seems to be buzzing out about it so I suppose we should go for a look?” he smiled brightly and if it hadn’t been for Robert, if he had never existed I probably would have said yes. No matter how uncomfortable Wills stares made me something about him was intriguing, even more so when he looked at me with those crazy green eyes.
Will flinched visibly, anger tightened the corners of his eyes.
“What?” I asked, looking him over again, okay maybe he was a bit strange.
Or psycho, the negative part of my mind chimed in.
“Nothing,” he spoke through his teeth, drawing his breath in a rapid whistling sound, “I just kicked the se
at.”
“Oh.” This settled I tried to tackle the far more embarrassing question,
“I’m sorry Will, I’m grounded from the Ball.”
“Really?” For some reason, and perhaps my crazy emotions were imagining this again, he seemed slightly cheered by this.
“Oh well that’s too bad”, he smiled a large toothy grin, “I guess I’ll just have to go stag.” “I guess,” I echoed, once more grateful to Pop for banning me.
Thankfully Will changed the subject, and we spoke quite comfortably about general things, our upcoming senior year, and how we were finding the socially limiting town of Huntington.
“Didn’t you have to meet your lawyer at eleven?” Will asked without even consulting a watch, I looked down at my own, it was two minutes to, Dammit.
“Yeah, thanks for that,” I was going to be late, I stood quickly ready to run out the door.
“I’ll see you later Will,”
“Hey Ava,”
“Yeah?”
“Perhaps you should keep away from the plateau paddock next year, then you’ll be able to attend the ball with me.”
I didn’t answer, instead I opted for a quick smile, that at least was not promising anything. I dashed from the coffee shop, forgetting in my rush to wonder how he had known about the lawyers when I hadn’t told him.
Before I knew it, or wanted to be, I was standing back in front of the Lawyers offices. I pushed the door gently and walked into the main reception area, it was very plush, thick carpet lined the floor up to a huge wooden reception desk. A water feature was running off to the right filling the room with its calming trickle, a huge corner couch and low coffee table sat near this.
I made my way quickly to the desk, an attractive women who looked to be in her forties acknowledged me with a smile.
“Good Morning, How may I help you?”
I swallowed deeply, “I’m here to see Arthur Bannister.”
“You must be Miss Daniels,” a booming happy voice came from my left as a jolly looking man appeared from the hallway.
“Ah, yeah,” I smiled weakly.