Jenny turned to look at Hank. “The craziest part is that I still remember every single detail of her hospital room, from the pale blue walls and white trim to the painting of a single white sailboat floating on choppy green water. I even remember the pattern of the tile. I don’t remember a lot of things, but I remember that room.”
Hank shook his head. “Thanks for telling me about her. It doesn’t seem fair that you had to lose your mom.”
Jenny bumped against his knee. “It’s okay. It happened a long time ago.”
“Yeah, but you still miss her.” He leaned forward, hunching over so his elbows rested on his knees.
“I miss her every day, but the pain has lessened. Now when I think about my mom, I mostly remember things about her that made me smile,” Jenny said.
“Like?”
Jenny pointed toward Bacon’s stable. “It’s a little thing, but when I was young I had really long hair. My mom spent forever brushing it out. Now when I’m working on Bacon’s tail, I feel a little closer to my mom, like we’re connected somehow. If she were here, she’d be doing the same thing.”
Hank’s nose crinkled. “Brushing your hair? That’s a little . . . strange?”
Jenny laughed and pushed Hank to the edge of the trunk. “Yes. Brushing my hair. And talking to me about annoying ranch hands. Speaking of which, don’t you have a job you’re supposed to be doing? Preferably somewhere that’s not here?”
Smiling widely, Hank put his hat back on his head and stood up, holding his hand out to help Jenny stand. She grasped his palm, trying to hide a smile as warmth trailed up her arm, lifting some of the heaviness of the day. She didn’t have room in her body for sadness when Hank’s touch sent flutters of excitement that danced straight through her skin to her heart.
Hank lowered Jenny’s hand, but didn’t let go until he gave it a little squeeze. “I like knowing a little more about your story, and actually, Jo Jo’s story, too.” He let her hand drop, and turned to leave. “I guess I’ve got to go find myself some animals to feed.” He tilted his hat toward Jenny and left the barn, taking some of the warmth with him.
As Jenny grabbed the brush and stepped back into Bacon’s pen, her heart felt lighter than it had in a long time. The horse leaned against her while she worked, but her thoughts were far away, flitting back and forth between the past with her mom and the present with the cowboy who cared enough to listen to her. She couldn’t wait until lunchtime, where she’d have a chance to talk to him again.
Chapter 13
The conversation with Jenny was messing with Hank’s mind, distracting him from the task at hand. He couldn’t stop thinking about the things Jenny had told him. Hearing part of her story made him hungry to know more. Unfortunately, his desire to learn about her wasn’t going to help him get through any of the chores on the ranch. Hank vowed to avoid the stables during Bacon’s feeding sessions.
His resolve to stay away from Jenny lasted approximately a day. The next morning after Bacon’s breakfast, he asked Jenny go with him to check the water well. The county inspector was coming soon, and Hank really didn’t need Jo Jo getting dinged with a violation. Weeds were encroaching the pressure valve, and they had to be cut back before the inspector arrived.
Jenny readily agreed to come, a smile lighting up her face. She glanced at her watch. “I have two hours and forty-seven minutes until Bacon needs his next meal.” She walked over to Hank’s truck, bumping into his hip as she passed him, and he knew it was going to be a long day fighting his growing feelings.
The road curved back and forth in a serpentine path as they drove to the well, the truck bouncing them along. The dirt road was baked down to a firm surface, which was great when the weather was nice but tended to get a bit slippery during the monsoons. Hank watched Jenny out of the corner of his eye, keeping most of his attention on the road. She watched the fields whip by, her face lighting up whenever she saw a herd of cattle grazing in the distance.
“Tell me something,” Hank said. “How is it possible that these animals still make you smile? They’re cows. The most basic of ranch animals.”
Jenny held her hands up. “Hey. Some of us haven’t grown up seeing these guys every day. They are so goofy, and yet so endearing.”
“Kind of like you.” The words slipped out of Hank’s mouth, and he cringed, waiting for the blow that was sure to follow. Sure enough, Jenny smacked his arm.
“Ha! At least I’m endearing.” She folded her arms across her chest, trying to look angry, but the smile on her lips gave her away.
“Yes, you are.” Hank pulled the truck to a stop in a clearing beside the well. He hopped out of the cab and circled to the back of the truck, pulling out two weed eaters.
Hank handed one to Jenny. “Have you ever used one of these before?”
Jenny shook her head. “Nope.”
“Didn’t they teach you how to do anything in that city of yours?” Hank teased.
“Hey. I didn’t have time for yard work. I hired it out.” She looked at the weed-eater in her hands, and then back at Hank. “How about you show me how this thing works? It can’t be too difficult, right?”
Hank nodded, appreciating the lightness in his chest that wasn’t usually there when he worked. He stood behind Jenny, placing one of her hands by the power switch and reaching around her to place her other hand on the hold bar. Although he tried to keep a gap between Jenny’s body and his, he couldn’t stop the longing that flowed through him. It would be so easy to drop the tools and wrap his arms around her for real.
“You must have this set for you and your gorilla arms. I don’t think I’m holding it right,” she said. Jenny’s arm was stretched out straight in front of her, her fingers barely touching the bar.
Smiling broadly, Hank reached for the knob on the side of the tool. He slid the handle back until Jenny’s arm was at a more natural angle. “Better?”
With a flush filling her cheeks, she nodded. “Yeah. What’s next?”
Hank shook his head to clear his mind. He was letting his attention wander again. “Are you ready for some power?” He waited for Jenny’s nod and then flipped the switch. As the weed-eater roared to life, Hank wrapped his hands over Jenny’s. He guided the weed-eater from one side of the grass to the other, leaving a swatch of trimmed grass behind. “See? It’s that simple.”
Hank shut off the weed-eater and stepped back, missing the pressure of his hands on hers. “Any questions?”
She shrugged. “It seems pretty simple. See the weeds, chop the weeds.”
“Yep. Pretty much like that, except you need to watch your legs and toes. The last thing I need is you bleeding all over my truck because you started swinging the weed-eater around like a crazy city girl.”
Jenny approached a tall patch of grass. “You afraid of a little blood?”
“Nope. I’m just afraid of what it would do to my truck,” Hank said. “It’s not my decorating style.” He walked away from Jenny to the other side of the well, waiting to hear the sound of her tool revving up again. Then he began to clear away the section in front of him.
It didn’t take long for Hank to finish his side of the well. When he glanced back over his shoulder, he doubled over laughing. Jenny’s boots were covered in a fine layer of green, as were her jeans. Somehow, she had managed to shift the grass shield to the opposite side of the weed-eater, so all the trimmings were kicking back on her. Thankfully, she had managed to avoid her toes in the process.
She grabbed her sunglasses off her face and waved a hand in front of her to push away the weed clippings that floated through the air, but all she did was stir up the cloud. Dropping the glasses to the ground, she wiped at her eyes. “Ugh. This stuff is everywhere!” She turned her face to her shoulder and used the sleeve to dab away the sweat that was pooling on her brow. “Seriously, how can you stand working in this heat? It’s awful.”
Hank walked to her side, taking the tool from her hands. “It’s not always this bad. Besides, you get us
ed to the heat. I thought California was supposed to be hot all the time.” He carried the weed-eaters across the grass to his truck, Jenny trailing close behind.
“Not like here,” she said. “We only get a handful of days that break 100 degrees. I lived about twenty minutes from the beach, so the ocean breeze would cool us down by early afternoon most days.”
Throwing the tools to the back of the truck, Hank stomped over to stand in front of Jenny, his arms crossed. “You mean to tell me that you could be building sand castles right now, and you’re choosing to be here?” He waved his arms, gesturing to the weeds surrounding them. “What is wrong with you?”
Hank waited for Jenny’s grin, smiling when it wrinkled her nose with the look that he was learning to appreciate. The look that meant he had pushed her buttons just right so she was paying attention to him. He reached out and brushed specks of green off Jenny’s shoulders.
“I had something called a job,” she said. “It wasn’t like I was a beach bum lounging by the ocean every day.”
“Ah, but you could have been.”
“Where would the fun be in that? I would have missed out on all this lovely greenery. Speaking of which, how on earth did you stay so clean?”
“You don’t want to know.” Hank pushed the tailgate closed with a thud. “Ready?”
Jenny nodded and pivoted on her feet to head to her side of the truck, brushing off weeds as she went. Hank ran around her, pulling the door open with a slight bow. His cheeks hurt from trying to keep a straight face.
“Why do you do that?” Jenny said. She stopped, one foot inside the cab and the other still on the ground.
“Do what?”
“Why do you assume I don’t want to know the answer when I ask you questions?”
Hank shrugged. “I figure that you’re asking to be polite or something. I mean, do you really care why your weed-eater didn’t work when you are most likely never going to use one again in your life?”
Jenny pulled her other foot into the cab. “I genuinely am curious. I like knowing how things work.”
Hank nodded, shutting the door behind her. He walked around the front of the truck, over to his door, his insides squirming. A city girl that cared about the ranch? That was a nice change. Amanda certainly hadn’t wanted to know anything about it. She used her questions as weapons to make Hank feel guilty for working so hard. Hank yanked open his door and climbed in, only to see her hopping back out of the truck. “Where are you going?”
“I forgot my sunglasses.”
Hank watched her run, the world turning in slow motion when her boot smacked against a rock, and she fell to the ground. He was out of the truck in an instant and running to her side, but the damage was done. Hank reached out a hand to help her up, but Jenny shook her head, a small whimper coming from her mouth. She cradled her left arm, holding it close to her side. Hank knelt down in front of her.
A coldness seeped through his stomach. He had let Jo Jo’s granddaughter get hurt on his watch. With hands shaking, he reached for Jenny’s arm. “May I?” he asked. The pain in her eyes hurt Hank’s heart. He watched her for a moment, waiting until she nodded. Then he lifted her wrist, gently turning it over in his hands.
Jenny hissed when he ran his fingers over the bump that was already swelling. Her eyes filled with tears.
Hank nodded once and released her am, placing it back in her lap with the care of a licensed doctor. “Well, if you’re lucky, it’s just a bad sprain and not a break. The problem is that I’ve got to get you back down to Jo Jo so she can take a look. You don’t have a sling hiding in your pockets, do you?”
The corners of her mouth barely lifted. “Nope. I left the sling in my other pair of jeans.”
Hank unbuttoned his plaid shirt and pulled it off his body, his muscles straining against the tan t-shirt he wore underneath.
He glanced at Jenny, whose cheeks were turning the familiar flush of pink. Her eyes darted to his chest, and then rose to his face. “Why are you taking off your clothes, Hank?”
“We have to protect your wrist somehow. This should work.” Folding the shirt into a triangle, Hank reached for Jenny’s arm, gently easing the shirt between her body and her wrist. He pulled the shirt up around Jenny’s shoulder, encasing the arm in a swath of fabric before tying the ends together in a loose knot behind her neck. “That should take some of the pressure off your wrist. Does it feel okay?” He rocked back on his heels, watching her face.
Wincing once more, she shook her head. “Let’s go. I need to get some ice on this.”
“Do you think you can stand?”
Jenny nodded.
Hank wrapped his arm around her waist, his insides trembling as his hand cradled her side. Moving slowly, he helped her up. When Jenny took her first step, she leaned back against Hank for support. The weight of her body against his brought out his protective instincts. He ached to hold her in his arms and carry her back to the ranch. Instead, he settled for helping her climb into the cab of the truck. As he reached for the seatbelt, Jenny snorted.
“Are you seriously trying to buckle me up?” She wrapped a hand around the sling, moving her arm out of the way so he could click the belt into place.
“Safety first.” Hank tilted his hat toward Jenny, and then ran around the truck to climb in on his side, quickly throwing the truck into reverse. Every bump of the tires over a loose rock or pothole made Hank cringe. Jenny leaned back against the seat; her eyes closed. After a few minutes of silence, she groaned.
“Are you okay?” Hank asked.
“You said I couldn’t bleed all over your truck. You didn’t say anything about large bumps or bruises. I’m pretty sure that makes this your fault.”
She was joking, but Hank knew she was right. He had broken his rule of getting attached, asking her to join him at the well. “Honestly, I should have left you at the stables with Bacon. You’d have been safe there,” he said. The road ahead had a large dip in the center of it. Hank maneuvered the truck around the space, cringing when the back wheels bottomed out.
“I don’t know. My arm gets pretty sore brushing Bacon. I think it’s probably a wash.” Her lips were pressed together in a tight line. After a few more jarring potholes, Jenny broke the silence. “Talk to me, Hank. I need to think about something other than this pain.”
“Okay. What do you want to know?”
“I honestly don’t care. Tell me anything. Tell me about Sutter.”
“My dog? You’re in massive pain, and you want to hear about my dog?” The sound of four paws skittering across the room flooded his mind. “For starters, Sutter would be really worried about you right now. He doesn’t like it when people are hurt.”
“How would you know? From what I’ve seen, you have some sort of superman complex, and never seem to get hurt.” Jenny turned her green eyes to look at him, her eyebrows raised. “Am I wrong?”
The memory of Sutter coming to the ranch slammed into Hank. “You’d be surprised,” he said. “The first few weeks of Sutter being here, I was in all kinds of pain.” He clamped his mouth down, trying to take back the words.
“Oh? I can’t see anything hurting you on the ranch. Did a cow kick you?”
“Not a cow. More like my best friend.” Hank was holding the steering wheel so tightly; his hands were beginning to cramp up. When he glanced over at Jenny, she was watching him, her eyes curious.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
“There isn’t much to tell. Just your standard guy being stupid enough to fall for his best friend’s younger sister, she dumps him, and the brother sides with her.”
“That’s awful. Did you really lose your best friend over that?”
Hank nodded, his eyes staring straight ahead at the road. “David and I haven’t spoken since last summer. The last time I saw him, he and his sister, Amanda, were climbing into his SUV and driving away from the ranch. They left Sutter behind.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Jenn
y’s questions were stirring up memories that he had forgotten. It had taken him months to stop seeing reminders of Amanda everywhere, from the sweet pea flower blossoms she loved to wear in her hair to the chipped dishes in the cupboard that she had accidentally damaged. “You’ve seen how tall the fields of hay are getting, right?” Hank asked.
Jenny nodded.
“Last summer, they came to work on the farm. We were having the best time working together until Amanda and I got close. David warned me to stay away from her, but I didn’t listen.”
The farmhouse was drawing closer, and with it, the opportunity to open up to Jenny was ending. Hank cleared his throat. “He warned me that Amanda would break my heart. I didn’t realize that when she did, he’d stop talking to me, too. I don’t know what she told him, but we haven’t spoken since.”
Jenny was silent, her eyes looking out the window. When she turned back to him, her lips were turned down. “That doesn’t seem very fair.”
“It wasn’t, but I’m trying to get past it. I can see why things wouldn’t have worked out for me and Amanda in the long run. I still miss my friend, though.” He shook his head. “Look at me ranting on. I was supposed to be distracting you.”
Jenny laughed. “It worked. Your story was so sad, I forgot to think about my wrist.”
Hank drove across the final stretch of grass, pulling as close to the steps as he could. He came around to Jenny’s side of the truck, opening her door to help her out. He wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her walk up the steps.
Hank led Jenny to the couch, calling for Jo Jo. When she was safely put in Jo Jo’s hands, Hank took his leave. Jenny’s arm would heal without him watching her like a hawk, and he still had a tractor to repair.
Love at Rosecrown Ranch Page 8