The Rancher’s Tempting Nanny

by Mary Sue Jackson

  Sixteen

  “It’s going to be good, son,” Pete said, his hands clasped in front of him as he surveyed the land stretching out before them. “Just you wait and see. When we’re done with it, this ranch is going to be better than it’s ever been before.”

  Austin smiled and nodded, still trying to get used to the feeling he got when his dad talked this way. It had been a full week since Pete had shown up unexpectedly, offering his help, and ever since then, the man had been on the ranch every day. Still, despite all the time they were spending together, their interactions felt foreign, and he suspected they would for a long time to come. More and more, he was starting to feel like that was okay. A relationship didn't simply mend itself overnight, especially one that hadn't amounted to much to begin with. Pete hadn’t been one for hard labor when Austin was growing up, spending more time drinking then holding down a job. He didn’t know exactly what he was doing now, either, but he seemed to be giving it everything he had. His dad was trying, and for the time being, that was enough.

  “Feel like joining us for lunch?” he asked brightly, clapping his dad on the back and steering him in the direction of the house. “I think Sara is making grilled cheese. Not the fanciest thing in the world, but one of Lea’s favorites.”

  “I don’t know,” Pete hesitated, even as they drew closer to the house. “I’m not sure I’m entirely welcome there.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Austin exclaimed with far more exuberance than he felt. “Of course you are. I’m sure Lea will be thrilled to see you again.”

  The truth of the matter was, Lea hadn't spoken a single word to her grandfather, had barely even spared a glance in the man's direction. She had been making so much progress lately, but in the days since her birthday party, she seemed to be regressing. Austin kept meaning to ask Sara about it, but things were still weird between them, too. It was like the universe had conspired against him, determined not to let him get too big for his britches just because of one good stretch of days.

  He kept his head high and his conversation lively as he led his dad into the house, though, determined to make everyone get along through the sheer force of his desire for it. He had spent too much of his life trying to make things work between people to see it all fall apart now.

  “See who it is?” he asked brightly, ruffling Lea’s hair as he and Pete tramped into the kitchen. “It’s your daddy and his friend Pete. We’re both very hungry, and very glad to see you again.”

  He waited expectantly for the moment when Lea would turn away from the sandwich already set out in front of her and offer him a greeting. It didn’t need to be anything as extravagant as a sentence, not even close. At this point he would happily settle for one word, anything that would show him that he hadn’t imagined all her former progress.

  “She’s just a little tired,” Sara said with forced brightness, motioning for Austin and Pete to take a seat as she set plates out in front of them. “Somebody got up in the middle of the night to stage a tea party with her stuffed animals, didn’t she?”

  Lea took a big bite of her sandwich, giving Sara an adoring look in the process, but offered no answer. Instead she picked up a crayon and bent her head over her coloring book, studying it with all the commitment of a student practicing for the SATs.

  Lea's quiet set the tone for everyone's meal, and the whole group ate in relative silence, Pete clearing his throat reflexively, the tic standing out all the more for the lack of accompanying conversation. By the time they were done eating, Austin was relieved to push his chair back from the table and see Pete do the same.

  “Well,” his dad said uncomfortably, grabbing his belt and hitching his pants up higher. “As much as I enjoy being here, I think it’s time I call it a day. Thank you for the lunch, Sara, and thank you for your company, Lea.”

  “Of course!” Sara said cheerfully, although Austin couldn’t help noting that the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It was lovely to see you again. And I’m sure Lea feels the same way, even if she’s being shy.”

  Pete tipped an imaginary hat in response, then nodded to Austin. They headed down the hall together, speaking in low tones until they were outside again as if they were trying hard not to disrupt the home's owner. Never mind that the owner was him, Austin thought bitterly, a feeling he didn't like having in association with Sara and Lea.

  “I was thinking I might go purchase some of the supplies you’re still missing,” Pete said, finally speaking when they reached his driver’s side door. “If that’s all right by you. Just wanted to get some of the things needed for the outstanding projects on the property. Unless that’s me overstepping my boundaries, that is.”

  “No,” Austin said, eager to put the awkwardness of the kitchen behind them. “Not at all. That would be great, Pete. It would be a real help.”

  “Good,” his dad said with a nod. “Great. So do you think it would be all right if I stopped by to take inventory of things sometime in the next couple of days? Or tomorrow morning, even? To see what you have and what you still need?”

  "Not a problem," Austin said decisively, speaking with more confidence than he actually felt. "I've got an appointment at the bank tomorrow morning, but if you come by and I'm not here, Sara can help you with anything you need. I just hope you know you don't have to do that, okay? You don't have to do any of this."

  "Maybe not," Pete said softly, a haunted look in his eyes. "But I want to, if it's all the same to you."

  Austin agreed that it was, and the two of them shook hands, agreeing to see each other again soon. As Austin stood in the door and watched his father go, it occurred to him that this was the best he had felt about having the ranch since he had learned that his grandparents left it to him. Somehow, having his dad on his side made the whole thing better, more manageable.

  “Now,” he muttered to himself as he shut the door. “If I could figure out what’s going on with Lea and Sara, things might really be okay.”

  Sara watched from the kitchen window, even as she told herself she wasn’t really spying. She wasn’t watching Austin and Pete because she was looking for some juicy gossip, after all, was she? The only thing she was interested in was keeping things happy and stable in the Flint household, something she wasn’t so sure Austin could see clearly anymore.

  "Daddy?" Lea asked from the kitchen table, where she sat drawing as Sara pretended to clean up the lunch dishes. "Daddy come in?"

  “That’s right, sweetie,” Sara answered, glancing over her shoulder to favor the little girl with a reassuring smile. “Daddy’s coming back inside.”

  “Pete?” Lea asked with a little frown, only willing to look at Sara for a moment before turning back to her coloring.

  “No,” Sara answered, her voice a little more severe than she meant it to be, although she seemed helpless to stop it. “Pete and your daddy are all done with each other for right now. It’s just going to be the three of us for a little while. Sound good?”

  Sara, wiping her hands on a tea towel, and blushing at the thought of Austin catching her spying, turned to look at Lea more closely. She was hoping for another response from the girl, some indication one way or the other that she had an opinion about the news. Instead, Sara was met with nothing. Lea had returned to her drawing with such rapt attention, it was like she didn't hear Sara talking at all.

  In a different sort of little girl, Sara might not have thought anything of it. But she had been with Austin and his daughter for long enough to have a feeling for Lea's moods and accompanying behaviors. Before Pete's appearance, Lea had been on her way to becoming downright chatty. Lately, though, things had been reverting back to the way they had been when Sara first arrived. The more invested Austin got in his tentative relationship with Pete, the further into herself Lea seemed to be retreating. The worst part of it was, Austin didn't even seem to realize it. As much as she cared for him, which was a whole lot more than she was comfortable admitting, she couldn't understand the not noticing. Did he
think closing his eyes to the problem would make it go away? Harsh experience had taught her that never worked. That was exactly what she had done with her ex, and it had gotten her nowhere good.

  Frustration with the whole situation made her wince as she listened to boot-clad footsteps coming down the hall. She had to put a concentrated effort into rearranging her face so that her expression remained neutral.

  "Well, here they are," Austin said cheerfully when he reached the kitchen door, his voice booming like she imagined a young Santa Claus’s might have done. "My two favorite girls."

  “Hey, Austin,” Sara responded for the both of them when Lea didn’t so much as look up at the sound of his voice.

  In her own ears, the words sounded positively dripping with false cheer, and she felt certain he must be able to hear it too. When she looked more closely at his face, however, she was pretty sure he didn’t hear anything off at all. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved by the fact or supremely annoyed.

  “What have we got here?” Austin continued, apparently completely unable to read the room as he took the seat beside Lea. “I love your drawing, sweetheart. I can’t get over what a little artist you are. Want to tell me about your picture?”

  Lea heard his question. Sara knew it, both because the girl was unusually attuned to her surroundings and because of the little flicker in her eyes. Lea didn’t so much as look at him in response, however, nor did she put her crayon down. Sara’s heart sank to see the regression, a feeling which only grew when she saw the frustration etched in the frown lines on Austin’s face.

  "Hey, do you want to help me over here for a minute?" she asked with that same false bright note in her voice, the one that was starting to make her feel vaguely ill. "Shouldn't take too long, I wouldn't think."

  Austin took one last lingering look at his daughter before giving a terse nod and getting back to his feet. The chair legs scraped against the tile floor loudly, something Sara couldn't help thinking he had done on purpose to jar Lea into a response, but he got nothing in return for his efforts. Lea might as well have been deaf for all the attention she was paying to her father. They were reaching the point where she actually seemed less present now than she had when Sara had first come. As much as she hated the idea, as much as she was dreading it, she thought it was time for her and Austin to have a conversation before things got even worse.

  “What did you need?” he asked in a gruff tone as he approached the counter.

  Sara inched backward towards the sink, so that their conversation wouldn't draw Lea's attention. Just because the child seemed to be ignoring them didn’t mean she actually was. "I thought it might be a good idea for us to have a little conversation."

  “Is it about Lea? Do you think something’s wrong?” he asked, following the lead of her hushed tones as he glanced at his little girl over his shoulder. “Because if so, I agree with you.”

  “I think she’s regressing,” Sara whispered, her heart jumping nervously as the words hung in the air between them.

  “I can see that you’re right,” he agreed, running an agitated hand through his hair. “The question is, why? She was doing so well. At least I thought she was. What happened?”

  Sara took a deep breath, hoping it would steady her, though she was not altogether surprised when it fell short of the task. She had known for a little while now that this conversation was coming, that it was unavoidable, but that didn’t mean she dreaded it any less.

  “I think it’s because she’s uncomfortable with all the changes that have been going on lately,” Sara continued, striving for tact.

  “Changes?” Austin repeated, something about his tone challenging in a way she didn’t care for at all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What changes?”

  “Well, it could be related to the two of us getting together,” Sara started, her face going hot at the mention of whatever was happening between them. “Although she’s responded positively to that so far.”

  “Right,” Austin agreed, his thumbs hooked through his belt loops and a frown creasing his handsome face. “So…?”

  “So, Pete,” Sara said simply, raising her hands and then dropping them again in a helpless gesture. “You’ve been spending an awful lot of time with him, and he’s been hanging around the ranch more and more often.”

  “Right, but he’s her grandfather, for God’s sake!” Austin objected, his response coming so quickly that Sara couldn’t help thinking he’d already known what she was going to say. “He’s not exactly a stranger.”

  “Except that he is,” Sara insisted, her hands finding her hips in a gesture of frustration, despite her best efforts to hide it. “And you should keep your voice down. You’re going to upset her.”

  Austin’s face darkened to the point that it was almost purple, and it was all Sara could do to keep from stepping away. It wasn’t that she thought he’d hurt her, but the instinct was ingrained at this point. And to be honest, she didn’t really know how Austin might choose to lash out. She had known this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation, but she hadn’t predicted him getting this angry this fast.

  "Maybe you're the one upsetting her," he hissed, even his whisper so loud that it was a wonder Lea wasn't watching them with her unnervingly wise eyes. "Maybe she'd be just fine if you weren't acting so strange and icy since Dad started coming around. Maybe if you weren't stirring up conflict, things would be like they were before."

  Sara bit her lip, willing herself not to show the depth of her shock and hurt on her face. Even in her worst-case-scenario imaginings of how this talk would go, she had never imagined that he would blame her for Lea's regression. She had never dreamed that he would put her down and unload the culpability on her just to make himself feel better.

  “Okay,” she stammered, striving for strength in her voice but falling woefully short. “If that’s how you feel, let me assure you that I will continue to do my best work with your daughter. I’ll make sure she gets back on track, regardless of whatever is at the root of what’s been throwing her.”

  “Good,” Austin snapped back, his eyes so dark and clouded they looked like two tiny, self-contained storms. “Because if I remember correctly, that’s what you’re here for.”

  Before Sara could wrap her head around this latest barb, let alone come up with a response, Austin was storming out of the room. He didn't even notice when Lea looked up at him, her face one big question mark. He didn't notice the tears that were already welling in Sara’s eyes as she turned to look out the window. She couldn't say if his obliviousness was willful or otherwise, and she was no longer sure she cared.

  All Sara knew was that a man hadn't made her feel this small since her ex-husband, and if that wasn't a red flag, she wasn't sure what was.

  Seventeen

  For a time, when everything was good on the ranch, Sara had found herself wanting to stay up as late as possible, just to soak up the good vibes of whatever was going on between her and Austin. The night after his harsh words, however, she couldn't wait to get to the safety of her room. She was about as far from being in the mood to cuddle with Austin as a girl could get. She couldn't imagine sitting close to him on the porch and sipping a glass of wine with his cruel words still rattling around in her head. She absolutely didn't hold a grudge, but that didn't mean she wasn't badly shaken by his behavior. She couldn't seem to shake the memory of the anger in his voice. It had made him seem like an entirely different person.

  In the light of the next day, however, the severity of the memory had faded some. As she played with Lea, Sara told herself that things surely couldn't have been as bad in that unfortunate discussion as they had seemed. She was ultra-sensitive to people laying blame on her, especially when it was men. And the conversation had been a loaded one, there was no doubt about that. When emotions were high, sometimes people said things they didn’t truly believe. Getting into a spat didn't have to mean anything monumental. Couples fought. It was just part of being a couple.
<
br />   “A couple,” she mused to herself under her breath as she helped Lea dress one of her stuffed animals in a particularly complicated costume. “Is that what we are? Am I really prepared to go down that road again?”

  She didn't mean to speak the words out loud, and in fact, didn't realize she had until she noticed Lea looking up at her with a quizzical expression on her face. Sara felt a wave of heat wash over her, and she cleared her throat, buying herself a little time while she tried to figure out how to explain herself. Fortunately for the sake of preserving her dignity, Austin came barreling into the room at that moment, grabbing both of their attention and leaving Sara's words all but forgotten.

  “Hey,” he said distractedly, stopping in the very center of the room and turning a quick circle that made Sara dizzy just to look at it. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

  "No," Sara said with a puzzled laugh. "We were just playing. Is everything okay, though? I'm not going to lie; you look a little like a chicken running around with his head cut off."

  “I feel a little like one, too,” he chuckled, his face lighting up when he located the hat he was searching for perched precariously on one arm of the sofa. “I’ve got an appointment at the bank, and I completely forgot about it. I’m running the kind of late that makes a man feel like he’s going to have a heart attack.”

  “Oh no!” she exclaimed with a giggle, ruffling Lea’s hair as she got to her feet and went to Austin’s side. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Actually, there is,” he said in a low, conspiratorial voice as he reached for her waist and pulled her in close. “You can let me give you a kiss to make it all feel better.”

  The words alone left her almost too breathless to speak, but she nodded happily, turning her face up to give him easier access to her already parted lips. His kiss was slow and tentative, like he was still asking for permission. She felt his apology for all that had happened in his lips and hoped he could feel her forgiveness, too. By the time they reluctantly pulled apart again, her eyes were shiny with tears.