by Dana Pratola
“Where do you get abs like that?” she asked, moving her head slowly from side to side.
I chuckled.
“No, I’m serious,” she said. “How does that even happen?”
“Good genes.”
“I’ll say. The last time I saw Carl’s ab muscles was … never. He never had them. Always had that little belly,” she said, making a dome shape over her stomach with her hand.
“And you married him despite his disability,” I kidded. “That’s real love.”
She leaned against the door as I finished dressing. When she made no move to leave or speak, I cleared my throat.
She blinked several times. “Right. I came to tell you the Norris’s are dropping by this morning. They’re headed out to Toledo in a few weeks and want to check you out before they leave Cocoa and Caramel with you.”
I expected many of my clients would be dropping by to check on my well-being, that is, whether it was safe to leave their horses with me. Much as I hated to think about it, I was curious too. Head injuries were strange. Just because I had my sight back didn’t mean I was completely out of the woods.
Then again, I’d just spent a half hour talking all this over with God and had to trust Him.
“That’s fine. I’d do the same.”
“And Tracy’s been by.”
My stomach twisted into a buckaroo knot. I did not need to see Tracy or even think I might have to. She was gone; cleaned the house of every remnant of her, down to the hair in the shower drain. If she had any sense, she’d stay gone.
“She left though. Just picking up some stuff from the office.”
The knot loosened a bit. “Does she know I’m here?”
“No one told her that I know of,” Vanessa said. “Better she left you alone. Conniving gold-digger.”
I nodded, grabbed my jacket, and slipped my phone in my pocket. Cull was passing by as I stepped outside pulling my jacket on, Vanessa behind me.
“Finally wear Kash down?” he asked her with a wink.
“Not yet, but my husband can’t live forever,” she teased.
“I wouldn’t live much longer, either,” I said, only half in jest. Her husband was a six-five, two hundred-fifty-pound college football coach, who basically taught men to hit other men, for a living.
“Hey, did you tell Tracy he was here?” she asked.
“Never came up,” Cull said. “But she must know you’re not at the Wagoner place, Kash. She blathered on about a ghost hunt she’s trying to talk a bunch of folks into.”
“Ghost hunt?” Vanessa asked, amused.
I wasn’t amused. In fact, the knot was back, tighter than before. “At the house?”
Cull nodded. “Sounds like she’s got quite a group lined up.”
“When are they going?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. Whenever it is, it’s gonna be sometime after midnight and hopefully during a thunderstorm. Says that’s the best time for seeing spirits. If you ask me, it’s more about telling scary stories and drinking. If any of them saw a ghost, they’d most likely shoot at it, then fall over dead themselves.”
Vanessa and Cull laughed. I didn’t find any of it funny. A bunch of Tracy’s drunken barfly buddies descending on that house? It would probably be over the weekend. Even drunken yahoos had to get up for work the next day. Good thing Brenna would be gone by then.
I went to the office to check on things. Pretty much business as usual, with the exception of Tyler Hilton leaning the bulk of his growing beer gut against the reception desk. He looked me up and down with a nod. His horse had tried to end my life.
“How many fingers I’m holdin’ up?” he asked, with a chuckle, making a fist.
“Five,” I said.
“Right again,” he laughed. “It’s good to see you in one piece.” He came toward me then, grasping me in a bear hug. “When I heard what Toby did to you … I couldn’t even bring myself to call. I feel terrible, just terrible.”
“It’s not your fault, Tyler, don’t give it another thought.”
He shook his head. “Still, I’m … I don’t even know what to say. I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, or….”
He ended the hug, stepping back, eyes glistening with unshed tears. Typically an ornery sort, much like his horse, seeing him like this was uncomfortable.
“You don’t have to feel responsible because your horse is a jackass. It’s no one’s fault I got kicked. Not even his.” Well, yeah, someone’s. Brew’s.
“You’re awful generous sayin’ that, Kash. I just wish I could do something. A way to take it back.”
“Let’s just be grateful it wasn’t worse,” I said, meaning it. Kind of a shock, since I’d ordinarily be looking to take the injustice of it out on the perpetrator. Though in this case the perpetrator was a horse, and no matter what the beast had done to me, I could never hurt it. “Hey, if you really want to help,” I said, on second thought, “make sure to tell all your friends I’m still here, good as new. This ranch is doing better than ever.”
“I’ll do that! I will!” he said, with a face-splitting grin. “The Mrs. made you somethin’.” He took a basket off the desk. It was covered in pink cellophane with tiny red hearts all over it, tied with a white ribbon. “She did it all up.”
“So I see.” I took the basket from him, spinning it to view from all angles. Nestled inside was a homemade cherry pie surrounded by chocolate chip cookies. “Nice. Tell the Mrs. thanks, and thank you, too, Tyler.”
He gave me a hearty, shoulder-jerking handshake and left.
“Aww, that was sweet,” Tory said.
“Yeah.” I put the basket back on the desk. “Help yourself.”
She gave the ribbon a tug and let it slide to the desktop. “This woman has a gift, I tell you.” She bit into a cookie. “Georgia Hilton, God bless your soul,” she moaned.
I chuckled. “After I make the rounds, I wouldn’t mind a piece of pie with some fresh coffee if you have it.”
“Comin’ up.”
After checking the horses, equipment, and feed, I was on my way back from the stable when Ben pulled up. The truck had barely come to a halt when the passenger door flung open and a young lady launched out.
“Hey Kash!” she called, half-running, half-skipping toward me.
“Mr. Kash,” Ben corrected, harshly.
She didn’t register the reprimand at all, just kept coming, her bright grin made all the more luminous when the sun glinted off her braces. She might not be as grown as she thought, but it was a bunch more than I remembered from last year, all long legs, high, rounded butt, and breasts that barely bounced as she jogged. I didn’t notice things like that on girls her age, but wearing skin tight yoga pants and a tight shirt under her open jacket, I couldn’t help it.
Inside, I cringed. Outside, I did my best to seem happy to see her as she came to a sudden stop in front of me. Incredibly hard to do when there it was, all over her face. Young love. A girl like this could find herself in serious trouble with a grown man. Not me, but I had a ranch full of them. When she moved to hug me, I stepped aside and touched a finger to the brim of my hat, realizing only when I touched skin, that I’d left my hat inside.
“Hey, Paisley, good to see you again.” I backed up toward my house, signaling Ben to follow me, then pointed her toward the office. “There’re cookies in the office. Go help yourself.”
A flash of metal replaced her fleeting pout of disappointment and she skipped off.
“What the hell, Ben?” I asked, when she was out of earshot. “She always dress like that?”
“I’ll talk to her.”
“Thanks. I don’t think she’s looking for attention, but she’s going to find it. She’s like…. What happened to her?” I asked as I led him into my house. “Her parents sprinkle miracle sprout on her food?”
He gave a sigh. “I know, she’s maturing.”
“Well she better not do any more of it around here. Those braces aren’t going to deter some of the men ar
ound here. I’ve seen how they look at a woman.”
Ben returned a nervous chuckle. “She’s not going to be here much. Well….”
I shrugged. “Anyway, listen, will you be around later?”
“I should be back from Cedar Springs around seven-thirty. Seven with a good wind at my back. What’s up?”
I knew he didn’t want to be away from his family, and I wished I had someone else to ask. “Can you drive me to the house when you come back?”
He tilted his head, suspicious. “Why?”
I knew he’d find it strange, but I thought it for the best. “I decided to bring her home, only…. I still don’t want her to know I can see.”
“What? I can’t believe you haven’t told her yet. Why?”
“I want to ease her into it. I’m looking for the right words.”
“Bad idea.”
I snatched my hat from the peg by the door and settled it gingerly on my head, mindful of my wounds. “I want her to feel safe. I don’t want her thinking I’m just trying to get her up here where I’ll have easy access and she might feel trapped.”
“If you don’t tell her before you come here, that’s exactly what she’ll think when she finds out. That you lied to her, and possibly were working her sympathy to get in her pants.”
“I’m definitely going to tell her, of course,” I said. “I just want to wait until she’s here with me and comfortable. She feels safe with me at the house and I don’t want to take that away.”
“So, this is for her good. Like starting a filly.”
I wasn’t liking the sarcasm, or the fact that I’d thought of the situation the same way. I knew how he saw it. The same way he was concerned Brenna would. The same way I saw it. “Yeah.”
He shook his head. “Bro, I’m having a hard time not believing she’s going to think you used your disability to get her where you want her.” His eyes lit then. “Or are you using it?”
“Getting in her pants is the last thing on my mind. I do want her—to stay here in a safe, stable environment. I don’t necessarily want her to feel sorry for me, but I don’t know for sure if she’ll come otherwise. I’m trying to turn the odds in my favor.”
“That seems like a lot of trouble to….” Ben ducked his head around until he made eye contact with me. “Kash, you into this girl? You said you weren’t, I know, but it’s lookin’ like you are. Hey, what’s she look like? You saw her, right?”
“Pretty,” I said. “Surprisingly. And I do like her,” I admitted. “But it’s not like that.”
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. I couldn’t say for certain. The more I thought of her, which was a lot, the more I liked her.
“I get it,” he nodded. “I do.”
Well that made one of us. Still, I nodded my agreement, relieved to have my logic so easily accepted.
“But I doubt she’s going to,” Ben said.
Well I had until tonight to think it over. I also had to bring the staff onboard with my absurd plan.
“Anyway, I’ll drive you down … because I’m going to want a favor in return,” Ben said.
“Sure.”
“Hire Paisley.”
“What?” The force of the word literally pushed me back a couple feet. “Are you nuts? What did I just tell you?” I pointed to the spot where we’d discussed her being a temptation to the men, fifteen seconds ago. His hands were already raised in surrender.
“I know, I know, but Jill is all for these Lamaze classes—”
“Why does someone have to instruct a woman to have a baby?” I couldn’t help interrupting.
“I know, I think it’s goofy, too. She’s just teaching her to breathe.”
I felt my eyebrow lift all on its own.
“Everyone I’ve talked to says Lamaze doesn’t help with pain,” he said. “It’s essentially just to give you both something to concentrate on instead of—”
I shook my head, not wanting to think past that.
“But in order for me to be there, I’d have to leave Paisley at home. It’s only a couple hours, twice a week, Monday and Thursday, still.”
“Why can’t you leave her home? She’s nearly grown.”
“The Thompson boys,” he reminded me, as if that explained it all.
Ah, yeah, the boys one field over from Ben. One of the three had been buzzin’ around her last year when she’d visited, and Ben had had to put an end to their little romance. Now, with her looking like that, they’d all be swarming.
“She got older. And so did they,” Ben added between clenched teeth. “Two of them look like grown men.”
Having seen them, I had to agree. “Okay.”
“It wouldn’t be a real job; you don’t have to pay her or anything.”
“Sounds a lot like babysitting.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder. “She doesn’t mind cleaning stables, making coffee, whatever. Just let her hang out Tuesdays and Fridays. She can work off lessons, or—”
“I’ll have … someone … find her something,” I said.
“Cool. I’d better go. Jill will be by for her around one.”
Great. Now I had two female problems. Not including preparing my staff to lie for me.
CHAPTER 20
If someone told me a week ago, I wouldn’t want to leave a run-down haunted shack—or at the very least, that I’d look on it fondly—I would check their head for fever. But when Josiah asked if I would leave with him and Ben, my hesitation came as a surprise.
“Brenna?”
“Um … yeah,” I answered.
“Something wrong?”
“Nope. Not a thing.”
Still, I paused, puzzling over his question. Was something wrong? I had the unwelcomed, though familiar tightening in my chest that accompanied change more often than not, because for me change usually meant something bad—losing my father, mother, apartment, car—so trepidation was always on standby. But this, moving to the ranch with Josiah, was a positive change!
After several seconds, watching Josiah’s eyebrows pull together and down, forming two small creases between his beautiful, sightless eyes, I forced myself to shove aside those old demons of fear and insecurity. I would not allow them to keep me planted here, in a place I never intended to stay.
The moment my resolve shifted, expectancy replaced trepidation and relief flooded my body. I felt my lips pull back into a smile, and I laid a hand briefly on his shoulder.
“I’m going to throw my things together. Be right back,” I said, and started up the staircase.
“So, you’re coming?” he asked, walking up behind me with halting steps, holding the rail.
I stopped at the banister outside my bedroom. “Yes. I want to change, too. I pulled on these ratty old sweats after my shower.” Now people who could see would be seeing me.
He came up the rest of the way, standing between the bathroom and my room as I began stripping out of my clean, but worn clothes.
“What are you doing?” Josiah asked.
“Changing. I told you.”
“Don’t you want to close the door?” We both paused, waiting for the joke to kick in I guess, then he laughed, nervously. “I know, overkill, right?”
I did, too, just as the door downstairs banged open.
“What’s the hold up?” Ben called from below.
“Coming!” I answered, then addressed Josiah. “You know, I don’t even know where you live. How will I get to work in the morning?”
“It’s not far. ‘Bout seven miles. I’ll loan you a car.”
“I can’t ask that.”
“You’re not, I’m offering. I won’t have any peace knowing you’re pedaling to work,” he said, with a chuckle.
“That’s blackmail,” I said, amused.
“Whatever works.”
I stood there looking at him until movement below caught my eye. Ben, starting on his way up.
“Hey. I’m Ben,” he said, coming toward me, holding out a hand.
I’d of
course seen him several times from a distance while here. He was an imposing guy, a little taller than Josiah, about six-three, though a little on the lean side, with alert brown eyes that took everything in at once.
“Hi. I’m Brenna.”
We shook hands, then Ben nudged Josiah in the side. “She’s cute, pal.”
“Shut up,” Josiah said.
Ben slapped Josiah’s back. “What’s going on, you need help with something?” he asked me.
“No, I’m good.”
I dipped back into the bedroom to finish stuffing literally everything I owned, except for my bike, into a pillowcase as the men murmured in the hall. When I stepped into the hall with the bulging sack, Ben took it from my hands.
“I’ll take this, you grab the rest and meet us outside,” he said.
“That’s all there is.”
I don’t know that I’d ever forget the look of sheer pity he rested on me, though it didn’t linger long before turning to Josiah.
“Let’s go,” he said.
*****
What was I doing, trapped between two grown men? Strangers, really. My meager belongings, including my bike, slid around in the back of Ben’s truck as we wound through dense woods on a two-lane road, the only light coming from his headlights and dashboard.
The landscape opened soon enough to flat land again, but not before I’d strung my nerves super tight imagining what could happen if we stopped along this road. I know, my mind was running faster than the truck. Ben had a bit of an edge to him and looked at me with suspicion when he looked at me at all. Still, he was Josiah’s best friend. I had seen him caring for and talking to him. That said a lot about his character.
Remembering I had called Eliza on Josiah’s phone to let her know who I was with and where I would be, my breath came easier, so I let myself be swept up in the sounds in the cab. Perhaps my lack of interest in both the background music of a classic rock station, and the cadence of the men’s conversation as they discussed recent developments in fertilizer had me closing my eyes, nodding my head to the side.
A slight buck sprung my eyes open to find my head had dropped to Josiah’s shoulder. I lifted it, hoping I hadn’t drooled on him. I could only have dozed off for a few minutes, but just to be sure, I swiped a finger across my lips. Dry, thankfully.