“Cat, this is your grandmother’s land,” he laughed.
“Oh,” she felt so stupid. She wasn’t used to being clueless about things. She was used to being the smart one. She enjoyed knowing more than other people, and she had yet to have an opportunity to show him just how intelligent she could be. Cat doubted she would have that opportunity as long as they were doing anything farm related. She would just have to create her own opportunity. Maybe she would see if there was an art museum on the nearby campus of Appalachian State, where she could take him to show off a bit. Cat needed a self-esteem boost after being made to feel so silly about so many things.
The truck hit a rut in the dirt road that sent her head bumping up into the ceiling above. She felt as though she might puke, again.
“Hang on,” Luke said nonchalantly.
Cat was certain Luke knew she was carsick. Her green complexion made it pretty clear, she thought, as she caught a glimpse of herself in the side view mirror. The truck slowed as they reached an open field dotted with large square bales of hay.
“These things don’t look like they could weigh eighty pounds each,” Cat thought aloud.
There were probably 200 of them, though. Cat’s eyes scanned across the field. There was no way they could get all of them. The truck bed could only hold maybe ten without stacking them, from Cat’s estimation. Well good, she thought to herself, maybe that means it won’t take long.
“I’ll hook up the trailer,” Luke said, breaking Cat away from her thoughts.
“The what?” She didn’t see a trailer. Weren’t those the little houses on wheels? She’d only seen them in movies, usually occupied by some deadbeat dad who didn’t pay child support. She’d never been in one herself.
“Over there,” he pointed, and Cat followed his line of sight to where a flatbed trailer stood with railing up the sides and a few ropes hanging down to tie the bales in place.
“Ahh,” Cat didn’t like the looks of it. It meant they would be spending a lot more time and energy loading bales of hay than she desired, which was none at all.
“You didn’t think we could load all of them onto the truck, did you?” The tone in his voice was one of amusement.
Cat ignored it. All she had heard was that they would be loading all of them.
“We are loading ALL of them?” her voice could not hide her shock and disgust.
“That’s right. Onto the trailer,” Luke repeated. He hated whiners, and hoped she wouldn’t complain the whole time. It would make for a very long day.
“I thought a trailer was a house on wheels,” she said absently.
Luke smiled. “Well, there are several types of trailers. This one is for loading and transporting things like timber, Christmas trees, or hay,” he paused. “I bet you’ve never been in a trailer home, have you?”
“No,” Cat responded, she didn’t want to sound snooty so she quickly added, “I don’t have a problem with them or anything … I just have never had the opportunity.”
“Well, it won’t be too hard to change that … now that you live here,” Luke responded.
When they backed up to the trailer, Cat hopped out. She needed some fresh air. She needed to find a restroom. Not only did she still feel nauseous, but the bumpy road had not been kind to her bladder.
“Where’s the restroom?” she asked, turning to Luke.
“I’m sorry?” He was looking at her as though she had two heads.
“The bathroom. Restroom. Where is one?” she felt suddenly as though she was asking something stupid again. She only hoped he wouldn’t laugh at her, as he’d done before.
Luke smiled. He started to laugh, but quickly played it off as coughing. He didn’t want to get into another tiff so early in the morning.
“Well,” his eyes searched the woods that surrounded the field. “You could pick behind that tree, or that one, or that one over there.”
“Very funny,” Cat snapped at him and began stomping off towards the woods.
“Cat, wait!” he called.
“What now? Are you going to recommend another tree for me to squat behind?” Cat snarled at him.
“No, there’s some Kleenex in the glove compartment, and don’t get near any poison ivy,” Luke said, as he attempted to be civil.
“Fine,” Cat stomped over to the truck, took out the Kleenex and headed towards the woods.
“Luke, wait!” she turned back to him. “What does poison ivy look like?”
“Leaves of three, let it be!” he replied as he worked to attach the trailer to the hitch.
Cat made her way into the woods.
“Leaves of three, let it be. Leaves of three, let it be,” she muttered to herself.
Leaves of three … half the plants she saw had three leaves on them. She gasped; maybe she was walking through poison ivy. She started hopping through the brush, careful not to touch any plants at all. She looked ridiculous, not to mention the fact that it was impossible to avoid touching plants.
“If only they didn’t all look the same,” Cat thought aloud as she looked for a place to relieve herself.
Luke checked that the hitch was secure. He looked towards the woods and thought of Cat. She was so perplexing. He didn’t know why they were always at each other’s throats. Was it because they were so different? He knew their backgrounds were like night and day, but he didn’t think that was it. Luke realized he was enjoying pushing her buttons a little too much … but the look in her eyes when she was mad at him. They were so alive. They had looked so dead the day before, when he first met her. They looked so dead when she told him about her best friend. Not even sad eyes, just dead. As though she had pushed the emotion so far back, and buried it so deep, that she wouldn’t feel anything ever again. Making her angry was his way of showing her that her emotions still existed. Maybe, Luke thought, if I’m able to get a rise out of her enough times, that wall she has carefully built around herself will start to crumble. Then, Cat will realize she is capable of other emotions, too. She could deal with her sadness and move on. Maybe move on with me? Luke shook his head to clear his thoughts.
He grabbed his work gloves and an extra pair out of the workbox on the back of the truck. He looked up to see Cat running at him, full speed. Her eyes were full of terror. He took off towards her.
When he reached her, he grabbed her shoulders.
“Are you okay?” he brushed the hair from her eyes. She was panting so hard she could barely speak.
“I — I was — and then it attacked me- oh God! I was — then I ran — I — I — was — so — so scared!” she broke into sobs. Luke wrapped his arms around her tightly. He thought of his rifle only 20 yards away in the back of the truck. He should go and grab it before whatever attacked Cat came charging at them from the woods, though that wasn’t likely. Bears and other animals were usually more scared of humans than humans were of them.
“Was it a bear?” Luke bent down to look her in the eyes.
She shook her head; she was crying hard. Her eyes got wide at the word bear.
“A bobcat?” Luke asked. Again, she shook her head.
“A panther? A snake? A fox, turkey, opossum?” he pressed. She shook her head to all.
Luke was curious.
“Cat, what scared you so bad? What attacked you?”
“A — a,” she sniffled, trying to catch her breath.
“It’s okay. It’s alright. Take your time,” Luke soothed, pulling her close again.
He stroked her hair and let his hands rub up and down her back, consoling her. He couldn’t help but notice how her hair smelled. Not flowery or of perfume, like so many other girls, but like warm vanilla, and something else. Mint? He breathed it in. She was intoxicating. He usually hated when girls cried. He just wasn’t the mushy type. Cat, on the other hand, could cry as often as she pleased as long as he could hold her.
“Luke, it was vicious,” she whimpered, catching her breath.
“Cat, WHAT was it?”
“A squirrel,” she said with a dead-serious look in her eye.
Luke pushed her away to get a good look at her. She was serious. He burst out laughing. He slapped his knees. He fell to the ground and literally rolled with laughter while Cat screamed at him for making fun of her.
“Stop! This instant!” she screamed again, adding a foot stomp to prove how irate she was.
He was unbelievable. He was adding insult to injury. She was terrified of squirrels to begin with; their beady little eyes and mischievous grins, always chattering like evil little imps up in the trees. Then, to have one leap down on her head as she finished peeing; she almost had a heart attack.
“Did you just stomp your foot?” he asked, before doubling over in laughter once more.
She instantly regretted the foot stomp. Why did he have to be so mean?
“You weren’t there, Luke! It jumped on my head! It attacked me!” she squealed.
“It was a killer squirrel?” he asked.
“Yes, it was!” she insisted.
“Oh, I suppose it went high-ya!” Luke began a very bad karate chop impression that stopped Cat in her tracks.
“What did I do?” Luke asked quickly. Her face had gone blank and empty the second he did the karate chop.
“Nothing,” she turned from him, wiped her eyes, and then spoke in the most professional tone. “We should get to work. I want to get this over with.”
“You should put these work gloves on,” Luke said, handing her a pair.
He watched her as she put on the gloves and stalked off towards the closest bale of hay. He had no idea what he had said or done to cause the unexpected change in her behavior, but he felt that he knew where it stemmed from. Landon. He wasn’t going to ask her about it. Not now. But he knew that if he was ever going to get to know the real Cat, she would have to open up to him. Otherwise, he just couldn’t deal with trying to create a friendship with someone whose demeanor was as ever shifting as the wind. The strangest things set her off.
When Cat reached the hay bale, she sized it up. It came up to just above her knee and was about four feet long. Should she just pick it up and carry it to the truck? Would he laugh at her if she couldn’t lift it herself? Luke had told her they each weighed about eighty pounds. She couldn’t comprehend how a rectangle of straw could be so heavy. She was still figuring out the best way in which to lift the bale when she looked up to see Luke pulling up alongside her with the truck.
He hopped out, strode up to the bale, and bending down in the squat position, heaved it up and tossed it onto the trailer.
“Why don’t you stand in the trailer and push them to the back and stack them while I toss them to you?” he asked.
“Don’t give me the easy job just because I’m a girl, Luke,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “It didn’t look that difficult.”
She walked about fifteen feet to where the next bale sat. She eyed it. It was her nemesis, her challenge. She must overcome it, or she was sure to be the subject to more of Luke’s mockery. Squatting down, she hoped she was still in shape from running track. She typically ran every morning in New York, around the reservoir a couple of times. It was an easy 5K and she could run it in twenty minutes or just under. Of course, she hadn’t run as consistently since Landon died.
Lifting with all the strength in her legs, she heaved it onto her shoulder. She nearly collapsed under the weight, but forced her legs to move forward. She took a few quick short breaths as she walked towards Luke, keeping her eyes on the truck. She let it slip off her shoulder, onto the flat bed.
Dusting her hands, she turned to him, “No sweat.”
Luke nodded, “Great. Two down, two hundred or so to go. Try to keep up.”
“Watch me.”
And he did. Luke watched in awe as Cat lifted and hauled bale after bale of eighty-pound hay bales. Not once did she complain or groan. Sweat was dripping from both of them by midday and the field was half cleared. Luke watched as Cat began to struggle with the weight of the bales. He knew she was exhausted. He was pretty damn tired himself, and yet, she didn’t slack off. She had a look of determination on her face.
Probably wants to prove me wrong, Luke thought to himself. Well, she’s done that.
Cat’s legs ached to the very bone. Her thighs felt like they were on fire and with each squat they burned more. Her right shoulder had been killing her from where she was balancing the bales, so she switched to her left. Now, it was hurting just as bad. Yet, somehow, this physical exertion had been therapeutic for her. She was no longer angry. She had burned that off with the workout she was getting. Her mind felt free. Free from the pain and sadness that came with the thought of her best friend, free from the anger towards her parents for sending her here, free from frustration at Luke for being so damn confusing. Free. It was nice to work, just work, and not think of anything else. The sweat felt cleansing, like tears, but pouring from every pore in her body.
Cat lifted another bale onto her shoulder. Her arms had started to itch like crazy a few minutes before, and she had taken her sweatshirt off, thinking it had probably been the sweat that was aggravating them. Now, as she set the bale onto the flat bed, she realized she had been wheezing for the last few minutes. Her throat felt awfully scratchy, too. She lifted her hand to rub at her throat when she noticed the red welts up and down her arms.
Luke came to the trailer with another bail and threw it up. Cat was looking at her arms and he caught a glimpse as he passed. She was covered in hives. They were even on her face and neck.
“Cat, good Lord!” he exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were allergic to hay?”
“I — I,” she wheezed, “I didn’t know,” Cat looked taken aback. “I’ve never touched hay before today. How could I have known?”
“I guess that’s true,” Luke nodded.
He wanted to keep her calm. Allergic reactions to hay were usually not serious, but hers was the worse he’d seen.
“Can you breathe okay?” he asked, holding up one of her arms to take a closer look.
“Well, my throat’s kinda scratchy. I’ve been wheezing a little the last few minutes. I think it’s getting worse,” Cat took a deep breath in and listened to the wheezing sound it made.
She didn’t know if it was because Luke had said she was allergic or if she was really getting worse, but suddenly she felt itchy all over. Her eyes burned and felt watery.
“We need to get you some Benadryl and quick,” Luke led her to the truck and opened the passenger door for her. “I’m going to tie down the bales really quick, and then we’ll head over to the McKinney’s farm.”
“Who?”
“They’re the neighbors we’re taking the hay to. Mrs. McKinney’s a nurse and I’m sure she’ll have something to give you.”
“But, what about the rest of the hay?” Cat inquired. “Shouldn’t we get that first?”
Luke was dumbfounded. Here she was, covered in hives and wheezing, and she was thinking about finishing the job.
“I’ll come back later and finish,” he answered.
With that, he closed her door and set about to quickly tie down the bales. Cat watched him in the rearview mirror. He had kept his long sleeve shirt on while he was handling the bales so the hay wouldn’t scratch at his arms. “Smart call,” thought Cat as she examined her own. She was quickly distracted, though, as Luke peeled his shirt off and set about pulling the ropes across, tying them in precise knots Cat didn’t know the names of. His biceps flexed as he pulled the ropes firmly into place, and gave them a good jerk to make sure they weren’t going anywhere. She realized her mouth was hanging open. She closed it and tried to focus on something else. The paint on her nails was badly chipped. She was in serious need of a manicure after to
day. She glanced up to see him sliding into the seat beside her and revving the engine. He was still shirtless. Cat tried not to stare. She took a deep breath to try to steady her heart rate, but ended up in a coughing fit.
“Are you okay?” Luke began to pat her on the back as he swung the truck around in the field and headed back in the direction they had come.
“Fine, fine,” Cat lied. “It’s just getting a little harder to breath.”
“Cat, Mimi is going to kill me if I let something happen to you on the first day,” Luke joked.
“Mimi can’t blame you if I’m allergic to hay,” Cat replied reassuringly.
“No, but she can blame me for not noticing sooner.”
“That’s silly,” Cat said with a shake of her head.
The truck hit the paved road. Luke hit the gas and the truck lurched forward towards its destination. He quickly glanced back to ensure the hay bales hadn’t shifted from their place.
“No, I should have noticed earlier. I would have noticed earlier but,” he paused. “But I was making a point not to look at you.”
He said the last part quickly.
Cat felt her heart skip a beat.
“Why?” she asked with feigned indifference.
“Well, let’s just say I find you … distracting,” he said, mumbling the last part a bit.
Cat wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or offended. After a moment, she responded to his admission.
“I really don’t know what to think about that, Luke,” she looked at him, wheezing quite audibly now.
“Neither do I,” Luke replied, eyes glued to the road. “We’re almost there,” he added.
The rasping of Cat’s breath was the only sound for the next couple of minutes, while the truck wound through the charming little community of Valle Crucis. They finally pulled onto a long drive dotted with Bradford Pear trees. The sign at the entrance read “Valle Crucis Stables.”
Luke parked in front of the barn, since they had the trailer attached to the truck. He had already hopped out and made his way around when Cat opened the door.
What Cat Lost (The Last Life of Cat Book 1) Page 7