Echoes From The Past (Women of Character) (12 page)

Garrett walked toward the house. A
beard shadowed his cheeks. His unshaven face coupled with his windblown hair,
added to his raw appeal. Christie quickly backed away from the window as he
mounted the steps.

The door opened and he entered the
kitchen.

"Morning," Christie
said, digging her hands into her pants pockets.

"You’re up early."
Garrett placed the package on the table. "These are for you." He
opened the plain brown bag and pulled out a pair of high top leather boots and
dropped them on the floor with a thump.

Christie looked at them in
surprise. "They’re for me?"

"Yes." Garrett moved
over to the counter, lifted the pot and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Christie followed him as he
carried his cup toward the back door. "Hang on a second. Why do I need
boots?"

Garrett turned on the threshold
and Christie stopped a few feet from him.

"It's a hard and fast rule
anyone working around the horses wears steel-toe boots. Yesterday was the first
chance I’ve had to go into town, so I picked you up a pair. They're not much
heavier than regular boots, but they'll protect your feet." He looked down
at her feet. "If a horse steps on you with those sneakers, you’ll have broken
toes or a foot."

"Oh." She looked down at
the boots. "I didn’t think of that. How do you know if they'll fit?"

"I've got an eye for detail.
Size seven?"

"Yes."

"If they’re not comfortable,
let me know right away. I can exchange them."

"Thank you, Garrett. Please
take it out of my wages." She pressed her hands together anxiously.
"I have a question. I wanted to know if it’s possible to borrow a vehicle?
I wanted to scout around the area, maybe do some sightseeing." Christie
reasoned it wasn’t really a lie, she would be looking around the area.
"I’ll reimburse you for gas."

"Do you have a valid driver’s
license?"

"Yes."

"Show Sam your license and
let him know the morning you need a vehicle. I’ll talk to him about freeing one
up." He took another swallow from his cup, moved past her and placed the
cup in the dishwasher.

"I appreciate that, Garrett.
I’ll pay you for its use."

He swung back around to her and
shook his head. "Not necessary." Clearly on his way to the door, he
stopped beside her and frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Why?"

"You look tired."

"Oh." Being this close
to him she could see the fine network of lines beside his eyes. "I, uh,
didn’t sleep that great. Nothing to worry about." His nostrils flared
slightly as he stared down at her.

"It worries me when it might
affect your work."

"Oh, of course."
Christie nodded with understanding, feeling a bit of a letdown. Surely she
hadn’t expected some kind of personal interest? "No falling asleep on the
job." She stepped back. "I won’t. In fact, I was getting ready to go
out to the barn."

Christie’s throat tightened. She
could smell his aftershave and just being this close to him affected her
strongly.

"I’m sorry for being
abrupt," he said. "I do care -- but -- I can’t. I won’t."

An incomprehensible, crazy yearning
seized Christie when instead of moving away, he took a step closer.

Garrett’s head dipped slightly,
then more. "The way you’re looking at me. . .." His mouth hovered
over hers. "Maybe you’d better stop me," he murmured, putting one
hand on the wall behind her head. She was free to move away, but in that moment
she chose not to.

His mouth touched hers, lightly,
briefly, then again, harder and more satisfying. Sensation coursed through her
and she pressed her fingers against the front of his shirt.

Christie closed her eyes, totally
involved in the taste, feel and scent of Garrett. He was so big and warm, his
clothes carrying the clean scent of hay. She didn’t want to reject his
closeness, even though part of her knew it was the safe thing to do.

Garrett released her and stepped
back. Christie opened her eyes, her thoughts jumbled in her head. Blood sang in
her veins and her face felt hot.

"That’s something I shouldn’t
have done," he muttered, glaring at her as if it were all her fault he’d
kissed her. "You’re Judith’s sister, for God’s sakes!"

Elation leveled out. Christie
couldn’t find words as he turned away and yanked the door open. Reaching back
inside for his hat on the peg, he loped down the stairs and across the yard.

Her mouth stretched into a smile,
almost without her thinking about it. Something close to happiness filled her.
Garrett had admitted she was Judith’s sister. He knew it was true.

Who would have thought there’d be
such an explosion of feeling between them, just because of one kiss?

She sat at the kitchen chair,
running her fingertips lightly over her lips. She closed her eyes as a
momentary hopelessness gripped her. Did she have a right to be happy that this
had happened? She liked being kissed by Garrett. It had been too long since she’d
been touched intimately or held and Garrett had made her feel special for a few
moments.

Christie picked up one of the
boots and found a package of new socks inside. The boot leather was supple
beneath her fingers, the inside thickly padded. Kicking off her worn sneakers,
she pulled on the socks and boots. As she laced them, a wry grin split her
face. It was silly to be so happy over a pair of boots. She wondered if it was
the gesture that meant so much to her or the fact that it was Garrett McIntyre who
had given her the gift. In her heart she knew it had to be the latter, and
that’s what worried her. Garrett didn’t want to feel anything for her, nor did
she want to feel anything for him, but sometimes attraction had a mind of its
own.

###

Christie looked forward to working
at the farm each day. She helped Sue or Ally clean stalls and feed the mares
and foals each morning. On warm, dry days the horses remained outside until
early afternoon.

Once cleaned, fresh sawdust or
straw was placed in the stall, all the water buckets were cleaned and refilled.
Sweet-smelling Alfalfa and clover hay was placed in the mangers. The last job
was to rake the center aisles before the horses were returned to the barns for
the evening.

Mostly women worked in the foaling
barns and handled the young horses. She didn't mind the manual labor in keeping
the barn clean, but she loved the time spent with the foals.

Early in her second week of work
Christie returned late to the house one evening. The sky had deepened to a
dusky pinkish/gray as she walked tiredly up the back steps to the kitchen.
Surprisingly, she hadn't seen Hannah all day. Usually she saw her out with her
father or at lunchtime. Although Hannah at first had seemed determined to keep
her distance, she seemed to be coming around little by little. Christie had
begun to grow fond of the eight-year-old. How could anyone with a heart keep a
child at arm’s length, especially a child so thirsty for attention and
determined not to show it?

Christie entered the kitchen and
found a note from Ruth that her dinner was wrapped and in the refrigerator. She
felt touched by the older woman's thoughtfulness. They weren’t anything near
friendship, but Christie knew the older woman had softened toward her to some
degree, if not actually warmed up to her.

Christie went to her room and
washed up quickly. She had missed lunch and felt quite hungry, and Ruth’s
cooking was not to be missed.

Exiting her room into the dimly
lit hall, a slight movement caught her eye. Garrett walked toward her down the
hallway, his only covering a towel. Christie stopped, stared at his wide,
hair-dusted chest. Desire clenched hard and fast at her stomach. She met his
equally startled gaze.

"Christie." He stood
still, one hand on the towel at his right hip, the other hand clutching a pair
of jeans. "Sorry, didn’t know anyone was in the house." He lifted the
jeans. "Dryer."

"Sorry," she mumbled.
"Next time I’ll make more noise."

He smiled with genuine amusement,
then turned sideways and entered his bedroom, closing the door.

Christie took a deep, fortifying
breath, her face heated. Quickly, she walked to the kitchen and her dinner.
Annoyed with herself, she clenched her shaking hands.

She had tried to deny to herself
the attraction she felt for Garrett, but seeing him like that, just now, didn’t
help.

She had an idea she wanted to put
to him. She had been thinking about it all week, once she’d found out about the
small apartment above the barn. She also knew the renovations were just about
complete. It was difficult being in the house day after day in such close
proximity to him. Too intimate, distracting her, filling her head with thoughts
about a man she couldn’t have. How could she ever forget he’d belonged to her
sister?

Christie heard footsteps and
braced herself as he entered the kitchen.

"You were out to the barn
pretty late."

"Just finishing up."

"Hours are --

"I know -- work is over at
five." She shrugged easily. "It was my choice to hang around with
Ally."

Garrett lifted his cowboy hat from
the peg by the back door, pushed the door open, then paused to look over his
shoulder at her. "You work hard. You’re doing a good job."

"Thanks." She smiled.

"I’m going in to town to get
Hannah. See you later." With that he was gone.

Her dinner was delicious, but
suddenly she wasn’t hungry. Garrett and Hannah drove into town on a regular
basis and Christie was curious as to the reason why.

She left the kitchen and walked
down the hallway into the living room. Opening the glass doors that led to the
terrace she walked outside, the stone cool on her bare feet after the day’s
unrelenting heat.

She settled in one of the
comfortable lounge chairs with a sigh and was content to listen to the muted
sounds of the night.

Christie sank further into the
cushioned chair, mesmerized by the unrelenting inky darkness. At the apartment
she'd shared with Ellen, she never recalled the night having this deep
stillness. She lifted her feet and curled into the chair. Lucky man, Garrett
appeared to have it all.

She lifted her gaze to the
heavens. She wished she could move on with her life. Sometimes she felt as if
she was running in place, afraid of what the future might hold or what it might
lack. She had always been so strong when Ellen was alive, now, she felt
anything but. She wanted someone to lean on, and yet that very idea was foreign
to her. She and Ellen had been a team, but in the end she’d made all the
decisions. Ellen had been too weak, and the last two weeks of her life, too
absorbed in the process of dying.

Christie had used Garrett’s
vehicle several times in the last week, driving into town and the surrounding
area. She was becoming familiar with the roads and outlying towns. She needed
to find somewhere special for Ellen’s ashes, but she didn’t know what that
place might be.

Guilt touched her as she wondered
about her nephew Eric. She hadn’t talked to him in almost three weeks, thinking
only of her need to keep moving, her goal to connect with Judith. With sudden
resolve, she knew it was time to call him.

Dropping her feet to the stone
floor, Christie rose and walked back into the living room. She found a cordless
phone on the table beside the door and brought it out onto the terrace with
her.

She stared at the phone keypad for
several moments. What if Eric didn’t want to talk to her? The last time she’d
seen him it hadn’t been a happy occasion. She had dropped him off at his
father’s apartment. She still recalled his silent tears as his father kept him
from following her. Christie bit her lip and took a deep breath as she punched
in the numbers. Anxiously, she waited as the line rang.

"Hello?"

Christie’s hand jerked when she
heard Darrell’s voice in her ear. In a brief moment of panic she almost hung up
on the phone.

"Hello?"

"Darrell," she said
evenly. She and Darrell had never hit it off, but she had tried for her
sister’s sake to get along with her husband.

"Christie, is that you? Are
you okay?" He sounded surprisingly anxious.

"Yes, I'm fine." She
could hear a child singing in the background. Christie’s hands began to
tremble. Eric loved to sing. "I’m okay. How is Eric? I can hear him
singing." Some of the tension eased from her body.

"Eric’s fine. Why haven’t you
called before this?" he demanded in a low voice.

She gripped the phone. "I’ve
been traveling."

"You can’t say you’re going
traveling and not tell anyone where you’re going."

A bitter laugh left her lips and
she felt the pain of it to her toes. "Fancy you saying something like
that, Darrell."

"You’ll never let me forget,
will you?" he muttered. "Ellen understood why I left her. I couldn’t
stand to see her like that. It was easier for everyone."

"Easier for you." She
heard his curse. Christie could imagine Darrell in his and Ellen’s old
apartment, running a frustrated hand through his almost black hair.

Suddenly ashamed at her own
rigidity, she quickly said, "Listen, I don’t want to fight. For Eric’s
sake, we’ve got to be civil. Can I say hello to him?"

"Sure, but first tell me
where you are in case I need to contact you. You just disappeared one day. Your
friends at work didn’t know where you had gone and your boss said you took a
leave of absence. Geez, Christie, I’ve been worried out of my mind."

"Why would you worry,
Darrell? That last day, I told you I was going to find Judith."

"I thought you were bluffing.
You haven’t seen your sister Judith since you were a kid. I didn’t think you’d
pack up and just leave."

I didn’t want to, she cried out
inside. She tightened her lips against letting the words escape. "You know
I couldn’t stay. I felt like I was being eaten alive." The memories. Ellen
was everywhere she looked. "I told you I had to scatter Ellen’s
ashes," she said with quiet deliberation. "Ellen asked me to find
Judith, to make her a part of our lives once again."