Nova (14 page)

“You must be Jeff.”

“Yep. N
ice to meet you.”

“You too.”

We were both qui
et for a few seconds, and
Down
a
nd Dirty tried for my pockets again.

“Sh
e’s got one thing on
her
mind and it’s usually food,” Jeff said. “You’ve probably just made a friend for life, but now
s
he’s always gonna search you for
treats
.”

“Uh-
oh. So does that mean I should be prepared with food, or go straight to weaning
her
from the idea.”

He smiled and said, “Sh
e’ll never forget, so be prepared to be felt up no matter what.”

Okey
Dokey
was now adamant for Jeff’s attention, so he rubbed the back of his ears for a few seconds.

“How come you’re not inside playing poker with the rest of ‘em?”
he asked.

“Oh, are they playing cards? I guess I walked outside before they started.”

“Oh, so you’re not purposely trying to avoid the crowds?”

“No, not at all. Does someone think that?”

“Nah, they were just wondering if you wanted to play, but you disappeared. Jack sent me to find you
so I could introduce myself
.”

I slightly nodded.

“You wanna play with us, though?” he asked.

“Uh, I only play poker with my grandpa, so I’m probably not a fierce competitor.”

He chuckled and said, “Ah, that doesn’t matter. Sami’s playing and she sucks.”

It was my turn to laugh, but I did nod my head and said, “Okay, but don’t expect too much.”

Of course my first hope was that Austin was there playing as well, but I told
myself
not to expect too much either, and when he wasn’t there, I just pushed aside the feeling I had and sat down at the table
with everyone else
.

I didn’t see Austin on the ranch at all that weekend, and if he was there, he was obviously steering clear of me. I kept pretty busy with Jack anyway, and besides another riding lesson with Sam on Saturday afternoon, I really only worked.
But it didn’t mean I wasn’t thinking about him in between everything…

I spent time with Lori on Sunday morning, and she went over vaccinations and medications with me. I was getting ready to leave that evening when I met Austin’s dad, Dave. Jack actually introduced me to him as he breezed past us with another man. I was a little worried when Jack interrupted them because they looked pretty serious, but Dave said goodbye to the other guy and turned his attention to me.

“Ah, so you’re Nova,” he
smiled. “I’m Dave;
it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“You as well.”

“I’ve been gone the last two weekends so I didn’t get to meet our newest arrival. How are things going so far? You getting familiar with everything?”

I nodded and said, “Yes, I’m working on it.”

“If Jack is a handful just let me know. I’ll fire him and you can take his place.”

“Don’t tell her that,” Jack scoffed. “She’s
good
enough to do it.”

“Well I don’t want to take anyone’s place,” I said. “
I love your ranch and I’m just
happy to be here.”

“Well we’re happy to have you. Any friend of Austin’s is welcome in any capacity here.”

“Oh, uh, thank you,” I replied
, not sure what “any capacity” meant
.

We talked for a few more minutes, and after Dave left to go take care of some business
in the stable office
, I said farewell to Jack and headed for home.

The next two weekends were almost the same. By the same I mean that Austin was not in Bakersfield. I wasn’t sure what to think of that, but I was determined that I should take advantage of it and get my studies in at the ranch.
I achieved what I wanted, but I couldn’t get Austin’s face out of my
head
. He even popped
up in my dreams. W
aking up all hot and bothered
put a stupid grin on my face, but my romantic fantasies about him needed to stay out of my way.

By the beginning of May I was on a pret
ty consistent schedule with Jack
. I loved being on the ranch and I enjoyed the people I was around. I was still trying to get used to Lori, but I figured I could handle her well enough
since she’s wasn’t there very often
.

I was at Harmony Acres the second weekend of May. It was Saturday, and I was sitting in the backyard studying for my upcoming finals. Jack was gone for the afternoon, and since there wasn’t anything for me to do, he told me to take the afternoon off
,
too. I was just quizzing myself for my chemistry exam when the growl of an engine came up the road. I could see most of the driveway that came up to the ranch, and that Camaro was unmistakable.

My
heart doubled in speed as I listened to it continue
on to the main house.

I couldn’t concentrate after that, so I set the book on the chair and walked toward the fence. Bad Whiskey was nearest to it, and she came over to greet me.

“I should just hop on you and clear my mind, huh Whiskey? Should we go for a ride?”

I knew that Sam was gone for the day to some horse event with her parents, and I was kind of bummed that I couldn’t go riding
with her
. I was told several times that I was welcome to ride certain horses any time I wanted to, but I still didn’t feel that established in my new environment to do much of anything on my own. I was still the new kid, and I didn’t want to
overstep my bounds
.

I returned to my chair and re-opened the book. I probably faltered through twenty minutes of studying before Clara stepped onto the back porch and said, “You’re needed at the office, sweetie.”

“Oh, okay,” I said, closing the book t
o bring it inside. “Who’s there?
Lori?”

“Oh
,
not that office,” she replied. “The main house.”

My heart seemed to thud extra heavy. “Uh, everything okay?”

“I believe so. Probably needs paperwork from you or something,” she shrugged. “Can’t tell you how many times I’m summoned. I think I’m just special,” she said in a
haughty
voice.

I smiled because of how much Clara actually did, and I knew she kept track of all kinds of things she took care of at the guesthouse.

I took my book upstairs to my room, but while I was up there I took a quick look in the mirror to make sure I looked presentable. I was barely up there for a minute before Clara called up and said, “Well what’s taking you so long?”

With a
n embarrassed
smile I descended the stairs and
replied
, “I had to put my book away.”

“I’m
teasing
,” she said, handing me a dish with a lid over it. “Can you give this to Austin for me? Poor baby doesn’t have his mommy to cook for him today.” She said it sarcastically, but I knew that Clara jumped at the chance to feed anybody.

By the time I made it to the main house, I had two dogs and a cat following me.
Tilly
and Max were at my side, and Swamp Grass the cat was at my other side. I wasn’t sure where they thought they were going with me, but the
y
kept me good company while I waited for someone to answer the door. Finally I just went inside, knowing that other people did the same when they were at
this end
of the house for business.

I set the food on the kitchen counter and then knocked on the office door.

“Yeah, it’s open,”
Austin’s
voice said.

I was already nervous, and it got worse after hearing his voice. Just the thought of being face to face with him again made me want to retreat.
I took a deep breath before I opened the do
or
and slowly peaked into the office.
Austin was standing at the desk
but he was leaning over
it
, writing something down. He looked up as I stepped into the room and we both seemed to freeze. I don’t know what was going through his mind, but I hadn’t seen him for
four
weeks
and
my heart was jumping for joy just from the sight of him.

“Hey,” I finally said.

“Hey.”

We were both quiet again
and still pretty much motionless.

“Uh, did you need something?” I asked.

He stood up straighter and dropped the pen on the desk. “I did, but I don’t even remember what it was,” he replied, taking a couple of steps towards me.

I automatically shut the door behind me, just because of the way he was looking at me. Apparently he had on his mind what I had on mine, and when he stopped in front of me, I was sure he could hear my heart pounding.

“Man, I’ve missed you,” he said softly, reaching for the side of my face with his hand. He ran his thumb along my cheekbone and said, “I tried to give you some space to, you know,
do your thing here, but I just…can’t
avoid you any longer.”

My heart pounded even harder if that was even possible when I said,
“I tried to
use
the time to focus on my job, but your absence only made me think about you more.”

And there was the smile that I’d missed so much, and then came the kiss that I’d been dying to receive for so long.
I’m not sure how I disregarded all of my previous decisions at that moment, but I surely did as we stood there kissing for quite a while.

It was even better than in my dreams, and the feel of his lips and his tongue against mine made sent a bolt of electricity through my limbs. I was glad he was holding me so close because I wasn’t sure if I was even standing on my own.
But it didn’t matter since I quickly learned that his bedroom was conveniently located right next door to the office.

L
ater on I did share with
Austin
how I felt about working at Harmony Acres while being in a relationship with him at the same time. He kind of argued the point a little, claiming that it wasn’t a big deal, but I think for my sake he went along with it just to
humor
me. I at least wanted to get past my part time stint, and once I was working on the ranch full time, I would reassess things from there.

Austin joked about the whole “secret lovers” thing, but I really felt like it was the right thing to do. I wanted the people that I worked with to respect me for the work I was able to do, not judge me for dating their boss. How was I supposed to feel comfortable with that?

When I told my grandpa that Austin and I were
finally past dancing around our attraction to one another
, he gave me this big huge smile and said, “It’s about damn time!”

But
I still didn’t know if my relationship with Austin was appropriate while I was working for him and his family. My grandpa seemed to think my relationship with Austin is what actually came first, and that his family was already aware of that and hired me with that knowledge. I guess I kind
of
agreed, based on a few of the things his family members had said here and there, but I
suppose
I was really paranoid about it.

However, on the
plus
side of it, I felt a lot more relaxed in the other aspects of my life. I was happy that Austin and I talked
on the phone
every day, and just by having the assurance that he’d been interested in me for so long gave me a lot of confidence and joy that I hadn’t had before. I had three final exams that I took that month and I felt I did pretty well on them. When grades were posted I checked them online to find that I not only did well on my finals, but I cam
e out with two A’s and a
n
A-
in those three classes. I w
as stoked (especially for the A-
in
chemistry
).

I moved up to Bakersfield the first
week
of June. It was a
Thursday, but Jack told me to take all the time I needed to get settled in. But, to my complete and utter delight, one of
Marlo
’s
horses went into labor that afternoon, so I got to assist Jack in the field while he made sure everything
went
okay. There were several people milling around the facility, occasionally stopping by to check on the progress of Pardon My Dust, but only
Marlo
stayed for the duration of the birth. I’d never seen a colt born so it was fascinating to me, and even though there wasn’t much to do because everything went just fine, I still got to write it up for my work experience for Jack to sign off.