Nova (16 page)

“Do yo
u hear what I’m telling you
? You’re not compromising
anything
. I want you to have this job—I’m
glad
you have this job—because I get to have you be a part of my world. Even if it is just a tiny part of it, but I’ll take it for all it’s worth.”

I didn’t say anything in response and he sighed.

“Look at me,” he said softly, taking my chin in his hand. I looked into his
eyes just briefly, but it was enough to make me
question my resolve all over again
. He kissed me
some more,
and I had no fight in me to stop him.
We continued to kiss, and then he just
held
me against him. “Nova, you’re the only one objecting to us being together. My fa
mily knows how I feel about you.
J
ack knows how I feel about you. E
very person that works here knows how crazy I am for you. They’re all okay with it, every one of them, and you’re not?”

“What do you mean everyone knows?”

“I mean that it’s really obvious,” he chuckled. “It’s not something I go around talking to everyone about because you asked m
e not to, but it’s not a secret
.”

Just then Sam
walked
by and she caught
sight
of
us
against the side of the barn. We were still holding each other, but all Sam said was, “Oh, there you guys are.
Austin, mom
wants to know if you’ll be here for dinner.”

“Uh, probably not; I’m taking my girlfriend out.”

“Okay, I’ll let her know,” she said as she headed for the house.

Austin smiled at me as I gaped at him with disbelief.
“See, n
othing new,” he told me.

“Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed, thumping him in the chest.

“What?”

“You mean to tell me your family thinks I’m your girlfriend?”

“Thinks? You are, aren’t you?” he inquired with a tilt of his head.

“Yes,” I smiled. “I just meant…
they
know
I’m your girlfriend?”

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
Then he took my hand, and with his back against the barn, slid to sit on the ground. He tugged my hand to follow, so I did.

“About
three months ago I told them about this girl that worked in a
restaurant
…”
I sta
red at him for several seconds
as it registered,
and then
he
shrugged
.
“I told them about how beautiful I thought you were, and how quick you were to keep up with four s
mart
ass guys giving you a hard time. I told them how much I liked your name, and your smile, and your determination…
They looked forward to having you here, whether it was to work with Jack or not.”

I didn’t say anything at first, but
even though I liked the things he said about me,
I realized that I was kind of upset. “All this time it’s been common knowledge to everyone that you and I have had a thing?”

“No, no, no,” he said, shaking his head. “Just my family knows about all that—my pa
rents and Jeff and Sami
. But when you started working here I asked them to keep it to themselves.”

I felt somewhat relieved about that, but I still felt a little unsettled about the situation. Finally I said, “Well, I can’t do this anymore. It just feels really dishonest to be sneaking around with you and… I guess
we
should just get it out in the open. Is that going to bother you?”

He smiled and said, “Please.”

I lightly laughed and replied,
“Okay, then; I’ll be right back.”

I
hopped up and
headed for Jack’s office
, determined to get it over with no matter what. I didn’t even want to think about it anymore because I knew I should just do it, and I didn’t want to lose my nerve. It appeared that Jack was about to leave when
I pretty much burst into the room,
and
he just stood there for a second with surprise
, waiting for whatever it was I was about to announce
.

And that was:
“I’m in a relationship with Austin.”

He stared at me for several seconds and then blinked. “And?”

I returned the stare and then asked, “And what?”

“And why do you need to remind me of that?”

“
Remind
you?”

He tilted his head and studied me for a moment, and then he pretended to search his counters and asked, “Did you get into some medication or something…?”

“What?”

He looked at me and kind of chuckled. “Nova, I’ve
always
thought you and Austin were together. Are you telling me that it wasn’t supposed to be common knowledge?” When I didn’t respond he
added
, “I just thought you were super sensitive about mixing your personal life with your work. I had to respect that because you’re very serious about your studies. But
here we’re just kind of a big family, and casual mention of that stuff
comes up all the time
. B
ut it
certainly
doesn’t
interfere with
our work.”

After a few seconds I replied, “Oh.”

He smiled and said, “If you’re worried that it’s going to affect your professional standing here, don’t. I already thought I was mentoring Austin’s girlfriend. That’s why I agre
ed to meet
you.”

“I could take offense to that,” I frowned.

“I know you could, but don’t. Austin
was your link to
a job
that you needed
, but you very much deserve to be here by your own qualifications.
Some things just happen for a reason.
I told
him
that I would meet with you, but I’d only mentor you if I
chose
to.
But j
ust from talking to you
on the phone gave me my answer
, and I’m very g
lad you’ve decided to join us here
.
Austin made a good call, but y
ou’ve earned the
job
on your own, Nova. Y
ou’re here because you’ve impressed me on your own.”

I just stood there for a few seconds, not sure of what I should say.
I guess I felt relieved and stupid at the same time. And I also felt bad that I hadn’t listened to Austin in the first place.

“Well, I’m sorry about how I handled this,” I finally said.

“No need to apologize; I kind of like this drama.”

I rolled my eyes and said, “I didn’t want there to be
any
drama.”

H
e smiled and replied, “I know, but what I mean is that Austin is a pretty great kid. I’m glad to see he’s
found
himself
someone
special.”

Yes, that compliment made me blush, and I was also happy to hear his praise of Austin. “Well thank you
,
I guess.”

He nodded and paused for a few seconds. Finally he let out a breath of air and said,
“
Okay, so a
ny other personal declarations we should get out of the way?”

I smiled and shook my head.
“Uh, none that I can think of at this time.”

“All right, then. See you around.”

He smiled at me as he left the office at the same time.

I rolled my eyes at myself and shook my head. I still felt that mixture of relief and stupidity, but
I guess what was done was done
and there wasn’t anything I could do to change it.

I decided to sit down at the counter and record my work for the day. Austin entered the office a minute later with a little smile. I only glanced up at him just long enough to see who had entered the room, but continued to write.

“I’m working,” I said, trying to hide a smile.

He had come around the counter to stand behind me, and he soft
ly massaged my shoulders. “Okay,
”
he replied.
I could tell he was still smiling as he kissed the top of my head and added, “I’ll pick you up at six, all right?”

I finished
writing
a sentence and asked, “And where are we going?”

I didn’t think he was going to tell me at first, but he
set his forearm onto
the count
er
next to me
so we were facing each other.

“I suppose you need to know what to wear, right?”
he asked with a
smile.

My heart chose a quicker rhythm because of his closeness to me.
“Yes, that would be nice,” I replied, returning the smile.

He barely nodded. “Okay, casual dinner and
then
a concert at the Fox Theatre.”

I raised an
eyebrow and asked, “You got concert tickets, assuming I would say yes to going out with you tonight?”

He shrugged and said, “I
hoped
you would say yes, but figured Sami would go with me if you broke my heart and refused to come.”

I eyed him for a few seconds with a smile before nodding my agreement. “Okay, I’ll let your efforts pay off.”

He
smiled his satisfaction and put his hand behind my neck to kiss me. I let him because we were i
n somewhat of a private setting
and I wasn’t on the clock. But of course his dad had to walk in just as I put more affection into the exchange.

“
Hey, I need to go over something with you when you have a few m
inutes,” Dave
said to him. He left before Austin even had a chance to move away from me, but I soon realized he hadn’t intended to.

While he was still in the same position he
tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and
said, “I’ve got some other work to do so I probably won’t see you until six, okay?”

I only nodded
, and when he kissed me once more and then gave me a big cheesy smile, it made me forget all about the awkward moment
with his dad
.
I watched him until he left and then I took a deep breath to concentrate on what I’d previously been doing.

It couldn’t have been more than
ten
minutes before Heath entered the off
ice and said, “Jack’s gone for the evening
; can you stitch me up?” He was holding a towel over his left arm and it was soaked in blood. 

I stood up from the counter and removed the towel from his upper arm to take a peak. “Wow, that’s gross. What happened?”

I
led
him
to the sink to rinse the wound with saline
as he explained how
Only
t
he Strong Survive
, a fairly new client,
overpowered him in a battle over
being loaded into the trailer
, and Heath “scraped” his arm on
something
.
Apparently the horse
didn’t like to travel.

I sat Heath on a stool to stitch him up. Dave came in about halfway through t
o see if he was all right
and they both had some things to say about the owner of the horse, and the horse itself. Then he told me the horse needed to be tranquilized so they could get him in the trailer
and
send him home.

“Is he calm yet?” I asked. “It might not work if he’s still all riled up.”

Dave politely smiled and replied, “Yes, we’ve been working on it.”

“Sorry, I suppose you already knew that,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed.

“It’s not a problem; I’m just glad that
you
know that,” he smiled again.

I returned the smile and then said, “Should I finish up here or make Heath suffer longer?”

Heath kind of groaned and Dave laughed, but Dave replied, “Finish him up so he can still help us.”

So after Dave left, I put a few more stitches into Heath’s arm, bandaged it up, and sent him on his way.

When I joined the commotion outside, it appeared that the owner of the horse, Carson, strongly objected to the horse being tranquilized. And when he saw me arrive with the syringe in my hand, he began to argue with Dave even more.

“What if he falls, or gets hurt? My daughter is showing him next week; I can’t have an injured horse!”