Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Later that day, about one, Amber and Sawyer stepped onto the porch of the Collier cabin.
They’d gone over right after breakfast, with each one doing a few things around there.
“You sure you don’t want me to stay and help you some more?” Sawyer asked.
“No. But thank you. You told me you have some work to do, and I don’t want to keep you from it.”
He nodded. “Got to tend to my trees. It’ll take me a few hours.”
“It’s all good. I have plenty to do here. And since I’m off from the diner today, it’s a good day to do things.” She looked off the side of the porch and at the barn in the distance. “Thanks for fixing the truck this morning.”
“My pleasure,” he said. “Maybe tomorrow we can start driving lessons.”
She smiled. “I’d like that.”
They kissed goodbye and Amber watched as the man she’d fallen in love with stepped off the porch and to his Bronco.
“You call if you need me. I’ll be back in a few hours,” he told her.
She waved. “Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“You beat me to it, princess. I was going to say that. But I love you, too.”
She blew him a kiss that he caught and put on his lips.
Amber just giggled and watched Daddy drive away.
After two more hours of elbow grease, the inside of the Collier cabin was looking even better.
“Still a long way to go,” she told Honey and Jazzie. “But we’re getting there.”
The stuffies grinned at her.
Amber’s eyes fell past the end table where they sat and all the way to the front wall. There, hanging on a peg beside the door, was the key to the truck.
“Oh, I really shouldn’t take that thing out for a test spin.”
The stuffies didn’t argue with her. But they didn’t try to talk her out of what she was thinking, either.
“I don’t really know how to drive,” she pointed out to no one in particular. “But how hard can it be? I mean, I remember that driver’s ed course. And it was all going to come back to me the other day had I been given more of a chance. I can’t help that the truck went crazy.”
She already had the keys in her hand before she even realized it. Honey and Jazzie were scooped into her arms, too.
“Sawyer said it was all fixed. What’s the harm in taking it out for a little test drive? Come on!”
A few minutes later, she was in the barn with her stuffies strapped in the passenger seat.
“We always buckle up,” she announced as she put her own seatbelt on. “Safety first.”
A voice deep inside told her she shouldn’t be doing this. She silenced it, though.
What was the harm?
With that in mind, she fired up the engine and grinned at the sound of it roaring to life.
“Sounds great! He really fixed it up,” she told Honey and Jazzie. “Hang on.”
She revved the engine several times, not knowing if she should or not. Seemed like she’d heard older vehicles needed that to get warmed up, but she didn’t actually know if that was true.
“Let’s go,” she said.
This time around, the vehicle didn’t lurch and chug. Instead, it ran smoothly and she was able to pull out of the barn with only a few touch-and-go incidents, but those were due to her lack of driving experience rather than any car trouble.
She kept her pace measured as she ventured further into the field.
“Not bad at all,” she said. “I don’t really need lessons.”
A quick glance at Honey and Jazzie confirmed that they were alright with her driving abilities.
“What’s that?” Amber asked, taking her eyes off the field for a moment to see what Sawyer had left in the passenger-side floorboard. “I hope he doesn’t need it.”
She couldn’t make out what it was and she sure wasn’t about to deliver it to him. He probably wouldn’t be happy if he knew she was driving. Besides, she didn’t know where on his property he was working. And while she was impressed with her driving skills, she wasn’t ready to go on mountain roads!
Whatever he’d left on the floor was rolling around.
“I better secure that before it gets damaged,” she said, bringing the pickup to a halt in the middle of the pasture. “Hang on, Honey and Jazzie. Just let me reach—shit! Shit! Snake!”
She had the wherewithal to grab the stuffies and pull them out of the still- fastened seatbelt before she jumped out of the truck.
Profanity and shrieks of terror poured from her mouth as she ran as far away from the vehicle as possible.
Her little joyride was over.
Sawyer thought he heard a scream but couldn’t be too sure.
He was working on top of a low mountain on his property, checking on the tree line, when the faint sound reached his ears.
He instantly ran to his Bronco, reached into the utility box he carried in the back, and found his binoculars. He then hurried to the edge of the mountain top and looked in the direction of the Collier place. From that high up, he had a good view of the cabin and surrounding valley.
“What the hell?”
He instantly saw the truck was out. Then, once the binoculars were pressed against his eyes, he saw a frantic, running Amber. The distance was too far for him to hear what she was yelling, but he could read lips.
Based on the words she was saying, she was scared.
He hurried to the Bronco, ready to save his babygirl.
“I need a hoe! Or a shovel!” Amber yelled as Sawyer jumped out of his vehicle and ran toward the porch where she was waiting.
“What?” he said. “Honey, are you?—”
“I need something like a rake or something from the barn!” she blurted out frantically. “There’s a snake in the truck! A snake!” She shuddered, rubbing her arms. “But I can’t go in the barn because I guess that’s where the snakes live! Shit!”
“You stay up here,” he said. “And don’t think about disobeying, because you’re in enough trouble as it is, little girl.”
She gulped at the news.
Watching from the porch, hugging Honey and Jazzie, she saw Sawyer run to the barn, emerge with a rake, and then go to the idling pickup.
Another scream found its way out as she saw the long serpent dangling from the end of the rake a moment later. She was shocked when, instead of stomping on the snake or killing it with a hoe or something, Sawyer jogged to where the trees began and released the creepy-crawly critter.
“He’ll come back! He’ll bite me in my sleep!” she protested.
He came back and leaned the rake against the house. “That snake was more afraid of you than you were him. Trust me. It’s a bull snake.” He shrugged. “They’re good to have around. They’ll keep the mice population down.”
“It was a rattlesnake!” she said.
He chuckled. “No. Like I said, a bull snake. No venom. He won’t do anything except hunt rodents.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“How did he get in the truck?”
“Just looking for a place to sleep. That old truck has so many holes in it. He probably slithered in through the engine.” Sawyer’s gaze narrowed. “But the bigger question is, why were you driving?”
Oh crap! Amber thought. Daddy was never supposed to know about that!
“Why was I driving?” she repeated dumbly, stalling for time.
“That’s the question.” His gaze was unrelenting.
“Well, I… just wanted to…” She hung her head and shrugged.
Before she could even comprehend what was happening, Sawyer was on the porch swing with her pants and panties down and her body draped over his lap.
“Do you know why I’m spanking you, little girl?” he asked, his voice deep.
She momentarily felt at ease as his hand tenderly rubbed her bottom. But then she remembered what was going on: she was over his knee, exposed, awaiting her punishment.
Suddenly, the massage wasn’t so soothing.
“Little girl,” he said, pulling her from her contemplation. “I asked you a question.”
She gulped. “Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir.” She considered her words for a moment before answering, “I’m getting a spanking because I drove the truck, Sir.”
“That’s right. And what happened the last time you tried that?” he probed.
“That doesn’t count! The truck went crazy!”
“Do you really believe arguing with me is the best course of action right now?”
Oh crap! Don’t push it, Amber! You’re in enough trouble as it is.
“Sorry, Sir.” She sighed. “I knew I wasn’t supposed to drive the truck, Sir. But I did it anyway because I thought you wouldn’t know.”
“I appreciate your honesty.” The massage continued as she spoke. “Do you understand why I didn’t want you driving yet?”
“Yes, Sir. Because I might get hurt.”
“That’s right. It’s incredibly dangerous. In fact, I hate to even give voice to it, but you need to understand how dangerous. Honey, you could have been killed. This is very serious.”
It amazed Amber how even-toned he was. There was no yelling or rage. He didn’t even seem angry.
Quite the opposite.
The whole thing was calm and caring.
It was as if she could feel the love he had for her.
“Yes, Sir. I’m sorry,” she told him with a sniffle.
“I know, honey. Now hold still and take what’s coming to you. Daddy doesn’t enjoy doing this, but you need to learn. This is to keep you safe.”
“Yes, Sir,” she said between sniffles.
The discipline began with Sawyer going slow and steady. She was thankful for the warmup but knew the worst was yet to come.
She was correct.
About a minute into it, the real spanking began.
It felt as if her bottom had been set ablaze! She tried to writhe and wiggle, but Sawyer’s strong arm kept her firmly in place. Swat after agonizing swat slapped across her bare cheeks, sending fiery shockwaves from her bottom all the way through her body, it seemed.
She had the fleeting notion that she was on the front porch for all the world to see, but then realized there wasn’t anyone out there on the remote piece of property. That was some small comfort, at least.
Honey and Jazzie were witnessing it, though. It was fitting. Honey had been with her through the good times and bad. Now, Jazzie would be, too.
The spanking finally subsided, and a moment later, she was nestled in Daddy’s arms while he gently rocked her on the swing.
She cried for a moment, staining his black t-shirt with her tears. It felt nice when he kissed the top of her head, causing her to coo softly.
“I love you, babygirl,” he said.
“I love you, too, Daddy.” She let a moment of silence tick by before asking, “Do you think people will think it’s weird that we love each other when we just met?”
“I don’t care, to be honest. But no. And if they do, that’s their problem,” he answered.
Amber giggled. “That’s the way I feel, too.”
She sighed once again as he kissed the top of her head several times.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, honey?”
“Are you sure that snake won’t come back for me?”
He laughed. “Oh. He might be around here looking for food. With the Colliers away so long, there’s bound to have been some rodents.”
“There were. I found their droppings,” she said.
“That snake has just figured out this is a place to catch a good meal. Besides, there’s tons of snakes out here.”
“Really?”
“Yep. But they’ll leave you alone if you leave them alone. For the most part. Still, always be careful. That snake didn’t want to hurt you.” He kissed her again. “You should name him. You’re good at picking out names, remember? That reminds me, you still need to name the Bronco.”
“Oh yeah! How about Patsy? It’s a classic name but that Bronco is a classic truck. So I don’t think it’s clichéd. And we play Patsy Cline at the diner quite a bit. I think it works.”
“I like Patsy,” Sawyer told her. “But what about the snake?”
“Hmm.” She thought for a moment before finally looking up at Daddy and saying, “Mr. Slithers.”
His eyes lit up as he smiled. He looked absolutely yummy with those dimples of his.
What he said next melted her heart, even though she’d heard it before.
“I love you, babygirl.”
“I love you, too, Daddy.”
As they stayed on that swing, she reflected on how perfect life had become. Even though her bottom still burned, she’d never felt so loved and protected in her whole life.
Maybe Big Cedar was heaven.