Chapter Ten – Nathan
Chapter Ten
NATHAN
Haven must have decided to take a shower instead of a bath. Once I heard the shower turn on, I quickly returned to Haven’s bedroom and grabbed my phone. I pulled up Josh’s name and hit call as I returned to the kitchen to pick up where Haven had left off with the bacon.
“Hey, where are you?” Josh asked as I heard what I thought was Blayze and Hunter in the background.
“I’m not going to be coming in today.”
He laughed. “Too much to drink last night at The Blue Moose?”
Hearing Hunter make a wisecrack in the background made me roll my eyes. “No, that’s not it at all. I’m at Haven’s apartment.”
The line went silent.
“Josh?”
“I’m still here, just trying to figure out what to ask next. I guess the main one is…why are you at Haven’s apartment?”
I quickly paused to hear the shower still going and put more bacon on. “I stayed here last night.”
Josh choked on something. “As in, you stayed …stayed?”
“I don’t know what that means, Josh.”
I heard a door softly shut. “It means, did you finally come to your senses?”
Smiling, I replied, “I did.”
Josh let out a whistle. “So? Did you guys…you know?”
“Jesus, Josh, we’re not eight. Yes, we made love. Twice, and my fucking mind is blown. I’m not sure how I’m feeling right now.”
Josh let out a roar of laughter. “You can just take my thousand dollars and donate it to the dog park if you please.”
I rolled my eyes once again. “Funny. Josh, I’m being serious. What I experienced with Haven…I’ve never felt that way before, and I’m not going to lie…I’m freaking out a bit.”
“Take a deep breath, Nate. What are you doing now?”
Looking at the open bacon, I pulled some of it out and placed it in the pan. “Making her breakfast.”
“Uncle Tanner would be so proud of you.”
Sighing, I said, “Josh, stop dicking around. I’m being serious. What do I do now?”
Hearing a chair slide against the floor, I imagined Josh was taking a seat. “What does your heart tell you to do, Nate?”
I pulled the phone out, stared at it, then put it back against my ear. “My heart? What the fuck kind of question is that, Josh? Do I come to work? Do I ask if she wants to have dinner tonight? Should I spend the day with her? I have never done this before.”
“First of all, you’re overthinking all of this, Nate. Calm the hell down. Ask yourself one question. Do you want to leave, or do you want to spend the day with her?”
“I have to come to work, and she’s got to do her dog walking thing today. She doesn’t normally do Sunday, but since it’s a holiday week, she offered her clients Sunday morning.”
He let out a soft chuckle. “You don’t have to come to work; it’s Sunday. If it were me, I’d spend the day with her. See what she does and why she is so passionate about it.”
“Go dog walking with her?”
“That’s just a small part of her day. Listen, you have the luxury of taking a day off, so do it. Spend it with her.”
I used the tongs to flip the bacon.
“Do you think she’ll want me to spend the day with her?”
“Yes, I do, Nate. And I’m glad you stayed this morning and didn’t bolt.”
“I wasn’t going to bolt.”
He didn’t say anything for a second, but I could silently hear him asking me if I was being truthful.
“I truly wasn’t going to leave, Josh. I’ve never felt like this before, and if I’m being honest, I don’t want this day to end.”
He chuckled. “Then enjoy the day with her. We don’t need you here today. As a matter of fact, I think we’re all going to be heading home.”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “You’re right. Good advice. Thanks, Josh.”
“No problem, and, Nate?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m happy you finally admitted your feelings for Haven.”
Smiling, I replied, “So am I.”
After hanging up with my cousin, I got to work on breakfast. I had no idea what time Haven had to leave, and I was pretty sure after our little fuck fest in the kitchen, she was running behind.
“That smells good,” Haven said as she walked into the kitchen dressed in jeans and a blue, long-sleeve shirt.
“I wasn’t sure how you liked your eggs, so I fried them. I hope that was okay.”
She reached for a piece of bacon and popped it into her mouth. “Yes! I love fried eggs.”
Opening a cabinet, she took out two plates and set them on the counter.
“Orange juice?”
“Sure,” I replied, taking the toast out and putting two pieces on each plate.
“Here is some butter. Do you want jelly or honey?”
“Honey?” I asked as I took the butter from her offered hand.
Stopping, she stared at me. “You’ve never put honey on toast?”
“Can’t say that I have. I’m not much of a honey fan.”
Her eyes went wide. “You don’t like honey?”
Shrugging, I replied, “I don’t think I’ve ever had it. At least, not that I can remember.”
Her mouth dropped open before she poured the juice into each glass. “Next time, I’m making biscuits, and we will have honey on them.”
Next time .
The way that made my damn chest flutter. I watched as Haven piled on the eggs and bacon and slathered jelly all over her toast. I couldn’t help but smile. The girl had a healthy appetite.
She was so relaxed and herself, which was odd to me. Most women always put on some kind of show; they are never just themselves. They ate like rabbits and seemed to act the way that they thought I wanted them to act. It drove me insane. It was nice to be with someone who was one-hundred percent herself.
We sat down at her small table and ate in comfortable silence for the first few minutes.
“What time is your first outing?” I asked after setting my orange juice down.
“I pick up the morning crew at ten. Unless it’s summer. We try to get out early before it gets too hot.”
Nodding, I looked around for a clock.
“It’s eight forty.”
“So, ummm, I don’t have any plans today and I was wondering if you would mind if I went with you today?”
Her fork paused at her mouth. “Really? You’d want to go?”
“Yeah. I’d love to see how you do this. I heard you walk dogs simultaneously, and I always wondered how you did it.”
The smile that appeared on her face warmed my entire body. I loved when she smiled big enough that her dimples appeared.
“I would love it if you came. Do you need to go home and change? I assume you don’t carry sneakers or hiking boots in your truck.”
I winked. “You assume wrong. I always have a change of clothes in my truck. If anything happens and I have to change. Plus, I always carry workout clothes. I have sneakers, but no hiking boots. Will that be a problem?”
She shook her head. “Not a problem at all. You can see what your generous donation helped with.”
Smiling, I got back to eating breakfast. We cleaned the kitchen, and I ran to my truck to get my bag. Once changed, I returned to the living room to see Haven frowning at something on her computer.
“What’s wrong?”
Glancing up, she let out a breath. “This estimate the contractor sent over. It’s much higher than what he originally said in the beginning. The loan we’re approved for is at the highest we can get, and he is coming in much higher than he said. I think we have to put a pause on starting until I can find a contractor who isn’t going to charge us a fortune.”
“Have you signed a contract with him yet?”
She shook her head and suddenly seemed weary. “No, we’re still trying to get everything squared away with the business loan. We’re approved, but they needed to get all the information from the contractor, and now he’s gone and changed everything up on me.”
“May I?” I asked as I motioned to her laptop.
Turning it my way, she replied, “It’s all yours.”
I sat down and started reading it over as Haven stood and paced. I glanced up a few times only to see her wringing her hands as she wore a trail into the wood floor.
“I think you need to go with another contractor,” I finally said.
She stopped walking and looked at me. “What did you see?”
“A lot of bullshit talk. This guy is stupid if he doesn’t think you’d have someone else read over this.”
Exhaling, she dropped to the loveseat. “That’s why he was so cheap in the first place. I guess he figures he is a shoe-in, and we’ll just take the higher costs.”
My hand rubbed at the back of my neck at a sudden ache. Should I stay out of it? No, I was in this for the long haul, which meant helping Haven however I could.
“I know someone. A contractor.”
Her head popped up. “You do?”
“Yeah. One of our ranch hands, his name is Solo; his father owns a construction company. He’s done several things for us at the ranch, including building my cousin Beck and Avery’s house. He remodeled the main barn a few years back and also built my house.”
She let out a little bubble of laughter. “You should have led with that. Your house is beautiful.”
I felt my cheeks heat. “I can arrange a meeting if you’d like.”
Haven jumped up, causing me to quickly stand as well. She threw herself into my arms. “Thank you, Nate! I would love that.”
Drawing back, I smiled down at her. I loved that I had made that sparkle in her eyes and those two dimples appear once again. “I’ll give him a call now before we leave.”
We walked up to a blue bus with the words, The Waggin, painted on it in white.
“The Waggin?” I asked as I looked at Haven. She winked, and if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn wild horses took off in my chest.
“Okay, so we go to each house, pick up the dogs, then head up to the trail.”
She climbed into the driver’s seat. “Chad will sometimes help me, especially if I have a full load. This morning is a light load, though.”
“What do you need me to do?”
With that big, dimpled smile, she replied, “I’ll show you on the first one how to strap them in. After that, each dog will jump into his or her seat and you can buckle them in. Once that is done, just enjoy the dogs.”
After getting on the bus, Haven started it. She pulled out a printed-out paper on a clipboard, looked it over, and then we were on our way.
“First up is Monty, a black lab and a total sweetheart.”
I looked out the front window as we pulled up to a house. A black lab was sitting on the sidewalk, his owner on the porch. Once Haven came to a stop, she opened the bus doors, and Monty came charging in. He stopped when he saw me, gave me a sniff, headed to a seat, and jumped up into it. Haven clipped on the dog seat belt to Monty’s harness, and we were on our way to get the next dog.
“They really know which seat is theirs?” I asked, glancing back at Monty, who I swore was smiling at me.
“Yes! They all know where to sit once they get onto the bus.”
We drove to five more houses and picked up Piper, a German shorthair pointer that sat beside me. Lucy was a mixed-breed dog that only had eyes for Monty. Next up was Nelly, a golden retriever who I swore was the happiest dog I had ever met. Lou, a small terrier-type dog, sat beside Nelly and completely ignored me. The last dog we picked up was Ralph. A German shepherd that was a retired bomb dog. According to Haven, Ralph was always on duty, and I shouldn’t be surprised if he started trailing something. My job was to get Ralph back into relaxed mode.
“Ralph? That’s really his name?” I asked as we pulled up to the parking lot of a trailhead. “Just doesn’t seem like a tough bomb dog name.”
Ralph barked, and Haven laughed. “I think you better take that back.”
Holding up my hands, I stood and faced Ralph. “I think your name is tough, boy. Just like you.”
He barked again, and if I hadn’t been looking, I would have missed the wink.
“Did he just wink at me?”
Haven laughed once again, and I couldn’t deny the way it made my stomach flip as if I were on a ride. I had totally made the right decision by spending the day with her.
“Normally, I take them off the bus in groups, but since you’re here and we have a smaller group today, you can help.”
“I’m at your service.”
Once we got all six dogs off the bus, I watched Haven put on a vest with carabiners attached. She then put each dog’s leash on a carabiner, and we started to walk to the trail.
“Um, you know I could hold a couple of them.”
She smiled. “I do this every day, sometimes with twelve dogs.”
“How do they not drag you along the path?”
Haven chuckled. “They’re very well-behaved dogs. Chad has trained a few of them. He’s a great trainer. I can’t wait for you to meet him.”
I wanted to roll my eyes but stopped myself. Clearly, Haven thought of this guy as a co-worker, and I needed to stow away my jealousy.
“I’m going to let them all off. They’ll do their business, and then we can head on.”
“Do their business?” I asked as I watched her tell each dog to stay while she unleashed them. Once they were all off the leashes, she said the word break, and they all took off. I was impressed by how they stayed close to her.
“Go potty.”
She took the vest off, stuffed it into her backpack, and started taking out little blue bags. “It’s poop duty time.”
I stood there and watched all six dogs go to the bathroom, and Haven got all of it. She put all six bags at the trailhead. “We’ll grab these on the way out and throw them away. Ready?”
I nodded, impressed with how organized it all was.
Taking out a long whistle, she called the dogs. “Let’s go!”
The five took off down the trail, with Haven and me following them.
“How long is the walk?” I asked.
“Forty-five minutes. We reach a point where they can get in the water and play. They loved it this past summer, but now that the temperatures are cooler, they tend to just get drinks.”
“What if someone comes on the trail? What do you do?”
“Recall them all.”
“And if that person has a dog?”
“Depends. Some dogs will just come running in, greet each other, and we keep moving. I’ve learned to read people. If someone appears to be afraid of dogs, I recall them to a spot off the trail, and we let them go by.”
“Have you ever had a dog not listen to you?”
Haven laughed. “More than once. You get to learn the dogs as well. I had a young golden once that had to keep on a leash because if she saw a person, she would run and jump all over them. She spent more time on a leash than I would have liked. She didn’t do well in this type of setting, so I would usually go and pick her up early in the morning and take her to a park and play with her.”
“Why didn’t the owners?”
“Oh, they would walk her and such, but she needed a good run around in the mornings, so she got some energy out. Her mom works from home, so it helped her out as well.”
We walked silently before she said, “Your donation paid off the bus and the business credit card, by the way. And the rest went into the account for a rainy day. That was what Sophia had suggested we do with it. I want to thank you again, Nate. You have no idea what a stress relief it is to have those paid off.”
“I’m glad it helped.”
We continued to walk for a bit before I said, “I want to help in whatever way I can, even if it’s coming out here and helping you walk dogs.”
Haven stopped walking and faced me. “I hope you know that I’m not with you because…”
I put my finger to her lips. “That never crossed my mind, Haven.”
Leaning down, I gently kissed her, but was interrupted by a dog squeezing between us. Looking down, I laughed when I saw Ralph.
“Sorry, dude, was I moving in on your girl?”
Ralph barked.
“I swear that dog knows what I’m saying.”
After hiking up to the lake and back, gathering up the poop bags, which I would have never seen myself doing before today, and getting everyone back on the bus and to their homes, we headed into town for lunch. And I was pretty damn sure nothing could break the smile that had been on my face all morning.