13. Katie
13
KATIE
“How come you didn’t take the manager job?” I ask Flynn as we sit side by side on the yard railings watching the new horse get used to her surroundings, and hopefully us at the same time.
Flynn glances at me sideways, his dark auburn hair falls into his eyes. “I didn’t want it,” he says, and takes an enormous bite of his sandwich.
“Why not?”
Flynn finishes his mouthful, then answers. “Because if I had that job, do you think I could take off surfing for two weeks at a time? Plus, I’d have to manage the staff and while some might not be too bad, there’s this new girl …” He laughs as I scowl at him, but after a moment, I’m laughing too. The job was too much responsibility for Flynn. I should have known.
I haven’t stayed in touch with Flynn, other than the occasional like or comment on each other’s social media posts, and I regret it. What happened wasn’t his fault and when I left Kauri Creek, I didn’t want to leave him, or Olivia .
But I let too much time go past as we both got caught up in our own lives and it felt like too big of a gulf to reach out to him. I should have known better, because being with him now is like I’ve never been away. It makes the regret even worse.
But there’s no use whinging about something I can’t change, and that I brought upon myself.
“But if you’d taken the job I wouldn’t have to deal with him,” I mutter, gesturing towards where Dallas is deep in conversation with Olivia.
“Who? Dallas?” Flynn looks confused. “What’s wrong with him? He’s a great boss and a nice guy.”
I really, really wish people would stop telling me what a great guy he is. It’s hard to keep hating him, especially when he backs up their comments by genuinely being nice, even if it is only on the odd occasion around me.
“Well, mostly to me he’s been a condescending jerk, who doesn’t think I can do the job and am only here because Olivia loves me.”
“I mean, that is the reason you’re here, isn’t it?” Flynn grins at me again. The little smart-ass.
I narrow my eyes at him and he backtracks. “We all know you can do the job, Katie Kat. But he doesn’t know you from a bar of soap. Give him a chance.” He looks thoughtful for a moment. “He was asking me about you before. He mentioned you saw Max today.”
Immediately my mood darkens. I hate that man.
Before I can quiz Flynn further about what the heck Dallas was asking about, Flynn climbs down the fence. “Better skedaddle,” he says. “Don’t want the boss on my case, especially considering I only just got back.” He grins up at me. He’s being a smart-ass again, mocking me for my dislike of Dallas. It’s his default setting, I shouldn’t be surprised. I roll my eyes. “We should catch up later,” Flynn continues. “We can go into town, grab a drink and celebrate your long-awaited homecoming.”
“Yeah, sure,” I say, absolutely not meaning it. As much as I’d love to hang out with Flynn over a couple of drinks, I do not want to be doing it in Kauri Creek. I sigh. I guess this is my life now. At least I’ll have plenty of time to catch up with Flynn when we’re working together.
He walks backwards away from me. “I mean it,” he says. “I’m sure Hunter would love to see you too.”
I laugh at that. “I don’t think Hunter loves to see anyone.”
Hunter is Flynn’s older brother. He’s moody and unimpressed by everyone and everything, especially when it has to do with his irresponsible little brother and his friends.
In Hunter’s defence, from what I’ve heard, the guy hasn’t had it easy and when their parents died when Hunter was eighteen, he had to stay at home and look after Flynn instead of adventuring off into the big wide world with his best friend, Olivia’s older sister, Willow.
“Only Willow,” he says, with a wink and I burst out laughing, drawing the attention of Dallas and Olivia. “Catch you later, Katie Kat,” he calls to me, then turns to Dallas and Olivia. “We’re going out tonight. No is not an acceptable response.” Before either of them have a chance to answer, he’s already asking what they need him to do this afternoon.
The three of them appear ready to walk away and leave me here, so I assume I’m just working with the horse this afternoon .
Olivia had told me about her on the short drive over from the function venue after my meltdown. A young mare that was picked up by a welfare organisation and was looking for a home that would be able to rehabilitate her. Olivia reached out immediately and arranged for Flynn to pick up the horse on his way back from his surf break.
She wasn’t sure what condition the horse would be in, and it’s not a pretty sight. But I know with a little time and attention, this horse is going to be stunning. Hopefully she has a personality to match.
Olivia waves at me and Flynn shoots me some finger guns, before they turn and head back to their utes. My eyes land on Dallas, who’s already watching me, then he turns and begins to walk away too.
“Hey, cowboy,” I call out and am gratified when he raises his head and looks back at me. I gesture for him to come closer. He lets out a sigh big enough that I can see it from this distance, but turns and strides back towards me.
“You’re free to work with the horse this afternoon,” he says, as he reaches me. “Olivia wants you to spend time with her every day if you can. It’s part of the job.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t confused about that.”
“What, then?” He looks wary, like he’s not sure what I’m going to come out with next. He’s probably worried I’m going to bring up my dead boyfriend or him pushing me way too far about what happened with Max.
“What was rule number one?” I ask, my voice so low and he has to lean in to hear me properly.
“Rule number one? ”
I raise my eyebrows at him. He can’t have forgotten. Or maybe he has, and it’s just me that lies awake at night, replaying the feeling of his hands trailing across my skin, my hair tangled in his fingers, the press of his mouth on mine, and in other places.
His eyes darken and I know. I absolutely, one hundred percent know. He hasn’t forgotten. His posture shifts and he leans even closer. “Tell no one,” he breathes into my ear.
“And?” My voice wavers on that one simple, tiny word and I fight to retain control of my body, that just wants to lean back into him and feel his touch again. I shouldn’t want that. I’m trying to tell the guy off, not get back into bed with him.
“Don’t talk to people about you,” he murmurs. “I only mentioned to Olivia that I was worried about you,” he says, the look in his eye something very similar to the one he gets when he’s talking about Sadie. One that looks an awful lot like he cares about more than how good my jeans fit my ass. “Because I was.”
“I wasn’t talking about Olivia,” I snap, fighting all my instincts to lean in. “You asked Flynn about me and Max.”
His breath catches, and his eyes widen. He knows he’s been busted. He runs a hand through his hair. “It wasn’t like that,” he says.
I roll my eyes and step back, creating the distance I need to break the spell he has on me. “Whatever. I’m not your topic of conversation, alright? You want to know something, ask me. If I want you to know, then I’ll answer it. If I don’t want you to know, then, well,” I shrug. “You’ll have to suck it up and get over it, won’t you? ”
“Apparently so,” he says dryly. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cross a line …” He trails off and after a beat continues. “I feel like I’ve crossed a lot of lines that I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry.”
He looks truly regretful and I wonder what other lines he means. Does he mean sleeping with me in the first place? He can’t have known who I was. His shock at seeing me on the farm the morning after was clear enough.
I dismiss the thoughts and wave off Dallas’s apology. “It’s fine, we can just move on and continue pretending like nothing happened.” I fix him with a look. “But, stay out of my business.”
He nods. “Alright.” He gestures towards the mare eyeing us through the yard railings. “You okay here?”
I appreciate his change of subject. “Yeah, of course. We’re just getting used to each other for a while.”
“Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”
I grin at him. “You’re going to help me with a horse?”
I could be imagining it, but I swear his cheeks turn pink. “Ah, probably not. Let me know if you need anything that doesn’t involve me going near that thing, okay?”
“That thing is called Aurora. And don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll have you two being besties in no time.”
Aurora is the perfect name for her. Flynn did a great job. The goddess of new beginnings. It’s exactly what she needs. She’s not the only one.
Dallas laughs, but it doesn’t sound like there’s much humour in it. “Yeah, sure. Whatever you say.” He pushes away from the railing where he’s been leaning. “You’d better get to it. Especially if you plan on heading out with Flynn later. ”
“That’s not actually going to happen,” I say, one foot already on the railings, ready to climb over.
“Why not?”
“Because, as you saw earlier, me going into town isn’t exactly a stellar experience for anyone involved. I’m better off just going home to bed.”
His eyes flash and something low in my belly twists at the sight of it. God, this man. Why does he have to be so damn sexy and such a terrible idea, all rolled into one?
“You can’t live like that,” he says. “You can’t spend your life worried about Max’s opinion of you.”
“Who says I’m worried about Max’s opinion of me?”
He crosses his arms and looks down at me. He doesn’t need any words. I know exactly what he’s saying.
“Shut up,” I say. “It’s none of your business.”
“I didn’t say anything,” he says, then chuckles as I grumble curses at him and scale the fence.
“See ya later, Katie,” he calls softly as my boots hit the dirt inside the round yard.
I ignore Dallas, but look up and meet the deep brown eyes of my new friend Aurora. “Hey, pretty girl,” I say. “Who needs annoying men anyway?”
She blinks and huffs a breath, but doesn’t back away as I take a step towards her.
I let out a breath and push all of the drama that’s happened over the past few hours out of my mind, and focus on one thing and one thing only: this poor, broken horse.