Chapter 3 Scarlett
scarlett
It’s four thirty in the morning, and with the way my phone is vibrating on my nightstand, one would think Jeffery Dahmer had been spotted on the property. I grab it, swiping to answer without looking at the caller ID. “What?” I bark out.
A deep chuckle sounds from the other end of the line. “Morning, Ms. Arias.” I can practically hear Miller’s smirk with the amount of amusement in his tone.
“Mills, it’s too early,” I groan. There is no reason to be up this early, especially when coffee hasn’t been made yet. The sky isn’t even awake yet.
A low tsk has me tensing, ready for the berating I’d get from my father following that sound. “Come on, Little Bird. This is ranch life.” His voice trails off, and the background noise grows quieter as I presume he moves farther into the animal rehab. “Plus, Lucas is already feeding the calves.”
I mutter a curse under my breath. “I need coffee and a morning debrief or something. Couldn’t you have sent me a schedule? Aren’t you HR?”
Silence hangs heavy for a beat too long. I pull the phone away from my ear to make sure the call is still connected. His voice comes back a second later.
“No,” he huffs. “Do or don’t, but let me know so I can get to work.”
“You’re not my boss,” I sing into the phone. “See you at a reasonable hour.” I hang up, burrowing deeper into the blankets. Just because he’s up doesn't mean I need to be. Out of habit, I open my email, and the email sitting at the top of my inbox has me sitting up so fast it makes me dizzy.
At least that’s a good way to start the day. Hopefully, he’ll be by later today, and we can put an end to this nightmare.
Although I’d bet my bottom dollar that won’t be the end of my father’s fight, there’s clearly something here that he doesn’t want me to find, and I’ve just made it my personal mission to figure it out, restitution for lying to me for half my life.
I’m too fired up to go back to sleep, so I guess Miller gets his wish. I expect colder air when I push through my front door, but instead, I’m smacked with Florida heat. Sweat immediately dots on my skin as I head to the Animal Rehab center.
When I was younger, I used to love watching Nana love the most broken animals. The ones no one believed in, that didn’t have a chance at healing. But she did, she believed in them until they crossed the rainbow bridge. “Some things take patience, Little Bird. The most rewarding things usually do.”
The door isn’t even closed yet when I’m hit with the beautiful aroma of freshly brewed coffee. My nose lifts into the air, following the scent that’s taking the edge off my annoyance with every breath. It only gets stronger as Lucas rounds the corner.
He’s dressed in black sweatpants that taper down his legs and a gray Henley that looks tailor-made. He has no business looking this delicious before 5 AM. He hasn’t noticed I’m here yet, so my eyes run from his feet back to his face a few more times before I see the coffee in his hand.
“Oh.” He stops a few feet from me. We look at each other as if we just met, neither of us sure how to act after all this time. “I didn’t think you were coming.” My eyes lock on the cup in his hand, only moving back to his when it gets closer to me. “Here, I’ve got to get to practice, anyway.”
I wrap my hand around the travel mug, the Tampa Bay Hawks logo front and center.
My fingers brush against his as I take it, and tingles skitter up my arm.
I linger, wanting to bottle up that feeling for a rainy day.
“Thanks,” I murmur, bringing it to my lips and savoring the smell as I take a sip.
The bold flavor of coffee hits first, followed by a bit of creamer, vanilla, I think, then a hit of cinnamon on the back end. It’s delicious.
My eyes flutter closed as my brain slowly comes to life.
I’m seconds from telling him how good it is when the hinges on the door creak open, then softly shut.
I take a deep breath, already knowing he’s gone, but it doesn’t hurt any less that he’s walked away without a word twice in twenty-four hours. He never used to do that.
In fact, he would say, “Okay, Lettie Girl.” Or “sounds good,” maybe even some mumbled “mhms,” but never silence. He’d say, “I know what it’s like to go unacknowledged, to feel like no one hears you, like they don’t care. But you’ll never know what that feels like, not with me, Lettie Girl.”
But I haven’t given him any indication that I actually want him around. Shut it down, right? I’ll only break his heart. He deserves better.
When my eyes finally open, I’m met with a smirking Miller. “What?” I snap.
His soft chuckle fills the space between us. “Your Nana called it years ago.” His finger wags between me and the now closed door. “The two of you.”
My heart rate increases at the thought of Nana knowing my feelings for Lucas. She was no dummy, but I never really opened up to her about it.
I roll my eyes before taking another sip. “There is no two of us.” But the way he crosses his arms over his chest and brings one ankle over the other lets me know he ain’t buying what I’m selling.
“He gave me coffee.” I raise the cup. “I’m technically both your bosses, no?”
That pulls a deep, crackling laugh out of him. “No, he doesn’t get paid. Quite the opposite, actually.”
My fingers slacken, almost dropping the cup. Shame blooms in my gut at the realization that he plays professional hockey, then comes home to the place we planned our lives around and takes care of it.
Desperate to get away from this conversation, I ask, “You gonna show me the ropes or what?”
He nods without question, something I love about Miller.
He doesn’t pry. He didn’t back then either.
If I wanted to talk, I'd come to him, and he’d simply listen.
When I was done, he’d ask, “Do you want my advice, or did you just need someone to listen?” And if I said the latter, he’d go on with his day without another word of it.
He throws me a set of keys, and I swipe them out of mid-air.
“Glad to see your reflexes still work, city girl.”
“I run operations for a multibillion-dollar company, Miller. Show some respect,” I throw back with a little too much force.
He doesn’t, though. He just laughs his way out the door. “That don’t mean shit out here, Little Bird.”
“I’d bargain not much does ‘out here,’ huh? Must be nice not to give a damn.” I bristle as I walk out behind him. The words fall easily, and for a second, I almost believe them, but the ache in my chest says otherwise.
“There’s nothing for you out there, Scarlett.
You’re destined for more than living in the sticks.
” The way my father would talk down about the ranch and the people who worked here, like they meant nothing, bleeds through me.
I always hated it, but never had the guts to stand up to him, too scared to lose the crumbs of approval I had.
So, like always, I swallow it down. Drinking the poison of self-righteousness, and praying the facade is enough to keep Miller from seeing the cracks already forming inside.
I put the key in the ignition, turning it as the ATV roars to life beneath me.
“I’d normally take the horses, but I need you to acclimate to the flow of things first.” He says as he mounts his own.
I nod. If he’s bothered by my outburst, he doesn’t show it.
In fact, his eyes hold nothing but warmth, like he, too, still sees me as the girl I was, not the woman I am.
I’m thrown back into childhood wonder as I watch him work, captivated by the love that goes into this place and the amount of patience he exudes as he takes the time to point out every little thing I’d need to check for.
He doesn’t get frustrated with my lack of knowledge. He doesn’t treat my questions as an inconvenience like my father would. He simply answers them, making sure I fully understand before moving on.
By the time we get back to the stables, it’s hotter than the devil's armpit. Dust flies through the air, sticking to the thin layer of sweat coating my skin as I pull the feed bag across the floor. My body hurts in places I didn’t know it could.
I’m going to need to soak in Epsom salt for days after this.
The cowboy hat that hangs on the wall grabs my attention.
It’s Lucas’s. He used to never take it off.
I smile despite the memory that comes to life at the sight.
“I promise, Lettie Girl, I’ll always protect the ranch when you’re not here.
This is our home, I’ll love it forever because it’s part of you.
And you are my whole world.” He wraps his pinky around mine, kissing my nose, before I run from the back house to Nana’s because the car my dad sent to pick me up at the end of the summer is here.
A horse snorts behind me, loud enough to make me yelp. “What’s it with you guys? I’m trying to feed you, and you’re throwin’ a damn hissy fit?” I mutter a curse before I toss the shovel against the wall.
It falls to the floor with a responding clank, right as the horse in question snorts. Mockery, if I’ve ever heard it.
“Well, excussssse me,” I drawl, hands flying wildly through the air. “God gave you four legs and a pea brain, feed yourself, then,” I say to the solid black horse currently looking at me with wary eyes
Miller’s laugh cuts through the tension, pulling a small smile from me. I reach out, scratching the culprit under his chin. “That’s Lucas’s horse.” Should have freaking known. “Named him Jack.”
“Like Captain Jack?” I ask, moving my hand up to his ears.
I turn to the side when Miller doesn’t immediately answer and see his eyes glimmer, that soft brown that’s always reminded me of home, growing a little brighter as he tries to smother a laugh. “Aye,” he says.
My eyes widen, filling with unexpected tears for the second time today over the next memory that flashes to life.