Chapter 10
Pedro dragged his tired body into the bunktel around ten at night, he was starving, since he hadn’t eaten all day, and was jittery.
As he unlocked the door, he drew in a deep breath, not wanting to have a confrontation with Myrna.
He entered a dark home, except for the light left on above the stove.
He kicked off his boot, walked in his sock feet toward the kitchen and saw a note near the coffee pot.
He read it, and as much as he didn’t want to indulge in helping him, he was too hungry to not do as she instructed.
He opened the microwave, looked inside, started it, then went to his room to shower.
It was supposed to be a quick one, but he ended up standing there to let the hot water wash over his tired muscles.
Dressed is sweats, and a tee, he returned to the kitchen, removed the plate of lasagna, sat in his usual seat, and devoured it.
Afterward, he cleaned up, and when he opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water, he saw the pie sitting there.
Unable to resist, he withdrew it, cut himself a slice, and savored it.
Again, he cleaned up, actually washed the dishes he’d used, and wiped off the counters.
By eleven, he was sound asleep in his bed.
The next morning, he groaned when his alarm went off, and to wake up, he showered, dressed, and went out to the kitchen. He saw Myrna there, and paused in his tracks. He didn’t know what to say, so he decided to keep it neutral.
“Morning,” he said as he headed to the coffee pot.
“Morning,” she mumbled.
Pedro turned from the counter, and was surprised to see her eating a bowl of cereal, but he didn’t comment on it.
He opened the refrigerator, removed eggs, and made himself scrambled eggs and toast. As he ate, he studied Myrna, and went to say something, but she suddenly stood, took her dishes to the sink, rinsed them, grabbed something from the refrigerator, and looked directly at him.
“I’ll be at work, go ahead and pack some lasagna and pie for your lunch.” She held up the bag she held. “I did.” Then, she walked away from him.
“Shit,” he mumbled into his forkful of eggs, and sighed heavily.
He finished his own meal, cleaned up, and to try to make it up to her, he pulled something from the freezer, and got it ready to put in the crockpot for their dinner.
As he worked, he realized that as much as her actions pissed him off, he realized that she only matched his energy, so he had no one to blame but himself for her treatment of him.
By seven he was ready to head to the barn, so he did, making sure the bunktel was locked behind him.
He went to his truck with a heavy heart, and went to work.
That was how the next week and a half went, he would make supper, they would eat together in total silence, and she made breakfast for them both, again, eating in total silence.
It was like they were strangers sharing a mutual space.
The breaking point came when Pedro came out of his office and heard Myrna laughing.
The sound shot through his heart, then down to his loins, pissing him off that he still had sexual feelings for her.
When he didn’t recognize the person she was laughing with, his voice was sharp when he spoke.
He would find out until later that he had been totally wrong.
“Instead of flirting, Ms. Trenton, why don’t you see if the horses have their nightly feed.”
He didn’t know if it was his tone, or words, that caused her to whip her head toward him and scowl. “If you were my boss, I’d do that, but since you aren’t, then you can do it yourself.” She turned on her heel and walked away with her head held high.
“That’s it,” Faith said as she came out of the tack room, gripped Pedro’s upper arm tight enough to leave bruises, and dragged him back to the office they shared.
As soon as they entered, she slammed the door so hard, the cups on the shelf rattled.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve been totally ignoring Myrna for days, then you snap at her like that?
She’s right, you know, you are not her boss, Cole is.
” She studied the man who had been her friend for decades and shook her head.
“I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but it’s starting to affect the horses.
They are jumpy when the two of you are close.
Do I need to talk to Shay about moving Myrna into one of the cabins? ”
Pedro just stared at her, not saying anything, but he shook his head. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. Work it out with Myrna, Pedro, or I will.”
“Kid, for such a small thing, you have a big mouth.”
“Yeah, and don’t make me use it. I love you, Pedro, you know I do, you’re my older brother, but something is going on between the two of you, and you’re being a total bastard.
Shape up and make it right.” She turned on her heel, pulled the door open, and slammed it as hard as she had when she’d entered.
Pedro stood there, then quickly deflated.
“Shit,” he said to the empty office and slumped in his chair. He thought back to seeing Myrna laugh like she hadn’t ripped his heart out of his chest, and felt instant jealousy by how she could move on so quickly.
“Shit,” he said again, and scrubbed his face. He looked up when the door opened, and saw Shay and the man Myrna had been laughing with enter.
“Want to talk about it?” Shay asked.
“Not really,” he said as he looked at the man.
“I’m Tom Stolls, the vet.”
“Shit,” he said again, and shook his head. “Christ, I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you.”
“Sometimes it’s better to talk things over with strangers.”
“I don’t air my dirty laundry to everyone.”
“Okay, but know that we’re here if you need to talk.
You didn’t ask, but I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice.
Whatever is going on between the two of you, you need to fix it.
This next part is not a threat, but what are you going to do if Naomi or Cole gets word that there’s tension between the two of you, and you’re asked to leave? ”
Pedro looked at him with wide eyes, and sighed. “Shit,” he said again and scrubbed his face. He looked at Tom when he spoke.
“On a happy note, Chocolate Champion is clear to come out of quarantine. I don’t know what you’re going to do with him, but he’s healthy, if not underweight, but he can interact with the other horses.”
“And Sally?”
“Same, out of quarantine, and healthy. Her foot is even repaired from where she’d picked up that rock.” Tom studied Pedro, and spoke quietly, “I don’t know if you’re going to race Chocolate.” He paused when Pedro spoke a different name.
“Cocoa, that’s what we call him off the track. I need him to put on more weight before I race him. I don’t think he’ll ever get back to his Triple Crown speed, but then again, Faith and I were his team back then. If it doesn’t work out on the track, I’d like to stud him out.”
“I can help with that.” Tom grinned and explained about what he did for Erin and Riceman Stallions.
The three of them talked for almost an hour before Tom’s phone went off, and he looked at the message.
“Work.” He stepped out, and once his call was done, he stuck his head back into the office.
“I have to go, Pedro, reach out to me if you want to use Cocoa for stud.” He turned away, then turned back.
“Trust me, talking things over with Myrna will be better than letting this fester. I don’t know what’s going on between you and her, but I can tell you from experience that it’s better to put all your cards on the table than let this fester, and there’s no coming back from that.
” He shrugged, backed out of the office and closed the door gently.
“Want to talk?”
“No, I made this mess, I’ll fix it.”
“Okay,” Shay said with a nod, turned, and left.
Pedro sat there for another thirty minutes staring at nothing, then rose, took care of the coffee pot, got it ready for the next day, and closed up the office.
He went to his truck, and drove home slowly, trying to come up with what to say to Myrna.
He didn’t know if he should tell her what he was feeling, or what he had felt when he found her in her bed after they’d shared his for hours.
Should he tell her that making love with her was the best thing that had ever happened to him, or not mention it at all.
As he walked into the bunktel, he frowned when he tripped over something just inside the door, and after studying it for thirty seconds, he realized it was Myrna’s possessions.
He stood there with his fisted hands on his hips and glared at them, then at her when she came out from her side of the building with another armload of items.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, and didn’t back down when she paused, lifted her head, looked down her nose at him and said one word
“Moving.”
“Why? Where are you going? Will you be safe?”
She paused and gave him a scowl, and the side-eye. “What’s it to you? Don’t answer that, as I told you earlier, you’re not my boss, and I don’t answer to you or anyone when it comes to my personal life.”
“I forbid it!” Pedro practically screamed and she only shook her head as she added to her pile, then turned and started to walk away. He reached out and grabbed her elbow, halting her in her tracks.
She looked at his hand on her, then back at him, then back at his hand. When he didn’t remove it, she tried to jerk her arm from his grasp, but he wasn’t letting go. “What the hell, Pedro, what is your problem.”
“You!” he yelled, and his face was only inches from hers.
“Me? What the hell did I do?”
“You left!” he screamed, then he hauled her to his chest and slammed his mouth down on hers.
She fought him for all of ten seconds before the kiss he thought as punishment turned hot.
When they broke apart, he placed his forehead on hers, and whispered softly, “You left my bed in the middle of the night.
I thought we shared something special, I woke, and you were gone.
I found you snuggled in your bed, and I guess I was a combination of mad and jealous that you could sleep so peacefully after what we shared.
Myrna looked at him like he had fifteen heads, shook hers, gripped his hand, and pulled him after her.
“I’m not going to have sex with you until we iron this out.”
She sighed, shook her head, and kept dragging him toward her side of the home. Once in her bedroom, she pointed to the bed. “Sit.” When he refused, she went behind him and pushed. He finally sat down and faced her.
Without touching him, she leaned against the dresser, crossed her arms over her stomach, and shook her head. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“Wherever you’re comfortable.”
She studied him, then nodded. “Okay,” she said as she held up a hand and had her fingers only millimeters apart. “I was this close to slapping Sally on the ass to send her to freedom, and crawl into the ditch beside the road, and call it.”
“Call what?”
“Life, it was over. Just as I gathered to reins to stop Sally to talk to her, you stopped beside me. When you didn’t question my bruises, or me, just let me use your phone, and waited with me until Jim arrived, I was able to gather myself.”
“Okay, but I don’t see the relevance of this.”
She sighed, shook her head, and went to sit in the chair in the corner, the one she’d used as a reading chair for the last couple of weeks. Since the tension between the two of them had grown to the point that she couldn’t be around her longer than sharing a meal together.
“I have arthritis. It was diagnosed by my doctor six years ago. It’s steadily progressing, and as long as I keep moving, I’m fine.
I have good days and bad. I take over the counter medication at this time.
When you stopped, I had written Sally bareback for three days, I don’t know the exact time, but probably about an hour before you found me, she became lame. I started walking.”
“Jesus, the tears I saw in your eyes when I stopped was from pain from the arthritis, not the bruises on your face.”
“Correct.” She pointed to the bed, and reached out and touched the blankets.
“When Laurie told me to place an order and she would pick it up, I ordered a mattress topper, like the one the doctor told me to get. I also had her pick up a pillow that is specifically for use between the knees while sleeping. When we did what we did in your room, I was fine, but then, during the times we’d sleep, the pressure points of your mattress on my hips were painful, and kept waking me.
I didn’t want to disturb your sleep for my problem, so I came back here. ” She pointed to the area he sat.
He bounced on the side of the bed, laid his hands next to his hips, and looked at her with a frown.
“Do you mind?” He didn’t wait for her reply when he stood, sat further back on the bed, then lay down.
He rolled to his side, and put his arm beneath his head, staying like for several minutes before he rolled over to face her.
“This is nice.”
“See, Like I said, I didn’t want to wake you, but with everything we had done earlier that night, my hips were screaming in pain. I was going to explain it when you got up.”
He sat up, and sighed heavily as he rubbed the back of his neck and stared at her sheepishly. “And I was butt hurt because I saw you snuggled deeply in your bed and not in mine.” He shook his head, and looked at her again. “I’m so sorry.”
Myrna looked at him and sighed. “Are you telling me that the last week and a half is because I didn’t wake up beside you?
” She shook her head at him. Before she could answer, someone pounded heavily on the front door and they stared at each other in shock.
While Pedro jumped off the bed, he ran out to the living room and grabbed the gun he had removed when he’d entered earlier.
He looked around and saw Myrna looking out from the crack in her bedroom door.
Pedro looked out the peephole that had been installed since Shay had arrived when he’d given her the golf cart.