Chapter 16
Cody
A man on a farm sees a lot of things
he never sees in town.
~ John Steinbeck
It’s been two days since our night together in my pickup truck, and I haven’t seen Carli again.
My truck still carries the faint smell of cocoa—and her.
We’ve texted a lot—checking in on how her day is going, her sending pictures of baby piglets, me sending photos of me working out in the station gym, which I can’t believe I did.
Our schedules haven’t lined up in a way that made it possible to see one another face to face.
Luke and I are working on preparations for McKenna’s wedding this morning.
And then I’ve got some actual ranching to do.
With calving season, we’re as busy as the Buckners are with farrowing, only we have more hired hands, so the work doesn’t always fall on us Lawson boys, though my brothers and I usually find something to make ourselves useful.
I pull my phone out to check for a text from Carli.
“What’s got you checking your phone like a teen girl?” Luke teases.
“Oh. What? No. I’m just … work. It’s a work thing.”
“On your day off?”
“Captain’s got something he’s been running by me.” Not a lie—not exactly. But David wouldn’t text me on my off day to pester me about applying for his position.
“You seein’ someone?” Luke sets the saw down on the wood splayed between the workhorses we’ve put up in the barn.
“Wouldn’t you know if I were?” I ask.
He studies me. “I don’t know. I’ve dated women in town without announcing it at breakfast. Sometimes a man needs a little space to see if something’s going to work out before he brings his whole family into the mix.”
Exactly.
I just nod, pulling out the tape measure to mark the next plank we’re using to assemble an arch that matches the one McKenna pinned online.
Ranch work first. Was that really necessary? I could have made that rule a little less stringent. As it is, I might not see Carli again until … who knows when. Still, the ranches come first.
“What time do you have to leave?” Luke asks.
“I don’t have to be at the school until after lunch.”
“I’d love to be a fly on that wall.”
“To watch me read to children?”
“To listen to the things that come out of their mouths.”
“Yeah. They can be pretty unfiltered.”
“Local Hero Day,” Luke says, smiling over at me. His voice is half taunt, half pride.
“Yeah. They look at us like we’re straight out of a Marvel movie, too. We’re just normal guys.”
“You are,” Luke says. “But,” he pauses and looks me dead in the eyes. “You’re also kind of a hero.”
My phone rings before I can deflect my brother’s compliment.
Would Carli actually call? We’ve been texting to keep things on the down low.
I pull my cell out of my pocket, holding my pointer finger up to Luke. “Hang on,” I tell him.
One glance at my screen and my heart stops galloping. “It’s Jace.”
“Hey,” I answer.
“Hey. You busy?”
“Just building McKenna her vision for the wedding. Luke and I are on arch construction today. What’s up?”
“We just had a power surge in the farrowing barn. Blew four heat lamps. Do y’all have any extras?”
“Yeah. We do. Want me to run them over?”
“Could you?”
“Sure thing. I’ll be right there.”
I turn to Luke. “You got that for a minute? Buckners need some heat lamps.”
“I’ll help you load ’em up,” he offers, dusting his hands down his jeans and following me around the barn to storage.
We each grab two lamps and set them in the bed of my truck and then I take off for the Buckners’ farm, checking the clock on the dash as I turn onto the main road.
Carli won’t be at work yet. But she might be in her cottage getting ready.
I turn into the Buckners’ driveway, pulling up close to the farrowing barn. Carli’s truck is parked just to the left of mine. I glance around before grabbing two lamps and walking toward the open doors. Warming newborn piglets trumps figuring out where Carli might be.
As soon as I enter the barn, my question is answered. She’s there, in full work mode. A piglet’s snuggled inside her shirt, his little head peeking out through the neck hole just above the button. I chuckle. Why is this sexy to me? A woman with a pig in her shirt.
“I have to get going, Jace,” Carli says, obviously unaware that I’ve entered the barn.
Jace is squatting below her in the pen, tending to a sow.
“Lamps are here!” I shout.
“Oh!” Carli’s head snaps up. “Cody. Hi.”
“Hey,” I say, taking a good long look at her.
She blushes, balancing the pig with one hand and tucking her hair behind her ear with the other.
“I brought heat lamps,” I say, holding them up as if the clunky metal boxes don’t announce themselves.
“Great!” she says, stepping out from the pen and walking toward me.
Jace speaks up, reminding me we have an audience. “Thanks a lot, Cody. I could have run to town, but that would have taken a whole lot more time.”
“Hey, Cody,” Mr. Buckner says. I hadn’t seen him at first. He’s in another pen off the opposing aisle of the barn. Chet’s working in the stall next to him.
“Hey,” I say, the sudden awareness of Carli’s dad’s watchful eye pouring over me like a bucket of ice water. I shuffle my boot lightly on the concrete.
“Good to see you,” he says, holding on to the rail and rising from his squatting position slowly.
“Good to see you, too.”
“Yeah.” He nods. “You’ve been a stranger lately. But I understand. Calving and farrowing season.”
“That, and McKenna’s got us hopping preparing for her wedding.”
“Isn’t that somethin’,” Mr. Buckner says. “I can’t believe she’s old enough to be getting married. Seems the girls were just chasing one another around like barn cats only a few years ago.”
“Daddy!” Carli says, glancing at me with that blush rising up her neck again.
Don’t worry, Carli. I know you’re not that little girl anymore.
Mr. Buckner lets out a sigh. “I think I’ll go check on my wife. Thanks again, Cody.”
“Anytime,” I tell him.
Carli watches her dad walk out, her brow drawing tight. She looks back at Jace. His lips thin and then he stands. “I’ll grab the other lamps. Carli, help Cody get those hung and then you can get ready for your day in town.”
Jace walks out.
Carli looks up at me. “No kissing,” she says softly. I swallow and then chuckle.
“I wasn’t even thinking of kissing you. Not at all. Get your mind out of the gutter, Chuck.”
She slaps at me playfully. “You were too. I saw your eyes. They had that look.”
“Maybe that’s just the way I look at you.”
“Hmmm.” She smiles softly. “Maybe.”
She takes one of the lamps from me and I follow her to the pens where the original heaters blew.
Carli sets the baby piglet down to help me install the lamps.
“He’s a runt,” she says. Then she smiles up at me. “You just saved his life.”
“Looks like you were saving his life before I ever got here.”
Carli ignores my comment and reaches up to hook a lamp overhead. I stand right behind her, inhaling deeply.
“Did you just sniff me?” she asks, giggling as she turns to face me.
“What?” I ask. “I like how you smell.”
She shakes her head, but she’s smiling.
Jace returns with the other two lamps.
I follow him to the two other pens. I install one lamp and he hooks up the other.
“Is your dad okay?” I ask him after all four heaters are hung and running.
“Yeah. Why?”
“He seemed a little winded.”
“He’s getting older. We’ve been working hard.”
“Yeah. Makes sense.” I run my hand through my hair. “It was good to see him.”
“He’s always glad to see you. Anytime your name comes up he calls you his other son.”
I smile. Though, that would make me Carli’s brother—which, I’m definitely not.
“I’d better get going,” I tell Jace. “We need to hang out soon.”
“Hanging out?” he chuckles. “What’s that?”
“You’re only proving my point,” I tell him.
“I’d love some time with you when my hand’s not stuck up the backside of a hog,” he says. “Maybe next month. Meanwhile, you know where to find me.”
“I do.”
“I’ll walk Cody out,” Carli offers.
Jace’s face scrunches with confusion.
“I have to go anyway,” Carli says, looking between me and her brother. “Work?”
“Yeah. Okay,” Jace says, a note of resignation to his tone.
“Besides,” Carli says. “I have something for McKenna … for the wedding. You can take it to her for me.”
“Sure. Glad to,” I tell her. This should be interesting.
We walk out side-by-side, the silence taut between us.
When we reach my truck, I turn toward Carli. “So where’s this thing for my sister?”
“I didn’t have anything for McKenna. I just didn’t want Jace to be suspicious.” She shrugs. “But we do need to get that salt lick and the pen dividers back to you sometime.”
“No one’s missing them.”
I glance around.
“It was good to see you. Even for a minute in a hog barn.”
The smile she gives me will fuel the rest of my day. “You too.”
“How is it? Juggling work and farm life?” I ask her.
“Good.” She sighs and shakes her head with a soft smile. “Crazy.” Her eyes meet mine. “I’m adjusting.” She steps an inch closer. “Thanks for asking.”
I smile down at her. “I’ll always want to know how you’re doing.”
I glance around. We’re alone. I reach out and run the back of my hand down her cheek. She smiles up at me, rising on her tiptoes. I bend down and kiss her. It’s brief, a sip when I’m parched for her. But we’re testing fate as it is.
“I’ll text you,” I say.
“Sounds good,” she smiles. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah we will,” I promise her.
Now that I’ve had a night with her, I can’t settle for a minute here or there.
I head back home to help Luke with the arch. Once we’ve gotten the framing done, I head to the pasture to check cows to see who’s close to labor. Then I help move pairs of mothers and calves into their own pens and pastures.
Just before lunch, I clean up and drive into town, stopping at the station to put on a uniform and take the truck out. Dustin’s at the bakery, already in uniform when I pull up. His large frame practically fills one of the front windows.
I jump down from the truck and step inside.
“Ready?” I ask him.