Chapter 17 Iris
iris
My head throbbed as I looked through my email for the documents Nash’s father asked for.
He was surprisingly civil with me, even when I asked to visit the farm wanting to see the workers and see how it was doing.
I wanted to ask to stay a week, work the farm like I used to because I still missed it, but then what would I do after? Did I ask to stay? Did I want to stay?
The farm didn’t feel like home anymore. It hadn’t felt like home since I came to Sterling Ridge.
“Iris!”
The walkie scared the shit out of me.
“Yeah?” I answered, getting up from the desk.
“We have two horses on the run, they were by the barn by the old house,” Theo yelled. “I need you.”
I was out the door before he finished speaking.
I jumped into a UTV, realizing this would not work.
The wind was blowing hard and I didn’t know how strong the wind gusts were.
I left the UTV for my truck, taking the longer way to the old barn, wondering where the hell the windstorm was coming from and why we didn’t get a damn notice.
Once I got to the barn, it was chaos. One door had come off the hinges, pieces of wood were missing off the barn, two horses were roaming and I only saw Theo. I ran to Theo who was picking up goats.
“Theo!”
He looked relieved to see me.
“The third horses got out. I need you—”
“I got it!” I ran into the barn to get Snow White saddled and saw she was ready for me.
We took off, going for the horses close by. They were the easiest, but with every gust of wind, the more I worried it was foolish to go look for them. I grabbed one horse and easily brought her back to Theo. Colt was with him and I almost asked where Nash was.
“Iris, leave them, it's too dangerous,” Colt said.
“I can get one more,” I said, leaving before he could say anything.
Snow White and I rode to the last place we had seen the horse. Visibility was getting worse and in all the years I had been in Sterling Ridge, this was one of the worst windstorms we’d ever had. I prayed there were no fires in the vicinity.
A gust of wind scared Snow White making her turn around to go back towards the barn. “Come on, girl, we just gotta find one more.” I rubbed her mane, looking around, getting more worried that I would not find the horse.
Snow White’s ears perked up as I heard a faint sound.
I pulled her reins to the right, riding a little faster as I looked around.
There, wandering around, were the last two horses.
They must have found each other and stayed together.
I was relieved and worried about how I was going to get them home safely. I couldn’t leave one behind.
We approached them slowly and I was able to get one of them, but the other was too skittish.
Snow White was getting restless and I couldn’t stay out here much longer, I hoped the other horse followed.
The way back to the barn was slow, looking over my shoulder the horse was following us.
The visibility was awful as I rode for a minute praying I was going the right way.
“Iris!”
I wanted to yell back, but it was not worth the mouthful of dirt, even though it felt like the wind was dying down.
“Iris!
There was panic in their voice and I thought it was Theo, worried out of his mind, probably feeling a little guilty.
“Here!” I called out, as a gust of wind hit us.
Snow White grunted, stopping, getting scared as another gust of wind hit us.
“Come on, baby, we are almost there.” I attempted to soothe her.
“Iris!”
“Here!” I yelled, getting more worried when Snow didn’t move.
“Come on, Snow,” I rubbed her mane. “We got this.”
She started to trot as a figure came towards us.
“Iris!” Nash looked relieved as he saw us.
He came straight to me, pulling me close, kissing my forehead through his bandana and then wrapping one over my nose and face. His hands roamed over my arms as if he were checking me for injuries.
“You shouldn’t be out here by yourself,” he said, grabbing the horse I was able to grab. “Come on.”
Nash stayed in front of us, taking the brunt of the wind as we made our way back to the barn. Theo, Colt and Forest were at the barn when we arrived. I dismounted inside the barn, and I was not ready for the hug that enveloped me.
“Iris, never do that to me again,” Theo said, crushing me. “I told you not to go.”
“I—” My throat tightened. “I’m sorry. I thought it would be easy.”
“I don’t know why I called you. I panicked,” he said, pulling away.
“I love you that you called me,” I said. “That’s what we are here for, right? Plus, these were Mrs. Robbins’ horses.”
“I almost regret boarding them for her,” Theo mumbled, as he tapped his fingers.
“Thanks for saving our asses,” Colt said, hugging me too.
“Good job, Izz.” Forest shook my hair making dirt fly everywhere.
I swatted his hand away.
“There are no fires in the vicinity, right?” I asked, removing Snow White’s saddle.
“Not that we are aware of, but we weren’t supposed to get this wind until tonight. I got the alert as the wind was ramping up,” Colt said, moving some of the goats. “We thought we had more time or we would have had everyone in the barn and not outside.”
I nodded, looking around for Nash, seeing him get Mrs. Robbins' horses calmed and into their stalls.
The dark beauty he was giving love to was nuzzling him as he gave her some treats.
Leading Snow White to her stall, I made sure it was clean before brushing her, giving her my thanks and leaving her with a few apple slices and carrots.
“Nash,” I said, peeking into the stall he was in.
“Hmmm,” he hummed, not looking at me.
“Thank you,” I said, walking in.
“Of course.” He still didn’t look at me.
I walked to the other side of the horse, hoping he would finally look my way. He kept his head down, avoiding my gaze. I put my hand on his, squeezing it in thanks again.
“You didn’t have to come for me, but thank you,” I said, putting more emotion behind my words.
“As long as I’m here, I’ll always come for you, Iris,” he said, finally looking up at me.
His baby blues were serious, emoting so much that it caught me off guard.
“Scared the shit out of me,” he said, squeezing my hand. “But I admire you working as hard as the rest of us.”
My cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. “Thanks, Nash. I’m not just some soft woman you might think I am.”
He chuckled. “Far from that.”
I blushed even harder at his attention. “I’m gonna see if they need any more help.”
“Ok, just don’t go out there alone, you got it?”
“I don’t think Theo would let me,” I said, walking away.
“Neither would I, at least not without me,” he smirked.
I went back to help Theo with a few things before I went back to his home to pack up some of my stuff. Just before I left, I looked through my emails just to make sure I didn’t have what Mr. Yarbrough needed. It looked like I might have to call the real estate agent who helped us.
The house was still quiet when I left. Even though Theo invited me to stay for dinner, I needed some alone time to sort through my feelings.
It was only five when I stopped by Mae’s diner, figuring an early dinner and night's sleep would do me good.
Instead of taking it home to eat, I grabbed a table to have dinner there.
“I’ll be right with you, Iris!” The waitress called out to me.
“Take your time!” I yelled back.
“Fancy seeing you here.” I looked up to see Nash, dirty as hell.
Is that how bad I looked?
“Can’t cook dinner for yourself?” I quipped.
“What about you, Ivy? You’re here, too.” He laughed.
“This is my treat for surviving a near-death experience,” I shrugged hating he got my name wrong on purpose but also found it weirdly comforting.
“I heard you had to be saved, you poor, helpless woman,” he said, sitting down.
I gasped. “I didn’t need to be saved. I was the one who saved those horses, you came to steal my glory.”
Nash chuckled, glancing behind me and grinned. “Hey, Beau.”
I quickly looked behind me, not even realizing he was there.
“Uh, hey, guys,” he said, biting his lip, looking down at his laptop.
Was he nervous?
“Hey, I didn’t see you there!” I smiled, wondering what he had to be nervous about. “Early dinner?”
“Uh, kind of, actually, I've been here working on a few things since I had a late lunch,” he said. “I really didn’t want to brave the wind.”
“You probably need a break,” Nash said, sitting across from me. “Come join us.”
“Uh…”
“You don’t have to if you need to work,” I said, feeling like something else was going on.
Beau sighed, closing his laptop, finally looking at us.
“You ok, Beau?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think I need a break,” he said, putting his laptop away. “I just had pie for lunch and I’m thinking I need food.”
Nash got up, helping Beau with his things and bringing them over to us. Was I missing something? Since when were Beau and Nash close? Beau sat on my side, and I noticed he looked exhausted. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he hadn’t slept well in a few days.
“Beau, you sure you’re ok?” I asked, getting worried. “Working too hard? Too many late-night cams?”
Beau chuckled, shaking his head. “Nah, that's not work; that's stress relief.”
I chuckled, rubbing his back.
“Am I missing something?” Nash looked between us.
I grinned, realizing Nash didn’t know about Beau’s extracurricular activities.
“Our Beau here is famous,” I said, pinching his cheek.
Nash raised his brow.
“I cam on the side.” Beau shrugged. “Yeah, just stressing about things I have no reason to be stressing about.
He put his head on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry did you say you cam, like you perform on camera?” Nash looked perplexed.
I chuckled. “Has his face on the website and everything.”
“And what website is this?” Nash pulled out his phone.
“I don’t think I want you looking—”
“Just type in Beau cam boy in the search bar and it’s the first website,” I said, as Beau leaned up, looking at me in shock.