Chapter 11
The rain squall had been short, and other than canceling the bonfire, it hadn’t caused more glitches in Thandie’s schedule. In the morning, clear skies and bright sun energized her for the day’s activities, which she got straight to work on setting up. She was glad to have a bicycle handy for getting herself around the property. It was, however, not so useful when it came to transporting equipment from the barn to anywhere else. By her third trip back and forth to the gazebo, with yoga mats balanced on her knees and slung over her shoulders, Thandie knew she needed another way.
She parked the bike and walked around the back side of the barn, where she recalled seeing an old woodshed. Its three walls held up a slanted roof ideal for rain or snow to fall from. Under the roof, she found scrap metal, chunks of planks and wood, orange wiring that went to nowhere, and buckets, lots of empty buckets. “What a junkyard!” she said.
“Excuse me,” a man called out. His voice was scruffy and worn from his many years.
Thandie whirled around and put a hand over her racing heart. “You gave me a fright. I didn’t see you there,” she said.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” The man held out his hand. “I’m Pa.”
She shook the old man’s dirt-covered hand, while in her mind she added to her running tally of how many times she had been covered with mud or dirt so far this week. “Nice to meet you,” she said. “Leo and America told me about you. They said you’re a man of many talents and that you could get me anything I need.”
“Is that so?” Pa said as he wiped the mud from his hands after having shaken and dirtied hers. “I’ll have to have a talk with them two. But since you’re here, do you need any help?”
“No, that’s alright. But I appreciate the offer. I’m just looking for something I can use to help get all the supplies over to the gazebo.”
“I can rig something up for you really quick, if you’d like.” Pa offered his assistance again.
Thandie knew she was perfectly capable of solving this particular problem on her own. Not only was she determined to show the owners that she could handle her job, but she also had something to prove to herself too. She didn’t need a man to do for her what she could do alone.
“Am I free to use any of this stuff?” she asked.
Pa stepped back, having gotten wind of her independence. He smiled. “It’s all yours. There’s a cart over there, and all the tools and screws or bolts you might need are against that wall there. Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you need it.”
From his coaxing tone, he probably knew that she wouldn’t ask. She didn’t know him well enough to show any sign of weakness or helplessness. So she settled on a quick thank-you and began rummaging through the piles of junk.
Beneath bundles of sticks, she found a soft-sided red cart with four fat tires that looked ideal for avoiding getting stuck in the muddy ground around the gazebo.
With the cart’s scraps unloaded, she walked back up front to where her bike was parked next to a pile of yoga mats and water bottles. Using some faded blue cordage that she picked from the junk heap, she lashed the long cart handle to the back mudguard. With the buggy now in tow, she loaded the items that were staged outside and, with plenty of extra space in the cart, went back inside the barn for the rest of the gear that she needed.
On her way through the lounge, she greeted Brent and Daisy, and Buzz and his daughter. They were enjoying a friendly conversation from their spots on the champagne velvet couches near the stone fireplace. The room had a stunning yet cozy feel. The fireplace bisected two sections of floor-to-ceiling windows with nothing but green trees visible through the glass on either side. She didn’t want to interrupt, and made her way to the loft.
Upstairs in the office, Leo sat behind his desk and sat up straight when she entered. The old landline phone, with its curly cord, was pressed against his ear. He put a finger over his lips, telling her to be quiet.
She tiptoed to the bin labeled Yoga/Pilates and took the whole bin in hand. Tiptoeing back across the loft, Leo held up his hand for her to wait. As he finished wrapping up the conversation, she checked her watch. Forty-five minutes until the guests would begin arriving at the gazebo for the day’s first activity.
“I look forward to seeing you later this week. Goodbye now,” Leo said and hung up the phone. A smile pulled at one cheek. “That was good news. The investor wants to come here himself. I don’t know if that means he doesn’t trust his spy, or what. He said he’s going to be in the city, and since he’ll be within a couple hours of here, he wants to check it out.”
“That’s good news, I suppose. But what if this whole thing is a disaster?”
“Is this whole thing going to be a disaster, Thandie?” Leo said.
She shook her head, though inside, she was totally unsure.
“That’s what I expected you to say. Is everything set for today?” he asked and scribbled some things on a yellow legal pad.
“I’m in a good rhythm today. Yoga is coming up in a little bit and”—she lifted the bin in front of her chest—“it’s hard to carry all this stuff on a bike, so I rigged an old cart to the rear of mine. I hope that’s alright.”
He nodded while writing on his notepad.
“A golf cart would be a nice addition if we get the funding.”
“I’ll put it on the list.” He chuckled without taking his eyes off the paper.
There’s probably a million things on that list, she thought.
“I’ve got to get going,” she said, not wanting to be rude.
“Of course, go on,” Leo said.
Stepping back outside, the sun glimmered off the bike’s shiny blue paint. The wheels were clean and free of the mud that had been covering the rims before she’d gone in for the last of the supplies. Pa stood behind the bike with a wide grin. He had come and attached the cart to the rear axle on one side and replaced the existing handle with a long, bent piece of steel. The mud had been washed off and the items in the cart stacked neatly.
“Well? Will this do?” he said. “I know you said you didn’t need my help, but?—”
What else could she say? “It’s perfect.” Walking forward, she placed the bin on the ground and took a closer look at the man’s handiwork. “This is way better than what I came up with,” she rightly admitted. Though her rig would have worked well enough, this one would perform much better in the long run.
“What you need is a golf cart,” Pa said.
“It’s on the list.” She snickered.
“Have you seen his list?” Pa chuckled back. “Leo has one as long as his arm. All I’m saying is, don’t hold your breath waiting for it.”
“Thank you very much for this. I mean it.”
Pa stood at attention and saluted. “Happy to be of service.”
Thandie mirrored his posture. “Dismissed,” she said as she played along with Pa.
As he walked away, she loaded the additional supplies into the cart. Getting atop the bike was slightly more interesting with the extra load on the back, but the trip back to the gazebo was so much easier than her previous journeys had been.
Easier, that was, until her rear wheel sank into a patch of soft soil, causing the bike to stop and topple over.
She was sure a curse word escaped her lips and was glad that no one was around to hear the unladylike expression. Relief was short-lived as she realized she wasn’t alone. The sound of someone running down the crushed gravel path behind her let her know she wasn’t.
“Please don’t be my boss. Please don’t be my boss,” she repeated under her breath. A shadow of a man, long and broad, covered her, and she cringed, opening one eye and then the other as the person came around to her front. “Grant, thank goodness, it’s you.”
“It’s me,” he said and helped her to her feet. “I didn’t know mud baths were on the schedule today.” His laugh was contagious, and she giggled as she used her one clean hand to wipe the mud off her bum. Her other hand rested in his as he steadied her. “I’m only teasing you.”
“What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I was on my way up for breakfast. That’s my cabin right there. I’ve been seeing you pass my window all morning. This time, you had a whole load, and I heard the crash.”
Standing in front of him, covered in mud again, she wanted to crawl under a rock for a while until the embarrassment subsided. “I’m all good here. You should go eat before it’s too late.” She pointed up towards the barn. “I’ve got some things to set up in the gazebo for yoga. Are you planning to attend this morning’s activity?”
He nodded with a half-cocked grin that hid behind a day’s growth of facial hair. “I can always eat later. Do you need help?”
“Thank you for offering, but I don’t need help.”
“You may not need it, but would you like my assistance?”
She shook her head, afraid if she opened her mouth, she’d say something that sounded ruder than she would intend. Pa had given her a slice of humble pie when she had refused his help only to find him having given it so freely anyway. Thandie didn’t want a repeat of that scene anytime soon, and not with this good-looking man. “Breakfast is waiting, and you’re a guest. You should get up there. I’ll see you in a little while.”
“Sure?”
She nodded. “Now, go.”
His slightly squinted eyes and relaxed mouth made her breath catch in her chest. She bit the inside of her bottom lip as he turned up the path. He had a kind of swagger to his walk that she first noticed last night as she waited for him to walk from his cabin to the barn for dinner. He had wide-set shoulders and a trim waist like a swimmer. She caught herself as soon as she pictured him wearing tight black swim shorts, and smacked herself in the forehead. She had always had a thing for swimmers, and even if he wasn’t one, she shouldn’t be imagining it. He was a guest. She was a professional.
Righting her bike, she walked it back to the path. It was a longer way around, but the cart would do better on the more solid surface than it had going cross country.
Regardless of the state of the pathway, the gazebo was a mess from the overnight drizzle, and morning dew dripped from the smooth metal roof down onto the porch below. The floor space extended outwards from the main hexagonal roofed structure and was hemmed in by a spindled railing encircling five of the six sides. But the sun was peeking out, and she hoped things would dry up before the guests arrived. She checked her watch again, nearly a half hour had passed, and she had nothing to show for it.
She had brought several towels down in an earlier trip, and used one to dry the area in the center space under the roof. She didn’t want the guests to be soaked from anything other than a hard workout.
It took a few more minutes to roll out thirteen matching pale-yellow yoga mats and align them to face west. She would be facing east and looking right into the sun—illuminated by the natural spotlight—but the others would have the sun at their backs. She arranged the water bottles and remaining hand towels on a section of dry railing. Taking the pastel-colored resistance bands from the bin, she placed one on each of the mats.
Everything looked great, except for her. She looked down at her favorite white leggings, now stained with green and brown from falling in the mucky grass. If that wasn’t enough, her bottom and the back of her calves looked diseased from all the mud splatters she couldn’t dodge during her first few trips back and forth on the bike. She was irritated that she had worn white at all, though it was one of the colors that she knew always complemented her tan skin tone and dusty brown hair. At least her matching white top with the cute crisscross straps was as crisp as ever.
Either way, she was going to need to change her leggings. Thandie took the fastest way back to her cabin, across the field that separated two rows of scrub oaks that had probably been used as property markers at some point in the past. A very fast rinse off and change of outfit was a necessity. She didn’t want her boss, or the investor’s scout, to see her in such a messed state. Luckily, her hair was in a pile at the top of her head and was free from dirt, but her curls had sprung into tighter twists from the morning’s humidity and exertion.
No one will miss me in this bright pink outfit,she thought and smoothed a curl behind her ear in the reflection of the bathroom mirror. She added some pinky blush to the apple of her cheeks and applied some tinted lip balm, telling herself the whole time that it was just for her confidence, and not because she knew Grant would be at the gazebo soon.