Chapter 9
Eli
Where is everyone?
The house was empty. I checked my phone, not that I expected Dad to suddenly learn how to text. But I did have a message from Ryan.
Ryan: Dude, you’re killing me!
Eli: I told you I gotta hire a manager first.
Ryan: Why can’t your dad do it?
Good question. I knew squat about ranches. Did avoiding another argument count as a reason? We had an interview scheduled later. Maybe I’d get lucky. I left the house, weeds crunching under my boots as I worked my way to the barn.
Eli: I hear there’s a great opportunity outside of Phoenix. Long-term. Private housing. Flex hours. The ladies have names like Sugar and Misty.
Ryan: Screw you.
Ryan: The sun’s messing with you. Do I need to come rescue your ass?
Dad and Ryan: that combination had high school chemistry class written all over it. I started to shoot a response when movement caught my eye. Ava, jumping around out front of the tack room, trying to yank off a rubber boot. Her back was to me.
“Seriously?” she groaned. “You’re worse than my heels!” When the boot finally slid off, she threw it, and it knocked over the mucking rake. “If you give me a foot fungus …” The tone of her threat made me feel sorry for the footwear.
“You tell that boot who’s boss.”
She spun and met me with hot pink cheeks, hair spilling out of her ponytail. “Eli! How long have you been there?”
I stepped forward to right the rake. “You shopping for new shoes?”
“No. Just borrowing them so I could muck.” She stood flamingo-style to work off the second boot.
“You were mucking?” My eyes fell on her hiked-up skirt. “In that?”
“Ha, Ha. I know. But Bill’s arthritis was bothering him.”
Bill? As in my dad?
I watched her brush the dirt off her feet and shove them into those fancy heels of hers. Man, she was pretty. Even with the dark shadows under her eyes.
“What?” she asked.
“Hm?” The seconds stretched like the countdown of a game show, and I had no answers. I readjusted my cap, blaming the barn. “Where’s Nina?”
“With your dad.”
I laughed, but she didn’t even crack a smile. “Wait, seriously?”
“About this tall, wears glasses?” She held her hand up over her head.
Did I walk into a different dimension? I studied her, looking for little differences. A tattoo, a scar ... “My dad is watching Nina, and you’re mucking stalls?”
She nodded. “Yes. Well, I’m done now. They just went up to the house.”
This, I had to see. “Perfect. I’ll go with you.” Ava led the way. “I’m done with the gate, by the way,” I told her. “And I found a battery for your truck.”
“Oh. Thank you. Can you send me the info?”
My sister Hannah accused me of having a “pathological need to help.” Her words.
But as I appreciated Ava’s confident stride up the porch steps, I had to wonder who was helping who here?
I’d been awake for two hours and hadn’t hated a single minute.
“What if I go with you today? We can take my truck.” Before she shot me down, I added, “We’ll get your purse, grab a battery, then come back here so I can install it for you. ”
“Okay.”
“Okay? Really? You don’t wanna argue first?”
She laughed. Addictive like that first hit of nicotine. “No, I’m not really in a place to turn down help at the moment.”
I lurched forward to get the door for her, fisting my free hand to keep it off the small of her back.
We found Dad and Nina in the living room, sitting on the stiff leather couch with a big book opened across their laps. My crabby old man, watching a kid?
On purpose?
The man grouched at anyone under twenty-five. He didn’t do kids. I’m convinced he didn’t even like me when I was one. The silver lining? I never had to suffer the when-are-you-gonna-start-a-family talk.
He looked up at me over his glasses. “You finish the gate?”
“Yeah. You, uh, having fun?”
He ignored my question and glanced at Ava. “What about you, Missy? You leave me any stalls?”
“I did not, but you can save your tears for after we’re gone.” Ava flashed him a bright smile.
Damn. How could I get one of those?
“Thanks for watching Nina.” She moved into the living room to collect the kid, sticking her on her usual hip-perch.
Dad pushed on his legs to stand. “Eh, it was nothing.”
Ava turned to me. “Is it okay to use the bathroom before we go?”
“Yeah, ‘course.” I threw a thumb behind me. “By the front door.” I guess I stared too long, because when they disappeared into the bathroom, Dad snuck up on me.
“Cute kid.”
I cut a narrowed side glance his way. “Yeah. She is.”
His jaw rolled over, chewing on some thought, and when he returned my stare, a question flashed on his face. “Ava seems nice.”
I dug my hands in my pockets, feeling a little like I was driving on a spare tire, waiting for it to pop. “Yeah, I guess.”
Dad gruffed, then landed a hearty slap on my back. “Welp, guess you’ve got the rest under control.” He moseyed into the kitchen.
Under control? As I looked at the closed bathroom door, I couldn’t help feeling under-something. Under-settled? Under-qualified? Definitely not under-standing.
We ended up with more than her purse. Two hours later, everything Ava owned was strapped into the bed of my truck, including a toddler bed and dresser.
“I cannot believe the eggs on that man!” Ava reached over the seat to pass Nina a tube of “HappyBaby Puffs,” whatever those were. Apparently, something good, ‘cause Nina squealed from her little fighter-pilot seat in the back. “Don’t. Drop them,” Ava said. “Mama has to deal with something.”
I clocked Mr. Mercedes lurking by the door to his house, about as intimidating as a chihuahua with the shakes. Still, it was his turf. “You want backup?”
“No. But I wouldn’t object to shaving his head in his sleep. To take him down a notch.”
Damn. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
“I can assure you, he had it coming.” She slammed the door and strutted up the walk.
I almost went after her. In my experience, weak men played dirty. But also, no good ever came from telling a woman she couldn’t do something. So, I waited with Nina, AC running, glad as hell it wasn’t me in her crosshairs. Steven tried to touch her, and she slapped him.
“Oh, shit,” I laughed. Then my eyes met Nina’s in the rearview mirror.
She blinked at me.
Oops. “Hey, kiddo. Don’t repeat that, okay?” I held a finger to my lips, and she copied me. “How you doing back there? Still eating your kid crack?”
I twisted to face her. She made a yum-num-num sound. Half the cereal stuck to her lap, hands, arm, and even the side of her face. The other half was on the floor.
“You like those, huh?”
Straight out of a cartoon, she repeated, “Yumnumnum.”
“Tell you what?” I leaned over the front seat to scoop the pieces off the floor mat and dumped them on her lap. “I won’t tell Mom about the spill if you don’t tell her I said a bad word.”
She shoved a fistful of puffs in her mouth as the passenger door swung open.
Ava threw herself inside. “Let’s go.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I pulled away from the curb before her ex could catch up. Nina may have missed it, but I saw the long, slender finger Ava used to say goodbye. We cleared the forest of cookie-cutter houses to nothing but the hum of the engine. Ava’s knee started bouncing as we waited for a light to turn.
“Hey. You did the right thing.” I grabbed for her hand, and tiny electric zaps shot up my arm.
She blinked down where I held her, teeth digging into her bottom lip. I pulled my hand away before all the blood left my brain. Flexed my fingers on the steering wheel.
Open roads never warmed my veins like that.
Ava tucked a soft-looking strand of black hair behind her ear. “I hate to admit this, but I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”
Her words gave me something I didn’t know I needed. “You would’ve figured out something.”
“Maybe.” She sighed. “Where am I going to put all this stuff?”
“Let’s deal with one thing at a time. First, you need a truck battery.” I pulled into the auto parts lot.
Ten minutes later, we were driving home with a new battery and a load of bags stashed behind Ava’s seat.
“How long do you think it will take to install?” she asked.
I hesitated to give her a number on account of the bags.
I’d lied, saying I needed stuff for another project.
No one would take care of her truck the way I could.
Getting my hands on her Chevy was the first thing I could remember looking forward to since rolling into Phoenix.
And I had a suspicion she’d say no if I asked.
“You don’t have another place to stay lined up yet, right?”
She gave me a funny look.
I fixed my hat. “What I mean is, do you want the trailer another night?”
“I’d better not.”
“Why?”
“Your Dad, for one.”
My dad. Last night, I had the same concern. But today? “You know, I think he might like you better than me.”
“I highly doubt that! Besides, isn’t the RV for your ranch manager?”
“Lucky for you, we don’t have one yet.”
She stared silently out the windshield. Nina grunted behind us, her fingers toying with the harness clip.
“If you stayed,” I said, “I could work on your truck. I won’t charge you.”
“I can’t ask that of you.”
“You’re not. I’m offering.” Would it look bad to beg? “Where would you go instead, a hotel? That would cost you what, hundreds of dollars for a week? Save that for when you find an apartment. Somewhere with a pool. Kids love pools.”
“Pool!” Nina cheered. “I wanna go to da pool!”
“Not today, Crackerjack.” Ava tilted her head back to rest it on the seat. Then she turned sharp, narrow eyes on me. “Why are you doing all this?”
I took a second to answer. “Mom always told us it’s our job to take care of each other.”
“I think she probably meant your family.”
“She meant everyone.”
“I can’t, Eli. It’s too much.”
“Would it sway you if I said we’re down a ranch hand and could use the help?”
Nina shifted and started groaning from the back.
Ava chewed on the inside of her lip. I couldn’t explain why this mattered so much. We’d just met, but around her, everything felt better.
She smoothed her hands over her lap, and suddenly, my palms felt sweaty. “Your dad said it wasn’t a bed-and-breakfast.”
I frowned. “You heard that?”
She nodded.
“That’s on me. I should’ve given him a heads up.” Nina cried out again in one of those high–pitched kid squeals that reminded me of a bomb about to detonate. “Tell you what? I’ll call him right now.” I pulled out my phone and had the line ringing before she could argue.
“Eli …” Ava sighed.
I loved the way my name hung on her lips, even to scold me.
My old man picked up on the second ring. “What do you need?”
“Hey. I’m here with Ava and all her stuff. They need a place to stay while she looks for an apartment.”
“And?”
I shifted, second-guessing my read on him from this morning.
“I don’t think they should stay at a hotel.
It’s a waste of money, and something could get stolen.
And Nina needs space to play.” My heart kicked up a few beats.
If he said no, I’d look like such an ass.
“I want to offer her the RV for a few more days.”
“You’re asking my permission this time?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes.” Cars wove around us on the freeway. “She mucked for you,” I reminded him.
“Is she there with you?”
“Yes.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“What?”
“Just put her on, Eli.”
I handed the phone to Ava. “He wants to talk to you.”
Her eyes got wide as she took it. “H-hi Bill.”
I merged into the exit lane. Why did he want to talk to her?
“A few days,” she said to my dad. “A week at most.” A pause. “No. Yes, but only after a long day. I’m trying to acquire a ranch ... Hidden Meadows?”
Oh, come on! Was he interrogating her?
In the next pause, her eyes slid to me. “Yes, he did. He’s been very helpful. Okay. Thank you.”
She handed back the phone after ending the call. “I guess I passed the five-point inspection.”
I parked alongside the RV, behind Ava’s truck. She hopped out first, and when she opened the rear door, only a few baby puffs flew out. “Wow, Crackerjack, you did good!”
I held a finger to my mouth, and Nina giggled.
We unloaded my truck together.
“I can stick the furniture in the garage until you need it,” I offered, trailing her up the steps with an armload of bags. One foot into the trailer, I could tell something was different. “Did you clean?”
Nina wove between our legs into the unit.
Ava shrugged. “It was mostly dust.”
I followed her back outside. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I was up anyway.” After a pause, she surveyed the landscape. “I love the ocotillo along the fence. It reminds me of spikey seaweed. That’s silly, huh? Seaweed in a desert?”
I studied her ocotillo, wondering what she wasn’t saying. Why, after a long day, would she scrub the inside of someone else’s trailer? Her eyes slid back to me. It made me antsy, but not in the way staying in one place did. More like I had something important I needed to do.
I grabbed another bag from my truck bed. “Got a guy coming for an interview in a few. I’ll get that battery installed after. And bring you some towels and sheets.”
Ava followed me up the steps. “Thank you.”
“Yeah. No problem.” I put her bag inside. “Feel free to use the main house for whatever. Food. Internet. Air conditioning.” Now I was just stalling.
She tilted her head to the side. “You’re very accommodating today.”
I grinned. “Only for women who think I’m a hunky hero.”
Her mouth fell open. “Please never refer to that again.”
“Why? You don’t think I’m hunky anymore?”
She smacked my arm. It tingled, but in a pleasant way. Then two perfectly pronounced little words filled the silent room and secured my end.
“Oh, shit!”
We both turned to Nina. This was bad. I had the wrong shaped head to go bald.
Ava gaped. “What did you say?”
Nina put her finger to her mouth and shushed her mom.
Shit, shit, shit! I started a retreat to the deck.
Gravel crunched under large tires in the distance as a dusty white truck drove up to the house.
Perfect timing! “Whaddaya know? That’s probably my guy.
” But my traitorous feet stalled right in the middle of their escape, the second she said my name.
“Hey, Eli?”
“Yeah?”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t cuss in front of Nina.”
I nodded, then jogged off to meet this potential hire before Ava found out I fed her kid food off the floor.
A hired-on ranch manager meant I’d done my job. Meant Dad was happy, and I didn’t have to stick around and take his criticisms, Marley’s cooking, or this heat. Meant going back to making decent money and having no responsibilities. Every morning, starting fresh, not worrying about much of anything.
But against all reason, I hoped this new yahoo didn’t make the cut.