10. Ten
Ten
Wes
“Lennon’s having a grand opening for her new Bed and Breakfast later today.”
Cass sits at the table in the office, the old wood creaking when she shifts slightly. Her lunch, an assortment of containers of fruit, a sleeve of crackers, and the entire package of deli meat from the store, sits sprawled out in front of her.
When she wraps her lips around the straw of her water bottle, I look away and busy myself with gathering a few syringes to take down to the breeding barn.
She spends an awful lot of time finding ways to fill the silence.
It’s a nice change of pace from the quiet of the farm that has existed since I took over.
But liking Cassidy’s voice and constant conversation is one thing—watching her mouth touch a straw and imagining I turned into the water bottle is another thing entirely.
I am the picture of restraint.
After our time at the pond, I’d gotten a text while Cass had been changing. Apparently, I’d had an appointment with a potential client interested in boarding. Grady had come up with some excuse and done an okay job, but they wanted a follow-up meeting when I recovered from the flu.
I’d taken one look at that text and realized my mistake. With the laundry list of tasks that need to be completed around Miller Run, I certainly don’t need a distraction.
No matter how enjoyable.
“Do you need to leave early?” I ask, secretly hoping the answer is no. A buyer is coming to look at one of the yearlings, and I could really use someone responsible to make sure the barn looks well-kept.
Whenever Cassidy has extra time, I’ve noticed subtle changes. The office looks freshly swept, the tack is newly cleaned, coffee mugs are cleaned and put away.
It’s like wherever she goes, she adds a little of that sunshine. It’s brighter with her around.
Last week, she ensured a fresh mason jar of hand-picked wildflowers made it to the table, which she has now decimated with her haphazardly packed snacks that simply do not equal a lunch.
She always cleans up, though. Cassidy is tidy, thoughtful, and seems to enjoy people of all kinds—I’m sure the client will appreciate that.
I just have to utilize that quality and chalk it up to a solid and capable employee.
Again, no distractions.
That being said, the breeding barn at the base of the hill is my humbling structure. While it serves its purpose, it doesn’t boast of the same riches as a lot of other farms have. The horse racing was always my mom’s thing, and when I took things over, I didn’t have it in me to give it up.
It earns us some money, that’s for sure, but it is also an added expense.
Luckily, we’ve had a few horses do well over the years—extremely well. And that, in and of itself, is enough to keep that side of the business going.
Plus, the young kids love seeing the babies.
I rub my eyes, sleep begging me to return to bed after one of the mares dropped her foal last night.
Thankfully, Walton had it in him to come help, but that also means guilt ate at me for needing the help to begin with, and gave him the day off.
He’s slowing down with age and certainly needs the rest. Walton would have been my key to getting the barn in tip-top shape.
Cass is carving out a place for herself here. I’ve noticed the workload easing.
“No,” Cass says, “I was just letting you know because… well, I don’t actually know why.” I can feel her soft chuckle smoothing out the tension in my muscles. Keeping my back turned, I listen as she gathers the loose packaging and leftover crackers.
“I guess I just wanted an excuse to talk about what I made,” she admits.
“Which is somewhat childish, considering this is Lennon’s thing.
She’s planned it for months. It’s a big grand opening, and I’ll be there before guests arrive to help set up.
Her bed and breakfast looks great, and the event seemed to gain traction on social media.
I’ve been posting for weeks to help, though I’m not sure it helped. ”
The corner of my mouth turns up at that. I really do like it when she talks. I like it a lot. In fact, I’ve started bending rules and crossing boundaries because I like hearing her voice so damn much.
It’s the whole reason I took her swimming last week. Not to mention the leg up, in which I couldn’t keep my hands off her.
I really don’t need the complication. Especially after I watched firsthand how my parents’ running a business together ended up. I don’t need to be thinking about a woman who works on the farm I own, and I definitely didn’t need to be ogling her pink lips. It’s all very messy.
Cass continues. “I gave my brother, Gus, some crocheted vines a few weeks ago. He hated them, but I think it’s because he wants me to make a blanket instead. They just take so long.” When I turn to face her, she twists the end of what remains of her sleeve of crackers.
“You can just say Gus,” I comment. “I haven’t forgotten your brother’s name.”
Cass pauses, pink painting her cheeks as I grab a water bottle and down as much as humanly possible. The plastic crunches when I’ve drained it of all liquid and toss it into the trash.
“Right.” She clears her throat. “The blankets are just annoying. But for Lennon’s grand opening, I found time to make these cute plant holders.
She may hate them since she hates most things.
However, she does like it when there’s a story behind something.
Maybe I should make something up.” Her eyes widen with excitement.
“You could help me make something up! It has to be good.”
I count the syringes on the counter once more before throwing them into a small bucket to carry down to the other barn.
The bucket makes them less of a stabbing hazard.
When I lean against the counter, I cross one muddied boot over the other.
“You can say you found them in your new house,” I offer.
“Tell her my grandmother made them before she died, and they were left there or something.”
“Your grandmother’s house!” Cass all but shrieks. “I was wondering how you guys got the thing.”
“My parents bought it from the old owners when my dad’s mom got older. She needed help, but refused to live in a nursing home. My parents cared for her until she died.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Cass’s nose scrunches up. “I wouldn’t want to live in a nursing home, either. She was a wise woman.”
For some reason, I find myself offering up more details than necessary.
Maybe she’s rubbing off on me. “Well, the house was rough when we got it, but my dad was pretty handy. He fixed it up nice—restored the cabinets in the main farmhouse, too.” I let out a small chuckle.
“Though those are worse for the wear again. We’re pretty hard on things around here, if you haven’t noticed. ”
“Both houses are very nice, and please tell your dad I appreciate his hard work.” Cass’s blue eyes glitter like the surface of the pond in summer—though the color is far more pleasant.
“I don’t make a very good liar, though. Short story long, I cannot forget that bag on the other chair, and I’m only saying this to remind myself.
It’s not your responsibility or anything.
” She waves her hands around. “Obviously, it’s not your responsibility.
I’m hired to help you. Not the other way around.
I’d never ask you to be my own personal reminder. ”
My tongue runs along my molars in an attempt to suppress a smile. “Of course not.”
After walking out of the office, Cassidy finishes up the last of the stalls in the lesson barn as I head down to Grady to give him the syringes I collected. By the time I return, the manure spreader is stacked high, so I fire up the tractor to spread that shit out in the pasture.
Cass waits on the ground, pitchfork propped up next to her with one delicate hand resting at the top, looking like she wants to say something. Shielding her eyes, she looks up at me, squinting. There’s hay in the wild strands of her hair that have broken from their ponytail confinement.
“Question?” I shout over the roar of the tractor.
“When do I get to drive?” she asks.
“Drive what?”
The hand she used to shield her eyes gestures to the equipment rumbling beneath me. “The tractor. It would make your life a lot easier if I could use the manure spreader. We both know that. You said it yourself, we’re pretty hard on things out here. You need all the help you can get.”
“I do,” I confirm. It’s been a complication before.
Without knowing how to drive the heavier equipment, it leaves me, Grady, and Walton to do most of that work, which doesn’t go well when one of us is mending fences, Lord knows where, and the other two are tied up in the other barn.
Things would move a lot faster if she could handle it herself.
Unfortunately, I have a client on the way, mere minutes to get this taken care of, and no interest in figuring out how to get us both up here on one seat.
“Next time,” I say. “I have someone coming in to look at one of the colts in about an hour, and need all barns in tip-top shape.”
I expect her shoulders to slump, but, being Cass, she just smiles wider. “An hour to make both barns look beautiful.” She says the words with joy—as if she’s happy about cleaning up everyone’s messes. “You got it, Boss. And Wes?”
My name on her lips has me squeezing my molars together.
Unfortunately, I’ve discovered in the last month that I am very attracted to my newest employee.
It’s wrong for a million different reasons, but I can’t deny that it’s there, and the more I sit here looking at her, the more shame fills me at the way I slid my hand down her hip, her thigh, and all the way to her calf when I gave her a leg up.
That really shouldn’t have happened.
“Yup?” I question, urging her to continue while doing my best to create distance—force it.
“I’ll hold you to it on learning to drive that tractor,” she says before turning on her heel and scurrying off with the pitchfork in hand.