Chapter Three
A my stood on the top of a stepladder in the middle of aisle three, the back of her hand pressed to her lips as a wave of nausea as strong as an angry bull threatened to bowl her over. Where the hell did this come from? She didn’t know if it was the lingering scent of hay that Caleb had just restocked in the warehouse or something on one of the shelves, but the cloying scent was turning her stomach like a blender. Amy clutched the shelf in front of her and took a deep, steadying breath.
She wasn’t actually going to be sick, was she? Right here? In the middle of the store? She was too far away from the bathroom. She’d never make it. Her best bet would be to head for the trash can behind the cash desk but even that would be a risky dash.
Amy squeezed her eyes shut, willing everything in her stomach to settle. The nausea swept through her again, lingering on the back of her tongue, and she was almost afraid to swallow. Amy didn’t often feel like this. The only time she did was during early morning rodeo training when she was doing a lot of activity and hadn’t eaten enough.
And sure, maybe she’d skipped out on breakfast this morning. But who could blame her? Faith had been trying to stuff some turkey bacon-shaped something on a whole grain bagel in her hand, and that had sounded entirely unappealing. Though Amy usually turned her nose up at most of Faith’s healthy choices—flax seed, quinoa, steel cut oats. It all just tasted like cardboard as far as Amy was concerned. Faith would have to pry real bacon out of her cold, dead hands. Amy had intended to grab breakfast when she got to the store. There was a cute little diner up the road that she’d been meaning to try for weeks, only she’d started stocking shelves and now it was almost lunchtime.
Still, this wasn’t exactly the most arduous of tasks, and she’d skipped breakfast before, surviving on nothing but coffee and creamer. She shouldn’t be feeling nauseated and slightly dizzy and tired.
Why was she so tired all of a sudden?
Amy fought off a yawn, worried that if she opened her mouth, it could be disastrous as far as the nausea was concerned. She clutched the shelf and took a short, even breath in through her nose. Then another. And another.
Slowly, the uncomfortable wave passed and Amy breathed easier.
There. All better.
She clearly needed to get some fresh air and some food into her. She’d no sooner thought about food than the nausea was back, so strong Amy clasped her hand over her mouth, certain she would be sick this time. Okay, time to take a break , she thought. From stocking. From the store. From the overwhelming scent of sickly-sweet hay. She just needed to get away from it all. But moving felt like a really bad idea.
What she needed was a distraction. Something to take her mind off the way her stomach was churning and bubbling, and the goose bumps that flushed down her arms, and the prickly heat that was suddenly creeping up her neck.
The bell over the front door jingled and Amy really hoped it wasn’t a customer that was going to need her help. She didn’t really feel like she was in any condition to be gathering up orders or showing people around.
“Well, look who it is!” Faith’s voice soared over the sound of the bell, tinged with surprise. “Or should I say, look who the horse dragged in?”
“Sorry, I just came from the barn.” That voice was familiar. Amy craned her head, looking down the aisle from the top of the stepladder. She couldn’t quite see more than the corner of the cash desk. “I didn’t even think about changing.”
A figure stepped into view. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Long brown hair swept back, showing off a strong jawline. It was him .
Josh Aventura.
In the flesh.
Again.
The man her sister thought she should have asked out for coffee the other day. The man who she’d been thinking about nonstop since. It had been months since a man had occupied her waking thoughts. Certainly not since the early days of seeing Tru, and now in hindsight, he’d obviously been haunting her.
She tried to bite down on the smile that stretched across her face. She couldn’t quite tell if she was thrilled to see him again, or if that was just the nausea, fluttering away in her chest. She reached onto the shelf and pulled a pallet of cans closer, facing the labels out to the front. What was Josh doing back here so soon anyway? Faith had said it would be close to a month before he’d be back for supplies. Perhaps he’d forgotten something.
Amy looked his way again.
She certainly hadn’t forgotten how effortlessly handsome he was. It really was unfair for him to look that good after likely spending all morning with his cattle on his ranch.
He brushed at his shirt, knocking away dust.
“I’m kidding,” Faith said. “I was just surprised to see you in here twice in one week. I’d say to what do we owe the pleasure? But usually when a customer returns that quickly it’s with a complaint. Something wrong with the product we sold you?”
“No,” Josh said, shaking his head. “No problem.”
“So what? This just a social call?” Faith walked around the end of the cash desk, crossing her arms as she looked up at him. Her lips puckered, and Amy knew she was trying not to grin. “You checking up on your neighbors?”
“A man needs supplies,” Josh said, so low Amy could barely hear him. His shoulders hunched up by his ears.
Faith threw her head back and laughed. “You know damn well we only see you in here once a month.”
Josh dropped his hands to his hips. “Maybe I forgot a couple of things last time.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
Amy shook her head. Poor Josh. She’d been on the wrong end of one of Faith’s interrogations more times than she could count. If she wanted to know something desperately enough, Josh didn’t stand a chance.
“Do you always harass your customers?” he asked gruffly.
“I’m not harassing, I’m showing a vested interest.”
Josh reached out for one of the stands by the desk, pulling something from the display rack. He laid it on the desk.
“Wool sheep shears?” Faith said. “For a cattle ranch.”
“Maybe I’m branching out,” he said. “Or maybe I’m doing a favor for a neighbor. You want my money or not? Cause there’s another perfectly good feed store up the road.”
Amy smirked. Growing up on the rodeo circuit with a lot of sisters and cousins, Amy had quickly learned to compete with strong personalities. Josh might have been the gruff, quiet type who usually kept to himself, but Amy liked that he didn’t take any of Faith’s flak.
“Oh, I’ll take your money,” Faith said, clicking her tongue. “No need to act like you’ve got a burr in your saddle. I’m just saying… Sheep?”
“She giving you a hard time?” Caleb called, strutting across the store with Nathan and a pair of cowboy boot-clad ranchers in tow.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Josh said.
Caleb slowed by the desk, leaning over to peck Faith on the cheek. He was incredibly tall, with deep brown skin, carved cheekbones, and an abundance of muscles from dragging around heavy bags of feed all day. Amy’s heart swelled at the sight of them together. She really couldn’t be happier that Faith had ended up with someone as kind and as doting as Caleb. Faith might give her a hard time, as sisters do, but she deserved all the happiness she’d found with Caleb.
“Be nice to the customers,” Nathan called before carrying on. “I don’t need them running off to the Feed and Seed.”
Amy knew Nathan was joking. For as small as Tenacity was, with the sheer number of ranchers that lived and worked in the surrounding area, there was definitely a need for more than one feed store in town. Though each store still seemed to have their own loyal, longtime customers.
“I’m just reminding Mr. Aventura here that he runs a cattle ranch, not a sheep ranch.”
Caleb hummed. “Maybe he’s branching out.”
Faith rolled her eyes so dramatically Amy could see it perfectly from where she stood. She muttered something that sounded like “ Men ,” as Caleb wished Josh a good day and headed off after his father and the customers.
Faith turned her gaze back to Josh. “You want me to ring these shears up for you now?”
Josh turned, glancing around the store. “Not quite yet. I’ve got a couple other things to look for.”
“Yeah, for that sheep ranch you’re starting.” Josh turned away from the counter, and Faith picked up the shears, placing them on the display shelf once more. She turned around and shot Amy a look, her lips curling into a smug smile.
Amy knew exactly what Faith was thinking, and resisted the urge to roll her own eyes at Faith’s insinuation. She couldn’t deny the fact that she was pleased to see Josh back in the store so soon, but it’s not like he’d returned just to see her. He was a busy, hardworking man, and even if he didn’t need sheep shears, they’d spent all of fifteen minutes together. Surely she hadn’t made any type of worthwhile impression on the man.
He certainly made one on you though.
Amy pushed that thought aside. It disappeared quickly, lost in another wave of nausea, though this one was not nearly as bad as the first. She sucked in a sharp breath just as Josh’s voice reached her.
“They pay you to stand around on top of stepladders all day?”
Amy turned her head. Josh had appeared from the other end of the aisle. He glanced up at her, the corner of his mouth lifting, a sack of feed tucked under one of his arms.
“Well, hello to you too, cowboy. I don’t get paid at all, remember?”
“Ah, that’s right.” He took a step closer, and she could make out the way his brown eyes shone under the sunlight spilling in through the skylights. “You’re just standing around out of the goodness of your heart.”
“I am not just standing around,” Amy scoffed. “I happen to be facing the product.” She gestured down the aisle to all the cans she’d neatly arranged. “I’m even arranging it by expiration date.”
“Oh, well, I’m sorry now for interrupting such vital work.”
“You should be. I’m giving up my precious time to talk to you.”
“Still haggling Caleb for employee of the month?”
Amy laughed. “As if there’s any real competition. So, I hear you’re branching out into sheep?”
“You do a lot of eavesdropping up there, huh?”
“Only on the interesting conversations. So, sheep?”
“What is it with you and Faith getting on my case about the sheep? Do I not look like I could handle some sheep?”
Amy’s heart fluttered beneath her ribs. She suspected he hadn’t really come to the store to secure supplies to start a sheep ranch. But before she could really wonder about what had brought Josh back so soon, a wave of dizziness consumed her. It started at the top of her head, like someone had cracked an egg right against her skull. The sensation slithered down her spine, rolling out across her body. She clutched the top of the stepladder as her head spun. This wasn’t Josh having this effect on her, was it?
No, that would be ridiculous.
She didn’t swoon over men.
Not even cowboys like Josh, who looked at her with big brown eyes and a smile that could knock the air right out of her lungs.
She’d learned her lesson.
Amy took a step down the ladder while she still had her balance. And another. She just had to get her feet back on solid ground. Then her stomach would settle and her head would stop spinning.
Right?
She reached up, palm to her forehead. Her mouth was dust dry. Her feet hit solid ground.
“Amy?” Josh said, his tone soft, concerned. She’d closed her eyes again so she couldn’t see his face, but she felt his hand on her shoulder and that stirred more sensation in her gut. “You doing okay?”
“Fine,” she squeaked in a voice that was too tiny to be her own. Then everything shifted sideways. Her head, her body… Her hip hit the stepladder, jostling it aside, and she was certain she was going to hit the floor next, but instead she crashed up against a wall of sturdy muscle.
Josh’s arms wrapped around her upper arms, holding her upright with the kind of strength that would bruise, but Amy’s other alternative was slumping straight to the floor. Her legs felt like sandbags, heavy and useless, and exhaustion surged through her, clinging to her bones.
“I don’t think you’re fine,” he said. “You’re the same color as my mother’s china.”
Oh, he was comparing her to porcelain. If she squinted maybe she could take that as a compliment. Porcelain was shiny and lustrous. Surely he didn’t mean she was as pale and gaunt as she currently felt? One look at his face and she knew better.
“I really am fine,” she insisted, trying to shake off the dizzy spell. Before she could, the nausea returned full force and Amy tried not to heave on Josh’s boots.
“Okay,” he said, sounding even more concerned. “Let’s find you somewhere to sit down, huh?”
Amy let Josh guide her out of the aisle. She didn’t have the strength to do anything else. She was like a rag doll in his arms.
“Faith!” he called. “Can I get some help?”
Amy heard panicked footsteps and Faith’s sharp cry as she rushed over to meet them. “What happened?”
She took Amy by one arm, Josh kept to the other, and together they helped her into the chair behind the cash desk.
“What’s going on?” Faith asked, pressing her hand to Amy’s forehead the way their parents had when they were young. “You’re not coming down with something, are you?”
“It’s nothing,” Amy said, shrugging her off. She didn’t need Faith fussing over her like this. She especially didn’t need her doing it in front of Josh. She’d practically already collapsed into the man’s arms. That was enough mortification for one morning. “I got a bit dizzy coming down the ladder. That’s all.”
“It was a little more than nothing,” Josh cut in.
“Dizzy?” Faith said. “Since when do you have a problem with heights?”
“I don’t,” Amy said. “It’s probably because I didn’t eat this morning.” This was like trying to barrel race on an empty stomach with low blood sugar.
“You should have eaten that bagel I made you.”
Amy wrinkled her nose as fatigue clung to her. She sighed. “I’m good now. I swear. I’ll just get some food into me.” She tried to stand, only to be hit with a shaky bout of weakness. Maybe she hadn’t gotten enough sleep last night? That plus skipping breakfast might have been enough to make her feel like crap.
“I think I should take you home.” Faith glanced up at the customers in the store. “Caleb should be finished with those ranchers soon. Do you think you can wait a little bit?”
Amy didn’t want to admit it, but going home and crawling back into bed sounded like a dream. “I really am fine. I can drive myself back to your place. It’s not that far.”
“No!” Josh said at the same time Faith declared, “Absolutely not!”
Amy shrugged away from the force of their combined outburst. Faith’s brows arched as she regarded Josh.
“I can drive you back to Faith’s if you want,” he said.
Faith’s brows rose even higher, probably matching Amy’s. “That’s okay,” she hurried to say. She’d already troubled him enough for one morning.
“You’re sure it’s no bother?” Faith said, completely ignoring Amy’s huff of protest.
Josh shrugged. “Your place is on the way out to my ranch anyway. I’m driving by regardless.”
Amy frowned. What was happening here? First of all, she was fine. Second of all, she was a big girl. She didn’t need other people making decisions for her.
“You know what, that would actually be super helpful,” Faith said. “Amy, I think you should take him up on his offer. You look like you’re about to keel over.”
“Gee, thanks,” she muttered. But as much as she wanted to argue, to tell Josh and Faith exactly where they could stuff their good idea, she just didn’t have the energy. Something had zapped it from her. “All right, fine. I’ll take the lift.”
“Great,” Josh said. “I’ll go pull my truck around front and be right back.”
“Thanks again, Josh,” Faith called after him.
The moment he was out the door, Amy’s eyes cut across to Faith. “Don’t do that,” she all but hissed.
“Do what?” Faith asked, playing with the end of her long braid.
“Meddle.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just trying to get you home safe and sound.”
“By sending me off with a practical stranger?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Faith laughed. “Everyone knows everyone in Tenacity. And Josh wouldn’t hurt a fly. You don’t have to worry about him.”
“The other day you said you’d barely ever heard the man speak more than a few words.”
“Yes, in that gruff, stoic, lonely cowboy sort of way. Not in like a serial killer way.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Wonderful.”
“You’ll be fine. Seriously. But call me if you start to feel worse after he drops you off and I’ll come home and take care of you.”
Amy grumbled. She didn’t need Faith to take care of her, and she especially didn’t need her sister trying to set her up with a man while she was trying her best not to hurl all over the interior of his truck.