Chapter 5
CHAPTER
FIVE
Surprise cut through Reeves when Bailey didn’t ask another question or press to know why he’d been taking care of himself since the age of eleven.
Of course, he hadn’t quite said, “I’ve been feeding myself since I was eleven years old,” and he cut a quick look over to her while trying to decide how he was going to handle her next question. But it didn’t come.
Bailey cut into her own steak, swiping it through some sauce and twirling a little pile of pasta on top.
He glanced away before she looked at him again, though he felt her gaze on the side of his face as he focused on the TV.
For now, they still had power, and a seething restlessness kept him keyed up as he ate while a sitcom played softly in front of the two of them.
He sat directly in front of the TV, but she sat on the couch off to the side.
Reeves held out his plate for Sir and Pansy to lick, and he decided to use them as an excuse to go downstairs and get his videos started.
Truth be told, he had a routine he liked to keep, and that included doing all his filming, cleaning everything up, and heading straight into his office to get the videos uploaded.
That could take a couple of hours, depending on how long he’d been out filming, but today’s should be short.
He wished he would’ve gotten even a few seconds of him driving the four-wheeler in the rain back to his house, Bailey’s fingers curled around his bicep.
At the same time, he was glad he’d kept that private.
He sometimes hated how he was constantly thinking of having to record something, but he reminded himself that this was his job, and it paid for his lifestyle and his ability to be in this small Wyoming town, where he’d finally found a measure of happiness.
Reeves wouldn’t necessarily say he was completely happy or fulfilled, but every day he lived was his own, and he got to choose how to spend his time. No one hurled insults or fists at him, and he supposed a man could find a measure of happiness with two dogs and a farm.
Having a good woman at your side would definitely help. The thought surprised Reeves, and he wasn’t sure it even came from his own mind. Somehow it existed there, though, and he let it rotate around while Bailey finished eating.
He lowered his footrest and got to his feet. “I’ll take your plate,” he said.
“Thank you.” Bailey quickly wiped her mouth and set her fork on her plate, then piled the napkin on top before lifting the whole thing up to him.
“Do you need anything else from downstairs?” he asked. “I’ll let the dogs out and can bring up anything else you want.”
They hadn’t lost power yet, which, in Reeves’ opinion, was a real miracle.
“Only if you have mint chocolate chip ice cream.” Bailey smiled at him, and she really was a stunningly beautiful woman, with her hair down out of the ponytail he’d seen it in before, and that soft crinkle around those brilliant blue eyes.
“I’m fresh out of that,” he said, but he made a mental note of it for later.
What later? he asked himself silently. He wasn’t quite sure, and since it had been a long time since Reeves had flirted with a woman or dated anyone, he simply piled her plate on top of his, nodded at her, and turned to leave.
The dishes and the dogs gave him a great excuse to go downstairs, where he would let them out and fill the dishwasher, but he’d also be able to get a bit of footage of the torrential rain to add to his video.
He’d get everything processing, grab any frozen treats he did have, and be back upstairs in fifteen minutes.
“Come on, guys,” he said over his shoulder to the dogs, and they both came with him without further argument.
Reeves had never minded how they shadowed him, and in fact, quite enjoyed their company.
Downstairs, he put the dishes in the sink and started the running water, pushing the handle all the way back to make it hot.
He didn’t want Pansy and Sir sniffing around in the backyard or going further out onto the farm more than necessary, so he went into the garage first and collected his camera gear from the back of the ATV.
He took that inside to his office, where it would be out of the way, and hopefully Bailey wouldn’t see it.
He pulled out his camera and looked down at the canines. “All right, guys,” he said. “It’s your turn. I just want you to go out, go potty, and come back.”
He looked at them sternly, and Sir sat down, always so eager to please. He grinned at the dog. “Go potty, and come back.”
Pansy held very still, the blue heeler in her always alert until Reeves released her.
“All right,” he said. She jolted into movement, heading out of the office ahead of everyone, Sir only a beat or two behind. He followed them, and once again paused at the back door. “You go potty, and you come back.”
He opened the door, and the dogs went out.
Reeves stepped outside with them and moved to the edge of the rain-splashed deck, where he lifted the camera and recorded.
He could do a voiceover, or he could just dictate what he was looking at right now and cobble together the footage for this weekend’s video.
“Well, that rain they said was comin’ sure did arrive,” he said, his voice taking on his online persona-tone instantly.
“It’s been raining like this for a couple of hours now, and they’ve actually closed the road where I live, so I can’t get out.
They’ve called for an evacuation, but don’t worry, I’m hunkered down, and I have plenty of food, supplies, and a generator.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to get back to camping soon enough. ”
He kept the camera rolling until the dogs came running back, which happened only a few seconds later, thankfully. Then he stopped filming and headed inside to dry off the dogs.
That task done, Reeves closed the door against a particularly loud crash of thunder, got to his feet, and collected his camera.
He went into the office and emitted a groan-sigh as he sank into his expensive, ergonomic office chair.
He plugged in his camera, and with a few efficient clicks had selected the clips he’d recorded that day and set them to upload to a new file he labeled with today’s date.
Reeves had been making videos for a long time now, and the systems he’d put in place over the years sped the processing and creation of his content. He clicked on a file he never closed: his idea vault.
With the rain and the flooding, perhaps he should do a cleanup video, or he could even do a how-to survival video when snowed- or rained-in.
He typed that idea into the doc, because that would just require setting cameras up around the house and him talking through the best generators, how he’d made dinner and pulled specific snacks to take upstairs with him and Bailey, and the supplies people might want to have in such a situation.
A quiet excitement grew inside of him, which Reeves recognized as the inkling of a good idea.
The problem was Bailey. He leaned back in his chair, the idea now on paper and out of his head, where the beautiful woman he was currently stuck with had free rein. He couldn’t believe she’d asked him to her friend’s wedding, but of course Bailey had asked him a lot of questions.
Reeves had fiercely protected himself from being recognized in person.
He ordered his groceries online and from an organic produce box, both of which were delivered to his house.
If he had to go in a store, he went to a small, out-of-the-way place in Rusk or Dog Valley, where it was less likely people would be watching outdoor adventure videos online.
He craved the anonymity in his peaceful, independent life, but as he sat there, Reeves also acknowledged how very lonely he was.
Dogs were good friends, but nothing more. Since Reeves had found Bailey passed out in the snow in the driveway next door, he’d been thinking about what his life would be like if she played a bigger part in it. Would she even want to? Or had she had a chance at love and willingly let it go?
“So maybe you could just start by agreeing to go to the wedding,” he said aloud, which caused Pansy to lift her head and cock it to the side, as if she understood English and perhaps simply needed him to speak the sentence again so she could advise him.
He shook his head, and Pansy laid her head back down on her paws, her eyes soulful, and yes, maybe a little bit sad.
Reeves honestly felt the same way, and he looked up toward the ceiling where, right above him, sat the living room loft where he and Bailey had set up as their homebase for the day.
Dear Lord, he thought. I’m going to go upstairs now, and I’m going to have to talk to that woman. Bless me to say the right words.
Then he checked his video uploads one more time, saw that they were still humming along, and pushed himself out of his chair.
He’d never been particularly eloquent or loquacious, and he wanted to hide behind the brim of his cowboy hat as he started up the stairs to the second floor.
But he rarely wore one inside, and he couldn’t start now, because Bailey was intelligent and observant, and he’d have to have a reason for wearing a cowboy hat now when he hadn’t been before.
Bailey didn’t just ask questions about things; she wanted to know why. As Reeves reached the landing and headed around the corner, he found he wanted to give her the answers to her questions, and he doubled down on his prayers that the Lord would give him the right words to do so.