9
I’ve been on the farmfor a month now and it’s been the best time of my life. I know that is saying a lot considering where I am from, but I finally feel like I am where I was meant to be all along. I have learned how to saddle my own horse and my riding skills have improved. I tend to baby animals, and contrary to Logan’s beliefs, I can sling bales of hay around. A few foals have been born since the day I arrived, and I have gotten to help with that process. It has been the best therapy for my mental health. I haven’t heard from my parents, Courtney, or Stephen and I decided it is for the best. Eventually, I will call my parents and maybe I’ll even invite them out to the farm to see what I’ve been doing. I don’t know if I will ever forgive my sister though.
The farm has been the hardest work I’ve ever done, but also the most rewarding. Molly’s newborn colt has grown so much since he was born, and we work with him daily to make sure he’s used to be being handled at an early age.
Its mid-morning and Megan and I are sitting at the kitchen table with Margaret running over our breeding program ideas and other plans we have for the farms future. “I agree to all of it.” Margaret says and then turns to me, “It’s going to be a lot for you to learn. Are you up for that?”
I nod. “I have the feeling this is where I am meant to be.” I smile at her and she smiles back.
“I knew there was something about you.” She winks at me, “Lets make it final.” She states pushing a paper to me.
It’s a formal ledger and at the top it stays, “MAGNOLIA FARM brEEDING PARTNERSHIP.”
My eyes widen, “W-what?” I say looking back and forth at them both smiling back at me.
“Sweetheart, I’m not a spring chicken anymore.” Margaret starts, taking my hand. “Lord willing, I will be here for more years to come, but we never know what the future holds. I can”t keep up like I used to and Megan needs someone dependable to help her. Collin still has some growing up to do and Logan can be a little too hard-headed.” She looks to Megan and Megan nods.
She looks back at me, “You have been such a big help around here. You will have a lot to learn but I trust you will do just fine. Megan will teach you. I would much rather get this out of the way now, before anything out of our control happens. If something were to happen to me, I at least know Megan will have someone else to help her with the legal side of things.” She smiles. “Welcome to the family, Ivy.” She pushes the paper towards me.
With tears filling my eyes I pick up the pen she lays beside it with a shaky hand and sign my name on the legal document making Megan and I breeding partners.
“You all are just full of surprises.” I grin at both of them.
They both giggle and Megan looks at me with a intrigued look, “Ready for the first adventure partner?” she smiles at me, and I cock an eyebrow confused.
“There’s a mare across state that I”ve had a deposit on since before she was born. We paid a deposit for her while she was in the womb. She’s now a year old and ready to come home to the farm to eventually be apart of the breeding program.”
I smile and nod, waiting for her to explain what that means for me. “One of us needs to go pick her up.” She starts, “I can”t leave the farm because of the prior arrangements I have with some sales.” She looks at me, “But now that we are partners, one of us has to sign to get her here. Think you can handle it?” she asks me confidently.
“Of course!” I say excited, “But wait, I’ve never driven a trailer before.”
“Don’t worry, Logan can go with you.” She stands, giving her grandmother a hug. I smile to Margaret and thank her.
“I would send Collin but I’m sure you would kill him before you get halfway there.” We both laugh at the statement because she’s most likely right. We step off the front porch with the dogs on our heels.
“When do I need to be there?” I ask her.
“Tomorrow around lunch. So, you need to leave by tonight. It’s a few hours from here.” She looks around and turns, seeing Logan throwing hay off the bed of a truck and into the pasture he’s parked by. He’s shirtless again. Holy hell. The way the muscles in his arms are defined as he holds the bale of hay before throwing it over the fence would make any woman tremble at her knees.
“Logan!” she says, and he turns to face us, “Need you to take a trip with Ivy tonight!” she bosses, and he nods. He needs to put on a damn shirt if he expects me to get in the truck with him.
***
A little after lunch, I am standing in the yard with the dogs lying next to my feet, with a pillow and an overnight bag on my shoulder. I am watching Logan back the truck up to the gooseneck horse trailer. We are taking the white four-door Chevy that is used most of the time around the farm. I take a deep breath as I watch the truck back to the horse trailer, feeling a little relieved that he is going, and that he is driving. The horse trailer is massive. It fits at least four fully grown horses and has a large living quarter. I would never be able to pull it myself. Megan and Collin went with their grandmother to see their grandfather. Logan and I made sure everyone in the barn was secure in their stalls before we left. Apparently, the farm we are going to is called The Double J Ranch. Logan says he has never been there before, but Megan assured us it was a lovely place.
“Ready?” Logan asks while hooking up the wiring for the taillights to work from the truck to the trailer. I nod and walk up to the truck opening the passenger door, throwing my bag and pillow in the back, and jump into the passenger seat.
A few moments later, Logan pulls open the driver’s door and grabs the handle at the top to get in. He must have showered before we left because he’s in clean clothes and actually smells nice. His ball cap is turned around backwards, and I have to remind myself not to stare at him.
“What’s the address again?” he asks me, and I pull out my phone to the text Megan sent me.
“1564 Kilmanns Road,” I pause, searching the rest of the message, “Parkerville, Georgia.” I say, dropping my phone in the cup holder. He nods and puts it into the truck’s GPS.
Pulling out of the driveway, he has to make the turn wide to get the trailer all of the way out without hitting anything and I think to myself, yeah, I would not have been able to do that.
Logan turns the volume on the radio up and Riley Green’s song, “Different ‘Round Here” starts to play and I watch as the town comes into our sight. The song fits it perfectly. This town almost makes me feel like it is a town the world has forgotten. It’s a whole other world compared to what I have grown up in. The fields with farmhouses and people waving as we go by is something that makes my heart flutter with joy. So many places have gotten away from the simple things.
I’m broken out of the trance of my surroundings when I hear Logan singing beside me. I turn my head and beam, “Whoa, country boy can sing.” I grin at him, and he laughs.
“Nah, just love that song. It reminds me to be thankful where I’m from.” He turns on his blinker as the GPS tells us to get on the interstate. The same interstate I came here on. I chuckle under my breath at the thought of how much my life has changed in just a month.
While Logan is merging on the interstate, I grab the auxiliary cord for the radio and he looks at me, “Oh no. No one touches my radio other than me.” he says grabbing it out of my hand. I grab it back from him and smile, “You will just have to get over it.” I smirk pulling the auxiliary cord from him, “Just drive and let me worry about the tunes.” I say, connecting my phone to the cord and searching my phone for what I’m in the mood for. I decide to put on 90’s Country music and sit my phone back down in the cup holder.
“Write this down” by George Strait comes on and I start singing along. Logan shoots me a look, “Well I’ll be,” he says laughing, “Never pegged you for a country music girl.”
I laugh, “There is many things you most likely get wrong about me.” I smile and pull my legs up into the seat and lean back and get comfortable. I ignore his stare and start singing again.
“Let’s get off here, stretch our legs, get some gas and eat.” Logan says a couple hours later. I nod. It’s now dark out and we need to be finding somewhere to sleep soon. We have made our way into South Georgia but still have at least an hour to go in the trip.
Logan turns off on exit four and my eyes catch a Zax sign. “Oh!” I holler, “Let’s go get some Zax!” I say turning to Logan. He makes a disgusted face and I fly my hands over my mouth in a dramatic gasp.
“Don’t tell me you are against the greatest chicken place ever.” I say shocked.
“It’s okay,” he starts, “Just not my cup of tea.”
I laugh, “Well what is your cup of tea?” I ask him.
He looks at me with eyes that twinkle and for a moment my heart stops. His eyes go from mine, to my lips, my body, and then back up to my eyes. We are stopped at a red light, but his eyes don’t leave mine. He looks like he’s in deep thought and then he looks away as the light turns green, “Zax is fine, Ivy.” He says with a snarl and then turns towards its direction. I’m now feeling uneasy. Did we just have a moment? What the hell was that reaction I think to myself.
We park in the back parking lot and take up about six parking spaces with the truck and trailer eventually making our way inside. It’s empty other than a few people sitting in the booths eating. There’s no line at the front to order so we both walk up and the girl standing at the computer looks at us. Correction, she looks at Logan. I roll my eyes. He doesn’t even notice her staring. I stare a hole in her until she looks at me and then back down at the computer like she has been caught. Why am I jealous? Logan and I aren’t even a couple or anything. We just work together. Stop acting like a jealous girlfriend.
“Welcome.” The girl finally says, “What can I get for you?” she asks but starts staring at Logan again with a flirtatious smile on her face.
“Umm,” Logan says looking at the menu behind her on the wall, “Grab me the number three please, extra pickles, water to drink.” He turns to me, “And whatever my girlfriend wants.” My heart skips a beat.
Girlfriend?
The girl stutters as if the words he just spoke broke her heart, “Oh,” she turns to me, “What can I get you, miss?” she gives me a small fake smile.
“Umm, same thing as him,” I grin at her. Logan reaches in his wallet and takes out the farm credit card to pay with. The girl hands us our drinks and Logan wraps his arm around my waist out of nowhere, walking us to the drink counter. My heart is doing all kinds of flips.
After filling our cups, I walk around picking a booth for us to sit at. “What the hell was that?” I ask him as we both sit.
He looks at me, “What?”
“You know exactly what.” I say pointing my finger at him.
He takes a sip of his drink, his eyes never leaving mine, and he leans forward. “I just didn’t want her flirting with me.” he says with a shrug of his shoulders.
I laugh, “You got a girlfriend or something?” I ask him, halfway wanting him to say no now that I’ve asked.
“No, Ivy. I”m single.” He pauses, “I had a serious girlfriend at one point a few years ago. After my parents died, we both went our separate ways.” He states, but he doesn’t grin or smile. He just stares at me this time. There’s an unspoken something about what his eyes are saying. I can feel my face blush.
We eat our food in silence mostly because we were both starving. Once we are done, Logan takes our trays and throws all of our trash away and we refill our cups for the road.
Pulling myself up in the truck, Logan turns on the engine and is typing another destination into the GPS. Destination in 5 miles. The GPS says after he pulls out onto the main road.
My head snaps to his, “Where are we going?” I ask him as he turns into the gas station to fill up the truck.
“We need sleep, Ivy. Plus, we aren’t scheduled to be there until morning.” He says opening his door. He jumps out and turns to me, “Megan rented us a room for the night at a Hilton down the road.” He closes his door and walks to the pump.
I slide back in my seat pulling my knees up to my chest.
I sure the hell hope she got two separate rooms or at least two beds.