Chapter 13 Colton
COLTON
Itake a long sip of my coffee, shaking my head at the vision in front of me. Lucy is sitting with Carla, the new calf we found earlier this week, practically in her lap, as Daryl and Denise scamper around the two of them in excitement over having a new friend.
After Lucy calmed down, we brought Carla down to the house where the vet from town came to check her over.
Thankfully, the calf seems healthy despite the fact that she’ll need to be bottle fed for the next couple of months.
Lucy made quick work of setting her up in a pen beside the piggies over the last few days, and Carla has taken an instant liking to Lucy, wanting to be as close to her as possible at all times.
“You know, once she gets a little bigger, that position could be dangerous,” I tease, looking at the way Carla has nestled as much of her body as she could, into Lucy’s lap.
Lucy shoots me an ugly look as she looks down at the calf in adoration. “He’s just a silly boy, Carla. Don’t listen to him, you can sit with me as long as you’d like.”
“We’ll see if you’re saying the same thing when she’s eight hundred pounds,” I remind her. Lucy ignores me, continuing to pet the calf at her feet.
Daryl and Denise run over to me, practically knocking me over with their excitement, so I make my way over to Lucy and sit on the porch beside her. Immediately, the pigs rush us, determined to have every bit of our attention as Carla closes her eyes and immediately falls asleep on Lucy’s legs.
“How in the world can she sleep through all this?” I ask, giving Daryl a run behind his ears. His tail wags in excitement before Denise runs and knocks him in the stomach, hard enough, he falls off the porch.
“Denise, you know you have to share the pets,” Lucy scolds them, shaking her head at the pigs.
On the ground, Daryl looks up at us before running off to grab a rubber ball in his mouth, bringing it back to me and dropping it expectantly at my feet.
“Is this pig asking me to play fucking fetch?” I ask, trying not to laugh.
“I had to find some way to burn off all his energy, didn’t I?” Lucy says defensively.
“He really thinks he’s a dog, doesn’t he?” I ask, just as Knox runs out of the door to the house and snatches the ball out from under my chair. He takes off across the porch, and Daryl follows him, letting out a little screech of annoyance.
“This place is fucking nuts,” I mumble, as Lucy just shrugs.
“I gave up on organization a long time ago with these three,” she says, gesturing to the dog and pigs in front of us. “And something tells me that once she’s stronger, Carla’s gonna give them all a run for their money, aren’t ya, girl?” she coos, petting the sleepy calf’s head.
As I watch the animals chase each other around the house, I take another sip of my coffee, trying not to think about how comfortable I feel in this moment.
I know I toed the line of friendship yesterday with Lucy, but I couldn’t resist the urge to take her into my arms as she cried.
The feeling of holding her was just like I remembered.
And while I hated seeing her so upset, knowing that she trusted me to comfort her was a feeling I know I could become obsessed with.
But I’ve got to remember that nothing can happen between us. Even if I hadn’t promised Hayes to look after his sister, I’ve got to remember that she’s almost ten years younger than me. There’s no way she’d be interested in me now that she knows I’m pushing forty.
“So, what’s on your list of plans for today?” Lucy asks, bringing me back to the present.
“Oh, uh, I need to go check on the cows at my house, and then I was going to start on the roof over there unless you need me here,” I tell her. As much as I’d love to spend the day with her, I’m smart enough to know that that’s probably more temptation than even I can stand.
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’m gonna go through the pumpkin patch one more time and make sure that all the leaves and weeds are cut down for Saturday.
But do you think you’d be up for trying your hand at some candle making tonight?
A boutique in Crestbrook Cove put in a huge order for a custom scent, and Mama’s still not well enough to help me on her crutches. ”
“Sure,” I agree. “I’ll be happy to. Around seven tonight work for you?”
“Yep, that’s good with me,” Lucy agrees.
“How’s your mama feeling? The last time or two she came over, I was back at my place,” I ask, setting my empty coffee cup down beside me and looking over at Lucy.
She’s just close enough I could reach down and play with her hair, and the thought of having her dark strands wrapped around my fingers again makes my dick harden in my pants.
Damn it, I am way too old for my dick to be getting hard at the thought of touching some chick’s hair.
I think before my subconscious reminds me, She’s not just any girl, you asshole.
“She’s fine. Just a few more weeks on the crutches, and then she should be good to go,” Lucy answers, and it takes me a moment to remember what we were talking about. Damn it, was I really arguing with myself? I’m officially losing it.
“Oh, that’s good,” I murmur, trying not to look too hard at the way the sun’s lighting is hitting her pretty face and making her plump pink lips shine.
“Yeah. Speaking of your house–I haven’t asked you lately, but how’s the house coming?” she asks, and I blink, determined to focus on the conversation we’re having.
“Damn, Andy still won’t call me back, so I’m still dealing with the squirrels,” I growl, annoyance creeping into my voice.
Lucy laughs quietly, still petting Carla’s head as she sleeps in her lap. “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. He really only works when he feels like it. Have you thought about setting a trap for them? Maybe something in a cage, and then you can let them free outside?”
I let out a humorless chuckle. “Stupid things are too fucking smart. First of all, that would involve me going back in there, which I’m not doing. But even then, I just know they’d find a way to end up with me in the cage. Damn crafty creatures.”
“Colton, they’re not exactly geniuses. I think you’re giving them too much credit. They can’t be that bad,” Lucy argues.
“It’s bad. They taunt me through the windows as I work outside. They try to crawl up my leg when I’m inside. They attacked me as I was trying to get in the fucking shower, remember? I was NAKED!”
Lucy’s shoulders shake with laughter as she tries to keep a serious face, but eventually she breaks into a full fit of giggles. Carla shifts in her lap and lets out a tiny moo at the disturbance before falling back asleep. “That’s right, I kinda forgot about that.”
“Well, I sure as fuck didn’t,” I mumble, causing her to laugh harder.
“All right, well, I’m sorry,” she apologizes, just as Daryl comes around the corner of the house and runs up on the porch, ball in his mouth.
As soon as he gets beside Lucy, he lies down, letting the ball roll away from him.
I watch as Knox’s eyes narrow in on the ball and he takes off, jumping over my legs in an effort to get to it first.
Denise follows suit, trying the same maneuver, before slamming into my left leg hard. “Holy shit, Denise,” I groan, grabbing my injured leg. “These damn pigs.”
“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Lucy asks, her eyes wide, but I don’t miss the smile that’s threatening to break through.
“Fine,” I mumble, rubbing my sore skin. “I just feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, it’s fine.”
“Denise, that wasn’t very nice,” Lucy chides, leaning over to pet her head. “You need to tell Colton you’re sorry. You didn’t mean it, did you, sweet girl?”
Denise rolls over, letting Lucy rub her tummy as the pig’s tail thwacks against the hardwood floor of the porch.
“Yeah, she looks really damn sorry, doesn’t she?” I mumble, before feeling my face break into a grin. “It’s a good thing you’re fucking cute, isn’t it?”
“Yep, and she knows it,” Lucy laughs.
“I can see that. Well, now that I’ve had my entertainment for the day, I’ll see you tonight,” I say, pushing up from my chair and grabbing my coffee cup.
“See you then,” she says, shooting me a smile before I head inside. Yeah, some distance will be great.
“Alrighty, they’re looking good,” Lucy says excitedly, looking down at the candles we’ve spent the last three hours working on. Like everything else on this farm, they ended up being way more work than I realized, and I’m once again impressed by Lucy’s determination to make this farm work.
“Yeah, and they smell incredible,” I add, leaning down to smell the beachy scent she’d created. “I was kind of worried it would smell like sunscreen, but it doesn’t.”
“I can’t believe you doubted me, Colton Harris,” she chastises, pouring the wax into the containers I prepared for her.
“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again,” I promise, shifting to let her lean across me and grab the last bowl of hot wax we’d prepared.
As she does, I catch the scent of her floral perfume and her peach shampoo and resist the urge to groan.
After using her shower for the last few weeks, I’d know the scent anywhere, but God, the combination is fucking incredible.
Damn, I’m really losing it, I think briefly before reminding myself that we’re just friends.
As much fun as tonight’s been, it’s also been torture.
Having her this close to me as we’ve chatted and worked together, without being able to pull her into my arms and kiss her, has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
But at the same time, other than our almost kiss a few weeks ago, she hasn’t shown any sign of wanting more since we decided to just be friends.
“Can you put those stickers on the lids so they’re ready to go when they finish setting?” she asks, bringing me back to the present.