Chapter Twelve #2
Trev rubbed the back of his neck, shot a look at Jordan who was probably doing things wrong.
Trev was a much better mechanic, but he wasn’t going to be there to fix things for a while, so Jordan needed to come up to speed, even though Jordan assured him he’d learned a thing or two over the years away from the ranch.
“Ironically, we’re now overstaffed.”
“I understand.”
If anyone would, it was Dylan. The guy was about as laidback as someone could be without falling into a coma … unless crossed.
“Well, I’m driving through the area.”
“I’m heading back to the job in a couple days,” Trev said. “But you know you’re welcome whether I’m here or not.”
“I’m in Boze.”
“Keep driving then. You can have Hayes’s room. Stay a day or two.” Even though it meant sharing the bunkbeds again with Jordan in the room they’d shared as kids.
“You going to have me pulling calves for free?”
“It’s the polite thing to do.”
Dylan laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. I have a few things to wrap up here.”
“Dylan?” Jordan asked when Trev ended the call.
“Yeah. He’s driving down. We’ll have a full house tomorrow.”
“Cool. Now”—he held up a hammer and a hacksaw and jerked his head toward the engine—“which one of these thingies do I use?”
Forty minutes later, when they once again closed the shroud, Trev had to admit that Jordan’s claim that his mechanicking skills had improved was true, which meant that Trev could go back to Missoula without worrying about spending his free time traveling to the ranch to re-fix things.
No. He’d be driving to the area for other things … he hoped.
He was up against it, because had Mac drawn into herself after they’d made love. It didn’t help that she’d taken her first ever day off that morning, texting him that she would be gone for most of the day if he didn’t need her.
He had a feeling that she went to see Brooke. It was none of his business if she had a face-off with his ex—she deserved the opportunity—but logic did not always trump protective instinct, and he found himself hoping she didn’t.
“If Dylan’s coming to town, then I believe a night out is in order,” Jordan said.
“Probably.”
“Good.” Jordan wiped the grease off his hands, then raised his eyebrows innocently. “Wanna dance on a bar with me?”
*
Mac spent the remainder of her free day in Marietta, checking the bulletin boards at the feed store, Big Z’s hardware, and the grocery store on the off chance that a suitable job might be listed there.
She could buy an expensive roping horse, breed her mare to a top-notch stud, or buy a ridiculously priced doodle that was three times the size of Raisin. She could not find employment.
Her last stop was the library, where she checked the community bulletin board before logging onto a public computer and perusing the employment sites. She could do the same on her laptop at the foreman’s house, but she wasn’t yet ready to return home.
Home?
No. She wasn’t yet ready to return to her place of temporary employment.
Better.
She’d closed out of the last site and was gathering her jacket and purse when a text message came in from Brooke. Mac’s lip curled as she read it.
“Maybe it’s best if we just leave things as they are.”
She tapped out a short, sweet answer.
“No.”
“Mac, come on.”
“No.”
She was rewarded with radio silence. Fine. She tapped out one last message, since Brooke hadn’t given her a meet time as promised.
“I’ll be at Grey’s at 6:00 tomorrow. Make it work.”
The or else went unspoken. If Brooke wanted to change times, Mac was okay with that.
But they would meet and settled this matter once and for all.
Mac would get the answers she deserved and the assurance that Brooke would stay out of her lane.
If she didn’t, then she was going to have to explain a few things to her current fiancé.
Push me into a corner and see what happens.
Mac slung her jacket over her shoulder and tucked her phone in her back pocket. Brooke could still do her damage in their small world, but as Mac saw it, she could do the same and Brooke was finally waking up to that fact.
Maybe it’s best to leave things as they are.
Mac made a noise in her throat as she went down the few stairs to sidewalk level.
Fat chance.
As she approached the turnoff to the Tree Fork Ranch half an hour later, Mac realized that she felt just as nervous as the first time she’d made the turn onto the ranch road.
Only this time it wasn’t because she was worried about landing a temporary job.
This time it was about her feelings for the guy who’d hired her.
One of us will be gone soon.
She took little comfort in the thought. Was she going to continue through life hiding from strong feelings?
A flippant why not? shot through her head. She’d hidden from strong feelings for years, since losing her dad, really, but now it seemed that they’d caught up to her and she had no idea how to handle falling in love.
Run?
That was the go-to. She readjusted her grip on the wheel as she drove into the aspen grove, which had indeed lost its early leaves due to a cold snap a few days ago. They were starting over. And she was trying to.