14
Camila
I shouldn’t be able to feel her gaze. But I do.
Oh, I sure do. Even with my back turned, my hands covered in grease, stripped wires between my fingers, and my head buried in a thousand calculations.
Darana Calloway is standing right there, staring straight at the back of my neck.
I feel her presence like a static current—the kind that makes your hair stand on end and sends your heart racing before the spark even flies.
“Camila, can you pass me the electrical tape?” Ethan asks. The guy handles wires better than anyone, but with the suffocating heat after the storm, he’s a little slower than usual.
“It’s in the red box, to your right,” I reply without taking my eyes off the panel. When I see him turning around like Vincent Vega, I snap, “That’s your left, you klutz!”
“Ah, okay, okay! Don’t stress me out—in this sweltering heat, I can’t tell what I’m doing,” he protests, wiping his forehead with his arm.
Kira, perched on the truck’s platform, bursts out laughing as she adjusts the main connections on the makeshift generator.
I’m down below, splicing cables as if my life depended on it.
If we can get this thing running, the ranch will have power restored to the barns and the water-pumping system before the animals start suffering from the heat.
“If this fails…” Ethan mutters, tightening a circuit breaker, “I don’t even want to imagine the look on Calloway’s face.”
“If this fails,” I reply, giving the pliers a sharp tug, “her cowboy pride will be the least of our worries. So tighten that properly.”
Cut. Strip the copper. Connect. My hands move on their own, with the dexterity that comes from years of tinkering with weather stations in the middle of nowhere.
“Done,” I announce. “Kira, flip the switch. And let’s cross our fingers.”
Kira flips the switch. There’s a second of tense silence. Two. And suddenly… BZZZZZ! A steady, clean, glorious hum resonates all around us. The lights flicker and come on in a blinding white glow. In the distance, the motor of the water pump begins to roar.
Ethan lets out a victory cry and jumps for joy.
“Wow! It works! We’re damn geniuses!”
I wipe my hands on a filthy rag, letting out the breath I’d been holding in my lungs.
“Of course it works. Did anyone ever doubt it?” I say with a smug grin.
Then I hear some slow, lazy applause, and when I turn around, I see Darana, her hat tilted to one side, her arms crossed over her chest, and one eyebrow raised. There’s no contempt in her eyes, just immense surprise that she’s desperately trying to hide.
I hold her gaze without flinching, flashing my best smile.
“You’re welcome, Calloway,” I say, reveling in my small triumph. “The next time you call my equipment ‘city junk,’ remember who brought the lights back on for your precious thoroughbreds.”
Darana blinks, thrown off by my audacity. But she regains her composure in a flash, clenching that perfect jaw of hers.
“Don’t get carried away, Bennet,” she snaps, her voice deep and cutting. “You just fixed what your damn storm helped break. I’m not going to give you a medal for doing your job.”
There she is, the indomitable Calloway. What an insufferable woman—and damn, that work uniform suits her so well.
“Sure, sure,” I reply, turning my back on her to gather my tools with the utmost composure. “I know you’re thanking me in your head. Don’t force yourself to say it out loud—you might faint from being so polite.”
I can clearly hear her breath catch at the jab.
“Don’t get used to it, smart-ass,” she declares, turning around with a sharp twist of her hips. “This doesn’t change a single thing about what happened. Nothing.”
And she storms off, stomping through the mud.
“Oh my God…” Kira whistles from the truck. “That was the closest thing to a declaration of love you’re ever going to get from that she-wolf. She almost even thanked you.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” I tell her, mimicking Darana’s authoritative tone. “You heard the boss: nothing changes.”
Ethan bursts out laughing as he tosses the tools into the toolbox.
“Well, I think you’ve thrown her off balance, Camila. That woman looks at everyone else like they’re scorched earth, but she devours you with her eyes.”
I don’t answer. I don’t want to admit—not to them or to myself—that my heart just skipped a beat.
“Camila? Can you give me a hand in here?” Joanie calls out to me from the stable aisle.
“I’m coming!”
I’m grateful for the interruption because I need to think about something other than my ex-sister-in-law’s honey-colored eyes. As I enter the stables, the heat is suffocating, but the artificial light is already calming the animals.
“This thoroughbred is in bad shape,” Joanie says, pointing to a chestnut horse that won’t stop pacing in its stall and feinting kicks. “Help me hold him by the halter while I clean this cut on his leg.”
I approach the horse with slow, deliberate movements, speaking to him in that low, firm tone I learned to use when I lived here.
“Take it easy, little one…” I whisper, letting him sniff my hand. “The worst is over. Stay still, come on—Joanie’s going to have you looking brand-new.”
I grip the halter firmly. The animal tenses up and snorts hard, flooding me with his warm breath, but decides to trust me.
“That’s it, good boy…” I murmur, patting his neck rhythmically. “Very good.”
Joanie crouches down and cleans the wound. As she applies the antiseptic, she shoots me a sidelong glance.
“Well, you haven’t forgotten your touch,” she remarks with a wry smile. “For someone who’s been away for ten years chasing satellites, you’ve still got a way with horses.”
“Some things just stay with you,” I reply with a touch of nostalgia. “No matter how hard you try to bury the past, this place is etched into my skin.”
She nods as she applies the bandage.
“I’m glad you’re here. I really am.”
We continue working in sync through the next stalls, treating and checking the horses.
But the peace is short-lived. I feel a draft and know, before I even look, that Darana has come back in.
She moves with a catlike stride, pretending to inspect the door latches, but her eyes drift toward us.
Our gazes lock in a silent duel, an electric tension that defies the rules and makes the air in the stable feel as heavy as a ton.
Joanie looks from one of us to the other with a most impertinent little smile, but she stays quiet.
Thank goodness.
“Everything okay around here?” Darana asks.
“Almost done,” the vet replies. “Camila is saving my life—she’s got the horses hypnotized. Did you need something?”
Darana steps forward, fixing her gaze on my hands, which are still stroking the chestnut’s back.
“I just wanted to make sure no wires were shorting out,” she lies brazenly. “I don’t want any more accidents in my stables.”
“The system is perfect, Calloway,” I assure her, standing my ground. “You can touch the stall if you want; you won’t get zapped. Well, at least not by electricity.”
Darana presses her lips together, catching the hint immediately.
“I didn’t think you’d remember how to handle a thoroughbred,” she says quietly, with a flash of resentment she can’t hide. “I thought you were all about clouds and computers. That you’d erased this place from your map.”
“Some memories don’t fade, even if you sign divorce papers, Darana,” I snap at her. “You should know that.”
The horse moves, breaking the spell, and Darana takes a step back.
“Be sure to lock up when you leave,” she replies, turning around and disappearing down the hallway.
Joanie lets out a hearty laugh as she puts the supplies away.
“My goodness, you two are such daredevils. Thanks for the help, Camila. Go on, get some rest. I think some of the guys were heading to El Colibrí. You should take the opportunity.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll do that.”
As I head out, I join the others.
“Should we take a break?” Ethan asks, appearing from behind with a box of wrenches.
“Yeah. I’m going to grab Viento’s keys.”
Luckily for me, they found my little gem stuck in the mud in the southern sector, next to the dry creek.
The change of pace when we arrive at El Colibrí is a godsend.
The café has the air-conditioning cranked up, relaxing background music playing, and it smells absolutely heavenly: toasted butter, freshly ground coffee, and powdered sugar.
At the table in the back, we spot Kira sitting next to Lily and Christian.
“The savior of our power supply has finally arrived!” Lily exclaims, standing up to squeeze me in one of her signature hugs. “You look like a mess, girl, but I’m so glad to see you.”
“I’m glad to see you too, Lily,” I say, laughing as I eagerly take a seat.
“Camila, seriously. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you’re doing,” Christian adds.
“Why?” I ask, grabbing a giant croissant.
“For getting your hands dirty,” Christian says seriously. “You could’ve just waited for the city electricians to show up tomorrow, but you didn’t. That shows you still care about this place.”
I take a bite of the croissant and almost cry with joy. It’s spectacular.
“Thanks, Christian… Though I doubt everyone feels the same way. People around here still look at me like I’m a fugitive from justice because of my divorce from Elijah.”
There’s a second of silence at the table.
“Screw the gossips,” Lily says bluntly, taking a sip of her coffee. “What happened was between the two of you. May Elijah rest in peace. You needed a new life, period. What matters is that you saved us today, and no one can deny that.”
“Exactly,” Christian adds. “You’ve proven your worth. Let them say whatever they want.”
Kira nods with her mouth full of pastry.
“Amen. This woman is a top-notch boss.”
Ethan raises a finger smeared with jam and nods vigorously, unable to speak because of the piece of pastry wedged in his cheeks, which makes us all burst out laughing.
For the first time all day, the tension of having Darana Calloway breathing down my neck disappears.
Here, surrounded by coffee, pastries, and friendly faces, the Outback feels a little like home again.
A home I left ten years ago in search of my own path, but one that seems determined to keep me here.
As we leave the café, the sun is already sinking toward the horizon, painting the Australian sky in spectacular shades of violet and red. The air is still heavy, but it’s easier to breathe.
“Want to take the SUV for a spin to stretch our legs before heading back to camp?” Ethan suggests.
“Sure, let’s do it,” Kira agrees. “If I lie down now, I’ll be stiff as a board until tomorrow.”
I glance sideways at the road leading back to the cabins. I think about the way Darana looked at me in the stable, the reproach in her words, and the absurd tension between us every time we get within a few feet of each other.
“Sure,” I say, climbing into the passenger seat. “Let’s go for a drive.”
The engine roars, and we drive away from El Colibrí. I try to focus on the scenery, but I know it’s useless. Darana’s gaze is seared into my mind, and I have the crystal-clear, unsettling certainty that the next few days are going to be anything but peaceful.