I didn’t quit.
Was I helpful? Probably not.
But I didn’t quit, and that’s something I’m really happy with myself for because my body hurts. I hurt so badly that I would like to just lie down on this gravel driveway and die.
But I’m not going to get to do that because Max and Nash are coming from the barn. I told them I was going to head up to the house and start cooking dinner, but I haven’t been able to walk up the slight incline toward the lodge. I hear their voices behind me and turn to look, embarrassed that they’ve caught me still standing here.
“I thought you were going up to the house?” Max asks.
“I was just admiring the view,” I manage to spit out.
Nash gives me a knowing smile, and he walks over to stand in front of me.
“Are you a little sore from that horse ride?” he asks with a cheeky grin. His arm brushes against mine and even in my exhausted state I’m very aware of him.
He still smells good even after a day of working. Modern-day deodorant deserves a Nobel Prize.
I scrunch up my nose and look up at him. “Not really.”
His grin widens. “All right. I’ll race you up the hill.”
I glower at him. “Fine. I might be a very teeny, itsy-bitsy sore.”
“See? That wasn’t so hard to say,” he says with a chuckle.
“Actually, it was pretty difficult,” I snap.
“It’s a good thing you waited for us to come out then,” he says with a grin, and then he bends down and lifts me into his arms and starts walking toward the house.
“Nash, put me down.” I attempt to wiggle out of his hold, but I’m too tired to put up much of a fight.
Nash ignores me and keeps walking.
“It was going to take you another year to get up to the house. I figured I might as well carry you.”
“I am not light. Put me down. You’re gonna strain something.”
Nash pretends to drop me, then catches me when I shrink back, pulling me up even higher and closer to his chest. “I promise I will not drop you.”
“Maybe she just wants someone bigger and stronger to carry her,” Max butts in.
Nash gives him a flat look. “Let me know when you find someone.”
Max throws back his head and laughs, taking off his cowboy hat and tapping it against his leg. “You two are too funny. I’m glad you found such a great fake fiancée, Nash. Why don’t you just keep her? I didn’t hear a single word of complaint from her today.”
“Magnolia is good people. Weshouldsee what we can do about keeping her,” Nash agrees.
Something jumps in my chest at his words. I know he’s just teasing, trying to make me feel at ease and not embarrassed about the fact that I’m sore after a day of physical labor. But hearing him say he wants to keep me in some way gives me an odd case of butterflies in my stomach.
“I am so embarrassed that I can’t even walk.”
“Don’t be,” Nash says. “You spent a long timeriding horses this morning and the rest of the day working hard. It’s a big switch from an office job, and you jumped right in and worked alongside us. You’re better than most people we can hire.”
I know he doesn’t meanallpeople because that would be a blatant lie, but he is sweet to tell me that I was helpful. Maybe after today, I can add “calf ear piercer” to my resume.
“I was going to go to the house and make some dinner, but then I was having trouble walking up the driveway,” I admit.
Nash says, “I don’t think we have any food in the house anyway. We’re gonna have to go into town and get something to eat.”
