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Well, here went nothing.
Chapter 12
HUNTER
Hunter scrubbed a towel through his damp hair as the microwave beeped. He tossed his towel on one of the chairs at his dining room table as he went to retrieve his food. A real dinner of champions. Microwaved beef lo mein. Oh yeah, he was living the life.
“Ow, shit.” He dropped the steaming hot tray to the counter, then shook out his stinging hand. He grabbed a kitchen towel and used that to hold it still while he peeled back the lid. More steam erupted and he grabbed a fork.
It was pretty tasteless shit but nobody bought Mr. Foo’s Instant Beef Lo Mein if they were looking for an amazing culinary experience. He stood at the counter and wolfed down the food as fast as he could without burning his mouth.
He was done with it all too fast. He looked at the clock. 9:00. He ran a hand through his damp hair and looked around his empty cabin.
Late evening was always the worst time of day.
He tossed his empty food container in the trash, grabbed a cold beer, then headed for the living room. Flipping through the channels was less than inspiring. Red-faced people bitching about politics. Stupid reality TV shit. Who’d be next to be voted off the yacht? Here’s an idea—anybody pretentious enough to be on a show called Hot for the Yacht.
Next. He finally came across a baseball game.
He settled in to watch. He’d already missed half of it and while usually a game was enough to distract him from shit well enough, today he couldn’t seem to get his mind off of a certain dark-haired beauty.
Isobel had given it her all today with the colicky horse. He could see how upset she’d been when they’d left without being able to give a positive prognosis. She might be a city girl but she did have a way with animals. He’d peeked in on her at the clinic a few times—just to make sure she wasn’t screwing up his practice. But she’d been doing great each time. Treating both the animals and their human owners with compassion, intelligence, and understanding.
He tipped his head back on the couch and took a long swallow of beer.
Truth was, what had seemed so simple—trying to alienate her so she’d leave quicker—was turning out to be much more difficult than he’d bargained for. Not to mention he hadn’t counted on feeling like such an asshole about the whole thing.
Which was bullshit. He was the one in the right.
She’d lied to him and then foisted herself on him as his intern when he clearly hadn’t wanted it.
But… he couldn’t say she hadn’t proven herself. Other than that hilarious misstep with not tying up the heifer while pulling the calf, her work had been impeccable. And it wasn’t like other interns committed anything more to him than a single summer.
So why was he holding her to some higher standard?
Because you slept with her.
He winced, then stood up and started pacing behind the couch, his hand going to the back of his neck.
Shit. Was he really that asshole?
Goddammit, he wished he had someone he could talk to about all this. He’d always been a fuck-up when it came to women. His phone was sitting on the she
lf beside the entryway and he stalked over to it. Then, before he could think better of it, he punched in the number he hadn’t dialed in months.
It rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Then a long beep sounded.
Hunter sank against the bookshelf, his eyes closing and his head tilting back.
“This is Janine. I’m not around right now. Leave a message and I’ll try to get back to you.” Slight pause. “I’m shit at checking my messages though, so if you don’t hear from me within a couple days, just call back again. Catch you on the flip side.”
Hunter pulled the phone away from his ear and hit end call.
