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He barked out a laugh. “You gonna rip us off?”
I was glad it was dark because I could feel my face warm up and knew I was probably blushing. “I don’t know. It’s just where I come from people lock their doors and don’t just let anyone inside.”
But Reece just waved a hand. “It’s the good part about living in the country. We aren’t as paranoid. Also,” he grinned, “It’s not my house. That’s Ruth’s shi— I mean stuff, in there. So it’ll be her you’re robbing blind if you’re of a mind to.”
“Ha!” I said. “I’ll have to tell this Ruth when I meet her you were so free with her belongings.”
He rolled his eyes. “Serves her right. She sold this ranch to my boss but had her lawyers write in some crazy loopholes his lawyers didn’t catch so instead of selling all the land, he only gets to lease the land with all the buildings on it from her. And she gets to keep this tiny plot with the house. Don’t know why anyone would want to stay and be a landlady when they don’t even own the land around them anymore, but that’s Ruth for ya.”
I felt my eyebrows lift. “Really? Well, was the land in her family for a long time or something?”
“Apparently so. Four generations. Seems stubborn to hang on by a thread when you’ve sold off everything else, but what do I know? My mama wasn’t exactly big on passing down…” he paused, then shrugged, “well, anything, come to think of it.”
That perked my interest. I probably had an unhealthy fascination with people’s screwed up family dynamics. But getting into it in the middle of the night with a complete stranger was probably far too random, even for this new body-snatched version of myself.
So I punched a thumb over my shoulder. “Well, I better get to the food and coffee.”
Reece smirked. “And all that ransacking.”
I let out a surprised laugh. “Can’t forget the ransacking.”
I hurried up the stairs into the house, and so bad wanted to take one last look over my shoulder to see if he was watching me go. I stopped myself at the last second, because, dear God, what would I do if he was? And I didn’t want to be disappointed if he wasn’t.
Then I shook my head at myself for being ridiculous and went inside to make some damn sandwiches and brew some damn coffee.
By the time I got back outside, it was midnight. I was exhausted, but it wasn’t like I’d exactly figured out my sleeping arrangements. Plus, I was starving, and the simple ham sandwiches I’d made had my mouth watering.
I brought out two plates stacked with four sandwiches and another little tray I’d found in the kitchen in my other hand holding two steaming cups of coffee.
Reece met me at the door and took the tray from me.
“Any change with mom and baby?” I asked as he set the tray down on a little outdoor table set up on the porch. He’d switched the flashlight to its lamp setting and put it down in the center of the table. I put the sandwiches down and pulled out the second plate from underneath the first, then portioned out the sandwiches.
Reece had indeed cleaned up, with water and soap from the barn or somewhere else, because while his clothes were still filthy, his hands were clean.
He didn’t waste any time biting into the sandwich, shoving almost half of it into his mouth at once.
“No change,” he said. At least that’s what I think he said. His mouth was so full of sandwich, I could only guess. But when I looked out at the pasture beside the barn, I could see the heifer was still at a distance from where we’d left the calf. She was near the gate, like all she could think about was getting back to the wide open field.
“What’s wrong with her? Why won’t she go to her baby?” I asked before taking a bite of my own sandwich. I closed my eyes with the bite. They’d had lettuce and tomatoes, and the fresh ingredients tasted like absolute heaven after so many days of road junk food and then today of absolutely nothing. I wanted to do exactly what Reece had and shove the whole damn thing in my mouth. Instead I just chewed quickly so I could get to the next bite, and the next.
I didn’t notice Reece was watching me until I realized there’d been silence and he was taking his time answering my question.
When I finally looked up at him, again feeling my cheeks heat, and our eyes met, he looked away and answered.
“She’s a first-time mom. That’s what makes a heifer different from a cow. Since she’s never done it before, it’s easier to get confused. Then with the difficult birth… I dunno, I guess she’s agitated.”
I nodded, trying to eat more slowly…but who was I kidding. I shoved the last few bites of food into my mouth and then started on the next sandwich, occasionally drinking some coffee and then eating more.
I swore a meal had never tasted better in my entire life. Not even those stupid high-dollar meals at the restaurants in San Francisco where Jeff liked to parade me around. I could never enjoy those dinners anyway. I was too busy being nervous about how Jeff would critique me later. Did I greet his friends the right way? Was I overly friendly with any of his friends? Was I not interested enough? Not that it mattered. No matter what I did, I inevitably did something that invited his wrath when we got home.
Sometimes he didn’t even wait until we got home. Jeff was more than happy to hit me while we were driving home if he was good and riled.
“Sorry, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“What?” I looked up at Reece. He was looking at me, and I realized he’d asked a question I hadn’t even heard.
“I didn’t mean to pry.”
