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Especially since things between me and Reece were… well, awkward was putting it generously.
Reece wasn’t anywhere to be seen when I’d come downstairs that morning after everything happened.
Jeremiah was there instead, and from his tone when he spoke to me, I took it that he’d talked his brother into leaving to do chores.
“I hope you’ll stay. You’re a good worker. But I don’t want to in any way pressure you. If you want to go, I’m happy to give you your pay to date. Again, I apologize for my brother’s reckless actions. He’ll stay away from you if you decide to stay.”
I frowned, wanting to defend Reece. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d been kind and restrained the night before and I didn’t like the way Jeremiah saw his brother, as some kind of screw up. From the way Reece thought about himself, it seemed like it was this very sort of talk from his own brother that had dug deep and made him see himself as lesser or bad in some way. It was wrong. But I didn’t think Jeremiah could hear that in this moment. And certainly not from me.
Besides, did I really know either of them? No, no, I didn’t. And my track record with men hadn’t exactly been stellar. So maybe I was seeing things wrong.
Either way, staying away from Reece seemed like the best idea for everybody involved. I hated to cause strife between him and his brother. That was the last thing I wanted.
I said as much to Jeremiah that morning. “I’d like to stay. But I don’t mean to cause any problems.”
He waved a hand. “No, it’s not you. I’m sorry you got dragged into it. From here on out, things will be strictly professional. I’ll see to it.”
I frowned a little at that, not sure what he meant, but I was glad for the conflict of the moment to have been smoothed over.
And so life went on. I’d finally got my first paycheck since I’d been here a month, and as I thought, Jeremiah didn’t ask questions when I said I needed it in cash, beyond a lingering look. I’d gone with Ruth to a Walmart several towns over and bought some clothes, including new jeans all my own. And I was probably one of the few women who was delighted to find I was two full sizes larger than I used to be back when I lived with Jeff. That was what happened when you were no longer living on a starvation diet. I loved my new body. I loved every bit of transformation I could get that took away reminders of her.
So things were going well, except that whatever his brother had said to Reece definitely did something. He didn’t seek me out or even talk to me anymore. Which was awkward to say the least, since we all still ate meals together. Things were tense for a few days, the conversation across the dinner table a little stilted with Ruth doing most of the heavy lifting, but eventually it smoothed out to being back to normal. Well, normalish.
I felt a bright warmth in my chest the first time Reece made a joke that including me at dinner the other night—it was the first time he’d addressed me directly since I’d been so warm in his arms that night. Our eyes had caught and I lit up like a damn fire had flamed to life in my chest.
A week later and it was raining, dark clouds overhead bringing on a premature twilight, but I could still remember the warmth in my chest from how it had felt in that moment. Even though he’d been successfully avoiding me since.
I sighed, looking down at Nine and trying to get the bottle back in his mouth. I’d managed to lure him up to the steps of the porch where the roof covered me from the rain for his and Bessie’s dinner bottles. She’d finished hers but Nine was being finicky with his.
Ruth was lounging on a rocking chair by the kitchen door, watching me feed and chatting at me about local town gossip. “So then Gracie told me that Mariah, you remember Mariah, the one who was in the garage that day when Trent was being a dick?”
I nodded distractedly. Nine kept turning his head sideways and losing the plot, yanking away from the nipple and staring up at the ceiling where the rain sounded like a barrage of marbles on the tin roof.
“So Missy is telling anyone who will listen that Janice’s husband is cheating on her with Brenna. She’s a local high school teacher.”
Nine pulled away from the nipple again.
“Come on, man,” I said to the ornery calf. “I know it’s loud, but if you don’t finish this bottle soon, my arm is going to fall off. See how good Bessie was?” I gestured with my head to where Bess had already raced off through the rain back to the shelter of the stable.
I shoved the nipple towards his mouth again. “Don’t you want to go join your buddy?”
He gave a few sucks again at the nipple but then thunder boomed overhead and he danced backwards, all the way down back into the yard.
Behind me, Ruth busted out laughing.
I turned to look over my shoulder, glared at her and stuck out my tongue.
She held up her hands. “No, no, you’re doing an excellent job. Please continue. I haven’t been this entertained in days.”
“Don’t you have something to do? Like look for a job?”
It was her turn to make a face at me. “I’m living rent free essentially, since I own the place and food’s cheap. I’m having a quarter-life crisis and taking a break from being a grown up, okay? So leave me be, woman.”
A flash lit up the sky and then thunder rumbled, only a few moments behind. That was apparently it for Nine, because he bolted for the stable.
Well, he’d drunk two-thirds of the bottle. Good enough for now since he’d eaten well all day. I wasn’t about to go chasing him down anyway.
The door behind us opened and I spun around right in time to come face to face with Reece.
