Page 6 of This Time Around
Three
Rebecca
Cooper looked ridiculous with four suitcases, two of them flung over his shoulders and two in his hands trailing behind him on wheels.
For a moment, I was impressed.This was a man, from what I’d recently read, who had personal assistants and housekeepers.He had an agent and a public relations team as well as a personal shopper on-call for all manner of clothing needs.
I expected him to get out of his car, sneer at the modest home and wrinkle his nose at the scent of ranch life lingering in the air.
I was expecting a diva.
Assuming he wasn’t because he carried his own luggage was stupid.I’d see if he was a diva when I had him muck out the horse stalls.Or gather the eggs from the chicken coop.Or help a struggling heifer birth her first calf.
Suddenly, all the tasks I had to do, all the upcoming, unending work, grew slightly less daunting with this man walking in front of me.
Which meant I had to hurry to get around him to unlock the door.
My boots clip-clopped on the rock path, something Joseph built the summer before he died, and I brushed away the grief that hit whenever I saw something he made.
I moved quickly, my long legs having to hustle double-time to reach the door before Cooper, and I pulled out a key from my back pocket right as we reached the door at the same time.
I unlocked the door, pushed it open and before either of us entered, handed him the key.“This is yours.In all honesty, we rarely lock our doors around here, but I thought you’d like the privacy.”
His light green eyes hit mine as he slid the key out of my grasp.“Thank you.Did Max tell you much about why I’m here?”
He hitched his shoulder, readjusting one of his duffel bags.His eyes seemed to be inspecting mine.
There was no point in lying.I’d already done it once and I hated lying.I also wasn’t very good at it.“He told me you’re going through a divorce, it’s getting ugly, and you needed time to hide out.”
“That it?”His head tilted to the side.
The way he captured my gaze was unnerving and I blinked.I looked over his shoulder.“I don’t really know what Max told you about me,” I said.“But I can tell you that I don’t watch much television, and I have even less time for movies.I know who you are because my uncle told me, but I’ve never seen your movies.Ranch work is hard work and that’s all I care about.”
His eyes moved from mine,finally,and I took the moment of silence to slide past him and into the guesthouse, explaining while I moved.“This isn’t much, but there are two bedrooms.Only one bath.The kitchen area is small, but it should have everything you need.”
His suitcases clattered inside and the wheels moved along the wood floors before the duffel bags dropped to the floor.
I headed in the direction of the kitchen, a small L-shape, with a mahogany dinner table for four to separate the kitchen space from the living space.The entire guesthouse was less than a thousand square feet, and most likely smaller than anything this man had ever spent the night in.
I’d always loved this house.My grandpa and dad built it when I was barely old enough to hold a hammer.That still didn’t stop my dad from handing me the tool and teaching me how to use it.
I opened the fridge and gestured to the food I’d stocked for him.“I didn’t know how you’d feel about going into town while you’re here, or what your plans were, so I stocked your cupboards with snacks and the fridge with some basics.If there’s something you need, you can let me know and I’ll get it when I go back into town next week.”
Town was only ten minutes away, but I limited my trips.Joseph and I used to go all the time, especially on weekends, to the bar or out to eat, but Carlton was small, even if it’d grown in the last decade.People knew me, and the looks they gave me were unsettling.
Brooke, one of my closest friends since high school, kept telling me it was because I’d become a stubborn recluse and if I came out more, people would stop looking at me like I needed a hug all the darn time.
I didn’t believe her.She didn’t know everything and I was intent on keeping it that way.One run-in with the wrong person and all my hidden shame would come to light.
“Is there something you need?”I asked.He hadn’t moved from just inside the front door and his focus on me was unnerving.
“No, but thank you.And since Max tells me I’m supposed to help you while I’m here, perhaps I should be asking you that.”
I hadn’t expected him to want to dive right into work.“I thought you’d want to take the day to relax.”
“I don’t do well with relaxing these days.To be honest with you, being left alone with my thoughts isn’t the best for me.”
He should have stayed in the city then.The quiet nights on the ranch were the worst.There was nothing around except stillness and the music of cows and crickets.I didn’t bother bursting his bubble.
