I grab the jeans, pale blue top and cute silver sandals, alongside clean panties, and my wash bag, and traipse out of the barn to the main house. The air is fresh from the night, not yet warm like I know it gets in the afternoons. As usual, Sawyer is perched on the deck, and the smell of sweetened coffee pleases me. It’s a familiar aroma that will forever remind me of him.
“I need you to take the truck out for a spin. To see if she runs.” He catches my eye. “Drive to Wild Hearts Ranch and back. Then park her up in the main barn, so I can wash her.”
“Really, you’ll let me drive it?”
“I’ll let you test drive it.” Sawyer deadpans in his reply. “There and back.”
“Sure thing.” I‘ll have enough time to speed there and back and maybe, just maybe, catch a glimpse of Hayden. “I’ll soak in the tub first, then we’ll fire her up.” I giggle, loving how my words begin to mirror Sawyer’s southern twang. “Oh, and, Sawyer, I’ll be out for the rest of the day, so I can’t help you.”
He shrugs lightly. “I thought as much. A man doesn’t sniff around a pretty young thing without making a move. You gonna make a move?”
I bluster a little. “Well… I… I’m not forward in that way…” The words stumble out of my mouth.
“I mean, are you making a move out here, to Heartville?” He confirms.
“Oh!” He caught me off guard. “I have to go back home. My life is back there.” As I say my life, I wonder what exactly that is. My parents have their own lives. When I’m at home, I’m mostly on my own. I don’t have a job. I don’t have a boyfriend. There’s Ellie, my beautiful best friend. I guess she’s the reason I’ll be jetting home.
“The keys are on the hook. Enjoy your afternoon. You’re a grown ass woman who needs to stand on her own two feet and make her own life choices.”
His words resonate with me. They whirl through my mind when I sink into the deep bath, dance in my thoughts as I dried myself off, and then replay again when I slather on a delicately scented moisturizer that cost me over one hundred dollars.
When the old engine rattles and splutters, and the truck judders to life, Sawyer punches the air, grinning like a fool. He does a little side shuffle because he’s happy. I mean, unusually happy and believe it or not, so am I.
“We did it!” I squeal, pushing the accelerator slowly.
“Take her nice and slow. See you back here in half an hour.” Sawyer calls in through the hole where a window should be.
We’d spent the last few evenings together tweaking and replacing, cleaning and patching up, and now it’s rolling away from the scrap metal graveyard with me behind the wheel.
I lift my face into the draft, inhaling the country air kissed with warm sunshine. Gentle gusts play with my hair, and freshen up the musty interior. I bounce on worn springs held in place by polished leather and peer over the top of a big steering wheel. I’m used to my father’s flashy new cars straight from the showroom. His last one smelled new and expensive. Whereas this clapped out truck feels better, it’s like freedom.
Wild Hearts Ranch comes into view with its sprawling fields and scattered barns. I know Hayden is working, but I’m excited to show him what I’ve accomplished with a lot of elbow grease. There’s a warmth of familiarity about this place. I know it’s creeping into my soul, luring me to find happiness here.
Stomping my foot on the break, the old thing creaks to a halt. Hayden doesn’t appear on the porch, nor Star, so I know they aren’t in.
“Hayden?” I call across the yard to the horse barn.
A strong smell of smoke mingles with the balmy wind, and I pick up my pace, following a dark haze. I imagine Hayden sparking up a huge BBQ. I can see him being all domestic and hunky, flipping steaks with his bare chest puffed out like a real man.
The closer I get, the more I realize it's not a grill manned by a hot rancher - it’s an uncontrolled barn fire in the next field. Thick black smoke is billowing high into the sky and an orange glow burns from inside the structure.
Panic grips me. Hayden. What if he’s in there? What if he’s been knocked out by falling timber? What if he needs my help?
My legs move without my brain giving the order. “HAYDEN!” I yell. The heat feels intense the closer I get, blistering painted steel beams stab the choking air with long fiery fingers. It hasn’t reached the front of the barn yet, but I still can’t see inside. “Hay-den,” I cough his name. The smoke carries to right over the top of the house, and specs of gray ash twirl to the earth like snowflakes.
I repeatedly chant his name, but accelerated flames attack the structure with deafening roars. The air thickens. I stagger closer, not quite inside, but still swathed in a blanket of sooty smog.
Raging flames lick around the entrance, enticing me inside with devilish thoughts of Hayden trapped and unconscious. My eyes sting. My lungs gasp, and I drop to the hot dirt, crawling low to scan the barn floor.
The ground vibrates. Hands tug at my legs. I’m dragged backwards and flipped over. Hayden arches over, sunlight surrounding his bare torso and a look of thunder on his dashing face.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he yells at me. A loud crash sends a flurry of sparks and ash over us. In a heartbeat he scoops me up from under him, setting me to my feet. I cough and wheeze, wiping my face with blackened fingers. “Come on, Summer. Move!” he shouts as an almighty scream of molten steels giving way breaks through the devastation. He doesn’t wait for me to run, instead he flips my legs up and gathers me in his strong arms. Hayden runs far from the burning barn and finally releases me. Star darts to his side and scrapes at my jeans. “Wait here. I need to help the guys.”
Out of nowhere, Hank appears with a crew of men. Trucks park, hoses unravel, and rowdy deep voices scare Star to a quaking mess in my arms. I snuggle my nose into the soft fur behind her ear, watching the helpers fight unruly orange flames tipped with an evil red.
Water jets penetrate the blaze, controlling it from the base. Hayden marches toward me like he himself is made of scorching hot lava ready to incinerate anyone who gets in his way.
The quick smile I flash his way fails to get the desired response. His lips just twitch and those large palms of his retract and fist in tandem.
