Backroads Read online

  “She would love this place, Linda, and you know she’ll have to slow down at some point. Or at least she could vacation here with you.” I smile as I tried to reassure my aunt her daughter wanted to be with her. At least Alexis’s mother wanted her to come home. Wanted her to visit her. Wanted her in her life.

  I get lost in my thoughts while Linda keeps talking, but I’m brought back when I hear her say Chase’s name.

  “What was that about Chase?” I ask, trying not to seem interested. I’m not.

  But that doesn’t explain the goose bumps I get when I think of how it felt when he picked me up.

  “That man has been a godsend. He can do anything. He tends to the animals, helps in the fields, fixes anything that breaks. And when I need him to, he helps manage the guests. Though that is his least favorite thing to do.” She seems practically breathless while she rattles off his qualities. “If I were twenty years younger, I think I would try to climb that man like a tree.” She winks.

  “Oh my god, Linda!” I laugh. She always had us laughing when we talked about men, growing up. She’s been single since forever but never let Alexis and me miss a man with a great ass who walked by. Maybe that’s why my eyes always travel to a man’s ass...

  “Well, I’m sure guests enjoy his ‘helping out’ around here just as much as you do,” I say, using my index and middle fingers to air quote.

  Now Linda is the one laughing. “I don’t think there’s been a woman who’s come through here who hasn’t tried to get under him. Married or not.” Closing her eyes and shaking her head, she continues. “Though he’s never taken one of them up on any of their ridiculous offers. He’s good-looking, but I’m pretty sure he’s gay.”

  “What! Gay?” He couldn’t be, could he?

  “Yep. That or he likes to be celibate.” She shrugs.

  A flash of his smirk hidden under his beard runs through my mind. “He cannot be gay.”

  She rolls her eyes at me. “All I know is he hasn’t tried any of the easy women who’ve thrown themselves at him. I’ve also never seen anyone at his place.”

  “You keep an eye on his place?”

  “Well, it’s kind of hard not to when it’s just outside the front window,” she says, pointing out the window behind me before opening a few cupboards to gather food to prepare. I imagine her with binoculars peeking out the window like an old-lady creeper.

  I turn and see a small log cabin with a rock foundation about hundred feet away. “He lives right there?” I don’t know why the thought of him being so close makes my heart accelerate.

  She shrugs. “I give him free room and board. I built the smaller cabin first to live in while they built this one. I thought I would stay in it afterward, but it just works out for me to live in the main house so I’m available if a guest needs me. Beth doesn’t live here yet. Though I think I have her talked into it. This place is kind of a bitch to keep in order by yourself. That’s my fault though. I wanted it bigger every time I met with the architect. The end results are this monstrosity.”

  I turn and look at his cabin again. He’s going to be a distraction to look at, but if he really is gay, at least I’ll keep my pants on. I’m here to start over. To get my shit together. The last man in my life majorly messed up everything I had planned out. I don’t need another to do the same.

  But wait— “Who’s Beth?

  “Beth Casting. She helps me catch up on the bedding and cleaning. Right now she’s finishing up school but should be here daily next week or the one after. I want her to come help me run this place once school is over for her. It gets overwhelming some weeks when it’s a full house.” She waves her hands, indicating the room. “She also helped decorate the rooms. Apparently my idea of having color-themed rooms wasn’t very pleasing to the eye.”

  She scowls, I think at herself. “Which brings me to some of the first things I’ll have you helping out with. I have four rooms needing to be repainted and new furnishings brought in. I’ve been putting it off, but after one of the guests asked to be moved to a different room, as they thought the color was making them slightly sick, I had to finally agree the colors I picked aren’t very welcoming.”

  I know which room she’s talking about. Sadly it’s the room I’m going to be staying in. She calls it the Pink Room, because everything in the room is—you guessed it—pink. Everything. I could see how someone could get sick off a color after a time.

  “Well, I can’t wait to meet her. Anyone else a regular around here?” I ask so I can start to commit their names to memory.

  She looks thoughtful for a moment. “Well, there’s Lee and Charlie who help Chase out. They do more of the farming. Between you and me... I don’t have a clue about farming. I let those boys do whatever they want, and so far, so good. They’re irreplaceable. Skirt chasers, but good at their jobs. They bring in part-time help when we plant and harvest.”

  As she talks, she moves about the kitchen. “Chase just asked if he could offer a job to a guy he met in town the other day. I think his name is Joe. I’m supposed to meet him one of these days. Says he’s good with horses. I’m trying to get a few trails cut here for riders. It’s so pretty along the river.” I look out the window at the picturesque scene. “It’s why I chose this spot. Do you ride?”

  “Horses? No, I’ve never ridden. I think they’re pretty though, and I’ve always wanted to learn.” My childhood dream of becoming a rodeo barrel racer is still hidden in a closet in my mind. Plus, I think I would look good in boots and a cowboy hat. Coming here sounds better and better as she continues explaining everything she has going on.

  “Chase and the boys also take guests on short excursions. Fishing, hunting, and soon more trail riding. The guests who’ve come here for riding I’ve just let loose on the property. They come back in and give me some good tips on making this a great place for more riders to come.”

  She called it a ranch with a side of bed-and-breakfast. I think she liked the idea of meeting people from all over. Alexis told me once a while back that Linda loved to travel with her and the band but didn’t like being around the big crowds all the time. With the B&B, she still gets to meet new people, but not a hoard of them.

  That’s why Linda had named her ranch the Brickett Ranch—her maiden name—and not Hale.

  “I think tomorrow I’ll show you the rest of the ranch after I have you help me with the guests in the morning. I’ll also have you come into town with me so people can put a face to your name. I’ve told a few of the store owners my niece might be showing up to pick things up for me. I want you to feel like this is your home while you’re here.” She opens her arms and circles in place.

  “Do you plan on me cooking?” I ask warily, eyeing all the food she’d set out and was preparing as we continued our chat. I could cook some. I had no experience with any more than two people though. I didn’t know how many she was planning on cooking for today, but it looked like a small army.

  “I don’t think so. Not for a while anyway. Unless you want to... The food was the hardest thing to figure out. I’m not even going to try to pretend I have it all together, even now,” she says, looking around the counter. “Most B&Bs don’t serve you anything more than breakfast. Hence the damn name. A lot of these folk come from the bigger cities close by, or from a lot farther away. They come for relaxation and outdoorsy stuff they don’t normally get to do. That also means they don’t want to cook for themselves. After a bunch of failed attempts and some trial and error, I started having them fill out a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ box for whether they wanted meals here and which ones. The bastards all checked yes.” She laughs.

  “It sounds like I’m complaining, but I really do enjoy it. I never have to eat alone this way. And I get to learn to cook and make new things. I was on the road for so long with Alexis, I missed this part of being domestic. Mostly I missed being grounded. Our home wasn’t our home anymore. This place—this feels like home to me.”

  After seeing what I thought was a small op
eration is actually quite a big undertaking, I feel guilty for not jumping in and helping when she asked. If I had, maybe I wouldn’t have messed up so badly like I did.

  “I want you to know I’m grateful for this opportunity. I was in a bind, and you allowing me to come and help out is saving me more than you know.”

  Verbalizing my gratitude has me emotional. My eyes fill with tears the more I talk. I really had nowhere else to turn. My ex kicked me out before I even got a chance to get my things. I have no job. And finding an apartment immediately turned up nothing in my searches. I couldn’t afford to live in a hotel for a month or two. Having those thoughts rush to the front of my mind remind me why I picked up the phone and called her in the first place.

  Linda can hear my voice crack and the tears about to fall. She rushes toward me, and I find myself engulfed in her arms, being squeezed close. My mom wasn’t much of a hugger. But Grandma Kelly and Linda always had open arms. The tears fall as I wrap my arms around her and hold on.

  “Honey, you’re family. It’s what family does for one another.” She pulls back slightly to look in my eyes, and we both wince at her words. Not all family would do this; my mother wouldn’t.

  We both start laughing and hug once again. “Okay, so my sister is the exception. I’m sorry, sweetie. You are always welcome here though. To help out, or to be a huge lazy slacker binge-watching whatever show you’re hooked on.”

  “Thank you so much. I’m here to help. I can’t sit still long enough to binge-watch anything,” I say, wiping at my eyes.

  “Let’s get you settled in your room and bring your stuff in. Maybe freshen up some. You look... well-traveled.” She eyes my outfit and bare feet.

  Damn. Just when I thought I’d forgotten the horrible drive here.

  “Tell me, sweetie, do you have some different shoes and clothes to wear? I don’t think any more of those heels are going to make it long, and I’m all for some cutoff shorts or something, but a skirt isn’t cut for out here. You could flash someone your goods if you’re not careful.”

  Looking down at my attire and then eyeing hers makes me cringe. “You know I’ve been working in an office. My wardrobe doesn’t really have much for a girl to wear out here.”

  “Hold on a sec,” she says and disappears into a small room off the kitchen, coming back out a moment later holding out a pair of cowboy boots. “Here, try these on, and if they fit they’re yours. They were left by a guest who thought they needed to buy all the cowboy gear available to stay here. I don’t think they were ever even worn outside.”

  I take them from her. They’re the furthest thing from the black four-inch heels I had on when I arrived. But after a tug and a push, I have them on. Surprisingly they fit. Even more surprising is they’re the most comfortable thing I’ve worn in a long time.

  “I know I have some of Alexis’s clothes too, some jeans and tank tops that will be more comfortable for you. Maybe we can go shopping too,” she adds, knowing Alexis and I don’t share all the same dimensions—mostly in the chest area. “Let’s go see what I have, and I can show you the rooms I’ll have you redoing.”

  Laughing at my skirt and boots after Linda hands me more appropriate clothing, I freshen up in my bathroom, needing the dirt off my skin. All the while, Linda walks around in the bedroom making fun of the Pink Room she once thought was so cute.

  It’s really the perfect name for it. It looks like someone barfed pink everywhere. The walls are pink. The bedspread and comforter are pink. There is so much pink in the room that when you turn the light on you’d swear there’s a pink bulb in it, as it seems to glow pink off everything.

  I don’t even want to talk about the bathroom.

  “You know, while I was putting this room together, I had you and Alexis on my mind. Not having any money when you girls were little broke my heart. I always wanted to give you both all the girly things you wanted.” I can hear the regret in her voice.

  Coming out of the bathroom, I find her sitting on the bed holding a pink pillow. I can’t help the laugh that comes out. “Between you and Grandma Kelly, we had everything we ever wanted.” I motion around the room. “I don’t think either of us ever wanted a room with so much pink though.”

  I pull her from the bed and embrace her. I hope she never thought we wanted for anything.

  “Come on. Let’s go get the rest of your things.”

  She opens a few more doors as we walk down the hallway, showing me the rooms I’ll be redoing. The Pink Room apparently isn’t the only color-themed disaster.

  Linda gets a phone call before she can help me bring anything in.

  I wave her off. I need to start doing some of the heavy lifting in my life anyway. This is a good start.

  All day I’ve been distracted by thoughts of Holly. And the past hour I’ve been working with Charlie hasn’t helped either. He keeps pointing out how I can’t even do a simple task. I was hoping to get the fence we’ve been working on done today. Thankfully it looks like we’ll be running out of material soon and I’ll have a different reason, other than myself, for not getting it done.

  “Hey, Lee just texted me saying there’s a hot guest staying here,” Charlie says while texting back. Those two are always going on about women. Neither seem to want to settle down. I guess I don’t either.

  “So who’s going to be the wingman this time?” I ask, trying to feign interest.

  He looks up from his phone with a smirk. “This might be one of those ‘may the best man win’ kind of women. She’s got a great ass even from the crappy picture he just sent me.”

  It couldn’t be Holly they were talking about, could it? But she wasn’t a guest.

  “Don’t you two have any other hobbies besides women?” I joke. It’s comical to watch those two go after women sometimes. With all the game they talk, they really don’t have much. I think they like giving each other crap more than anything. Lee is the playboy. Charlie is the flirt.

  “What more do we need? We have fishing and we have women. Girls are prettier though. Damn, this girl has a set of tits on her. He better not be joking about her being up at the main house. This could be the love of my life,” he says with his hand over his heart while looking at his phone.

  “I think I’ve heard you say that before. At least once a week.” Charlie and Lee really are good guys. I’ve gotten used to how they talk to each other. They joke and laugh easily, and beyond that, they’re loyal to the end.

  I’ve only seen one of them get into a fight once. It was one of the few times I had taken them up on going into town to the bar. Charlie’s old man had been in there and started talking shit about Linda, going on about how high-and-mighty she thought she was, coming into town with all her money and putting the Brickett Ranch together. I’ll admit I was about to step up and have some words with the man when Charlie stepped in and decked him.

  Linda is a good woman. I know she has money. She doesn’t flaunt it though, and donates to the town more than most who’ve lived here their whole lives. Hell, just to run this place isn’t cheap. She’s the woman who turned my life around and one of the kindest people I’ve encountered my whole life. She doesn’t deserve the things he was saying about her.

  That night at the bar, I found out I wasn’t the only one she had picked up and put back together.

  “He won’t send me a picture of her face. Now he’s teasing me with the damn cowboy boots this chick is wearing. Nothing is hotter than a woman in cowboy boots. I imagine them walking around buck naked in nothing else sometimes.”

  “Are you gonna help me with this damn fence or jerk off over there?” I know he isn’t talking about Holly now. She wasn’t wearing boots; she’d been wearing high heels. Now those were the sexiest thing I had seen on a woman in a long time. I could imagine her wearing only those heels, walking toward me...

  Shit, I need to stop thinking about her. But I can’t.

  “Ah shit! Man, I gotta go help Lee. Those damn sheep Linda just had to get ‘cause they w
ere so cute just got out. You good here?” Charlie asks, grabbing his stuff.

  “Yeah, I need to get more supplies to finish it anyway.”

  I let him take the truck, not thinking about the tools I need still being in the back.

  I’m not going to get anything done today anyway. Not with Holly on my mind. My mind is stuck on her in her heels.

  I head back to the main house, telling myself it’s to find Linda to get her approval for the lumber I need for the fence, and not the hope to catch a glimpse of Holly.

  I’m walking around the side of the house when I’m stopped dead in my tracks by the sight in front of me.

  With the back passenger door open, there is Holly, on her knees, in the back seat of her car trying to get something out.

  Fuck me. She is wearing cowboy boots now. And damn do they look hot as hell with the skirt she still has on. The skirt has ridden dangerously high, showing off her tight ass.

  I can feel my blood head south while I stare. Deep breaths. I need to take deep breaths and walk away.

  Instead I slowly make my way closer to her. I can see she’s struggling to get a box out.

  There’s a buzzing in my ears, blocking out all sound.

  All I can see is her. All I can hear is her. All I want is her.

  I don’t notice she’s finally wrestled the box free and is backing up till that perfect ass of hers backs right into me. Both of us cry out in surprise.

  “That’s three times now.”

  I grab her waist so she doesn’t fall down, and I feel her body still under my fingers. I’m hyperaware of everything about her. The smell of her perfume. The damp hair below her ear telling me she’s been outside in the heat. The way she’s breathing.

  It takes me a second to realize my hands are still on her waist. I let go and step back.

  She spins around to face me, and there’s fire in her eyes.

  “You should stop touching me every time you see me too,” she huffs out. A blush spreads across her chest and up her neck, and I can’t ignore it. I decide to push her buttons to see her react a bit more.