She took a deep swallow of her own beer. “I like her. She’s a hard worker, and she knows what she’s doing.”
I stared over at her, eyebrows high, so stunned my mouth dropped open. Lacey didn’t care for many people, especially other women. She had high standards — a little too high, if you asked me, which she never had — so an endorsement from her actually meant a great deal.
“Definitely keep her around,” she said, lifting her bottle to clink with my own. “And, keep your goddamned hands off her.”
I grinned, but took another long sip of my beer instead of agreeing to that last part.
Chapter Ten
Emma
Friday
All the horses were out in the pasture for now, except Elroy — the name was terrible, but it was starting to fit the little colt’s silly personality — who I left in the paddock for Lacey to work with. I walked to the other end of the barn and slid open the rear alleyway door. I had to muck out the stalls, spray down the roughened concrete floor in the alleyway, and scrub out the small troughs in each of the enclosures. I had a system down already, and it was only taking me about two hours to get everything ready for the horses to rest comfortably in here at the end of the day.
I’d been here less than a week, but I’d already come to love it. I was left alone for most of the day to handle my work the way I saw fit. As long as it got done, no one bothered me much about the how. Lacey was nice, but had been so busy with training Elroy, she hadn’t had time to really chat with me since Monday. Not that I minded. And, I’d successfully avoided another drawn out conversation with Pete by making a beeline from my car to the barn as soon as I arrived.
Speaking of Pete, as soon as I opened the rear alleyway door, there he was riding out to the far field on his John Deere tractor. I leaned into the door, staring at him openly while his attention was elsewhere. The sun was a hazy ball rising from the eastern end of the ranch, hidden behind a filmy layer of clouds. It would be hot today, but, right now, it was breezy and nice.
I heard a truck coming up the driveway and spun away from the sight of Pete on the tractor, his broad shoulders square and strong back straight in the seat. I hurried out of the barn in time to see Lacey climbing down from her pickup. She waved as she walked over, and I lifted my chin instead of waving back, my arms crossed over my chest.
She was nearly as tall as Pete — well past six feet tall in her boots — and dressed in her normal faded jeans and flannel shirt. She wore a white tank top underneath in case she needed to strip off the over shirt once the sun lifted into the middle of the sky. I started most of my days off in a tank top. The summer was coming, and the heat was only going to increase the deeper we got into it.
Lacey didn’t bother with good mornings, which was one reason I was starting to like her, despite her relationship with Pete. I kept telling myself I didn’t care about that. I didn’t have time to date. Besides, Lacey and Pete were pretty perfect for each other. He was such a goofball. He needed someone strong and steady like Lacey to keep him in line.
“I see you already have Elroy in the pen,” she said, nodding over to the horse pawing at the grass in the corral.
My lips twitched at the name. “He’s staying Elroy, then?”
She laughed as she tipped her hat back to a more comfortable angle on her head. She didn’t have on a single piece of jewelry, not even earrings, which was all I ever wore — a pair of small silver studs that’d belonged to my mother.
“I think so,” she said. “It fits him, though, doesn’t it?”
I had to nod. I’d been thinking the same thing myself.
The more time I spent around Lacey, the more curious I was about her. I could plainly see why Pete liked her so much, but I wanted to know more.
“How long have you been on the farm?” I asked her as we watched Elroy prancing around the paddock.
“Oh, there’s never been a time I wasn’t out on this ranch.” She grinned over at me, her brown eyes scrunched at the ends. “Pete’s dadd
y and my daddy were best friends. So we grew up together.” She took a deep breath as she dropped her hands onto her slim hips. “When Pete’s daddy died the summer after twelfth grade, I was supposed to go to college upstate, but I just couldn’t leave him. His mama died when he was young, which kind of knocked him off balance a little for the rest of his childhood. He doesn’t have brothers or sisters. Just me. So, I stuck around to help him on the farm over that summer and never left.”
I thought on that. It certainly shed some light on a lot of things. I respected Lacey a little more, even if she was the reason Pete was off limits. I chided myself for the hundredth time this week. Pete was off limits because he issued my paychecks. And, I wasn’t looking to date anyone. Remember?
“You’re actually the first person Pete’s ever hired,” Lacey continued, looking over at me again. “He likes you. So do I. I think you’re good for the place. It’s just getting to be too much work. And, we need fresh blood. Pete and I have spent our whole lives together. We’re always about three seconds away from killing each other!”
She laughed again and I couldn’t help but smile. It was easier to relax around her than it was Pete. It felt like he was always trying to figure me out. But Lacey was just happy to talk without working me like some stubborn puzzle.
“I guess it makes sense that y’all would fall in love,” I said.
Lacey’s eyes widened as her dark eyebrows squeezed together, her mouth dropping open in momentary shock. “What?” She shook her head, braying another loud laugh as she wiped at the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “Oh, hell no! Me and Pete?” She stuck out her tongue. “That’s the nastiest thing I ever heard! He’s like kin to me. We lived like brother and sister for years after my parents died in middle school. His daddy all but raised me from then on. Dating him would be like dating my own brother.” She made another face and held her stomach like she was about to puke all over our boots.
I couldn’t help the laugh that snuck past my lips. The ground felt like it had shifted under my feet, changing the landscape entirely. So, Lacey and Pete weren’t dating. Did that mean Pete was single? I was burning to ask, and here was someone standing right in front of me who would definitely know. But I couldn’t very well ask her. She’d probably tell Pete. And, anyway, I reminded myself, he was off limits, girlfriend or no girlfriend.
But that didn’t have to stop me from appreciating his rippling muscles when he took off his shirt the way he had yesterday. Or from looking extra hard when he bent over to pick something up. That tight ass in his jeans. Sweet Kord. I was getting hot just thinking about it.
While Lacey crossed to the paddock to work with Elroy, I went back to the stables to get them in order. After several hours of scrubbing, spraying off surfaces, and laying down freshly-cleaned stall mats in each of the horses’ booths, I was ready to start in on the grooming.