A Dusty Christmas

by Lilliana Rose

  “So, tell me… why are you here, dressed up with nowhere to go?” It was like Blaise couldn’t get out of the habit of dressing smartly when he was working as an accountant, even though that wasn’t the expectation around here.

  “Had to visit a client or two, and thought well, it’s close to lunchtime, it’d be nice to see my girlfriend.”

  Guilt caused her stomach to twist painfully. “I appreciate the visit, sorry you’re disappointed.”

  He clenched his jaw. “I’ve got a few hours to spare, and when I dropped in at the house, your mom was about to bring you some food, so I thought I’d offer to help.”

  The guilt double-knotted within her. He was trying, and she wasn’t helping him at all.

  “Thank you.”

  “She figured you must be hungry and in need of some caffeine.”

  “I am.” And if she had the time, then she would attend to some other needs she had as well. “Thank you.” She kissed him, then suddenly pulled away. “Sorry, I must be smelly and sweaty.” She had dressed in the same work clothes as yesterday, jeans and a dark green T-shirt, wanting to save on washing. It didn’t matter what she looked like or even smelled like when on the combine. Now she wished she’d at least put on fresh work clothes, not that the last few hours would’ve kept them clean in the slightest.

  “I didn’t notice.” He nuzzled along the side of her neck. It was becoming harder to concentrate and to keep her resolve. She wanted to give in to him, to herself. But the harvest must come first. And if there were a total fire ban tomorrow, well, then there would be plenty of time to take the due care in having some intimate time with Blaise.

  Dusty gently pushed him away. “I need to get back to it. Sorry.” She hated seeing the sad puppy-dog expression on his face.

  “You do? I think just a few minutes…” He bit playfully into her neck.

  Her knees buckled slightly, and he easily took her weight. She wriggled out of his grasp, reluctantly.

  “The harvest is nearly done, and you know I want to finish by Christmas.”

  “I know, though I don’t see how a few minutes with me will be the reason why that won’t happen.”

  “I want longer than a few minutes,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry, but I need to focus. This is my livelihood and is part of the farm’s income and survival.”

  He nodded, but the shadow of disappointment said otherwise.

  In a moment of weakness, she had an idea. Why not? It would make his day if she let him. Plus, it could be a sort of compromise. A chance to spend a little time together, while still harvesting.

  “Want to come for a ride?”

  “Ummm… you’re giving me mixed messages here, you know.” He brushed the tips of his fingers up her bare arms, sending a pleasant shiver through her body.

  “You have a one-track mind, don’t you?”

  “Not quite, but you know I haven’t… well, you know, for a while.” He raised his eyebrow suggestively.

  Dusty laughed. “And you won’t. I was referring to the combine.”

  His eyes lit up. “Can I?”

  “Sure, come on.”

  He grabbed her hand stopping her from turning. “On one condition.”

  “You’re going to have to wait.” She rolled her eyes.

  “That you’ll let me drive.”

  Dusty’s eyes widened at the simple request.

  Can I trust him? Let him be in the driver’s seat?

  She swallowed hard. “You’re on.”

  “Fantastic.” He started to walk toward the combine.

  “Hang on, you’re not driving anywhere.”

  Blaise spun around. “What now?”

  Dusty pointed to the ute. “You better move the bloody ute out of the way.”

  Blaise cursed under his breath as he rushed to the ute. He was far from being dressed to be driving in a big, dirty machine, but to hell with that. The call to get behind the wheel of this combine was loud and clear, and he was answering.

  I should’ve known better to park the ute here like that.

  He had been thinking of how surprised Dusty was going to be to see him, and well, of course, he was hoping maybe it could lead to something else. He felt like he was in his own sort of drought because of the harvest. The seeding back in June was like this, he wasn’t sure why, but with the crops, Dusty was more stressed and intense.

  He patted Ted on the head. “I’m taking this as a good sign, boy. Wish me luck.” Ted just looked back blankly. Molly blinked with empty eyes at him as well.

  Blaise moved the ute out of the path of the combine. He wasn’t sure where to park it, so he put his foot on the brake and looked around while feeling a little flustered. It was hot, he was in his suit, and it was on a whim that he’d dropped into the farm in the hopes that it would lead to seeing Dusty today. They had plans for the weekend, so she wasn’t entirely avoiding him, but not seeing her as much as he was used to was becoming difficult.

  It had been like this during seeding time, but he guessed he got through that because it was also the end of the financial year, and he had a lot of work. Now, for him, things were slowing down in the lead up to Christmas, which meant Blaise had a little more time on his hands. Time, he wanted to spend with Dusty. And it wasn’t just the sex he was missing. He missed her laugh, her special humor, and how great he felt simply being with her, especially when they were working together on the farm. Even though it always seemed he was doing something wrong when it came to farming and Dusty. But that didn’t mean he wanted to leave. He was slowly getting the hang of things. There was just so much to learn, and he was also trying to establish his own accounting business.

  He put his foot on the brake, pausing to try and think of the best place to park the ute which meant it wasn’t going to be in the way.

  Dusty pointed in front of the truck. “Park it there for now,” she yelled out.

  Not where I would’ve thought to park it.

  That was the thing, he just couldn’t work out what needed to be done sometimes, no matter how much he thought about it. He did notice how tired she looked. While the shadows under her eyes weren’t dark, they were there, and her eyes didn’t have the sparkle they normally did. He wished he could take away some of her workload. Dusty was slowly getting better at letting him do more. She was a terrible teacher, and very impatient, which didn’t help. It was one of the annoying parts about her that he secretly liked. The way her temper would rumble to the surface in a bluster, not too different from the hot north wind.

  Blaise gave her the thumbs up and smiled to let her know he got it. As quickly as he could, he parked the ute and got out slamming the door. Then he remembered the packaged lunch her mom, Claire, had given him. So, he opened the door to grab the insulated lunch box then hurried over to her, not wanting to delay the harvest or be accused of it.

  He didn’t get the need to be in so much of a rush.

  Which was why he was suggesting that they could’ve spend a little time together today.

  “Will the dogs be fine on the back?”

  “Yeah, we won’t be long.”

  Blaise wasn’t sure if ‘not being long’ was a good or bad thing. He decided to shrug off the comment. It didn’t matter.

  He was about to drive heavy machinery and looked up at the combine harvester. Though, this might just be a better option. He couldn’t wait to tell his city mates, so he got out his phone and took a quick photo.

  “Come on, no time for that.”

  He took a photo of Dusty.

  “Not when I look like this.”

  He grinned cheekily. “I need a photo of you to remember what you look like.”

  “It’s not like you’re never going to see me again.” She rolled her eyes, turned, and clambered up the metal steps and inside the cab.

  Blaise had to admit, he enjoyed the sight of her tight arse in the jeans. He’d asked her why she wore jeans in such hot weather. Apparently, it was for safety reasons. Right now, he was glad about
that. He certainly had a great view as she slipped into the tight space of the cab.

  “Coming up?” Dusty demanded. Her facial expression was stern and lacked any sort of patience.

  Blaise didn’t know why, but he loved her sassy attitude. He suppressed a grin as he reached out to hold on to what he thought was a bar.

  “Don’t touch that.”

  He pulled his hand away just before his fingers touched the metal. “What?”

  “You’ll burn yourself.” She sighed with frustration. “Weren’t you watching how I got up here?”

  His cheeks flamed red in a deep blush. Hell, yeah, he’d been watching.

  “Blaise.” She said his name in such a tone it was as if she knew what he’d really been watching. Dusty leaned out of the cab a little and pointed. “Grab on to here, and these are the steps.”

  “Okay.” He felt a little stupid. It seemed obvious now that Dusty had shown him where he needed to hold on and where to step. He climbed up carefully, coming almost face to face with Dusty in the small space of the cab. Cool, dusty air from inside the cab filtered over him. The air conditioning unit was working overtime in this heat.

  “Not a lot of room in here.” He wasn’t sure where to go now, and not wanting to upset Dusty, he thought he’d wait to be told what to do next. After all, he didn’t want Dusty to change her mind and not let him drive the combine. He’d been hoping for a chance to get behind the wheel for a while now. Blaise wanted to drive a combine harvester and brag to his mates back in Adelaide, but more importantly, he really did want to embrace the farm life. There was a lot riding on whether he could adjust to this new world or not and whether Dusty would really let him into her life as well.

  He paused and looked at her. Messy hair, dirty face, clothes smeared with dust and oil, all the result of having to work long, hard, physical hours. She was tired. Frustrated. The attraction was still there, he thought she was beautiful. A twist in his belly made him wonder if she really could go the next step of commitment with him.

  With Christmas fast approaching, and the business of harvest stopping any sort of must-have conversations they needed, the doubt was increasing within him.

  Dusty smiled. “I don’t bite.”

  “You so do.” He grinned, looking straight in her blue eyes. A flash of desire reflected to him, but it was gone before he was sure he’d even seen it.

  “I don’t mean to.” She rolled her lips together as if fighting against an inner pain. He knew things had been bad, to say the least, between her neighbor and ex, Jack, and he left wounds on her soul, and even her body. It was a reminder to stay strong for her, and to be patient. No matter how hard it was getting.

  “Take a seat.” Dusty gestured to the dirty seat in front of the large window.

  Blaise took a deep breath. The conversations they needed to have weren’t the ones to have here in the combine. He grinned and shimmied past her, making sure his body brushed against hers as much as possible. Shivers of pleasure coursed through him with a longing that was hard to ignore.

  Dusty took the bag of food from him.

  He plonked himself in the seat, and it bounced up and down.

  “Wow! Great suspension.” Blaise naturally put his hands on the steering wheel. He grinned. It was a little boy’s dream coming true.

  “Well, it is needed. The paddock isn’t smooth like the roads you’re used to.” Dusty reached out of the cab, grabbed the handle of the door, and with her body weight behind her pulled it shut with a force that caused Blaise to jump.

  Dusty shuffled over to behind the side of the seat. There was no room for two people here, so it forced them together.

  “How do I accelerate?” Blaise couldn’t wait to get driving. A quick glance at the controls made it clear he had absolutely no idea of how to drive the combine.

  Dusty leaned over him and flicked some switches. The combine jerked as if in gear.

  “Gently push on that lever there.”

  Blaise braced himself, held his breath, and did exactly as he was instructed. The combine rolled forward. His body prickled with excitement, and he suppressed a whooping that he wanted to yell out. He was driving big machinery, so he needed to concentrate.

  “Where do I go?” Blaise looked around, glad they were in a paddock with plenty of room. He wasn’t sure how Dusty managed to park the combine in the shed.

  A flutter of nerves moved in his belly. I got this.

  “See over there, the crop is a bit higher.”

  “Oh yeah.” It seemed obvious now that she’d pointed it out. He steered the combine over to the crop.

  “Do I just start anywhere? Shouldn’t I go from where you left off.” He’d learned a little from when driving the tractor during seeding, but this was so different.

  “No, just start here, it will work out in the end. The point is to reap the crop, not have straight rows like when seeding.” He cringed. When driving the tractor with the seeder hooked up at the back, his rows hadn’t been very straight. Dusty had promptly sent him back to the house. This time he wanted to prove to her he could do this. He could be hands-on with farm life. His motivation went deeper, he also wanted to prove it to himself.

  “I can drive to the where you stopped,” he suggested. He was finding it hard to concentrate. Driving was taking all of his brainpower.

  How does she do this?

  “You’ll waste diesel getting to that point,” said Dusty.

  There it was again, another reference to ensure money isn’t wasted. It always amused Blaise how tight everything was on the farm with money. He was an accountant and tight himself, but life on the farm took things to an entirely new level. Blaise understood, especially when he offered to secretly do the farm’s accounts with Dusty’s mom nearly two years ago. He had saved them a lot on returns, which gave them a bit of breathing space financially. A good crop this year would help them maybe get a little in front.

  Could I live like this year to year?

  “Just keep going straight, then turn right, easing the header, the part where the blades are moving to cut the stalks into the crop.” Dusty instructions interrupted his thoughts. “And you can go a bit faster, you know.”

  “I think I’m going fast enough.” Suddenly, he realized he was driving the combine, by himself, and Dusty hadn’t actually given him a lesson. I needed a lesson. His stomach knotted with threads of panic. This was another part of farm life he was having to adjust to big time. Sure, he got lessons, and explanations, but sometimes he was thrown into the deep end and expected to swim, old-school style.

  “Will the header thing just start working.” Blaise could feel himself beginning to become stressed. “How do I do that?”

  Dusty chuckled softly. “I’ll help you. It takes too much to explain, and you won’t learn it all on your first go.”

  “Okay, and that’s meant to make me feel better right now?”

  “You’re doing fine.”

  Her words helped to ease the tension within him and boost his confidence. That was big praise coming from Dusty.

  The crop was close now, he could see the individual stalks. “Should I start to turn now?”

  “Yes, see you’re a natural.”

  Blaise turned the wheel to the right slowly. The header was getting close to the crop. Panic began to rise inside of him. He felt like there was something he needed to do, but of course, he didn’t know and had to rely on Dusty. “What should I do?”

  “Don’t panic.” Dusty reached over behind him. “Concentrate. I’ll lower the header down this time for you. Just line up the crop and slowly go deeper until the header is full.”

  It sounded way too easy to be true for Blaise. He held his breath, doing exactly what Dusty had told him. She moved a lever. The header lowered closer to the ground and began to rotate.

  Shit, this is real.

  He was about to harvest for the first time.

  Sweat beaded on his forehead, despite the coolness of the air conditioner.

>   “Move a bit further into the crop.”

  He adjusted. Looking down in front, seeing the stalks begin to fill the header, the blades moving quickly which made him nervous. At thirty feet long it took a few seconds for him to line up the combine, so the header was full of the stalks. The rotating blade made quick work of the long stalks, chopping them off, and pushing them back into the machinery where they would be thrashed and the valuable seeds collected.

  “Steady.”

  Blaise kept his focus, staring firmly at the edge of the crop to ensure it was filling the header and not leaving any behind. There was a lot riding on him right now, and he felt every bit of that pressure.

  “You’re a natural.”

  Blaise smiled. Another big compliment from Dusty. Maybe things were slowly beginning to change with her.

  “Should I ask what the pay rate is?” Blaise dared to take his eyes off the front of the combine for a moment.

  Dusty sighed. Reached over and turned the steering wheel.

  What? Blaise sat stunned for a moment.

  “Look out the rearview mirror. There.” Dusty pointed to the mirror on the left.

  Blaise glanced out.

  “See the bit of crop you left behind.”

  Blaise saw it. “Yes.”

  “That’s your pay.”

  A sinking feeling hit Blaise’s stomach. Damn! It hadn’t taken him long before he messed up.

  “Sorry.”

  “You’re learning.” The words she spoke were tight and edgy as if she was holding back her temper.

  Blaise gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles whitening. “Do you want me to stop?”

  “You can finish going around once.”

  “Really?” Blaise had been bracing for her to make him stop and to kick him out. He’d missed a chunk of crop. “I can go back for the bit I missed.”

  “Wastes too much diesel, it’s not worth it.”

  “Okay.” He knew the cost analysis very well as an accountant, but this was a whole new level.

  “Keep focussed, you’re learning.”

  Blaise nodded his head. He kept his concentration on the edge of the crop, determined to get it right. He didn’t even think of Dusty standing behind him.