by Erin Zak
Elijah chuckles and starts walking after the horses. “Don’t worry. We’ll find them.”
Julia starts after Elijah, fear and worry filling her stomach. She’s only been there for two weeks, and already she’s fucked up. Is this going to come back and haunt her when it comes time to pay for her car? She has hardly heard anything about the repairs or the cost except that it wasn’t just the alternator. It was also the transmission and the exhaust system. So she knows it’s going to cost her an arm and a leg. She follows him through the trails that wind back behind the house and barn, back where Elijah takes the horses when they need extra attention. The brush is pretty dense, and Julia’s first fear is rattlesnakes. Every western movie she has ever seen seems to have someone being bitten by a snake. “How far do you think they went?”
“Not far, I’m sure.” Elijah whistles a high whistle when they come to a clearing. The sound echoes off the trees and mountains. It’s such a beautiful day, and if it wasn’t for the impending doom of being in trouble for losing the horses, Julia would be loving this weather right now. “They’re probably over that ridge. Let’s go.”
Just as they’re heading toward the north ridge, Elena comes through the clearing directly in front of them riding Samwise with Cole beside her on Sweetie. Julia is immediately thrown off guard at seeing Elena atop the beautiful quarter horse, her hat smashed onto her head, and her posture determined and stoic. “They’re this way,” Elena shouts, looking as displeased as ever. She turns her horse around and heads back the way she came. Cole does the same but not before shouting, “Hi!” at Julia, waving his hat from across the open field.
Julia takes off down the trail, following Elijah. Both of them are running now at full speed, jumping over the random stones in their way, and Julia can feel the sagebrush that lines the path scratching at her jeans. She’s thanking the heavens above that she wore jeans today instead of risking it and throwing on another pair of shorts—just to piss people off. It’s funny; she’s pissed off people intentionally before, but now? Now she’s scared shitless that she may actually have to deal with the repercussions.
“Elijah, I see Sully over there,” Julia says through heavy breaths. It’s a warm day in the mountains, and running around at the altitude is doing nothing good for her. “I bet Scout isn’t too far behind. Those two are inseparable.”
“I’m glad you picked that up about them. They’re best friends.” Elijah comes to a halt. “You go that way; I’ll come around the flank.”
Julia cuts through the field and sees Elena and Cole on their horses coming up behind Sully. Scout is on the east side of the field about twenty yards away, grazing, so Julia decides to take a chance and go get him. “Scout, buddy, let’s go,” she says softly as she approaches him from the side. He picks his head up from grazing and whinnies. Julia walks right up to him and attaches the lead Elijah had given her to his halter. She pulls on him, and he starts to follow her, nudging her on the back of the arm the entire time. “Good job, beautiful.” Julia looks back at Scout before turning to make her way over toward Elena, Cole, and Elijah. It seems they’re having a bit more trouble getting Sully to cooperate.
Elijah walks up to her, eyes darting between her and the horse. “How’d you do that?”
“I walked up and attached the lead.” Julia shrugs. “Why?”
“Because he is never that easy to get.”
“Really?”
“You’ve been here for a couple weeks, and you’re already better with these horses than most of the ranch hands we’ve had.” Elijah shakes his head, takes Scout from Julia, and then holds out the lead for Sully. “Go. Get Sully now.”
“What? No. Sully doesn’t like me like Scout does.”
Elijah points. “Go get Sully.”
Julia sighs as she takes Sully’s lead from Elijah and makes her way over toward the pinto. He looks kind of crazed, which makes Julia’s heartbeat quicken. She glances back at Elijah, then over toward Elena and Cole.
“Julia, you need to be careful.” Cole’s voice is calm when he adds, “He’s spooked by something. Look at his ears.”
Julia nods, then stops, looking at Sully. “Sullivan, boy, come on. Let’s go home,” she says softly. “Come on, handsome. Let’s go.”
“Miss Finch,” Elena says.
Julia doesn’t look away from the horse when she answers. “What?”
“I don’t want to alarm you, but—”
“Bennett, I got it. I need to be careful. I got this.”
Elena’s voice raises an octave when she says, “No, Finch. There is a brown bear about two hundred yards from us. I can see it walking through the brush.”
Julia’s head snaps toward Elena, and she stops in her tracks. “What the fuck did you just say?” She keeps her voice a normal tone so as to not frighten the horse, but her pulse instantly picks up.
“A bear, Miss Finch.” Elena’s tone has a lot more urgency than before. “We need to get the horse and get the hell out of here.” Elena slowly slides a rifle from the opposite side of her saddle and checks the chamber, all while safely atop her horse. “I need you to cowboy up and get that damn horse, Miss Finch. Now.”
“Holy shit.” Julia looks at Sully. “Come on, Sullivan. Let’s do this.” She takes a few more steps, and he goes to rear up, but Julia holds her hands out. “No, no, it’s okay.” She’s not going to lie; it really isn’t okay. She can barely feel her legs because of the adrenaline pumping through her veins, but she takes another couple of steps until Sully finally allows her to get right next to him. She attaches the lead to his halter while soothing him with gentle encouragements and takes a step, leading him toward Elijah.
When she hands over the lead, Elijah hops onto Scout’s bare back and looks down at Julia. “Ride back with Elena. I’ll take the horses.”
“You don’t have a saddle,” Julia says, her voice shocked.
“I know. We’ll be fine. Go with Elena.” He takes off on Scout with Sully running alongside him.
Elena’s eyes are still on the bear when she asks, “Do you even know how to get on a horse?”
“Yes, Elijah taught me.” Julia grabs the leather attached to the stirrup of Elena’s horse’s saddle and shoves her Chucks into the stirrup before moving her hand to the side of the saddle. Her arm brushes Elena’s leg, and the heat radiating from her jean-covered thigh makes Julia’s mouth go dry. “I’ve not done it with another person, though.”
Elena raises an eyebrow, rifle still pointed steadily in the direction of the bear, and looks down at her.
“Oh my God, I didn’t mean it like that.” Julia watches Elena slide the rifle back into the saddle holster. She reaches her right hand down to Julia, who eyes the hand, then glances at Elena. The adrenaline is coursing through her body, but she can’t for the life of her figure out how to move so she can take Elena’s outstretched hand.
“Today, Miss Finch.”
Julia swallows before reaching out with her left hand. Elena wraps her hand around Julia’s wrist and before she knows it, she’s being pulled up. She pushes on the stirrup and quickly maneuvers her body to slide behind Elena. “Won’t this hurt Samwise?”
“Not for a short distance.” Elena’s eyes are still locked on the bear. “Are you good?”
Julia glances over at Cole before she slides her arms around Elena’s waist. “Yes.”
Coles smiles at her, his eyebrow rising just like his mother’s does. “You’d better hold on tighter than that. She’s not going to trot home,” he says with a wink as he pushes his hat down and shouts, “Yah!” making Sweetie take off.
Elena grabs the reins tighter, clicks her tongue, and Samwise leaps into action. Julia hears herself yelp and clamps her mouth shut tight. She’s only ever taken Jazz around the corral at a nice and easy trot; Elijah said that she was bouncing around too much like a sack of shit, to which she took offense, even though it was true. Now she’s trying very hard to not bounce off the back of Samwise, and it’s harder than she thou
ght. The way that Elena has situated herself in the stirrups and the saddle make it so Julia’s entire body is smashed against Elena’s. And she is focusing entirely too hard on the feeling of Elena’s back, Elena’s ass, Elena’s everything pressing into her. She buries her face into Elena’s blue gingham shirt and breathes deep. Even her scent is intoxicating, like lavender and summer and happiness. Julia cannot handle this. She’s unraveling, and now is certainly not the time.
When they come to the clearing right before the barn and corral, Elena slows the horse down with a gentle pull on the reins. Julia feels Elena take a deep breath before she says, “You realize that could have ended a lot differently.”
Julia loosens her grip on Elena’s waist and clears her throat. Her face is on fire, along with other areas of her body. “I know.” Julia takes a breath, tries to steady herself and her voice. “I am so sorry. I don’t know what happened. The corral gate on the other side wasn’t latched, and I would never leave it unlatched, so I didn’t realize it, and all of a sudden, Sully bolted, and Scout took off after him, and I don’t know. I feel horrible about it. I really do. I am so, so, so sorry.” She takes another deep breath and stops herself from continuing to ramble. “I understand if you want to fire me.”
Elena glances over her shoulder at Julia. “I don’t want to fire you,” she replies calmly. “But I need you to start paying more attention to your surroundings. There are a lot of things up here that you wouldn’t encounter in a big city. Bears, in particular, happen to be one of them. And right now, the population of bear is increasing, and they are roaming around more and more, getting closer and closer to the house. The last thing we need is to lose a horse to something like that.”
“Okay,” Julia whispers.
“You know how important a car is to a police officer?”
“I do.”
“Then you know how important a horse is to a rancher.” Elena looks away from Julia and stops Samwise completely. “I didn’t want Elijah to hire someone without experience. It’s not because I’m a giant bitch, although I’m sure that’s what you’ve thought. It’s because not only do we have to teach you how to handle the animals, but we have to teach you how to handle the ranch. And the ranch life. It’s not just my home. It’s my livelihood.”
“I get it,” Julia replies. “I really do. That’s why I understand if you want to get rid of me.”
Elena lets out an annoyed groan. “I don’t want you to leave, okay? I already said that.” She clicks her tongue, and Samwise starts to walk again. “I know I can be a hard-ass.”
Julia wants to argue. Hard-ass is too kind a description, but she keeps her mouth shut.
“I’m stubborn, and I’m rarely wrong.” Elena stops Samwise by the corral, and Julia manages to swing her leg over and slide off the horse without making a fool of herself. “You’re doing fine, though. Just keep working hard. I don’t want you to run.”
Julia stops brushing her hands on her jeans and looks up at Elena. She isn’t looking at Julia, but there’s something about the gleam in her eyes that makes Julia’s stomach clench. And just like that, the moment is over, and Elena is riding away on Samwise.
But the moment still happened, and Julia cannot stop thinking about it.
* * *
Julia wraps her wet head in a towel and steps out of the shower. The bathroom is full of steam, and the mirror is completely covered with condensation. She takes her hand and smears it across the mirror, revealing very tired eyes and cheeks pink from the sun. She glances down at her hands, at the blisters on her thumbs and the start of calluses on her palms.
She never imagined that working here would be leaving so many marks on her body. She has a huge scrape on her left arm from running through the sagebrush after the horses, too. It seems every time she turns around, she’s getting another scratch, bruise, blister, or mark.
After Julia gets dressed and throws her hair into a messy bun on top of her head, she heads out to the couch. She plops down on the love seat and promptly puts her feet up. It’s the first time she’s really been able to sit down and relax. Her mind immediately wanders to the events from earlier, to the bear, to Elena, to riding behind her and having to hold on for dear life.
“What the fuck,” she mumbles. She cannot be feeling like this about this woman. There’s no good that can come of it. All that will happen is heartache, and she’ll cry, and she has sworn off tears. Never again will she cry over a dumb woman or anything else, for that matter.
There’s a gentle knock at the screen door. A part of her doesn’t want to get up and answer it. Who the hell could be at the door at this time of night anyway? She pulls herself up from the couch, groaning from her sore muscles, and heads toward the door. Her eyes go wide when she sees Elena standing there.
“Miss Finch.” Elena is holding a reusable grocery bag, but her face is devoid of emotion. “I figured you needed some groceries. You haven’t taken Elijah up on the offer to use the truck to go into town.”
Julia is too shocked that Elena Bennett is standing at her door holding a bag full of groceries to respond.
“It’s just some necessities.”
“Um.” Julia fumbles with the latch on the screen door to open it. Her hands are shaking, and her fingers are sore, and she feels like an idiot who doesn’t know how to open a damn door.
“First time opening a door?”
The latch finally comes free, and Julia pushes the door open. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” she manages to say, not making eye contact. Elena steps into the cabin past Julia, and she can smell her. Is Elena wearing perfume? This late at night?
“I can put these away for you.” Elena beelines to the kitchen. She always moves with such determination that Julia doesn’t even consider saying she can handle it herself. It’s easier to not get in Elena’s way. Ever. Julia watches from the doorway as Elena unpacks the supplies. Elena opens the refrigerator, eyes the six-pack of beer and cold cuts. She glances over her shoulder at Julia, and Julia feels self-conscious, as if she’s been caught underage drinking or something. “Elijah’s been keeping you stocked?”
Julia nods.
“He’s the only person I know that actually likes Pabst Blue Ribbon and smoked turkey lunch meat.”
Is Elena talking to her? Like a normal human being? And being nice?
“You live like a homeless person.”
Spoke too soon. Julia wants to say that she’s clearly not homeless since they’re quite literally standing in her home, but she doesn’t. This isn’t her home. It never will be. But dammit, even if it was, why was this woman treating her like that? Elena really knows how to make her feel small and insignificant.
Elena turns after finding a spot for the groceries and looks Julia up and down. Her gaze makes Julia sweat. “So, your car is going to take a few months before it’s paid off.”
“What? How did you find that out?”
“Elijah just told me.”
Julia wants to vomit. A few months? This is ridiculous! What the hell kind of place is this? “Are you serious, or are you just saying that to hold me captive?”
“I’m sorry?”
“How much is it? Am I working for, like, a dollar an hour or what? I can’t believe this!” Julia is pissed. There’s no way she’s hanging around for that long. She’ll just escape and go steal her car back. She knows how to hotwire cars. That’s how she got the old Dart to begin with.
“I resent the implication that I’m a warden, Miss Finch. If you don’t believe me about your precious car, please feel free to call Ray at the shop.”
“You’re not going to tell me how much it is?”
“You can ask Elijah. He’s paying for it, after all.”
“This is bullshit.”
Elena’s face is beet red now. She looks like she’s going to blow a fuse at any moment. But Julia doesn’t care. She is pissed off! And for good reason! Elena’s hands are on her hips, and she squares her shoulders toward Julia. “You realize that
you are allowed to live in this cabin because I said so, right? That doesn’t have to continue. I can very easily kick you off my property, and you would be consigned to finding other work. Somewhere else. Where you don’t get food and lodging for free.”
The tone in Elena’s voice is enough to make Julia shut her mouth. She knows better than to argue, so she folds her arms across her chest. This “straighten up and fly right” crap is a routine she has had to do since she was old enough to remember. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yes, Miss Bennett. Fine.”
Elena mimics Julia’s stance. “You still haven’t bought boots, am I right?”
“How could I? I don’t have a car. Remember?” Julia knows she’s standing on thin ice, but she does not care at all. She is done being talked to like she’s an idiot.
Elena clenches her jaw. Julia notices the way her muscle flexes all the way down into her neck and curses herself for finding it sexy as hell. “Nine and a half?” Elena’s voice is dripping with anger.
“Do you mean my shoe size?”
“Yes, Miss Finch, your shoe size, not your age.”
Julia can practically taste the disdain. She rolls her eyes, though, because fuck her.
“Tomorrow is a big day. We’re bringing in a new horse.”
“Elijah mentioned it.” Julia furrows her brow. “Why another one?”
“We need another one for herding season,” Elena answers matter-of-factly. “Can’t very well have a ranch hand that doesn’t have a horse for cattle herding season.”
Julia’s mouth falls open. Her anger is dissipating now that Elena has implied that this horse will be Julia’s. What the hell? Why would Elena buy her a horse? “What are you talking about? I don’t need a horse.” She lowers her head but not before locking eyes with Elena.
A sly smile spreads across Elena’s face. “Now that you’ll be staying for a couple months, you’ll need one.”
