by Jeannie Watt
Yes. Civil would be fine with him.
* * *
ONCE DYLAN AND his grandfather drove away, Jolie went into the barn to visit her new animals.
Mike was obviously under the impression that the Lightning Creek Ranch was a permanent home to his pets. While she could understand why Dylan hadn’t told Mike the flat-out truth, it put her in a situation she hadn’t signed on for and she and Dylan would address that in the morning.
One of the goats nudged her from between the bars of the panels and she reached out to rub its bony head. Jolie sighed as the other goat crowded up for attention, ignoring the feed she’d given them, their little tails wagging a mile a minute.
Of course she was going to keep the animals, but she and Dylan were going to discuss his tactics all the same. And the bet. There would be no more bet. That had been made in the spirit of friendly competition. She saw now that friendship wasn’t going to work with them. They could be acquaintances. That would work.
Jolie left the goats to their feed and made her way to the house. Now that Dani was gone and the lights of the Staley house were dark, Jolie felt oddly restless. She’d already put Jenabelle through her paces and now she had nothing to do but retreat inside, kick around the house and wish that she’d given more thought to taking up a hobby.
Gus stuck close by her side, apparently sensing that she really hated going into the house alone. Allie was only a couple hours’ drive away. All of her sisters, except for Mel, were as close as a phone call, as was her mother, but she wasn’t going to call. Not tonight. Instead she was going to tackle this melancholy feeling on her own. She was at a place she loved, and it wasn’t as if she minded being alone...
But still she felt off. Unsettled.
There was nothing to do for it except put her head down and muscle through. So she’d messed up with Dylan and they would have some awkward moments ahead of them. Those types of things had never bothered her before and she wasn’t certain why they were bothering her now.
The only thing she was certain of was that she was still pissed at Dylan.
She saddled Jenabelle again, took a quick ride to the river then worked on the plank fencing behind the house until dark, putting a lot more pressure on the drill as she inserted more reinforcing screws than were totally necessary. When she finished, the boards were all reinforced, so the next step was to come up with a couple hundred extra dollars for paint. That meant she had to continue showing up for work at both the store and the bar. And that meant she needed to work out a peace treaty of sorts with Dylan.
She gave the matter a lot of thought that night. She would be polite. A model employee. It was her only course of action.
Dylan beat Jolie to the store again the next morning. Jolie sat in her old truck for moment, gathering strength before yanking the keys out of the ignition and making her way inside.
The store was dark except for the light in the office and Jolie decided that it would be best if she took the offensive immediately. She went to his office and knocked once on the door frame, something she’d never done before, but somehow it seemed appropriate now. When he looked up, she said, “The bet’s off.”
He started to speak and she held up her hand. For once she was going to lay out the way things were going to be. The way they should have been from the beginning. “I’ll put in my hours and I’ll do my job. Please don’t expect anything else from me.”
“What else might I have expected?” he asked gruffly.
“Pleasant conversation? Witty repartee? Help cleaning up after a failed lightbulb change? No more of that.” She shook her head and she meant it.
“A straight working relationship.”
“As if we were an officer and enlisted man.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
She gave a tiny snort through her nose. “I would.”
Jolie sold one of Marti’s expensive paintings a few hours later, which made her very glad she’d told Dylan that the bet was off. They were definitely getting more customers coming in to browse the boutique and new artisans were now calling her. If this turned out to be a successful venue for Marti’s work, she might bring in more paintings and she might throw more of her well-to-do clients’ business their way.
Yes. She was definitely glad the bet was off.
Dylan came in after loading a truck, stopping at the counter on his way to his office. “You sold a painting.”
Jolie’s hands stilled on the keyboard, which was fine, since she wasn’t so much typing as looking busy. “Yes.”
The single-word response hung between them for a moment and once again Jolie felt her heart do the slow thump-thump-thump as she waited for him to respond. Or leave.
Dylan’s mouth tightened momentarily. “You made Mike really happy by taking his animals. I’ll pay for their keep.”
Jolie’s eyebrows shot up. “I consider them my animals now and I’ll pay to feed them.”
“Jolie.”
“I plan to breed Karen and get a nice Jersey calf out of her.”
“Jolie...”
“What?”
“I didn’t tell him it was temporary because he’s under a lot of stress as is. I planned to tell him.”
“Did I complain about that? Have I said one word? No. Now if there’s nothing else, I have work to do.”
She waited until he said no before turning back to the computer screen and pretending that the stuff on it made sense.
This, she told herself angrily, is why you don’t get too friendly with the boss. It made work uncomfortable. If Dylan wasn’t her temporary boss, she’d probably look for another job, even though she enjoyed the store, the customers. Thankfully it wouldn’t be that long before Dylan would be out of there. All she had to do was put in her hours, wear her own equivalent of the cop face and endure.
* * *
DYLAN DID NOT like dealing with closed-off Jolie, even though he knew that this relationship was much better for both of them. He just wished he didn’t feel as if he’d lost something. And he didn’t like the fact that being at work didn’t feel nearly as pleasant as it had only a few days ago.
He brought up his computer program and scrolled through his inventory. Pleasant. When was the last time going to work had felt pleasant to him? He couldn’t remember a time prior to taking over the feed store.
When he’d been on patrol, work had felt both satisfying and frustrating. Frustrating in that there was no way the police could address all the wrongs in the city, but satisfying in that at least he was doing his small part. But pleasant was a new concept and that had been exactly how he’d felt right up until he’d found out that Jolie had been asking questions of Finn.
Finn hadn’t seemed to think it was a big deal, but Finn’s partner wasn’t sleeping with his ex-wife. Sneaking around so that Dylan kept blithely paying his part of the mortgage. He felt stupid and screwed over and...raw. Yeah. He felt raw. He didn’t want anyone to know that two people he’d cared for were now playing him as a sap.
And that’s what it came down to: broken trust, feeling like a failure and not wanting anyone to know. Even Finn didn’t know. The only people who had a pretty good picture of the situation were himself, Phil the PI and maybe Sadie. She was certainly bright enough to put the pieces together.
The bottom line was that this really all came down to hating to fail.
He’d always hated to fail.
He didn’t see Jolie for most of the day. Where he used to go out and hang around her counter a little, to see what she was doing, now he only saw her when he loaded a customer and even then she pretty much ignored him. Not that she didn’t treat him with respect. She was actually treating him with way more respect than was normal for an informal working environment. He’d noticed more than one customer shoot him a look when Jolie spoke to him in a cool, al
most formal tone that was very unlike the one she used with the customers. Respectful, yes. Friendly...not even close.
He was going to have to learn to live without friendly because he couldn’t shake the feeling that this uncomfortable relationship was better for both of them in the long run.
The store lights were out when he finally left his office at 5:45 p.m. He grabbed his lunch pail and headed out the door, stopping to lock it behind him. He rounded the corner of the building and found Jolie in the final stages of changing a flat tire on her truck.
“You should have got me,” he said as he approached.
She gave him a look over her shoulder. Wispy tendrils had escaped from her reddish-blond braid, giving her a messy, sexy look. “Why?”
Part of him said to just keep his mouth shut and walk on. He didn’t. “So I could help change the tire. You’re not dressed for it,” he added.
“I did fine,” she said as she stored the jack. “I do this a lot.”
“Maybe you should buy new tires.”
“Maybe,” she agreed shortly as he set down his pail and hefted the flat into the back of her truck without asking permission.
“Thank you,” she said in a cool voice. “I’ve got to hurry if I’m going to move the cows and make it to the bar on time.”
“Do you need help?”
He wasn’t certain why he asked, especially when it meant a drive five miles out of his way and he already knew the answer to the question.
“I can manage,” she said in the same polite tone as she got inside the truck. She closed the door without saying goodbye, started the truck and, after checking to see where he was standing, put it in Reverse.
Dylan watched her pull out of the lot before heading toward his own truck.
Last week she would have asked for help and he was having a hard time convincing himself that this honestly was a turn for the better.
* * *
JOLIE LOOKED IN her rearview mirror before turning onto the highway and saw Dylan standing right where she’d left him, staring after her.
What right did he have to look so offended that she hadn’t come running to him for help when she’d found her tire flat? If she needed that type of help she turned to friends. Dylan had made it very clear that he was her boss, not her friend...that she did not have the privileges of a friend, such as the right to feel concerned and voice those concerns. She hadn’t asked questions of Finn to hurt him in any way. Maybe it had been wrong to try to get some answers, but her intent had been good. She was worried. She wouldn’t waste her time worrying about Dylan again.
She just wished it was easier to shove him out of her thoughts.
When she got home, it was to find her escape artist, the little black heifer, on the wrong side of the fence, her mother pacing, calling to her. If she didn’t want to have to fix the fence, she needed to get the baby back on the other side before mama crashed through it.
This is number two, she thought as she got out of the truck and started herding the calf back toward the fence. What would be the third annoying incident of the day?
The calf galloped ahead of her in little spurts, her tail kinked sideways. Finally her mama gave a warning bellow and the calf popped under the wire. Okay. Easy fix.
Jolie opened the electric wire gate and let the ladies through to their new section of pasture, then headed back to the house to grab a quick bite and change. It was payday at several of the local establishments, so it was probably going to be a raucous night, which meant it would pass quickly. It also meant that she was so very glad that she had a short day ahead of her tomorrow—because she’d be tired and because she’d only have to deal with Dylan for four hours.
* * *
NOW THAT HIS animals had a home, Mike threw himself into moving with a more positive attitude. He made several trips to his new house while Dylan was at work, hauling smaller items, arranging his kitchen, staking out the area he wanted to make a garden. When Dylan got home, Mike grilled a couple of steaks and they sat on the porch instead of watching the news.
“Did you patch things up?” Mike finally asked.
Dylan had been expecting the question and had a ready answer. “We did.”
Hell of a lot easier than trying to explain the nuances of his relationship with Jolie. And it wasn’t really a lie—they now had a working relationship. It may not be the most comfortable relationship, but they knew their roles.
So why did he keep feeling this nagging urge to fix things. Or at the very least to apologize?
Because she hadn’t asked for his help fixing the flat? It made no sense, but it still niggled at him and he knew that she probably hadn’t had time to get it fixed. She’d be driving around late at night with no spare and bald tires and he didn’t like that idea at all.
He waited until Mike got out of his chair and announced it was time for bed before mentioning that he was going out for a while. Mike looked at first surprised then mildly approving.
“You didn’t need to stay home on my account.”
“I know. I just thought there was no sense going out too soon.”
“Meeting someone?”
“Checking in with a friend. I won’t be out long.”
“I’m not your keeper,” Mike said with a wave.
Good thing. Dylan waited until Mike’s bedroom door closed, debated for another half second, then grabbed his keys off the hook and headed out to his truck.
* * *
IT WAS TWO hours till closing and the place was busy, but not so busy that she didn’t notice Dylan come in through the side door. He paused briefly then headed for one of the small tables in the back that a couple had recently abandoned to play pool. He eased back in the chair, propping a shoulder against the wall and eyed the crowd.
She tried to ignore the fact that he was there, told herself that if he wanted something he could come to the bar, but that wasn’t the way Jim ran his establishment. So when she did her sweep of the room, picking up empties and checking to see who needed refills, she stopped at his table.
“Here alone?”
“Appears so.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if he was meeting friends, but it was really none of her business. “What can I get you?”
“Draft.”
She wound her way back to the bar, stopping at two more tables and willing herself not to glance in his direction. Wondering why she even felt the need. If he wanted to stop in, have a beer, then good for him. It had nothing to do with her.
Or so she thought until she brought his draft to the table and set it down. Their eyes connected and she felt a jolt as she looked into the blue depths. She slowly raised her chin, pissed at herself, and asked if he needed anything else. When he shook his head, she abruptly turned and walked on to the next table.
“Are you all right?” Jim asked as she came back around the bar.
“Fine. Why?”
“You wandered unusually close to Maddox and his cronies.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the group of guys sitting a few tables away from the bar. Maddox touched the bill of his cap at her, but his expression was carefully distant. She turned back to Jim. “Maddox and I had a discussion last weekend. I don’t think he’ll get friendly again.”
“Especially not with your feed store boss there giving him the dead eye.”
She couldn’t help it. She turned to see what he was talking about, but Dylan wasn’t looking at Maddox. He was looking straight at her. And he didn’t look away.
“Excuse me.” She took a few steps toward Dylan, then stopped and looked over her shoulder at Jim. “Can I take my break now?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks.” She went back to set her tray under the bar, then headed across the room and pulled out a chair at Dylan’s table
.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
He nodded at the beer.
“So you’re not stalking me.”
She’d hoped for a bit of outrage, but instead the corners of his mouth tilted up. “Hardly. But I was worried about you driving that truck here with no spare.”
“How do you know I have no spare?”
“Do you?”
Her jaw clenched before she said, “No. I’ll have one tomorrow.”
“Which won’t help you tonight.”
“Listen, I don’t need you taking care of me.” She leaned forward to continue in a low voice. “Here’s the deal. I thought we were becoming friends. I was mistaken. So I backed off. I don’t want you butting into my life any more than you want me butting into yours.”
Dylan exhaled heavily. “I just want my private life left alone.”
“You made that abundantly clear. And for the record, I wasn’t digging. I asked Finn a simple question.” That, for some unknown reason he’d passed along to Dylan, which still annoyed her. She stabbed a finger down on the table. “But you were right. We work together and we need to maintain a business relationship.”
“That wasn’t what I said.”
“Well, that is what I heard and that’s the way I want things to be. I see now that’s the way things should be.”
“Is that the way they are with Jim?”
She simply stared at him. She was good friends with Jim, but that was different. She wasn’t attracted to Jim. “That is really none of your business.”
“No. It’s not.”
“So why did you ask?”
“Because maybe I didn’t handle things well between you and me in our workplace.”
Tension wrapped around them as they silently regarded one another for a long moment.
Jolie suddenly felt the need to move, to put distance between them. The small table didn’t provide enough of a buffer. “No,” she said as she stood. “You handled things perfectly.” Because she’d been slipping into the realm of temptation, thinking about him a little too much. “My break’s almost over.”
