She didn’t say anything, and instead collapsed back into her quiet thoughts. He would have talked more but he heard Loretta call his name and got up.
“That’s my cue,” he said.
“Yes of course. I’m sorry if my questions seemed strange,” she said. “Sometimes I- “
“It wasn’t any trouble,” he said. “I’ll see you around.”
Even as he said that, he was struck with the thought that he did want to see her around, a little too much. He didn’t exactly want to get introspective about how often she occupied his mind, mainly because he knew the answer already-far too often. Still, he couldn’t resist looking back at her as he left, imprinting the image of her in his mind and seeing it as he drove back to where his brothers were waiting for him.
Chapter Four
“I called up her references,” Jaimie announced over breakfast.
For once they were eating at home, Mark having taken the step to make some eggs and bacon. Pieces of toast disappeared from the middle of the table as Pete poured cups of coffee for all of them. Drew didn’t say anything as he wolfed down everything in front of him but Pete concentrated on Jaimie’s words and said,
“What did they have to say?”
“They said she was a good worker and she can adapt to anything,” Jaimie responded. “I wasn’t sure that it would work out but it seems like they think she is good enough to work for us.”
“Are you going to hire her?”
“I called her last night,” Jaimie replied. “She’s scheduled to be here in an hour or so.”
Pete hoped that she wasn’t going to be in the same strange mood she’d been in last night. It had been disconcerting to see and he couldn’t help but think about it, replaying their conversation in bed as he struggled to sleep.
“I liked her,” Drew volunteered. “Hopefully her cooking is going to be better than what Mark can manage.”
Mark didn’t rise to the bait and instead said, “Maybe you should cook next time.”
“Maybe I will, if I remember,” Drew said grinning.
“No bloodshed at breakfast,” Jaimie said mildly as he buttered his toast. “We promised Ma we wouldn’t kill each other.”
Pete settled on drinking his coffee, preferring to keep his thoughts to himself. He couldn’t help but wonder what sort of change she was going to bring to the ranch and to all of their lives.
Lana had fluctuated between shock and extreme elation after receiving Jaimie’s call the night before. She hadn’t thought they would actually consider her, but when Jaime Simmons, she hoped she had the right brother in mind, had called her, she had been ecstatic. Now she wouldn’t have to go back to the stifling atmosphere of her family and play dress up so that she could fit in. She wouldn’t have to pretend to be happy when she was miserable inside. And most importantly, she wouldn’t have to marry a man he didn’t love just because her father insisted on it. She could stay here; work, save some money and finally be able to do what she had always dreamed of doing.
She packed everything she had, paid the money to Donna, who cheerily wished her good luck, and then walked all the way to the ranch underestimating the strength of her enthusiasm.
By the time she had reached the ranch path, she was already tired, sweaty and gasping for breath.
Regardless, she made it all the way to the door before she had to stop and bend over so that she breathe easier.
Even as she stood there, trying to catch her breath, Pete arrived, puzzled by the sight in front of him, she simply stood there, staring.
“Do you need some help?” he asked.
“I… “she gasped and said, “I came to see Jaimie.”
“He’s by the stables. How about you leave your suitcase here and come with me?”
She nodded and followed him as they walked towards the stables. She drank in the sight of the ranch, awed by how beautiful and large it seemed to be.
“How big is the ranch?” she asked.
“Pretty big,” Pete said. “It used to be about this size,” he indicated from the house to where they were standing, close to the horse pen, “while my dad was in charge, but when he passed, we decided to buy out the surrounding plots of land and here we are.”
“That sounds like quite the expansion,” she said.
“That’s why we need you,” he said grinning. “In all honesty, we just don’t have time to keep up with the domestic chores and keep the ranch running and prosperous.”
Lana, despite herself, couldn’t help but think that he looked very handsome at that moment, when he spoke so lovingly about the ranch and said,
“I hope I won’t let you guys down.”
“We hope so too,” he said warmly. “Here we are then.”
They had reached the stables which was the nearest animal home to the main ranch house. She could see Jaimie talking with some other people and couldn’t help but admire him. Of course, all the brothers were handsome and once she had gotten over her confusion about them being the family of four, she felt that it was her duty, as a warm-blooded woman, to admire all of them. They were very handsome and she could see the intense family resemblance between the four of them; though if she had to pick one, she would choose Pete but that thought alone was laughable. Still, she knew even as she was watching Jaimie that it was Pete who grew more admirable and handsome each time she encountered him.
She looked away, hoping that she wasn’t blushing as Pete walked over to Jaimie.
“Good morning,” Jaime said smiling. His mature face shone and made her smile.
“Morning,” she said.
“Let’s go somewhere else and discuss everything,” he said, glancing at the other workers near them. “George can handle the rest.”
She nodded and they walked over to the corner of the stables, overlooking the entrance through which she could see the horses inside.
“So, let’s get everything sorted out,” he said. “As you’ll start working from today, take it easy but normally as mentioned, you will have your duties and you can have every Friday off.”
“Sounds great,” she smiled. “What exactly are my duties, just so we’re on the same page.”
“Oh,” Jaimie said, “Well, you need to cook, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Do laundry for all four of us and keep the house generally clean. In exchange, we’ll be paying you one hundred dollars a week subject to increase after three months have gone by. Your room and board are included in your pay,” he said.
“That sounds perfect,” she said, extending her hand.
Jaimie smiled and took her slender hand in his, giving it a firm but gentle shake.
She nodded. It didn’t sound bad seeing as she wouldn’t have to pay any lodging fees and she could certainly save a few dollars while she worked for them. She just had to work well enough to convince them that she knew what she was doing.
“That covers the basics and I am sure Pete can fill in the rest,” Jaimie said. “We’ll see you at lunch then.”
He walked off, leaving the two of them alone. She looked at Pete who smiled once more and said,
“Let’s go back and I’ll show you to your room.”
The walk back was quiet and she was mulling over everything as she reached the house. He opened the door for her and then led the way to the stairs. On the second floor, he stopped at the first door beside the stairs and said,
“This will be your room.”
She nodded and walked in, marveling at the cleanliness and comforting look of it. There was a single bed, a desk, an armchair and a relatively spacious closet. There was no bathroom however and he said,
“There’s a bathroom on this floor and one on the first floor. You can use whichever one you want, although we often use the first floor one, so you might want to lay claim to the one up here.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I’ll leave you to settle in. If you need anything there’s a list of numbers by the phone downstairs, you should be able to find one
of us at the end of the line if you try each number in order. I have to go get some work done.”
“What is it you do?” she asked, willing to embarrass herself if it meant he’d stay a little longer. He was so damn easy on the eyes.
“I keep the financial records for the ranch in order,” Pete said, smiling with pleasure. “I’ll see you at lunch, Lana.”
With that he left her alone as she sat on the bed before falling back to stare at the ceiling, a ridiculously happy smile on her face. This was it. She was on her way to working for four of the handsomest men she’d ever known. She had to make sure that they didn’t suspect anything. She checked the clock on her cell phone and saw that it was twelve. In two hours, she supposed, they would come to have lunch so the first thing she had to do was get something ready for them to eat.
Lana dressed in more casual attire, choosing jeans and a tank top. Before starting lunch, she decided to do was familiarize herself with the house. With her room checked off the list, she went around to check out the other rooms. So, she went to the room next to hers, which was open, and saw that it was much different from what she had. The room was as spacious as hers but it had a queen-sized bed pushed into the far corner, two armchairs and a desk splayed with papers and such. This was going to be a nightmare to clean.
The room beside that was clean, more or less. The bed sheets on the queen-sized bed had been roughly smoothed, she could clearly see dust on the frame, but the rest was more or less normal.
The third and fourth rooms were the same in terms of how many papers there were lying everywhere and how clean it was. She definitely had her work cut out for her. Noticing that her time was dwindling away, she ran downstairs so that she could make some food for them. First impressions were everything and this particular one, she knew, would make or break the duration of her employment. She had to be able to impress them or she was certain she would be let go the next day.
The kitchen seemed easy enough to navigate but when she opened the door to the refrigerator, she went blank as she stared at the contents. There was some meat, eggs and several other things she could not identify. She calmed herself down and then tried to think. What could she make? Something with the meat? Was it supposed to be chicken? She wasn’t sure.
She took out her cell, ready to use the Internet for her help except she had no service. Jaime hadn’t told her anything about any service and she was completely stranded now.
Apparently, the four had no use of the Internet except on rare occasion. She’d seen a modem system that was attached to the office that was next to her room, but if they used Wi-Fi, she had no idea what the password was. All she knew was that she was now alone, without a clue on how she was going to make lunch for four men and herself of course.
Think Lana, she told herself, I have to make something at least passable.
She rooted through the cupboards and found some seasonings, not that she knew anything about which ones to use really. She could maybe make something with the meat? There wasn’t anything else to pick to make things so she had to go with that. The first thing she had to do was identify what kind of meat she was actually dealing with.
She looked at it carefully and determined that it was definitely chicken. It was white so it had to be right?
Whatever, she thought.
The chicken was semi-frozen so she let it thaw out on the counter as she worked on cutting some onions and garlic. Her hands shook as she did so and it took her a long time just to make sure that everything was actually cut up. Even then they were so big that it made her aware of her ineptitude in the kitchen. Why had she chosen a housekeeping job when she could barely manage to find her way around the kitchen, any kitchen?
Sighing she thought, maybe they won’t see it once it’s cooked.
Somehow the hour slipped by as she mixed in the chicken, added some seasonings, some water and a lot of other things she couldn’t remember. She had found some rice in the cupboards and had put that to boil, having no idea how much water she had to give, as the packaging wasn’t in English. After a while when she tasted the chicken, she sighed. It was passable; if none of them expected lots of flavor.
She was about to check the rice when the door opened and she jumped.
She turned to see Drew who sniffed and said,
“Hi, I see you have the cooking going.”
She was tongue tied and all she did was nod as she frantically tried to handle everything. After a while, Drew walked away to his room hopefully leaving her alone. She didn’t want him to see her freak out, because she was certainly doing so on the inside. The rice was taking an abnormally long time but the chicken was done, if being done only meant cooked through, so she left it and walked up to take everything out of her luggage.
She returned ten minutes later to see that all the water from the rice had evaporated and she cursed herself as she dumped the heavy pot in the sink after scraping the edible rice from it. Why did she have to be so stupid?
She looked around carefully and knew that Drew was in his room so she cleaned up the pot and disposed of the burnt rice remains under the sink where the waste basket was. When she had the chance, she would dispose of it before any of them noticed it.
At least the kitchen didn’t smell too burnt as she had thought it would. Why hadn’t she turned the burner off, she scolded herself.
She was kind of done but she was afraid to taste anything so she just set the table for four and set to cleaning which took up a long time and even then, she couldn’t get the bits of rice unstuck from the pot.
It was two when they all started to come in and she had cleaned herself up, brushing back her hair and standing smiling for them. A stone like smile that she had conjured up in the last minute.
“Smells good,” Pete said.
He is lying through his teeth, she thought. The kitchen smelt like burnt rice and sweat.
They sat down and she served them, her hands slightly shaking as she did. She avoided eye contact with all of them.
“Didn’t you set yourself a spot?” Mark said.
She shook her head and said, “I’ll eat later.”
They nodded and took a bite. For a long second, there was nothing more than silence, and then they continued to eat. Lana could have collapsed with relief. She knew that it wasn’t good, she had barely passed at making something, but it was edible enough she supposed. Even though she had burnt the rice and she could plainly see that some of the chicken was scorched in places.
Without a word, they all finished and smiled at her once, leaving her alone to clean up.
Lana stacked all of the plates in the sink before setting a dish for herself and eating it before almost gagging. Oh god the rice did have that faint burnt taste, the chicken was tasteless at best and the vegetables were too big, leaving then crunchy and undercooked. She had failed at everything.
Considering they hadn’t said anything she figured they were just being nice, but this was a bad start to her stay here.
She managed to choke it down, setting the plate among the others before leaning on the counter.
This stay wasn’t going to be as easy as she had originally thought it might be.
Chapter Five
Pete had just put the last signature on his ledger when he heard the knock on his door.
It was Mark who came in and sat down as Pete closed the ledger.
“Something wrong?” he asked, noting the look in Mark’s eyes.
Mark seemed to hesitate before he said,
“Something seemed off about lunch today?”
Pete didn’t comment on it. He had been hoping it was just him who had tasted the burnt taste in the already overdone rice. The chicken was okay, meaning that it didn’t taste like anything deadly, but he didn’t say anything to Mark about it.
“Not really, what about you?”
“It was okay. I guess I just expected it to be better,” Mark said.
“It’s a new kitchen for her. She needs time to adjust
to it,” he replied. He wasn’t sure why he was defending her but somehow, he thought she needed it. There was a nervous air about her that he felt could be because of a new job, but they would have to wait and see how it went. It was only her first day; she needed some allowance for it.
“If you say so,” Mark said. “Maybe it’ll be better at dinner.”
“Speaking of dinner,” Peter said. “Do we have enough supplies for it?”
Mark’s face went blank before he cursed slowly.
“We didn’t stock and we didn’t even tell her what to do. Did you show her around the ranch?”
“She saw the stables,” Pete said before getting Mark’s point. “Of course, she wouldn’t know and we didn’t even give her any money to shop for anything to cook. Let’s go back to the house and see what she’s doing.”
The two walked off towards the house which seemed strangely quiet and walked in to find Lana bent over as she cleaned the floor. Her hair had stuck to the back of her neck and looking at her, Pete felt his heart slam into his chest. Still, even attraction didn’t explain the way his heart sped up and then quieted at the sight of her looking rather disheveled.
“Oh hello,” she said standing up too quickly and almost tripping. Before either of them could help her, she had steadied herself with the help of the couch.
“How are you doing?” Mark asked.
“Fine,” she said quickly.
“We remembered that there wasn’t anything to cook with so let’s go shopping, shall we?” Mark said.
She nodded and was about to follow them when Pete said,
“You might want to change.”
She looked down and blushed, seeing what Pete saw; wet patches on her shirt and the knees of her jeans.
“I’ll be right back,” she said breathlessly.
She rushed upstairs, leaving the two of them to stare at the wet ground. Mark had an unfathomable expression on his face and Pete didn’t say anything. Lana was starting to look like she was a little out of her depth with everything but he wasn’t going to say anything until she had had adequate time to adjust to their house.
Simmons Brothers Series: Boxed Set Page 3
