Not His Type

by Shanna Hatfield

  As he left work, he hoped to see her in the parking lot and when he didn’t, he realized he was spending way too much time thinking about a girl he wasn’t interested in at all. She simply wasn’t his type.

  He liked a pretty girl on his arm and the library mouse was about the worst dressed female he’d ever seen. But the more he got to know her, the more fascinated he became by her. He was starting to get the idea that there was a whole lot more to this timid librarian than first met the eye.

  The fact that she wouldn’t even tell him her name just furthered the sense of intrigue and made him even more determined to get to know her better. When Jake set his mind to something, it might as well be a done deal.

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  Her soft T-shirt and faded jeans felt so comfortable after spending all day in the work clothes she hated. Anna decided when she got home that night the beige suit was going in the donation box as soon as it was cleaned.

  During college, Anna worked part-time as a copy editor for a daily newspaper. When she graduated, she continued working evenings as a copy editor while adding a full-time job as a fact-checker for a magazine during the day. Used to the physical demands of growing up on a farm, she quickly put on weight with her two jobs spent sitting in front of a computer. Her activity was very limited, living in a small apartment with three other girls. She had no social life and never went anywhere. Just worked and read, lived frugally and saved up a considerable sum of money. She loved the work, but not so much her waistline. Regardless, she had a wardrobe of very nice suits and business attire. After moving back home and having to once again meet the physical requirements of active farming the past several months, Anna had lost not only the extra weight, but gained a lot of muscle in the bargain.

  She knew her current wardrobe was baggy and unattractive. The more encounters she had with Jake, the more she wished she could change her appearance. Maybe she’d get inspired to do something soon.

  <><><>

  Anna and Ken were busy working on some seasonal repairs to the hay stacker when Sam wheeled himself out to the shop in his new wheelchair they dubbed the farm buggy. He could go just about anywhere in it except up stairs. Lisa walked along with him, her hand on his shoulder as he pushed the chair along.

  Anna mused that Sam was one lucky guy. Lisa was small and delicate with a heart-shaped face, framed by her pixie cut mahogany hair. Her sweet appearance could be misleading because she was stubborn, strong, loyal and opinionated – a perfect match for Sam.

  “What do you two crazy kids have planned this evening,” Ken asked as they came inside the shop where he tinkered with the stacker and Anna handed him tools.

  “Not much,” Sam said as he came up close and intently watched what his dad was doing. Sam had done all the work he could reach from the farm buggy servicing the equipment and getting it ready for their first cutting of hay. There were still some things that needed attention and no matter he far he stretched, he was not going to be able to reach. What was causing him to fidget was the fact that he knew he could do the job better than his dad and Anna yet he couldn’t do a thing about it.

  Lisa squeezed Sam’s shoulder, reminding him that he couldn’t be in control of everything and that his dad was the one who taught him all about farming.

  Smiling up at her, he patted her hand. “We thought we’d go to the drive-in. Would you like to come Anna? It’s a comedy.”

  Anna looked at them both and smiled. The last thing they needed was a third wheel, which is exactly what she would be. At the drive-in, Sam didn’t have to feel self-conscious about his wheelchair and could pretend he and Lisa were there like they’d been so many times before the accident.

  “I think I’ll pass but you two have a good time,” Anna said with a grin.

  “Just behave yourself, Tuff,” Ken said, calling Sam by his nickname and giving his son a wink.

  “Right, Dad,” Sam said, trying not to blush. His dad had called him Tuff since he was three and pushed down a little boy at church declaring himself “tough.” The name stuck and his family had used it since, much to his embarrassment. “Well, we’re off then. See you later.”

  Anna felt her heart squeeze as she watched Sam get into his car and drive off with his girl. Such a wonderful thing to be able to do something so simple, something they all took for granted a year ago. She could see a huge difference in Sam, now that he was able to be more mobile and independent. The therapist said with continued effort it wasn’t unthinkable for Sam to walk again.

  Brushing at a tear, Anna turned her attention back to her dad only to find him watching Sam drive off as well.

  “It’s a grand thing, isn’t it, Sugar?” Ken said, clearing his throat. “Tuff will be walking again before we know it.”

  They worked in silence for a while before Ken and Anna struck up a conversation about when they would start cutting hay, what pasture to move their herd of Angus cattle into next and the fallow acreage in the northeast corner of the place where Anna and Sam thought they should try raising something experimental.

  “You know, Sugar, we’ve talked about trying a lot of different things in that corner, but I really think we should get the soil tested and see what might grow best there before we make any decisions,” Ken said as he started putting tools away.

  “Well, I know one of the county extension agents who does soil testing. I could talk to him about it if you want me to,” Anna said, hoping her father would not pick up on the underlying interest in her seeing Jake again.

  “Really? What’s his name?” her dad asked casually.

  “Jake Chandler. I’ve heard he’s very good. He comes into the library quite a bit doing research and such,” Anna said, swirling the toe of her boot around on the shop floor.

  “Well, isn’t that a coincidence?” her dad questioned. “Isn’t he the fellow that knocked the books out of your hand twice and nearly ran you over recently in the parking lot?”

  “Yes,” Anna said, looking everywhere but at her dad. “Why?”

  “Well, it just so happens I stopped by the extension office the other day myself and filled out an application to have someone come out and test that corner,” Ken said, looking right at Anna.

  He wasn’t as dense as wife and his daughter gave him credit for being. He knew Anna had a crush on Jake Chandler and decided to go meet the young man himself. Getting that corner soil tested was a good excuse to meet Jake.

  From what he saw, he seemed like an upright kind of kid. Ken laughed to himself. He knew every inch of soil on this place and could have told Sam and Anna exactly what would grow best in that corner, but he enjoyed watching them work together on ideas and now it gave him an opportunity to play at a little matchmaking for his daughter.

  Anna was still looking at her dad like he’d lost his mind as she helped him put the last of the tools away and start toward the house.

  “Did you remember to ask Mrs. Baxter for time off next week?” Ken asked Anna as they went in the kitchen door.

  “Yes, I have Tuesday through the rest of the week off. Will that give us enough time to get the haying done?” Anna asked as she washed her hands and poured them both a glass of cool lemonade.

  “I think so,” Ken said. “Now we just pray the weather cooperates and we can get it all down and stacked before we get any rain or windstorms.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Anna had been out working since 5 a.m. that morning. She was running the hay baler while her dad stacked the hay. She had two more windrows to go and then she’d be done with this field and could take a much needed break before moving on to the next one. Reaching the end of the row, Anna turned the tractor around to see a navy blue pickup driving down their lane.

  She wondered who would be headed out to the farm on a weekday. She and her dad had both taken the rest of the week off to get the haying finished. Her mom was at work and Sam was at a therapy session. Anna watched the pickup pull up to the house and knew the driver would discover no one home. Her dad was in the
hayshed behind the barn so hopefully whoever it was would find him.

  Anna turned her attention back to the task at hand and finished the job in short order. She climbed out of the tractor and was feeding the loose hay from the corner of the field into the baler when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

  Startled she spun around and looked into the face of Jake Chandler.

  Good gracious, but he was handsome. Even more so up close out here in the open with nothing but blue sky as a background, the same color as his eyes. The breadth of his shoulders caught her by surprise as did his height. It wasn’t often that Anna had to look up to see someone’s face, not that she minded when it was one as good looking as Jake’s.

  He was pointing toward a field and said something she couldn’t hear. She tried to read his lips, but with his head turned away, she couldn’t make out a word. Anna jerked off her ball cap and leaned toward him, trying to hear, but it was impossible. She never wore her hearing aid out on the equipment because it was so loud. Holding a gloved hand in front of her with a sign to wait, she stepped up on the tractor and turned off the ignition.

  As the tractor and baler shut down, the noise level died and Anna jumped down, covering the ground back to Jake in a few long steps, removing her gloves and sunglasses as she approached him.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear what you said. Could you please repeat it?” she asked, trying not to be intimidated. This was the one place in the world where she felt confident and she was determined not to turn into a sniveling ninny in front of Jake today.

  Jake was having a hard time remembering why he came out to the Zimmerman place let alone what he’d just said.

  When he saw someone standing at the baler, he hadn’t really paid attention. He parked his truck and walked around the tractor, admiring the nice view of rolling hills and well-tended fields. He spoke as he walked up to the person running the baler, assuming he’d found a son or young hired hand, his attention diverted by the beauty of the farmland.

  Tapping the person on the shoulder, he continued talking, looking back toward the house and explaining he didn’t find anyone at home. He turned to look the person in the face and was surprised to see not a teenage boy, as he expected, but a lovely young woman. She removed a ball cap and a thick braid fell out of it swinging more than half-way down her back. She held her hand up at him and climbed into the tractor far enough to turn it off.

  She jumped back down and took a couple long-legged strides toward him in snug jeans and worn purple cowboy boots. Her lavender tank top did little to conceal her womanly curves, and it looked like with her finely toned arms, tan and strong, that she spent a good deal of time working outside. Removing her gloves and sunglasses, she asked Jake to repeat his question, in a smooth sultry voice that seemed oddly familiar.

  He would have, but his thoughts seemed to be lost in the violet pools staring back at him. How he hadn’t noticed right off that this was all woman and not a boy was beyond him. He was really going to have to pay more attention.

  “Have we met before?” Jake finally asked, feeling like he knew this girl from somewhere. The violet eyes reminded him of the timid librarian he seemed to be bumping into all too often. This girl looked anything but shy and mousy. She was vibrantly alive.

  She laughed with a warm throaty sound that reeled Jake in like a fish on a line. “You might say that.”

  Jake continued staring at her and she stared right back, tension crackling between them. Finally, she broke the silence. “Is there some way I may provide assistance?”

  “I’m looking for the Zimmerman farm,” Jake finally said, remembering his reason for being out here in the first place.

  “We’ll you’ve found it,” the beautiful woman replied. “What can we do for you?”

  “Are you Mrs. Zimmerman?” Jake asked, knowing that it didn’t matter in regard to the purpose of his business, but that it mattered a great deal concerning the future state of his heart.

  Again, she laughed the deep, throaty sound. “No. That would be my mom and she’s at work. My dad is out in the stack yard though. Would you like to speak with him?”

  “That would be great,” Jake said, trying to conceal his excitement that this was a daughter and not a wife. He’d yet to meet a girl that he couldn’t sweet talk into at least one date. He hoped Miss Zimmerman wouldn’t be the exception.

  “If you give me a ride, I’ll show you where you can find Dad,” Anna said, feeling quite proud of herself for not stumbling over her tongue, hiding her head, slouching or acting in general anything like she normally did in front of a stranger, especially one as unbelievably gorgeous as Jake.

  Jake rushed around his pickup and held open the door for her. He still had the nagging sense that he should know this girl from somewhere. Climbing behind the wheel, he started the engine and headed back toward the house.

  “So, we have met before?” Jake asked. “I don’t think I could forget meeting you.”

  Anna put her sunglasses back on. Turning to Jake she smiled. “You nearly bowled me over outside the library a month or so ago. You knocked a stack of books out of my hands at the collection box, you’ve teased me mercilessly for weeks and don’t forget your attempt to run over me in the parking lot.”

  “You!” Jake spluttered. “You’re the library girl who won’t tell me her name?”

  “Guilty as charged,” Anna said, enjoying the moment and the shocked look on Jake’s face. “I’m Anna. Anna Zimmerman.”

  “It’s nice to make your acquaintance Anna Zimmerman,” Jake said with a smile. As they pulled into the stack yard behind the hay shed, he couldn’t believe his little library mouse and this girl were one in same. Hiding behind those baggy clothes and thick glasses was someone Jake couldn’t help but notice. He would never have pegged her for a hard-working farm girl in a million years. But here she was, with dusty boots, dirty jeans, work gloves and a ball cap, obviously accustomed to the manual labor.

  When he stopped the pickup, Anna didn’t give him a chance to open her door, but jumped out and rushed over to her dad. He didn’t know what was said, but a smile and a warm handshake greeted him as he walked around his truck.

  “Jake Chandler, sir, from the County Extension Soil and Water Office. We met the other day,” Jake said, returning the handshake.

  “Nice to see you again, Jake,” Ken said. “My Anna has mentioned you a few times. What can we do for you today?”

  Jake could only imagine what Anna had shared about him with her family. The jerk who was making a habit of knocking her down. Clearing his throat he decided it best to stick to business.

  “I came about the application you brought in for some soil testing for thirty-five acres of ground in your northeast corner. I was hoping to take some samples today, if that would be alright.”

  “Sure,” Ken said, taking off his hat and wiping the sweat from his brow. “Sugar, would you mind showing Jake that section we discussed? I want to see if I can pick up another stacker load of hay before lunch.”

  “No problem,” Anna said, turning to Jake with a smile. “Do you have a lot of equipment you need to take with you?”

  Jake reached into the back of his truck and pulled out a toolbox. “Everything I need is right here.”

  “Great. We can run over on the four-wheeler and save time,” Anna said, already walking toward a four-wheeler parked by the hayshed.

  Jake looked at Anna then back at her dad before touching his fingers to his hat, “It was nice to see you Mr. Zimmerman.”

  “You as well, Jake,” Ken said, as he turned back to his stacking with a spring in his step, whistling a tune. That boy had it bad for his Anna. As bad as she had it for him, or he would eat his hat.

  Anna started the four-wheeler and turned it around. Jake quickly climbed on behind her and then felt uncertain as to where to put his toolbox or his hands. Anna turned and grabbed the toolbox, strapping it into a carrying case on the front of the machine. As she shifted into gear, she grinned at Jake a
nd said, “You can hang onto me or keep your balance on your own.”

  Jake tugged down his hat and decided Anna wasn’t going to go fast enough to cause him to lose his balance or his seat, leaving his hands resting on his thighs. As she took off across the field behind the hayshed at what seemed like breakneck speed, Jake quickly grabbed her waist and held on. Despite the fact she had obviously been hard at work, her soft tropical floral scent drifted around him, teasing his senses. He also couldn’t help but notice how tiny and trim her waist seemed beneath his hands.

  He would never have pictured his little library mouse even knowing how to get on a four-wheeler let alone be able to drive it so skillfully and fast. In just minutes she was pulling up at a fenced corner of property and turning off the ignition.

  Jake gathered the samples he needed while Anna watched with open curiosity. Most girls he knew would have been bored silly, but Anna seemed genuinely interested in what he was doing, so he began to explain to her how they collected samples, what he was looking for and part of the testing process. She asked several intelligent questions before he finished, then quietly waited while he labeled the samples and stored everything back in the toolbox.

  Strapping the toolbox back in the front carrier, Jake watched Anna leaning against the four-wheeler. She seemed so alive, so confident. So enticing. If he wasn’t careful, he could find himself caring about her more than he wanted to. But she wasn’t his type. At all. Which was why he had to tamp down the intense desire to remove those sunglasses she was wearing and satisfy his curiosity to know if her rosy lips tasted as temptingly sweet as they looked.