by Misty Malone
“That’s right,” Garrett confirmed. “Don’t worry, though, after a couple weeks you won’t even give them any thought. He really isn’t being dictatorial or anything like that. He just wants to be sure everyone’s safe. As I’m getting older and training to be the foreman, I appreciate his concern for safety more. I see how important it is now, and I’m glad the men are already used to the rules and follow them without question. I’m sure it’ll be the same with you. A couple weeks from now you won’t even give them a second thought.”
“Yeah, maybe. It’ll take some getting used to, though.”
“It might,” Helen said, “but we’ll remind you if you forget. Just remember, we want to be sure you and everyone else on the ranch are safe. Now, who’s ready for some dessert? Maria made us something special tonight to welcome our guest.”
True to his word, after supper Garrett suggested that he and Mindy take a short walk to let their food digest before they swim. He took her for a quick tour of the ranch buildings, telling her what each one was. He headed them back toward the house and upstairs. He left her at her room, saying he’d meet her at the pool.
He changed into his swim trunks and went down to the pool. He dove in and swam a couple laps and was climbing out to wait for her when she came out of the house. Mindy had definitely gotten his attention at the airport, but here, in a swimsuit, his mouth dropped open. Luckily, he came out of his momentary trance and closed his mouth before she looked up at him. He smiled and tried to sound casual. “I got a towel out for you, Mindy. I put it on one of the lounge chairs. I’m glad you suggested this tonight. It’s exactly what I needed to work off some of this pent-up energy, and the water feels great.”
“Oh, good. It looks wonderful. I’m not used to it being warm enough to swim yet in the first part of May, but it’s nice here.” He watched as she walked over to the edge of the pool and dipped her foot in. “Ooh, that feels nice,” she agreed. He couldn’t help but notice her demeanor. She was a beautiful lady, with gorgeous hair and the kind of figure he preferred. Seeing her in a swimsuit emphasized that she was definitely a woman. She wasn’t heavy in any sense of the word, but she definitely had curves, all of them perfect. He had a hard time diverting his attention so he wasn’t staring at her.
What amazed him, though, was that she acted as if she wasn’t aware of her beauty. Most ladies that had a nice figure took full advantage of it, flaunting it. She didn’t. She didn’t do even one single thing that women do when they’re trying to get a man’s attention, or make them aware of or notice her. She was there to enjoy a swim. How refreshing was that?
As he watched, she dove in, and came up smiling. “Boy, you’re right; that does feel nice, doesn’t it?”
The two of them swam for an hour, stopping to rest along the side from time to time. During one of those rest breaks, she surprised him. “You’re a good swimmer, Garrett, but I’ll bet I can beat you down and back.”
The ornery grin on her face was more than he could resist. “You’re challenging me?”
“You bet I am, big guy. All those years we knew each other you never did take me seriously. If I can beat you at this, maybe you’ll finally see me as an adult.”
He tilted his head a bit as he looked at her. “Okay, little girl,” he said with a grin, “you’re on. Are we starting from in the water, or diving in?”
“It doesn’t matter to me, I can beat you either way, so you pick,” she said with an air of confidence that was just downright adorable.
“Oh, you think so, do you? If we dive in I’ll have a half a body length advantage over you right from the start, so we better start from inside. I want you to have every possible chance, so you don’t have any excuses when I beat you.”
Her eyes were wide, but mischievous. “We’ll see who’s looking for excuses after I beat you,” she said, swimming to the closest edge.
He got into place beside her. “You start us.”
“Ready, set, go!”
The two were off, and to Garrett’s surprise, she got ahead of him. He’d planned on holding back and letting her beat him, but just barely. But with her taunting at the end, he’d decided maybe he should try to come in even with her, for a tie. Now he found himself slightly behind. That definitely wasn’t what he wanted, so he put a little more into it as he came to the end and did the underwater turn. As he expected, that turn caught him up, and they were neck and neck. They stayed that way until the end, when they both reached out and touched the wall at the same time. Both had turned to look at each other at the time to see who won. They both came up breathing hard, and smiling.
“Girl, you can swim,” he said, still panting.
“You’re not bad yourself,” she admitted, also breathing hard.
They were both smiling, and took a couple minutes to catch their breath. Garrett was the first to speak again. “I’m sorry if I treated you like a kid before, Mindy, but when I saw you at the airport today, there was no doubt in my mind that you’ve grown up. You’ve grown into a very pretty young lady who can swim like a fish. I’m impressed. It’s no wonder you were on the swim team in college. What events did you compete in?”
His comment had her momentarily floored, but she recovered nicely. “Mostly freestyle and butterfly. I’ve done about all distances, but mostly the shorter, a hundred meters or less.”
“So if I want any chance of beating you it would be with the longer distances?”
“Yeah, but you’d probably have me there. It’s obvious you’re very strong through your chest and upper arms, so you could overtake me, I’m sure.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. She’d admired his muscular build her whole life practically, but now that he was an adult, she’d been even more impressed. When she saw him tonight in just his swim trunks, she’d had to look away, afraid he’d catch her drooling. But she couldn’t believe she’d said that out loud.
Garrett watched her face turn red, and although it was very becoming to him, he didn’t want her feeling awkward, so he tried to help. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, after seeing how fast you are. You obviously have a very nice swimmer’s body yourself, and the swimming skill to go along with it. I’m not sure I want to challenge you and find out.”
His words seemed to help, as she looked back up at him again. “Maybe we should quit while we’re tied and even?”
“I’m good with it,” he said, climbing out of the pool and heading for one of the lounge chairs. “I know I need a rest now. I really had a workout trying to keep up with you.”
“I’m tired, too. I really had to push after that turn. I was afraid you were going to make me look like a fool for challenging you.”
“Oh, trust me,” he said as he looked over at her in the lounge chair beside him, “you certainly don’t look like a fool. I meant what I said earlier, Mindy. If I treated you like a kid before, I was the fool, and I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It was a long time ago.”
“Yes, it was. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“The other day when Mom said you were coming to stay with us, Dad was trying to figure out how old you’d be by now, and Mom said you were only a couple years younger than me. Is that true? I always thought you were several years younger.”
“Well, that would explain why you treated me like a little kid all the time,” she said with a chuckle. “To answer your question, I don’t know. How old are you, old man? I’m twenty-five.”
Garrett laughed out loud. “Old man, huh? I guess Mom was right. I’m twenty-seven.”
“So are you saying I was immature, and that’s why you thought I was younger?”
He thought about her question a few moments before answering. “You know, I don’t think so. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think I ever actually gave you a chance. You were so small, I just assumed you were a little kid, so I treated you like one. I hate to admit that because it makes me sound awfully shallow, but I think it’s the truth.”<
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Now it was her turn to pause a few seconds, as she looked at him, like she was studying him. “If it’s true, though, you’ve obviously matured into a man who’s big enough to admit that. Now I’m impressed.”
Their eyes met momentarily, but they both looked away rather quickly. He chuckled as he nodded his head. “I have definitely matured. I’ve realized now that when I was a teenager I was a bit of a jerk. Hopefully, I’m past that now.”
“That’s more maturing than some men ever do,” she said with a chuckle of her own. “I know some that are still jerks, but they haven’t realized it yet.”
They both laughed, and settled in on their lounge chairs to rest. Conversation flowed easily between the two of them as they relaxed.
* * *
Mindy’s two boxes of clothes arrived the next day. Garrett saw the mailman coming up the lane to the ranch as he was getting ready to go in for dinner, so he waited. He carried the boxes in the kitchen, yelling as he made his way toward the steps. “Delivery for a Ms. Melinda Clayton. Is there a Melinda Clayton here?”
Mindy appeared at the top of the steps, laughing. “Oh, good,” she exclaimed. “I was hoping they’d get here today.”
“I take it these are your clothes you’ve been waiting for?”
“Yes. I’m glad they’re here.” She started down the steps, but he stopped her.
“Wait there. I’ll bring them up. You can show me where you want them, then we’ll go downstairs for dinner. You can spend the afternoon putting everything up where you want it.”
She waited for him, then led him into her bedroom. “Just put them on the bed. Thanks, Garrett.”
“No problem. Do you want me to cut them open for you, while I’m here?”
“Do you have a knife on you?”
Garrett’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re asking a cowboy if he has a pocketknife? You really don’t know much about ranches, do you?”
She blushed again. “Oh, whoops. Sorry, I should have thought of that. But no, to answer your question, I really don’t know much about ranches.”
He took his knife out and quickly cut the tape on the boxes, but didn’t open them. “There you go. You can open them now when you’re ready to put the things up.” He folded his knife up and returned it to his pocket. “Ready to go down for dinner?”
He led her to the steps with a hand on her back again, which she was really starting to like. As they were coming down the steps, Max looked up and saw them coming downstairs together. “I thought you were going to work on the combine today, son, so I went to the machine shed to get you for dinner, but you weren’t there.”
Garrett didn’t miss the less than pleased look his father was giving him, and he knew he only called him son when he wasn’t pleased with him, but it took a moment for him to figure out what he was upset about. When he figured it out he had to smile. “I got the combine fixed and started in for dinner, when I saw the mailman coming up the lane. He had Mindy’s boxes of clothes, so I took them up to her room for her.”
Max looked relieved as he nodded. “Thank you, Garrett.”
Garrett had to turn the other way to hide his smile. He knew his dad thought he had no business being in Mindy’s room. He’d have to talk to him later, though, to see what made him think he’d have to worry about something like that. He’d basically just met Mindy. Sure, he knew her when they were younger, but she was just a kid then, or so he thought. Why would his dad even be thinking about such a thing?
They all went to the kitchen for dinner. Without giving it any thought, Garrett held Mindy’s chair for her, while Max seated Helen. While they were eating, Mindy asked a favor. “I never did like the car I had, so I sold it before coming here. I need to get another one. Could I get a ride into town sometime when someone’s going in, so I can look at cars? I hate to impose on you, but—”
“Nonsense,” Max said. “That’s not imposing at all. If you want anything, ask. We can do that if you want, or you can take one of our vehicles in. We have several vehicles we keep for the ranch, and Helen and I each have a car. You’re welcome to take any of them into town anytime you want.”
“Do you know what kind of vehicle you’re looking for?” Garrett asked.
“Not exactly. There are a few I’ve been thinking about. I’m not sure. Is there anything I should look for that would be good to have out here?”
He considered her question a few moments, before making a suggestion. “If you want, I can go in with you some evening or on Sunday. They’re closed then, but that makes it easier to look at them, without a salesman hounding you. We can talk about what might be good, and if you see something you like, you can go back to talk to them when they’re open.”
“You’d do that for me? I’d really appreciate your advice.”
“I’d be happy to take you in. When do you want to go?”
“How about Sunday? That’ll give me a couple days to do a little research and see what’s out there and the price ranges.”
“That’ll be fine. We could go after dinner and that’ll give us all afternoon to look.”
“Sounds perfect. Thanks, Garrett.”
“Sure. No problem.” He returned her smile, and as he was looking back down to take another bite, he caught his parents as they looked at each other and smiled. His mind immediately went back to his dad’s look when he thought he’d been upstairs in Mindy’s room. What was going on?
For the rest of the meal Garrett paid enough attention to answer any questions asked of him, but his mind kept wandering back to his dad’s reaction earlier, and the look he saw just now. As much as he wanted to dismiss his dad’s idea as being ridiculous, he couldn’t.
Now that he was being forced to think about it some, he did have some strange feelings for Mindy that he certainly wasn’t expecting. He couldn’t remember an evening he’d enjoyed more than last night when the two of them were swimming. They sat outside talking for two full hours afterward, and he hated it when he saw her shiver when a breeze kicked up. He’d had to call it a night and head them inside so she could warm up.
He found himself thinking about her off and on through the afternoon. He’d certainly dated his fair share of ladies, but none had affected him this way. He couldn’t explain it, and wasn’t even sure he knew exactly what kind of feelings it was he was feeling. He was finally able to convince himself to let things play out naturally, and not try to figure it out or rush anything. If these were true feelings he was having, they’d become clearer as time went on.
Chapter Three
Mindy settled into life on the ranch rather quickly. She and Helen became good friends, spending lots of time talking and getting to know each other better. She and Garrett began to know each other better, often spending time together in the evenings, either swimming or talking.
Sunday he took her to town to look at cars, as he promised. They had a good time, visiting while they looked, talking easily. At one point while they were driving from one car lot to another, they passed a hunting store with a four wheeler in their window. “I’ve seen the four wheelers your men sometimes use on the ranch,” she told Garrett. “They look really fun. If I bought one of those would you or your dad have a problem with me using it to explore the ranch?”
“We wouldn’t have a problem with it per se,” he told her, “but there are rules for them, as well. As long as you follow the same rules our hands have to follow, we’d be fine with it. You don’t need to buy one, though. We have a fleet of them and they’re for anyone’s use. You can use them, too.”
“Really? Maybe I’ll use one a few times, at least, to make sure I like them before I spend the money on buying one.”
“That would be a good idea. But you really don’t have to buy one. As long as you’re on the ranch you’re free to use ours. Providing you follow the safety rules, of course.”
She sighed. “Again, the safety rules. What rules are we talking about here?”
Garrett was a little surprised by her attitude.
“Just for safety purposes.”
“Of course they are.”
He pulled into another car lot, but turned to look at her, touching her arm to keep her in the car so they could finish their conversation. “What are you saying, Mindy? Do you have a problem with our concern for safety?”
“I don’t know that I’d say I have a problem, but it seems like you guys are fixated on it. I mean, I’ve been here for several days now, and you all keep stressing that to me. Do you know how many times I’ve heard the word safe? You have to be safe, or safety first, or for safety reasons, and on and on and on. I mean, I came here to relax and unwind, and this ranch is great. It’s doing just that. But you guys are always harping about safety. Seriously, what’s going to happen here? It’s not like it’s a minefield or anything.”
Her words caused him to pause. “Mindy, I’m not sure how to respond to that. You’re right, it’s not a minefield, and it’s also true that people don’t often get hurt badly on the ranch. But that’s because we are as careful as we are. There are a lot of things that can cause injury on the ranch, and often do cause injuries on other ranches, so don’t become too complacent.” She shrugged her shoulders, but didn’t answer. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yeah, I hear you, and I don’t plan on being reckless or anything. It just seems to me that you’re making too much of it. If I can survive New York City, I think I can survive a ranch.”
This was the first time she’d mentioned anything about where she’d lived or what she’d been doing, and he wondered if maybe she was ready to start opening up a little bit. “New York City? Is that where you’ve been living? I’m not sure I could survive too long there. What did you think of it; did you like it?”
She tensed and was quiet for several moments. “It was an adventure at first, but I don’t miss it at all, and I don’t plan on going back. It’s not for me.”
