Simple Beginnings

by Janelle Stalder

  That didn’t stop me from thinking about it obsessively for the rest of the night though. I couldn’t help but go over every second I’d spent in his arms. It was so much more than I had expected, and yet I hadn’t really expected it at all. We were supposed to be friends.

  Just because you say something a million times, doesn’t make it true, my inner voice pointed out. I sighed out loud. Being with Gage had just felt so – right. Of course, I bet lots of girls felt that way, so what would make me any different to him? I wasn’t nearly as experienced as he was – or at all. I didn’t want to be one of those girls who saw something more, something deeper in our interactions than he did.

  Maybe he just wanted to dance and decided to ask me? Maybe he didn’t feel any of the rush of emotions I’d felt as he’d held me incredibly close, his body firm against mine as his hands had gripped me as though he were afraid I would float away. I could have sworn I sensed a need in him that was building in my own body, but what did I really know about these things to make that assumption?

  It was all so confusing, and now I’d wasted my entire night of sleep going over and over it in my head. Soon Nan would be up. Knowing her, she’d take one look at me and know I hadn’t been to bed yet. That wasn’t something I was looking forward to. I couldn’t talk to her about Gage. I wasn’t even sure what it is I would say. Did I have feelings for Gage? More than “friends” feelings? How could I after I’d spent so many years convincing myself he wasn’t worth my time, and he was just as bad as all the other guys I knew? One week and suddenly I was just going to up and change my opinion of him?

  Of course, that opinion was built off of one glimpse of him at a party, and stories I’d heard through other sources. I hadn’t actually tried to get to know the older Gage myself until now. I just couldn’t decide what to think anymore.

  Getting up, I looked over in the direction his house was and wondered if he’d ended up going home with that girl from the party. The possibility made me feel ill. He hadn’t necessarily looked that interested in her when I’d approached them, but maybe with me not there he ended up giving in to what she clearly was after. He was a guy after all.

  Shaking my head, I decided maybe a nice walk would help tire me out so I could grab a couple of hours of sleep before Nan came in demanding I get up. Either way it was going to be a long day. Tightening the blanket I’d brought out with me around my shoulders, I headed out into the field, enjoying the quiet solitude of night in the countryside.

  The low, stone wall that separated Nan’s property from the Hunters’ came into view slowly. Sunrise was just on the horizon so I figured I’d sit there to watch it, just like I had in the past. And just like in the past, there was already another figure sitting there, waiting. My steps faltered when I first spotted him.

  Gage was looking down, his eyebrows pulled down over his eyes. He played absently with a piece of straw, looking deep in thought. I stood where I had stopped and observed him, knowing he hadn’t sensed my presence yet. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, the ends of his hair curling more with sweat, from what I could see. My guess was he had run here. Gage always did like to go for runs, even when we were younger. But usually it was when something was bothering him, and not at this time of night. Or morning, I corrected.

  I started walking again, rustling the tall grass purposely so he’d hear me coming. His head snapped up, and I watched as he blinked slowly a couple of times, as if to assure himself I was really there. I offered up a nervous smile, wondering now if perhaps I was interrupting a private moment for him.

  “You got room on that wall for one more?” I said, stopping a little away for him.

  He’d yet to smile or appear happy to see me, but the tone in his voice was a sincere as I’d ever heard it. “Always.”

  I walked over, hopping up beside him, leaving some distance between us as we both faced the spot where we knew the sun would rise over the horizon. We’d done this before as small children, giggling at the thought of how much trouble we’d be in if our parents knew we had snuck out. It didn’t feel as dangerous now, however I could feel twinges of that same exhilaration I used to feel. I just didn’t think it had anything to do with disobeying my parents, and more to do with who I was with now.

  “Trouble sleeping?” he asked, breaking into the silence.

  I nodded. “You?”

  I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye.

  “How was the rest of the party?” I asked, instantly regretting bringing it back up. Certainly neither of us needed to be reminded of it, or what had happened between us. I sensed him turn his head to look at me, turning my own to meet him.

  His eyes searched mine for a second before replying. “Boring,” he said. I thought he’d stop there but he continued. “Not nearly as exciting as it was with you there.”

  My face flamed. “You know me,” I said weakly, “always the life of the party.” That was true maybe back in Bloomfield, but not so much here. That Ella wasn’t the Ella Gage knew. I didn’t have to be happy-go-lucky Ella around him.

  His eyes continued to roam over my face. There was such a serious, intense look about him, for the first time in my life I couldn’t read what was going on inside that brain of his. I always prided myself on knowing Gage better than he did himself, but this Gage was a bit out of my league.

  “Is there something wrong?” I asked, reaching out my hand to cover his. Maybe something had happened back home.

  His gaze dropped to look down at our hands. I went to take it back, thinking perhaps I had crossed some sort of boundary, but was stopped when he twisted his so that we were palm to palm, twining our fingers together. We just sat like that, in a little bubble of our own. I didn’t dare speak, too afraid to disturb whatever was going on in his thoughts. The feel of his hand holding mine was enough to make me feel content just being there beside him.

  Ever so slowly, he looked up at me again, his eyes dropping to my mouth for a moment before lifting back up to meet my eyes. My breath froze in my lungs as Gage lifted our entwined hands, bringing the back of mine to his lips. He placed a gentle kiss there and all the air left me. Then he placed another along the backs of my fingertips and I stuttered over another breath. Twisting our hands, he placed one more on the inside of my wrist, pausing there for a moment as though he were breathing me in.

  All I could do was watch and feel what he was doing in a mixture of awe and something very close to hope. My heart raced, and yet I felt so unnaturally calm and content it was at odds with the rapid beating. Finally he lifted his head, and smiled for the first time, a small smile that didn’t show off those dimples I loved so much.

  “Scoot over and share that blanket,” he said, catching me off guard. I didn’t know what I expected him to say, but that wasn’t it. “The sun is about to rise.”

  I turned to look, and sure enough I could see the oncoming glow of orange and golds lighting the sky. Shuffling along the wall, I moved until our hips met, letting him take the blanket and drape it across both our shoulders, while still keeping my one hand in his. Then we simply sat there and watched the sun rise in silence.

  At one point I could feel my eyes growing heavier, and heard him whisper something softly to me that I couldn’t make out as sleep finally came for me. At the last moment I could have sworn I felt his lips on the top of my head, but then blackness came and I willingly dove into it.

  This was officially the day from hell. As though Nan knew just how exhausted we were, she seemed to be working us even harder than usual. After falling asleep on Gage’s shoulder, I’d woken to his gentle shakes, only to stumble my way back home and into bed for half an hour before Nan showed up crowing how I needed to get my lazy butt out of bed.

  Gage showed up not long after I finished eating looking just as tired as I felt. We didn’t talk about the wall or the party, simply went off to work the fields as we were told to do like obedient children. The woman had us well trained and she knew it. Now here we were, the sun blazing above us,
and nothing but fields of crops to be weeded around us.

  The corn stalks were taller than I was, so I couldn’t see Gage anymore, but I could still hear him only a few rows over. The minimum amount of shade the stalks provided did little to help with the heat. I’d had to stop and wipe the sweat from dripping into my eyes more times than I could count. Bugs were constantly tickling at my neck, driving me insane.

  I batted at them, going back to work. The basket at my side was getting full of weeds again meaning I’d have to head back to the tractor to empty it shortly, a walk I wasn’t looking forward to. The damn fly landed on me again. I swatted it, growling in frustration. That was when I heard a deep snicker from behind me.

  Straightening, I looked over my shoulder to see Gage hidden behind the other row, a long grass held in his hands, reaching out toward me. He trailed the end along my neck, laughing.

  “You little brat,” I said, unable to keep a stern look on my face. “How long have you been doing that?”

  “For a while,” he admitted. “I was starting to think you’d never notice it was me.”

  I shook my head. “Boy, you better get back to work before I tell Nan you’re fooling around out here. She won’t be too happy to know you’re slacking.”

  He stepped through the row, stopping so close to me I could smell the delicious scent of him. Our chests almost touched. His hand reached up, pushing back a strand of hair as a lazy grin lifted one side of his mouth.

  “Oh I ain’t foolin’ around out here. Not yet at least,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

  I laughed, pulling my face away and shaking it. Even though every nerve in my body had perked up, along with certain parts that didn’t normally take notice of the opposite sex, I kept a cool façade.

  “You’re cruising, buddy,” I said, turning away before he noticed the blush I could feel spreading across my cheeks. “Nan has a strict no boy policy for her sweet granddaughter.”

  He chuckled behind me. “Sweet, huh? I didn’t realize she had another granddaughter besides you.”

  “Ha-ha, very cute. Now get back to your row.”

  “I’m already done my row, thank you very much. But you, you need to get back to work.” He swatted my ass lightly, disappearing through the tall stalks before I could give him crap, his laughter the only thing left around me as I shouted at him.

  “I’ll get you back for that, Gage Hunter!”

  “Promises, promises!”

  Sixteen

  Gage

  The screen door slammed shut behind me, the sound loud in the quietness of the kitchen. I stopped just inside the doorway, my eyes instantly finding Nan at the table. I was just about to call out a greeting when I stopped. Something about the way she sat there was not sitting right with me. I’d never really seen Nan upset, but there was no mistaking fromthe set of her slumped shoulders, and pinched features, that there was definitely something wrong.

  “Hey, Nan,” I said, stepping into the kitchen. “Everything okay?”

  Her eyes blinked a couple of times before she smiled, the expression not reaching her eyes. “Of course,” she said, shuffling the papers in front of her into a neat stack.

  I eyed the pile, clearly the source of whatever was bothering here. “You sure?” I asked, lifting both brows.

  She waved me off, getting up and shoving the stack into a drawer. “Boy, if there was something wrong, I certainly wouldn’t bother you about it. I think you have enough on your shoulders as it is.”

  I stepped closer to her, leaning against the counter. “Nothing you tell me is a bother, Nan. I want to help you out whenever I can.”

  She smiled over at me, pulling a bowl of something out of the fridge that looked like pudding, but I couldn’t be sure.

  “You just focus on saving up money for college, and let me worry about my own business.”

  I didn’t like this brush off at all, but what could I really do? Clearly Nan didn’t want to discuss it. While I might give in to her face, there was no way I was actually going to drop the subject. I’d find out what was going on with her. If Nan looked upset, it had to be bad. Nothing touched this woman. She was stronger than any other person I knew.

  “Fine,” I said, plastering a smile on my face. Her lips pinched, probably because she wasn’t stupid and knew I was giving in too easily. “Think you could put some lemonade into two bottles for Ella and I? It’s hot out there, and we’re about to collapse.”

  “Of course!” she said, instantly fretting around the kitchen. “Want to tell me why you both look like you haven’t slept in days, and my granddaughter came home in the early hours of the morning from the direction of your house?” She didn’t look at me when she asked. Then again, she didn’t have to. I had no doubt she was taking in every reaction of mine.

  “It’s not what you think,” I said with a soft chuckle.

  “Uh huh, better not be. That girl deserves a good man, someone who is going to take care of her as much as he’s going to step back and give her her independence.”

  I shuffled from foot to foot, suddenly feeling like a child again. “I know that,” I muttered.

  “You just keep on knowing that. I don’t need any broken hearts around here.”

  I was just walking back to the tractor with our drinks when a beat-up pick-up came rumbling down the driveway. I didn’t recognize it, which was odd, because I knew every person’s vehicle around here just from the sound of them, never mind the look. This person was definitely not from around there. For that reason I waited there.

  They parked beside Ella’s little car and a second later three people stepped out, two guys and one girl. I didn’t know any of them, but I had a good idea they were probably Ella’s friends from Bloomfield. The two guys instantly had me standing up straighter. From the looks of them, they spelled out one word – trouble. Not that I was one to talk. Maybe that’s how I identified them so easily, I recognized my own kind. Except I didn’t have tattoos and piercings like these two.

  Funny, considering the girl with them looked about as innocent and clean-cut as they came. She seemed oddly out of place walking beside them. The dark haired guy reached out instantly and grabbed her hand, keeping his body close to hers as they approached. Typical alpha claiming what was his. I would do the same if I had a girl who was special to me.

  “How can I help you folks?” I called out, crossing my arms over my chest. I was a bit taller than both of them, and bigger. Neither of these guys carried bales of hay like I did on a daily basis, clearly. Despite that, the dark haired guy didn’t look the least bit intimidated when our eyes met.

  It was the one with the bleached out hair that replied, his eyes never even glancing my way as they surveyed the fields behind me.

  “Unless you’re five foot nothing, and blonde with pretty blue eyes, you can’t,” he said.

  “Rannon!” the girl said, hitting his arm. “I apologize, he doesn’t mean to be rude,” she continued, looking to me with a grimace. “We’re friends of Ella’s. Is she around?”

  I nodded toward the corn stalks. “She’s out in the field. Should be back soon.”

  Bleach head finally turned his gaze on mine, narrowing it as he gave me the slow once over guys always gave to other guys when they were trying to measure the threat in front of him. And I was definitely a threat. I didn’t know who this guy was – Ella’s boyfriend maybe? But either way, he didn’t intimidate me in the least, despite his jewellery and tattoos. I stood taller, folding my arms over my chest in a way that I knew made the muscles in my arms stick out, giving him a bored look.

  “Who are you?” he asked, angling his body more toward me as though he’d just really noticed I was there.

  “I work here,” I said simply.

  A knowing - or relieved, I couldn’t decide which, smile spread across his face. “Oh, you’re the help, huh?”

  I cocked my head to the side, not liking the way he made that sound. As if I were just some farm hand, making me lower than he was. Or
perhaps he didn’t think I was much of a threat anymore when it came to Ella. He was an idiot.

  “I’m a close friend of the family,” I replied. “Ella and I have known each other since we were little kids.”

  He gave me another narrowed look.

  “Speak of the devil!” the girl said, relief prominent in her voice.

  I looked over my shoulder to see Ella driving up on the tractor. The sun lit her from behind, creating an almost halo around her entire body. If God had a sense of humour, he was putting it to good use. She looked angelic and good enough to eat while two guys watched her with predatory stares.

  My entire body tensed as she drew closer, parking the tractor and hopping off with a huge smile spread across her face. If she kissed him I might hit something – and that something could quite possibly be his face.

  She let out a little squeal of happiness as she rushed toward the girl, her arms wide open for a hug. Before she could make it, bleach head intercepted, throwing his arms around her waist and lifting her off her feet, spinning them around. She shouted in surprise, ordering him to put her down. I could have sworn her eyes glanced to mine nervously, but that could have just been wishful thinking on my part.

  Not wanting to stand there and watch them together, I turned and headed toward the barn. I had work to do anyway. Obviously Ella had friends here now and was going to be busy. I wasn’t just going to stand around and watch them like a moody creep.

  Walking into the barn, the air slightly cooler than it was out in the sun, I struck out and kicked an empty bucket, cursing under my breath. When my head looked up, it was to stare back at two unimpressed, judging eyes watching me lazily.

  “Not a word,” I said, pointing warningly. Tut huffed, lowering his head again to go back to nibbling on his hay.

  “What’s gotten into you?” Cam asked, stuffing the rest of his hotdog into his face.

  I curled my lip in disgust watching him. “Seriously, can you act like you weren’t raised in a barn for once?”