by Ali Parker
5
Tanner
I drove through town with the plastic bin on the passenger seat of my truck. I didn’t want to put it in the bed of my truck for a very specific reason. My family was private, even though we were the town’s top producer. Because of this I didn’t not want to give anyone in the community any idea what I was up to. We were a very quiet family, and liked our family business to be our own. We were already on the tongues of the town gossip because of our reckless behavior, in a boys-will-be-boys way, so we didn’t need to add more to it. Father didn’t want anyone to know that we had been hit by this crop assassin, whoever it was. He didn’t want to cause panic in the town so we had all agreed to keep quiet and to watch ourselves. That meant not putting sick crops in a clear plastic bin and parading them through town on the back of a truck.
Pulling up to the red stoplight, I waited for it to turn green at one of the main intersections in the middle of town. My favorite country tune came on, a song by Johnny Cash. “Yes,” I said, turning it up. Just then a truck pulled up in the lane next to me. I looked over, “Shit.”
Sally Jenkins sat in her truck. I was just about to turn the radio down so as not to draw her attention, but it was too late. She looked over at me and her green eyes narrowed with a bit of hate as she acknowledged me. I responded by giving her my best dashing smile. I tipped my straw hat to her. “Ma’am,” I said.
“Don’t smile like that at me Tanner Dawson. You think I forgot that you never called me after that night? You are a rotten no good for nothing—” she said.
“Come on Sally, we had a good time that night!” I said, finally turning down the radio.
“Yes, that same night you forgot to mention you were leaving town for a few weeks. Don’t try to sweet-talk me now,” she said. “You just use girls like toys, and you’re just like your brothers!”
“Hey, I didn’t make any promises. It was a night of fun and that is all it was, for both of us.”
“Oh you big jerk! If you see me at the bar, don’t you dare ask me to dance, Tanner Dawson!” the light turned green and she hit the gas pedal hard—tires screeching, she peeled out.
Shaking my head, I drove through the light. I couldn’t help but laugh a little. I thought about that night we shared in my pickup truck after dancing together at one of the local bars. It wasn’t the first time Sally and I had a good time in the bed of my truck parked out in the fields, but I never made her any promises. In fact I’d made it very clear that I wasn’t a guy to have a relationship with. Hell, I was only twenty-six and that was what I was doing, acting my age. Besides, I’d never had the time for a girlfriend before and that wasn’t changing now. I only made time to have a little one night stand fun at the bars, and that was it. I had to sew my wild oats after all, and I had a lot of oats. She was a good lay though, I thought. Maybe I would sweet-talk her at the next dance, if I ever got around to going again. For now this crop situation was going to keep me very busy, leaving no time for fun.
I continued on to the outskirts of town where the college was located. Turning down the main street of the college, I felt good as soon as I saw the red brick buildings. I did miss being on a college campus, and a familiar feeling came over me. I drove down the small roads looking for the research building. This felt oddly like home in a way.
Parking my truck near the front door, I pulled the bin out. I looked around for any familiar faces, but didn’t see any. Everyone in town knew who I was though, so I quickly walked into the research building.
“Can you tell me where I can find Mr. Phillips?” I asked someone passing in the hall.
“All the way down the hall and to the left. His name is on the door,” replied the student with a heavy backpack.
“Thank you.” I followed the directions and found him right away.
I knocked on the open door.
“Mr. Phillips?”
“Tanner Dawson, come on in,” the man said. He sat behind a large oak desk. Standing up, he reached his arm across it. I put the bin on the floor and shook his hand.
“My father said I should come see you, and that you might be able to help us,” I said.
“Yes, that is correct. Please have a seat,” he said, with excitement and a big smile.
“Thank you, sir.” I sat down across from him.
“So, your father said you guys have been hit, too.”
“Yes, it would seem so.”
“I know that you have a master’s degree in agriculture, any idea what it could be?”
“Well, I’ve ruled out any sort of infestation. It could be a fungus or virus, something that I can’t see. There doesn’t seem to be much to look at except a few brown spots here and there,” I said.
“Well, I support that assessment. Your father said you have a good head on your shoulders, and I always believe every word he says. He is a good and honorable man, your father.”
“Thank you sir,” I said, realizing just how much this man respected my father. That was good. But our family was well-respected all over this town, something that happened when you were the biggest agricultural producer in the region.
“I want you to know that I promised your father this would not get out into the community. He doesn’t want the town to know that your ranch has been hit until there are some answers. So, know that it is being kept confidential here,” he said.
“We appreciate that, sir. Can’t be too careful these days with everything that’s going on. It is probably better that my family business stay our business,” I said.
“Of course, of course, that makes sense. No need to worry here.”
“So, will you be the one handling this research yourself? I can hand over the sample,” I said, looking at the plastic bin next to me.
“No, that won’t be necessary. Follow me and I’ll take you to the research lab and introduce you to the researcher that will be handling this situation,” he said, standing up from his desk and walking toward the door. I picked up the bin and followed him into the hallway.
“Madison Dryer is a bright young student, working on her master’s. She is the one handling the specimens that come in. She’s been working on it for a few days already,” he said.
“A student? I don’t know how I feel about some student doing this, I thought you would be the one, or someone in a senior position,” I said, not liking the sound of having a student deal with something so important to the ranch. It could make or break our family.
“Madison is the only person that is going to be able to figure this out for you, I have complete faith in her. She is very skilled, and already on the right track. Your specimen will be in good hands,” he said.
“Well, I guess I can agree to that if I am able to have a hand in the research, just to get an idea of how she works. How do you feel about that?” I asked.
“Well, because you have experience in the lab and a master’s in agriculture, I think it can be arranged. Maybe with the two of you putting your minds together, you might be able to figure this out sooner rather than later,” Mr. Phillips said.
“That’s a possibility,” I said, following him down the hall of the research building.
As we passed several glass doors that looked into various labs I started to get excited. It had been too long since I was in this environment, and I really did miss it. I loved working on the ranch and I would always be there, but I also had a passion for this. There was something about being in the lab and figuring things out that was very satisfying to me as well. I had been an honor student in college, and always at the top of my class. When school ended I thought my research work would somehow continue, but I was needed on the ranch so that was where I went after school. And that was where I stayed. I couldn’t exactly go work for some agricultural company in a city, that wouldn’t be right. My heart belonged on the ranch, yet I still had an itch for science. I missed it deeply.
Finally, we stopped our trek down the halls, landing in front of a set of glass doors with ‘Lab 21’ on
the sign.
“This is it. This is where Madison Dryer does her work. She mostly has Lab 21 to herself for the next few months. We like to separate the labs like that so one project can’t contaminate another. It’s very important,” Mr. Phillips said. I just smiled politely as if he was telling me something I didn’t already know.
I set the plastic bin down and looked in through the doors. A young woman in a white lab coat had her back to me, and then turned. Her beauty suddenly struck me. I don’t know what I’d been expecting, but I sure as hell wasn’t expecting this.
Her long sandy blond hair was tied into a messy braid and lay over her shoulder down her chest. Her dark blue eyes were under thick lashes and her lips were plump and pink, though she wasn’t wearing any makeup. She had that natural beauty, and a soft speckle of freckles moved across the bridge of her nose. She was petite, with a small waist, full hips, and ample breasts. Why had I never seen her around town before? If I had, I would have definitely tried to take her in the back of my pickup truck instead of Sally Jenkins.
The young girl looked up and saw me through the doors. She sort of jumped a little and let out a gasp. Crash. She dropped a glass beaker that was in her hand. It shattered on the floor around her.
Oh great, the woman that was going to be working on my crops didn’t even have a steady hand. Just what I needed.
6
Madison
I’d been completely involved in my work that day. Really on a roll. I had already typed up all the experiments I was going to run through that day when the new specimen arrived. I remembered Mr. Phillips saying it was going to be a corn specimen which made me very excited. So far I hadn’t seen infected corn and I wanted to see how whatever it was that was making the plants sick, reacted with that particular plant. But this specimen would be doubly interesting because it was from the Dawson Ranch. Everyone knew they were the biggest ranch in the county and I was surprised that they were not immune to this outbreak. Jenna was definitely wrong about them, because it wouldn’t make sense to infect their own plants and put their ranch at risk?
Everything I needed was all lined up on the counter. I was just about to sterilize the glass beakers, and even had one in my hand when I saw a man staring at me through the lab doors. It startled me so much I dropped the beaker and it shattered into a million pieces on the floor.
I bent down to pick up some of the bigger pieces, I was glad there hadn’t been anything in it. It wasn’t my fault though. I had been startled. Who the hell would be so rude to do something like that? I hadn’t planned on looking up to see someone staring at me through the glass doors, especially not someone so damn attractive. I was frustrated and irritated.
As I fussed with the broken glass on the floor, cowboy boots entered my field of vision, followed by dress shoes. I looked up from my position on the ground and saw that a gorgeous man towered over me, very tall with short brown hair and hazel eyes. I could see a sleeve of tattoos on his forearm, and his snap button shirt was rolled up to his elbows. His straw cowboy hat was dirty, like it had seen some action.
Quickly, I stood up to face the man and my advisor.
“Are you alright?” The young man asked.
“Yes, it just slipped when I was startled. But it was empty, so it’s only broken glass,” I replied. Now that I was standing up he was still towering over me, he must be at least six-foot-three or six-foot-four at least. His broad shoulders and muscular physique did not escape my attention.
“Madison, this is Tanner Dawson of the Dawson Ranch,” Mr. Phillips said.
The young man reached his hand out to me. I placed the broken glass on the counter then put my hand in his to shake in greeting. His hands were rough, calloused from working on a ranch. I thought that there was something very honorable about that, and pure. A hard-working man was a good man, wasn’t he?
“Good to meet you, Mr. Dawson,” I said. He just nodded his head at me, and didn’t say a word. I thought that was strange. From the description Jenna had given me I thought that the brothers would be very outgoing, loud, and reckless. But this guy was quiet, not really saying much, not even a hello.
“Tanner is going to be joining you in the lab. As you can see, he brought in specimens from his ranch.”
“I’m sorry, what did you say? Not about the specimens. Mr. Dawson is going to be working in the lab?” I was very confused about what was going on here. I thought this Dawson guy was only going to bring samples for me to study on, I didn’t realize that he would be working here as well. Mr. Phillips had failed to mention that very important detail to me, and of course I didn’t like it one little bit.
“Yes, he is going to be here in the lab with you, so show him around. Show him your work and what you have discovered so far. I think it will be good for you to have insight from someone that is actually out in the field seeing what these crops are doing. It really may help,” Mr. Phillips said.
“I understand,” I said, looking at Tanner up and down. A small smile crept up the corner of his mouth. I was annoyed. “Mr. Phillips could I see you in the hallway for a moment,” I said, as I walked toward the doors. I didn’t want to be rude in front of Tanner, but I wasn’t exactly going to take this lying down. I walked out the doors and waited for Mr. Phillips, tapping my foot on the floor as I did so.
“Yes Madison, what is it? What is it you couldn’t say in front of Mr. Dawson?” He asked, coming out the door. I looked through the glass. Tanner was staring at me again. He crossed his arms over his chest as though egging me on. Huffing, I grabbed Mr. Phillips by the arm and led him away from the doors just a bit.
I spoke in an angry whisper. “What is all of this? I don’t know why he has to be here. Yes he works out on his ranch and has seen the infected crops, but he can’t possibly know anything about biology. What does he know about working in the lab? I thought civilians weren’t allowed in here anyway? No, I don’t think this is a good idea. Just tell him that I will keep him posted every day, hell hourly if he wants. But he doesn’t need to be hovering over my shoulder telling me what I should and should not be doing. This isn’t his place, he should be out on the ranch. In fact I think that—” I rambled on feeling very annoyed and irritated.
“Madison.”
“It is better for him to be—”
“Madison! Stop!” he spoke with a raised voice.
I stopped talking and put my hands on my hips. I was angry by this point, much more than I had been before.
“Madison, this isn’t up for discussion. This is the way it has to be, for now. You will work alongside that boy, and you will let him know what is going on with your research. The whole town could depend on it. Now get back in there and do what you do best,” he said, turning to walk away.
I huffed again, totally annoyed. Then Mr. Phillips stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“Don’t underestimate him, Madison. You might be surprised about what he knows of both biology and agriculture. He looks rough around the edges, but he is educated,” he said, then walked away.
What kind of education, I wondered. Did Mr. Phillips consider a high school education a good education? This Dawson boy was nothing but a roughneck, raised on the farm, living the life of a rancher, and getting into trouble. He was probably the sort that went to the bars every night, went home with a different girl every time. He’d probably been with every young woman in the county!
Suddenly I felt a little tinge of jealousy as I thought about a girl in his arms, feeling those strong biceps and forearms wrapped around her. I shook off the image and walked toward the door, then peeked through the glass. Tanner was walking in front of the counter looking over things. Now that he wasn’t looking at me with those penetrating hazel eyes, I had a chance to look him over. His tight Wrangler jeans did make his butt look cute. His cowboy boots were dirty, but not too dirty. His snap button shirt fit snugly, but not too tight. It showed that he had hard abs underneath, as well as muscular arms. He was tall—damn tall. I was petite and
five-foot-three, so I would feel like a damsel next to him no matter what.
Suddenly, he turned and saw me, and a charming white-toothed grin spread across his face—as though he was proud of having caught me looking at him. I rolled my eyes and opened the door.
“Everything all right out there Miss Dryer?” he asked, with a sideways grin, as if he knew that I was complaining about him.
“Yes, everything’s fine. I just needed to speak with Mr. Phillips about—well about another matter. Now, why don’t you show me the specimens you brought in,” I said, grabbing a dustpan and brush to scoop up the remainder of the shattered glass on the floor to throw it into the garbage can.
“Yes, but shouldn’t I put on some gloves first?” he asked.
I looked at him, and by now I was really annoyed. Yes, he was damn attractive but that didn’t give him a reason to try to tell me what should happen in my own lab.
“Would you like a lab coat as well, sir?” I asked, sarcastically.
“Yes, I think that would be best,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. I turned away from him so I could roll my eyes without him seeing me as I walked over to the lab coats on the rack. I grabbed a very large one, wondering if it would fit his broad muscular shoulders. I turned around to hand it to him. But he was squatting on the ground sweeping the glass into the dustpan. My mouth fell open. I wasn’t expecting that.
I waited as he swept it all up and threw it in the garbage can. “There. It should be safe to walk around now Miss Dryer,” he said, putting the dustpan and brush back where he must have seen me take them from.
“Thank you,” I said, not wanting to like him so quickly, but clearly, he was a gentleman.
I handed him the lab coat, and he grinned as he put it on.
Placing a box of latex gloves on the counter, I stood there waiting for him to make himself lab ready, buttoning up the lab coat. Then, he pulled on the latex gloves. Finally, he opened the plastic bin on the ground and pulled out a couple of corn stalks. I grabbed a large silver tray and he placed them on it.
