by Rachel Hanna
“Tea’s fine, thanks.” Sophie sat at the table and gazed around the kitchen as Kay poured the tea. Though there was currently a great deal of activity in the kitchen, it was tidy. Aunt Kay was an organized woman and the kitchen was run with efficiency.
Placing a tray on the table, Kay sat down across from Sophie. “I’m not sure if you like lemon in your tea, but there's some right here in this bowl. Also I suggest you grab one of these muffins before Philip gets back or they’re likely to mysteriously disappear before you get a chance to try one.”
Accepting her offer, Sophie took a muffin and bit into it, almost sighing in pleasure at the delicious chocolate taste. “Aunt Kay, you really know how to make muffins.”
Kay laughed. “Thanks, honey. You make sure you help yourself whenever you want one.”
The back door opened and Philip stepped in, pausing to take a deep, appreciative breath. “Kay, darlin’, if you give me all these cakes right now, I promise I’ll do all your bidding forever more.”
“Fat chance of that happening. I’ve been in this kitchen all morning. You’re getting nowhere near the results of my hard work.”
Philip sighed good-naturedly as he came to sit by his wife. “It was worth a try.”
“Here, have a muffin instead.” Kay placed a glass of tea and a muffin in front of Philip and he let out an indiscernible yet appreciative murmur as he took a bite. “I knew I married the best woman in the entire state of Texas.”
Badger and Tilly, who had followed Philip outside, now settled contentedly on the floor near the kitchen table. Philip leant back in his chair, sipping his tea as he spoke. “Blizzard’s improving, looks like she’ll be just fine.”
“That’s good. I know Miller put a lot of work into her. He’ll no doubt be relieved.” Kay turned her attention to Sophie. “Blizzard is one of our horses. She injured her leg and we thought she might be permanently lame but thankfully she’s not. We’ve had the vet out to see her and Miller, who is one of our ranch hands, has been spending all his spare time helping her. He’s been such a blessing, always there when we need him. Anyway…” Philip and Kay exchanged a glance before Kay put her glass on the table, still clasping it with her hands. “Now that everybody’s had some refreshment, it’s the perfect time to talk. Sophie, there’s some things that your uncle and I need to discuss with you.”
Chapter Four
Here we go. Sophie knew something like this was coming. All that happy welcoming had just been a lead up to the lecture she was about to receive. Just great, not even an hour here and the fun begins. Leaning back in her chair, she echoed Kay’s actions by clasping her tea glass with both hands, deriving some small measure of comfort from the coldness of it before she sighed. “What do you want to discuss?”
Kay stared at her calmly from across the table. “We don’t believe in drawing things out unnecessarily so we’re going to cut to the chase. Everyone knows why you’re here. Your parents aren’t getting along well and this has obviously been affecting you. You’ve been having troubles at home, in school and outside of school. I’m sure you know that the shoplifting was wrong. I’m sure you also know you were very fortunate to have gotten off so lightly with community service. That incident with the stolen car could have gone very badly but we’re all just thankful that it ended the way it did. Now all of that’s been dealt with and in the past. You have a clean slate here, Sophie.”
Sophie looked from her aunt to her uncle. “Okay…thanks, I guess.”
“However, while you’re here,” Kay continued, “you’re going to have to pitch in and help out. I’m not sure how your parents do things but here everybody needs to lend a helping hand to keep things running smoothly. We’re not going to ask unreasonable things of you. We’d appreciate if you kept your room tidy, helped out with meals and cleaning around the house, that sort of thing. You may want to help out around the ranch as well, in which case your uncle can give you guidance. If he’s not around you can speak to Miller or Joe, who is our ranch manager. Both of them know this ranch inside out so they’ll be able to help you. Everybody does their part here but we help each other too. Now does that sound agreeable to you?”
Sophie wasn’t the tidiest of people at the best of times but she knew there was only one acceptable answer in the current circumstances. “Yes, Aunt Kay.”
“Okay, good. There are also some rules we need you to follow while you’re here. I don’t know if you’ve brought any alcohol or drugs of any kind with you but you are not allowed to take any drugs here. Your parents told us they’ve found marijuana on you, though you said it wasn’t yours. We don’t care who it belongs to. What we care about is that you don’t get high here or use any other banned substance. With regards to alcohol, you can have one drink on Christmas with the family and you may have a couple of drinks on New Year’s Eve as long as it’s kept in moderation. We think that’s fair. Does that sound reasonable to you, Sophie?”
I’m going to need those drinks on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Sophie nodded before murmuring “Yes, Aunt Kay.”
“Excellent. I’m glad we’ve got that sorted out. Now how about you go up to your room and get settled in. There’s a chest of drawers for your clothes. Just make yourself at home. Once you’re ready you can come on down and have a wander round the ranch if you like, get reacquainted with it. Might be nice to stretch your legs after the plane journey and truck ride.”
“Okay.” Sophie pushed back from the table and headed out the kitchen towards the stairs. Strolling up them she paused occasionally to look at the photographs that hung on the wall, ascending the stairs with her. Some of the faces she recognized as relatives or recalled in hazy memories as her aunt and uncle’s friends who had dropped by the ranch during her previous visit. Others she didn’t know but assumed from their attire and location in the photographs that they were ranch hands or possibly neighbors helping out with various tasks. One thing she couldn’t help but notice though was that they all looked like family. Maybe they weren’t related by blood but there was a closeness amongst the individuals, evident by the way in which they stood next to each other or the expressions on their faces.
One photograph in particular caused Sophie to stop and stare at it for several seconds. A group of people stood around what appeared to be a newly born calf. Some of their backs were turned to the photographer but she recognized the figure of her aunt and uncle. Her aunt was standing next to a woman and both were smiling down at the calf, while her uncle had his arm slung affectionately across the shoulders of what she would guess to be a young man judging from his build, though she couldn’t see his face. Sophie continued to gaze at the photograph for a few more seconds, an uncomfortable feeling settling in her stomach. Partly surprised, partly annoyed, she registered the feeling for what it was - jealousy.
She didn’t know the woman or the young man in the photograph but there was a bond between all the people in the photograph. Her aunt and uncle were closer to these people than she was to her own parents. The jealousy began to seep slowly through her as bitterness and abruptly she moved on, continuing to the guest room and closing the door behind her. Gazing around the room, memories began to resurface. She remembered the double bed and the chest of drawers near the window that overlooked the back garden. Moving past her suitcase which had been placed on a plush, inviting rug, she made her way to the window and looked out. Land stretched for miles, untouched by concrete buildings or roads. The landscape didn’t have the vibrancy of color that came with the warmer months and she could make out snow on the tops of the distant hills but there was a beauty to the scene that she couldn’t deny held some appeal. Perhaps it was just the novelty of not seeing man-made structures everywhere she looked, like she did back home. Still, it helped to quell the bitterness that had risen inside her.
Sighing, she turned back to face the room. Her aunt had a knack for making places welcoming and had worked her magic on the guest room. The soft and cozy-looking blankets on the bed promised a snug
place to sleep and as she moved towards the bed she detected the scent of potpourri from a small bowl placed on a side table behind the bedside lamp. Sitting down on the bed, she opened her suitcase and began removing items before pushing the empty case under the bed and depositing the clothing in the drawers. Then she returned to the bed and lay down, staring at the ceiling as she thought over the past few days.
So what if you’ve been dumped here? Two weeks, Soph, it’s just two weeks. If her parents didn’t want her, that was fine. She’d show them she didn’t want them either. All she had to do was stay out of trouble for two weeks, then get home and get on with her life. She could still carry out the plans she had made with Abby, it would just be by herself…or perhaps one of her other friends would want to get an apartment with her. If they didn’t then it didn’t matter; she could always find a roommate online to share the rent. Finish school, get a job and get out. She repeated the phrase in her mind as she lay still. It wasn’t a grand plan, but it was a plan nonetheless and to Sophie it was something she could now focus on with a vengeance.
***
Three days had passed since Sophie had arrived on the ranch, and they had passed relatively uneventfully. Breakfast was at some ridiculously early hour that her body protested at every time she made her way groggily down the stairs. Though the work day on the ranch started later in winter than it did in spring and summer, that small mercy was irrelevant in Sophie’s mind. She still resented the fact that she was cheated out of one of the primary benefits of school holidays. She missed the lazy mornings of past holidays where she could sleep in and then roll out of bed in her pajamas and enjoy a leisurely bowl of cereal in front of the TV for a couple of hours before even having to consider making herself presentable to the outside world. Aunt Kay’s delicious breakfasts almost made up for the lack of lazing in bed but it was still a struggle to drag her body into the shower, get dressed and get downstairs in time for breakfast.
Once breakfast was done she would help with the dishes and then her day would depend on whether her aunt and uncle needed her for some or other task. If there was nothing immediate to do she would go back upstairs and lie on her bed while she listened to music. Occasionally if the dogs were around, she would play with Badger and Tilly in the garden. Their looks of ecstatic happiness every time she picked up a stick to throw for them made her grin. Their companionship made the time pass less tediously between chores, which ranged from helping her aunt with the laundry to cleaning the house and attempting to be of assistance with the cooking.
Her culinary skills were woefully lacking but over the past three days her aunt had been teaching her how to prepare various dishes. Though her efforts were always praised at each meal time, she knew that if left to get on with things by herself, whatever appeared on the plate would look and taste nothing like what she produced with her aunt. However, she had to admit that there was something satisfying about learning to cook properly.
Today, however, she was not busy washing dishes or cleaning the house or playing with the dogs. She was not learning how to create some tasty new meal or trying to doze in her room after breakfast. She was in the stables, mucking out the stalls as the cold morning air blew through the open door and hit her side on as she shoveled. She’d been feeling more than a bit restless and the thought of spending some time outdoors when her uncle had asked if she would help outside had seemed like a pleasant idea. One of the ranch hands was sick and her uncle had said he could use some assistance to get the morning chores done since they were a man down. Shoveling horse manure was not what she had had in mind though. She had scowled at the smell and sight but decided to get on with things. However, fifteen minutes in she had already had enough. An hour into the work, she never wanted to see a shovel or a horse again. She’d taken breaks to rest – after all, this was manual labor and she deserved breaks now and then – but this whole morning was quickly becoming depressing. Her back and arms were sore and she couldn’t remember working so hard in her entire life.
As she stooped and shoveled, her mind drifted to the secret stash of weed she had brought with her. So what if she had agreed not to smoke it whilst she was here? She certainly hadn’t signed up for this. Staying on a ranch over the holidays sounded romantic, but this wasn’t a holiday. This was punishment. God, if her parents could see her now…no doubt they would tell her she deserved it and it was character-building or some crap like that. No, she was entitled to a reward after this was done. She could say she was going to take the dogs out for a walk, then she could find a quiet place and enjoy some downtime in private. She wouldn’t get high, she wasn’t stupid. Just enough to take away the boredom and to give her something to look forward to.
As she continued shoveling, her thoughts drifted to the people she had left behind in San Francisco. What was Abby up to at this moment? Probably still in bed… Had she been keeping in contact with Mark despite her parents’ efforts to keep them apart? Sophie scowled at the thought of Mark. If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t be here. If he hadn’t made moves on her and refused to take her and Abby home, they never would have got caught, they never would have been sentenced to community service, and she wouldn’t be here wasting her holiday away in the back of beyond. Suddenly aggravated with the whole situation, Sophie cursed in disgust. “This is bullshit!”
“Actually it’s horseshit. The bulls stay outside.”
Sophie raised her head at the sound of a male voice before straightening up at the sight of the tall, lean stranger standing a few feet behind her, the whisper of a smile playing across his lips. He looked to be about the same age as her, with sun-streaked blonde hair and skin that retained a light tan despite the time of year. However, what really struck her was his eyes. She had never seen eyes of such vivid green before. It was hard not to look at them, especially considering the face that went with them. He was without doubt the hottest guy she’d ever seen. Maybe this holiday wouldn’t be such a waste of time after all… However, recollecting her current position, a wave of self-consciousness flooded her. Oh crap, just when things couldn’t get worse, an insanely hot guy sees me shoveling manure. Not exactly the ideal first impression. Well there was nothing she could do about it now…except stop staring.
Sophie looked back down at the shovel in her hands, realizing she’d been staring too long at him. “I know what it is. I was referring to something else. You shouldn’t sneak up on people, you know.” Her voice was filled with as much indignation as she could muster in order to cover up her embarrassment.
“I don’t sneak. You were just absorbed in your thoughts apparently. How’s the mucking out going?” He leaned nonchalantly against one of the stable doors as he gazed at her, a calm expression on his face.
“It’s going just fine, thank you.” Sophie resumed shoveling without looking up at him, but after a few seconds she paused and glanced up to see him still staring at her, a neutral expression on his face as he continued to lean against the door. Annoyance blossomed as she straightened up and narrowed her gaze. Was he going to watch her until she’d finished? He could at least offer some assistance or something. Her tone cool, she asked “Is there something I can help you with or are you just going to stand there all day?”
“Actually it’s the other way around, but by the looks of things I might be here all day if I just stand here and wait for you to finish.”
Sophie glared at the stranger. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He returned her gaze with an assessing stare. “Do you enjoy shoveling manure?”
“Of course not! Who enjoys shoveling manure? Do you think I’m doing this for fun?”
The stranger didn’t move as he continued to stare at her. “So why are you taking so long to do it then?”
Sophie was momentarily lost for words but she recovered quickly. “What is your problem?”
“Not much, really. Life’s pretty good. What’s your problem?”
“You’re my problem! You’re aggravating me while I’m tr
ying to work.”
“That’s not true,” he replied casually.
“What do you mean it’s not true?” Sophie continued to glare at him. Good looks aside, whoever this guy was, he was seriously starting to rub her the wrong way.
“You’re not trying at all.” The stranger pushed away from the stable door and indicated the manure. “It should only take you forty-five minutes or so to finish this mucking out, since you’re new at it. You’ve been here an hour and it’s only half done.”
“Is that so? And you could do it better, could you?”
“I do it better every day, in half an hour.”
Suddenly an image clicked into place in Sophie’s mind. She remembered the photograph on the wall of the young man whose back was turned, her uncle affectionately embracing him. “Who are you?” she asked.
“Miller Rhodes. My father, Joe Rhodes, is the ranch manager.”
Seriously? This jackass is the guy Aunt Kay and Uncle Philip doted on? She’d thought he’d be older. When she heard he was here with his family, she’d assumed he was married with kids, not that he was the kid in the family. Trying to calm her temper, she placed what she hoped was a neutral expression on her face before uttering “My aunt and uncle have told me about you.”
“They’ve told me about you, too.”
“Exactly what have they told you about me?”
“You’re their niece visiting from San Francisco over the holidays.”
“Is that all?”
“Is there more to tell?”
“I didn’t say that.” Sophie shrugged.
“They mentioned you’d be helping out around the ranch and that you might need some guidance.”
