Fast Lane

by Jennis Slaughter

  “What time do you expect them to get here?” Neely started thinking.

  “Early, Addison has no problem getting up before the crack of dawn, unlike our girl. I’ll call you when I pick them up at the airport; it’s a thirty-minute drive without traffic, so let’s hope it’s during rush-hour.”

  “All right, I’ll make sure that she’s in the back pasture fixin’ fences then. That should be far enough from the house that if there’s yellin’, we won’t be able to hear it, or if Samantha kills her, she’ll have plenty of places to bury the body.” Neely chuckled.

  “Fair enough. And Neely? Addison is tougher than she looks.” Nick bade her a good night and promised to call her early in the morning.

  “She’s gonna need to be if she’s in love with my baby.” The woman put down the phone and picked up her remote.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Waking up earlier than usual, Neely made it out to the chicken coops to get eggs to make Sam an omelet, adding some fresh bacon as well. When the clock chimed six, she took the omelet, fresh bacon, coffee and orange juice into Sam’s room, hoping to find the blonde awake.

  Sam was sitting in the library chair that she had in front of her fireplace, still dressed in the same clothes she had on the night before. Turning her head at the light tap, she called out, “Come on in.”

  “I hope you’ve at least slept Samantha,” Neely tsked in a disapproving tone as she went to set the tray down in front of Sam. “What have you been reading?”

  “Nothing, just been sitting here thinking. Did you sleep well?” She stood up and took the tray from the woman.

  Neely thought about saying she’d spoken with Nick, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud. “Stayed up to watch ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and then the news, but you know an old woman like me doesn’t sleep so well anymore.” Neely chuckled. “Now eat up, that coffee is extra strong. You’re going to need it.”

  “I know, I know. I’ve got the fence to fix and whatever else is on that long list you’ve got.” Sam reached for the cream to make the strong coffee as blonde as she could before she sweetened the hell out of it.

  “The list is under the orange juice, and don’t put too much sugar in it or you’ll rot your teeth out child.” Neely kissed the blonde’s forehead before she left her bedroom.

  Picking up the glass of orange juice, Sam groaned when she saw the list. “That woman thinks I’m a workhorse or something.” Downing her breakfast, she took the dishes to the kitchen before heading out to the barn to grab her work gloves, and tools for mending the fence and a few other things on the list. Soon she was hard at work.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  The trip was a meager two and a half hours, but Addison was firm in her belief that she could win Sam’s heart back from whatever dark place it was in now. Almost a week had gone by without an answered text from Sam.

  NASCAR and F1 were going to look like a cakewalk compared to this. For some reason, the young woman knew Samantha was going to be next to impossible to win over. Leaving without saying goodbye was almost a slap in the face, and now she had no idea how to take it back.

  When their flight touched down, she was relieved to see Nick waiting at the terminal fretting over his iPad and talking away animatedly to someone on his phone. When the man hung up, she narrowed her eyes wondering if he was in league with Becca. Because in her mind, who else would put up the tabloids to such fodder?

  “Well, come on. It’s about a half hour drive to the house and I’ve got other things to attend to.” Nick motioned Addison towards a car.

  Shouldering her suitcase, Addison quietly followed Nick out of the airport with Sven in tow. Deuce was delivered to the car via a private airline attendant. The dog followed Nick with a calm eye, trying to decide if he was trustworthy.

  Looking down at her outfit, she was happy it was just hip hugger jeans, cowboy boots, and that Dupree racing shirt Sam had seen her in countless times. Pushing on her sunglasses, she helped Sven store everything in the back of the Town Car. Once they were in the car, she turned to stare at the prissy assistant as he pulled onto the highway. “Out with it,” she demanded. “I know you’re dying to say something.”

  “I apologize once again thinking that you were out partying. Sam’s one of my oldest friends and I’m very protective of her, but you’re going to have one hell of a time winning her back.” Nick headed towards the outskirts of Savannah.

  “How much longer is the drive?” Sven interrupted from the backseat.

  ‘It’s about twenty minutes now.” The younger man glanced at the bodyguard in the rearview mirror.

  “Addison, I think now is the time to start thinking about what you are going to say to your boss,” Sven said, quietly finishing his part of the conversation, and resumed petting Deuce. Addison nodded quietly and said little else during the drive.

  When they were pulling onto the property, she went noticeably stiffer, trying to calm her nerves, secretly terrified Sam would not only dump her, but fire her as well. Clearing her throat, she pulled out her picture of Samantha that was now so creased from being folded and unfolded that there was a white line down the side of the blonde’s face, but it in no way took away from the beauty of the woman in it.

  Nick parked the car just by the main garage and led the group, minus Deuce, who was sniffing around the lawn and watching the horses in one of the pastures, up to the front door. He knocked firmly hoping that Neely was the only one home at the time. Addison waited just behind Sven, hoping Sam didn’t answer the door.

  Wiping her hands on a towel Neely opened the door to see Nicholas, and a very tall, blonde-haired man, and a slim redheaded young woman. “You got here quicker than I thought. Come on in. Sam’s out at the back pasture, fixin’ the fence.” She narrowed her eyes at the young woman. “Are you the one that broke my Samantha’s heart?”

  Nicholas and Sven walked past Neely without meeting her gaze, but Addison stayed rooted to the spot. To her credit, she didn’t look away from the piercing brown eyes that searched her own. “Yes, I am,” she admitted, she had broken Sam’s heart. She just hoped she could mend it.

  Putting her hand on her hip, Neely stared at Addison a moment before asking. “Do you love her?”

  “I do love her. And I’d give both of my hands to take back the way I left, ma’am.” Addison held up her hands to eye level before lowering them.

  “What do you go by child?” The older woman nodded her head. That answer worked for her.

  “Addison. Addison McCloud, but Sammie calls me Addi,” Addison admitted, turning to look around at the plantation then back at the big house. “Where is the back pasture?”

  “Go straight behind the house and start walkin’. You’ll run into her soon enough. Don’t lie to her child, and she will eventually let you back in...maybe.” Neely chuckled.

  “Maybe’s better than a hell no,” Addison muttered as she pulled a hair tie out of her back pocket and left her purse on the porch. Whistling to Deuce, she tied her hair up into a ponytail and put on her sunglasses before she began the long walk to the back pasture.

  The walk wasn’t really that long, maybe twenty minutes, but Addison got a great view of what the farm was really known for. Pasture after rolling pasture was filled with beautiful horses, mares feeding their young colts, stallions galloping up and down hills, through the large trees and Spanish moss hanging naturally from almost every limb. It was a beautiful place to raise horses and spend some time. Coming around a bend in the worn farm road, Addison stopped dead in her tracks.

  She saw the blonde up ahead leaning on a fence post she’d just pounded into the ground with a mallet, now drinking from a canteen. Deuce barked loudly and ran forward towards his blonde friend. The redhead took a deep breath and slowly resumed walking.

  Sam was startled at the sound of the bark and then froze as she saw Addison walking towards her. She choked a little bit on the water, and she coughed to catch her breath before she turned to put the canteen on the ta
ilgate of the truck and picked up a hammer, nails, and a board to mend the fence.

  The redhead didn’t say anything for several moments, content just to be around the woman she thought about constantly. “I saw the magazine covers,” she whispered, not daring to sit down on the tailgate.

  Sam continued working, trying not to pay attention to the girl’s presence or her perfume. She continued to pound in nails into the board before picking up another.

  “What’s funny about the covers is that it’s the same dress they kept me in, and Karissa looks good with that red hair they gave her in that one someone left on my doorstep.” Addison sighed, continuing to talk, knowing Sam was pointedly ignoring her.

  Sam missed the nail and hit her thumb at the last remark causing her to swear softly and shake her hand. Swearing a couple more times, she resumed her work.

  “Sam, I wasn’t in LA, and I sure as hell hate New York. If you don’t want to take my word for it, and I don’t blame you...talk to Sven, but if you still want to fire and dump me, I don’t blame you.” The redhead tried to keep the pain from her voice when she thought about having to walk off the farm with no job and no Sam.

  Continuing to work, Sam softly replied, “You left without saying good-bye.”

  Addison desperately wanted to beg her to turn around, but she knew she couldn’t make that demand. The sorrow in Sam’s voice when she finally did speak almost tore the redhead’s heart out of her chest. Trying to keep her voice even, Addison tried to take some of that pain. “I left without saying goodbye because I knew that if you’d been awake, I’d never have been able to leave.”

  Sam stopped what she was doing, and had to swallow a few times to clear her throat. “What do you want Addison? What do you want me to do?”

  “Take me back Sammie,” Addison whispered, walking away from the truck, but not close enough for the blonde to turn around and slap her. “Look at the plane tickets, Sven...the photos are fake Sammie. I would never lie to you, not if I was going to go all the way home to come out to my mother and tell her I’m dating my boss. Or at least I was until someone made it otherwise.”

  “You hurt me Addi...I know you didn’t mean to, but you did. And you’re right. I thought that the photos were real. I didn’t take the time to notice anything other than you were dancing with someone I didn’t know and you were having a good time without me.” Sam kept her back to the girl.

  “I did hurt you, I broke your heart. All I’m asking Sammie, all that I’m asking is that if you want to fire me, or dump me...I understand, but if you don’t want to do that...then let me make it up to you. Let me try...please.” Addison took a deep breath and walked around until she could look Sam in the eye.

  Tears running down her face, Sam drank in the sight of the woman who held her heart in the palm of her hand. She licked her upper lip and wiped her face while shaking her head. “How do I know you won’t do it again?”

  Addison didn’t dare touch Sam or even give hope to the fact she might get a second chance. “You don’t. That’s why they call it faith...why they call it love, Sammie,” Addison whispered, tilting her head to the side and getting a good look at the woman. Sam had dark circles under her eyes; she hadn’t slept well in several nights, Addison could guess.

  “I don’t know if I have enough then. I just don’t know.” Sam wanted to tell Addison that she loved her, but she couldn’t. She didn’t know if she was strong enough to take another chance.

  Taking a chance, Addison reached for the blonde’s shaking hands, even though they were covered in thick work gloves. Holding one of them in her own, she cupped it with her other hand and looked Sam in the eye. “Then let me make all the effort. I know that I love you Samantha Dupree. I have from the moment you whispered it in my ear thinking I was asleep that night.” She searched green eyes, hoping Sam could still want her like she needed the blonde.

  Sam’s eyes went wide, and she gasped out, “You heard me?”

  “Yes, I heard you. I guess you thought I was sleeping. But I also heard you tell yourself to be careful Sammie. I told myself the same thing that night you left Becca; the night you slept in my hotel room. You watched me when you thought I was asleep...and I watched you. It’s how I knew about your tattoo,” Addison admitted, trying not to rush it all out in a hurry to let her boss know how she felt about her. “I love you Sam.”

  Sam stared at her for a long moment before she whispered, “Okay, we’re going to take this slow, and I mean slow. I love you Addison, but I need to know that you won’t hurt me. You have so much power over me that it’s scary,” the blonde admitted.

  “We took it slow before and we can go even slower now...but Sam, you need to know the reason I went home wasn’t just for my mother, it was to prove to myself that I could be enough of a woman for you,” the blocker reasoned quietly, pushing a lock of hair behind Sam’s ear.

  “What do you mean by that?” Sam asked softly.

  “I told my mother about you. About us. And that I was gay, Sam.” Addison smiled slowly. “A woman like you deserves to be with someone who’s brave enough to come out of the closet.”

  “What did your mother say?” Sam was itching to touch the woman, but kept her hands to herself.

  Leaning back against the fence, Addison watched Sam’s face, just happy she could look her in the eye again after this mess. “She said she’d been waiting for me to realize it. That I’d never been interested in boys, just cars. Apparently she’d seen the way I looked at other girls.” Addison sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck in the hot Georgia sun.

  Reaching behind her, Sam grabbed the canteen and handed it to Addi. “Here, have something to drink.”

  Taking the canteen from her boss, she unscrewed the cap before taking a long drink of the cool water. Addison wiped her lips on the back of her arm and handed it back to Sam. “Thanks. So I was wondering...could you use an extra hand around the farm?”

  Sam smiled. “I don’t know...let me see your hands.” She pulled off her gloves and held out her hand.

  Red eyebrows furrowed as Addison extended her hands towards Sam.

  Taking the one of Addison’s hands, Sam stared down at it, but instead of seeing it, she was imagining those hands on her body. “It looks like you’re used to some hard work, but you’re still gonna need some gloves.” She swallowed before she stared into gray eyes. “I’m in love with you Addi. Please don’t hurt me.”

  Addison stepped up close to Sam, one hand naturally lifting up to cup the blonde’s cheek as she looked up into her eyes. “I promise I’ll never break your heart again. I swear on my own life,” she whispered as a tear traced down her cheek. “Do you remember what I promised you in my letter? That when I got back there wasn’t any part of me you couldn’t have. I meant it.”

  “Well, as tempting as that sounds, and believe me, it is oh so tempting, we are going to take this slow. Now hop up on the tailgate, and let me finish this up so we can head back to the barn to get you some gloves.” Sam smiled.

  “Ma’am, yes ma’am.” Addison saluted, reluctantly letting going of Samantha’s hand and climbing up into the tailgate of the truck to sit on the toolbox. She watched Sam work, but if she was going to work on the farm, she was taking off her lucky shirt.

  Sam finished quickly, repairing the broken fence boards and post, before she loaded up her tools and reached to shut the tailgate. Addison hopped down even as Sam was putting Deuce into the back of the truck and they rode in silence back to the barn together. The redhead excused herself, saying she wanted to change into a shirt she could afford to ruin. She promised to return with some sandwiches for Sam and herself since she hadn’t eaten that morning due to the nerves of seeing Sam again.

  Hearing the back door open, Neely turned her head enough to see that it was the redhead looking in. She called out. “Come on in child. I ain’t gonna bite you...at least not right away.”

  Addison quietly walked into the door and placed her hands on the countertop. “Would you mind if
I made something to eat for Sam and myself as well?” she asked quietly.

  Kneading some biscuit dough for dinner, the older woman nodded her head. “Help yourself, but make sure you clean up when you’re done. I have enough cleaning up after Samantha.” Neely smiled to show that she was joking.

  Nodding, Addison quickly pulled out bread, some condiments, turkey, and a few bacon slices with lettuce and tomato; quickly making the blonde and herself a light lunch. Cleaning up and wiping down the counter, she then wrapped it all up in paper towels and took two water bottles before making herself scarce from the kitchen.

  Next Addison pulled out an old white V-neck undershirt that was too small now that she only slept in. Changing, she put on her sunglasses before walking back out to the barn. Seeing Nick on the way, she politely asked him if he or Sven could move her things to a bedroom far away from Sam’s.

  “Sorry Sweet Cheeks, the boss said that you’re to have the room next to hers. I guess that she wants to keep an eye on you. Tough luck there,” Nick told her while working on the iPad.

  Scowling, Addison walked away from the assistant. She wanted to be as far away from Sam at night as possible; she didn’t want to be tempted to watch her sleep. The temptation was as great for her as it was not to kiss Sam, but she knew she was tough enough, she was Addison McCloud.

  Addison peered in the barn and found Sam putting oats in several stalls for the mares who would return from the field at night with their foals who were still nursing. “Hey...um, I made you lunch.” She laid her sandwich on a bale of hay near the blonde before she sat down and began to eat her own.

  Finishing her chore, Sam grabbed the sandwich and sat on the bale nibbling on it, watching Addison out of the corner of her eye. “Umm, did you see your dad while you were home?”

  The redhead went still for a moment before she avoided Sam’s eyes and replied, “No, thankfully we didn’t run into one another. I don’t think I could have handled it.” Addison made sure to keep her mouth full after that, hoping to avoid talking about her father.