All I Want Is You (A Chester Farms Novella) (4 page)

A long relationship with bills to pay. “I can’t afford to take a girl out several times a week right now.”

Whitney made a throaty noise that sounded somewhat like a frog. “Men are so stupid. Really? You think Tasha is going to care?” And she marched back down the steps at him. “I’ll have you know she is the most down to Earth person I’ve ever met and won’t give a shit about how much money you make.”

She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. He opened his mouth to say he was sorry again, but she cut him off. “If anything, Tasha would sympathize with you and be happy to go out less and stay in more! If you didn’t have your head in your ass and staring at your shoes all the time, you’d see that.”

Whitney’s arms went up in the air as another disgusted sound rumbled out of her. She turned on her heel and marched right back up the front steps. He let her go. Okay, he got the idea that Tasha would probably be okay with not going out as often. She was obviously strapped for cash too. It was a nice theory of Whitney’s, but…he shook his head. Another heavy breath. There was sympathizing and then there was wanting more. He wanted to give more. Be that guy to sweep her off her feet.

Patrick kicked at a Magnolia pod. If it was summer, he could jump in and help out in the evenings and weekends to make a little extra money working on the farm. With winter right around the corner though, there wasn't much to be done. They were about to shut down until after the holidays.

He went back in the house to look for Whitney to try and explain himself a little better, only finding the rooms downstairs empty. Mrs. Jana was alone in the kitchen over the stove with a big, black skillet. The whole room smelled like dinner. "Did Whitney come through here?"

She laid something big and floury in the pan. It sizzled and popped and managed to water his mouth all at once. "Didn't see her. Was she not in the living room?"

"She was. I lost her."

"She'll be around for dinner in a little bit. You know she's not missing homemade rolls."

Dear God. He patted his belly. He wasn't either. "Thanks. I think I heard Wade in the barn. I'll catch her at supper."

"Wade's fixing a root rake before dinner. I'm sure he could use a hand."

"I'm on it." He stepped out the backdoor and hurried across the yard. Leaves crunched under his steps and the stars were bright as ever with Orion's belt pointing at the tree line in the distance.

The old red tin of the barn snapped in the wind and he slipped inside the big door that was cracked open. The tractor was parked in the back and the cracking of hot metal meeting more metal sounded out.

He eased around the corner and the bright lights caught his eye. He turned away from the blinding light and waited as Wade burned the rod down to the stinger.

Welding was a skill he was supposed to be learning on the job, but they hadn't had enough time to show him yet. He knew just enough that passing his welding test would mean a nice pay raise. Currently, he could name the equipment and knew what went where, and in theory, how it was all supposed to work. He wasn't near slick enough to pass a test though.

The hum of the generator powered down and Patrick called out to Wade as he came around the corner. "Need any help?"

Wade lifted the hood and wiped at his brow. "Yeah, if you can hold a few things for me so I can tack it in place. Dad's wanting this ready in a couple days so we can rake a new section we'll be planting and get all the trash and roots out."

"Sure." He stepped around the tractor attachment that consisted of rods curving out and then shooting straight down like a rib cage wrapping around a body. Wade was not only putting it together, Patrick would put money down saying he designed it, too. "Where do you want me?"

Wade lifted a large rib and laid it over a cross section. "Hold that right there."

He squatted and held the piece. "Whenever you're ready."

He turned his face. Even with his eyes closed, light brightened. Heat washed over him nearby and then it was gone. He turned back and found Wade sitting back and tugging wires around.

Patrick let the piece go and the metal remained attached. "Another?"

"Yep." Wade set another piece. "You learn how to do this yet?"

"Working on it. I know the basics, but it ain't pretty and nothing that's going to pass a test."

Wade lifted a shoulder. "Just takes practice."

"Yeah. I get it at the shop a little. We've had a lot of work on a short deadline lately, so we haven't had time to let me play around." Thinking about work put Tasha back in his mind. Maybe Whitney was right. Hell, he’d seen Tasha’s life for real tonight. If he was going to talk about his situation and be comfortable around it, he’d want to do it with someone who truly understood. But just the idea that he couldn’t buy her flowers and take her to the movies when he wanted soured the whole thing.

“If you’ve got some free time, I know dad won’t care if you play around here. Whole place will be empty when we head to Texas.”

The Chesters always headed to south Texas for Christmas and yeah…Patrick could play around in here and see what he could do. He knew enough to get started. He just needed someone to come in behind and say what he did wrong. He could always find scraps at work to bring home. Tasha appeared in his head again. Her lips, the shape of her cheek and how he imagined his hands would fit against her went all the way through him. He’d just feel better about the whole thing if he knew for sure he was closer to that raise. Closer to being able to give her something. Her apartment, he guessed that’s what to call it, popped in his head as an idea formed. “I have a…friend who could use something if I can make it for her. Don’t think it’ll take long. Do you think you could help me out with that before you leave?”

“Her?” Wade’s brow lifted just as he knocked the hood down in place and pieced on another rib.

Shit. Yes, a friend. Who was a girl. “Tasha from the ice cream store? I ran into her tonight.”

“Oh, yeah. Tasha’s great. I can be here tomorrow.”

“Great.”

Chapter Four

Chocolate and flowers?
Pfft
. That was so last year for what a girl wanted. Tasha cleared her throat and tried not to think too hard about the old dented and scratched red truck sitting in her parking lot. It wasn’t so much the truck itself, but the man behind the wheel. Guys who drove a truck like that weren’t polite, girly men. They were
men
.

There was a family of six standing right in front of her waiting on their ice cream. She seriously doubted they'd appreciate her thoughts about wide shoulders smeared with oil and grease being vocalized in front of their little blond haired girl.

Guess that old thing her mom had preached held true: Bring a man in your bedroom and you're ruined.

Call Tasha crazy, but with hands like his, it would be worth it. She bent over the buckets of ice cream, rolled strawberry into a perfect scoop, and dropped it in the cup. "Do you want any chocolate sauce?"

The little girl nodded, causing her ponytail to bounce and swing. It took Tasha's eye right back to him sitting outside in the parking lot as he had been for the last few minutes since he pulled up.

How could she not look? Impossible. Even over the two adults, two teens, one kid, and one toddler, she was checking out the old truck Patrick drove. She tightened her grip around the scoop. Only hundred percent man drove a truck like that.

Hubba
.

She shook the excess sauce off the spoon and returned her attention to the girl with the ear to ear grin. "Anything else?"

"Sprinkles, please!"

Tasha swallowed thoughts of kissing and hugging and stripping and other ideas of what to do with this drippy, sweet chocolate sauce and focused on her work. Ten minutes to closing time. Surely he'd come in by then. She poured a spoonful of sprinkles over the strawberry and slid it across the top of the cooler. The girl's dad picked it up and handed it to his daughter.

One of the teens pointed at the butter pecan. "Can I get that in a waffle cone?"

Tasha smiled. "You bet."

She wasted no time grabbing a cone and bending back over the cold freezers made for keeping her ice cream at just the right temperature. Tonight, their main job was removing the burn off her cheeks. She straightened and passed the requested snack over as the bell to her front door jingled.

Maddy Booth walked in. Tasha couldn't say much for the woman one way or another other than she was tall and slender and was a paying customer. Whitney all but sneered at her and said to keep her distance. At the moment though, Tasha would plant French kiss on her and cop a feel if it would speed up these last ten minutes to find out if Patrick was coming in or not.

His truck door didn't open and for all she knew, the engine was still running.

"Miss?"

She blinked and looked back to the dad in front of her. Right. Her customers. Her business. The entire reason she was even in this town and the thing she needed to succeeded the most of all. And there she was trying to read the mind of the guy outside.

She smiled at the man and twisted her head on straight. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

"Chocolate chip in a cup. With chocolate sauce." He glanced over his shoulder and by his gaze, she would say it was right to the man of the hour. Her customer tipped his head toward the window. "That's just Patrick Abington in the parking lot. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

A frown started and then she realized what he was doing. By some luck, it seemed all her lusty staring out the window wasn't too lusty at all, but appeared worried. She smacked a smile on her face and went with it. "Oh thank you. I recognize the truck now that you say that. There's a glare on the window from here."

"You're new here, aren't you?"

She scooped his order in a cup. "I am. I came in August."

"But no family or anything that brought you here?"

She shook her head. No family here. Judging by the way her parents had treated her brother when he left the plan, she wasn't going to have any family back home either. Her best chance was for the ice cream shop to be a massive success. Not that her brother’s success helped him out much. Then again, maybe with them both gone and doing well, Mom and Dad would pull their heads out of their butts. She swallowed as her throat tightened and she focused on her customer. "I know someone who’s related to the woman who owns this building."

"I don't know her. She’s from out of town. Mr. Smart used to own it and she got it when he died. Glad to see this place being used for something again. I hate to see an empty building."

"Thanks."

The woman moved up next in line. "French vanilla in a cone."

"Yes, ma'am."

She grabbed a cone and got by the freezer for another blast of cool air and made up the next order. Her bell rang once again, further extending her working hours until past closing.

Which was a good thing. Hello, new business in town. The happiness for the rest of her life on the line here. Ugh. She blew out a breath, ready to tackle these customers and turn them into every day people.

She straightened and Patrick came around the end of the counter. His grin was small, but it got bigger as he got closer. Then he dropped his gaze. He carried some huge metal thing and a tan colored bag was over his shoulder. "Do you mind if I take this on back?"

Back where? He didn't seem to be really looking for an answer as he kept walking, head still down while he excused himself behind her.

She pointed with her scooper as he was almost to the doorway. "Sure."

What else was she supposed to say?

Great ass
.

A sigh ran over her mind and she faced her customers that were starting to look like a crowd. Yeah. Better keep that thought to herself if she wanted a chance of getting these people to come back. He was in the building. More than that, he was in her bedroom. That was really her living room too. Okay, because she was cheap and skimping, he was in her house, technically speaking. With some weird metal...contraption...thing. And there had been a bag over his shoulder.

She looked up to take the next order and the dad of the family stared off toward her doorway. He pointed that way. "What was that thing?"

She lifted her shoulders. "I have no idea."

The other kid with them pointed at cookies and cream. "Some of that in a cone."

She got on the order and checked them out. Rattles and bangs echoed from the back. Maddy's gaze strayed that way as she stepped forward. "Two scoops of chocolate in a waffle cone."

Tasha got the ice cream and a squeak followed by a grind sounded from the other room. He didn't reappear, so she hurried to the register and checked Maddy out and something else banged.

Maddy looked to the doorway. "What's back there?"

"Some storage and refrigerators."

Maddy kept standing there and watching the doorway as she ate her ice cream. Tasha wasn't waiting around any longer and headed for the door to start shutting down. "Thanks for stopping by. It's time for me to shut down for the night and get off my feet."