Love Finds You: A Helena's Grove Novella (3 page)

Jen got out of the truck and stood there dumbstruck. Cows. As far as the eye could see, nothing but big, mooing, black and brown, cows. Jen had never actually touched a cow, and she didn’t want to. They were dirty and smelly and HUGE! Aunt Gabby jumped from the truck, ran to the fence and began cooing at the beasts closest to her. Jen marveled once again at how much energy she had, especially for a woman that was dying of cancer.

Zack walke
d around the front of the truck. “You gonna stay here by the truck?” he asked as he put a black cowboy hat on his head.

Jen surveyed her surroundings; besides the cows, the next thing she noticed was the mud. It was everywhere and it was deep! Dark brown, watery sludge lined the fence that held the cows
in and they themselves were sinking and swaying in the thickness as they moved along. She wasn’t staying here, no way! She turned to get back into the truck when she heard her name. She turned to see Annie waving as she walked toward her. Jen waved and thought about meeting her half way but again noticing the dirt and mud surrounding her, thought it best to stay where she was.

“Hey!” Annie said cheerfully when she got close enough. “I never imagined I’d see you here!” Her southern accent seemed stronger today.

“I was tricked into coming,” Jen said loud enough for Zack to hear who was now in the back of the truck pulling things out of the bed.

“Oh.” Annie looked at her brother; he stopped for a moment and looked at them but didn’t comment.

“Well,” Annie said, returning to her cheerful disposition, “I’m glad you’re here. Have you ever done branding before?”

Jen knew that Annie knew the answer to that que
stion but decided to oblige her. “Actually, I’ve never even touched a cow and I honestly have no idea what branding is.”

Annie’s face clearly displayed surprise. “You’ve never touched a cow?” she asked, not believing.

“Not once.”

“Well, I’m happy that I get to b
e the person to introduce you!” she giggled. “This is gonna be so much fun!”

Jen nodded but didn’t feel her enthusiasm.

Annie’s laugh died as she looked over Jen’s outfit. “I don’t think you should’ve worn those shoes,” she said shaking her head.

Jen noticed Annie was wearing jeans and a blue plaid shirt. Her short brown hair was pulled into two pigtails and she wore a brown cowboy hat speckled with a few jewels around the rim. She couldn’t have looked more country if she tried. Ironically, even though Jen herself would never dress that way, she thought Annie looked quite cute, if you overlooked the spots of mud on her knees.

Zack walked by just then. “I told her those shoes weren’t a good choice.” He gave Jen an ‘I told you so’ look. She glared back at him.

Annie didn’t seem to notice. “That’s alright, I can’t imagine you’ll be doing any branding today seeings as it’s your first time. I’ll send some clothes over before next Saturday for you to use. You’re a little thinner than I am but I think I have some things that’ll do,” she said smiling.

“What’s next Saturday?” Jen asked

“Oh we’re gonna
keep branding and tagging the cattle. There are so many it usually takes us a few Saturdays to do it all.”

“Who owns all these cows?” Jen asked. There had to
be at least a thousand of them.

“Mr. Hansen does,” Annie said, pointing to a man sitting on a horse a few yards away. He was rugged-looking, seemed to be in his mid-f
ifties, and sported blue jeans, a plaid shirt, boots and a hat.
Surprise, surprise,
Jen thought.

“Well, come on with me
.” Annie motioned and started toward the fence. “It’s time you touched a cow!”

Jen swallowed hard. She looked at her shoes, then at the mud, and then back at her shoes. She wasn’t from a small town but she did know that expensive yellow shoes and mud do not mix. Annie plopped on through the wetness like she was walking down the sidewalk. It didn’t even faze her.
She turned back to look at Jen. “Ya comin? It’s not too bad if ya stay on the dryer spots.”

Jen looked over at Aunt Gabby. She
was talking to Mr. Hansen who had climbed off his horse. Zack was standing a few feet from them and she suddenly noticed he was watching her. Completely annoyed, she lifted her head and stood a little straighter. She could do this, she could do anything, she wasn’t afraid. She took one step, then two. She walked strategically through the mud, trying to find the driest places to step. She was doing it! She got half way to where Annie was standing when out of nowhere, her foot sank. She looked down and gasped; her ankle was surrounded by dark sludge. Reflexively, she pulled her foot up. It came up, but her shoe stayed where it was. She cried out dramatically as she stooped over to try to pull her shoe from the mud. It was completely engulfed. Bent over, pulling on her shoe she heard something behind her. She looked to see Zack, laughing hysterically. She shot him a look that made him pull his hat over his eyes, but he continued to giggle. Her blood began to boil beneath her skin. She tugged on the shoe, one, two, three times. The fourth hard tug brought the shoe out of the mud. Unbalanced in her one six-inch heel, she teetered and finally fell straight on her butt. Blackish-brown, muddy water oozed around her and she screamed furiously.

Zack and Annie were suddenly beside her. Annie looked horrified. “Oh Jen! I’m so sorry! I don’t know why I asked you to come over here in this mud. I’m so sorry!” Her apologies continued as Jen sat there in the mud, so shocked she didn’t know what to do. Zack moved in, took one of her hands and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her up. Jen briefly felt the strength in his arms but chose to focus on other things.

“Were those shoes expensive?” The worry in Annie’s voice was evident. “Oh my goodness is there something we can do? Your dress, Jen! I’m so sorry! Maybe we can clean them off...”

Once again standing upright, Jen shook her shoe; little droplets of mud flung everywhere.

“Don’t worry Annie,” Zack said, a laughing tone in his voice, “these shoes are Vera Wang.” He emphasized the name. “Miss Berkley probably has them insured.”

Jen felt a flash of anger, and then she snapped. “You are
an inconsiderate, unrefined jerk! You are arrogant and insensitive and you don’t know anything about me!”

“You’re r
ight about that,” Zack retorted. “I don’t know you, which is why it is such a complete mystery to me why you would bring high heeled shoes to a place full of dirt and manure. Maybe if I knew you better I’d understand that decision more fully.”

His statement was dripping with sarcasm
and Jen’s fuse burst even more. “You bigheaded, stuck-up, snub-nosed, son of a b…”

“Jennifer!” Aunt Gabby said sharply, cutting her off. She had seen what happened and had made her way to their circle.
“Get in the truck. I’m taking you home.” Her tone was authoritative. She held out her hand to Zack who without question gave her the keys. Taking them, she slid her arm around Jen and led her to the truck. Jen had taken the other shoe off and had both shoes in her hands now. Barefooted, she waddled through the mud. It wasn’t until she was in the passenger seat that she fully assessed the damage to her apparel. Her shoes, one completely covered in mud and the other half way so, sat on her lap. Her feet were muddy up past her ankles. Her dress was muddy from her butt clear up her left side. She was a mess and felt ridiculous. Suddenly, she felt her eyes begin to burn, and tears formed. She wasn’t used to being publicly humiliated. She held it together until they had driven up the road a ways before she broke down.

Aunt Gabby said very little on the way home. Jen just sobbed pathetically. She felt awkward, but she couldn’t stop the tears from coming. Her clothes were ruined and her pride had been bruised. When they reached the house, she went straight to her room and stripped. She threw her shoes in the sink and began soaking them, hoping against hope that she would be able to get the dark color out. Using some spot remover and fierce determination, she worked to get the mud stains out of her dress and jacket. After two hours of scrubbing and soaking, she sat down on her bed and acknowledged her defeat. The white dress was now half brown, her bright yellow jacket was speckled with dark spots, and her shoes were toast.

Red nosed and puffy eyed, she lay down on her bed, the fury growing. She hated Ohio. Hated mud. Hated cows. Hated trucks. Hated the smell of manure. But most of all, more than anything, she hated Zack LaFaye.

Not in the mood to go anywhere or do anything, Jen spent the next two weeks at home. When she was asked if she wanted to try branding again the week following her muddy disaster, she emphatically declined. Jen wasn’t there to experience country living, she was there to spend time with her aunt, so that’s what she was going to do.

The two of them spent afternoons enjoying iced tea, great conversation, and homemade vanilla ice cream topped with
delicious berries that grew in Aunt Gabby’s garden. June was in full swing and Ohio was getting hot. Aunt Gabby’s little house had a swamp cooler but it was hardly sufficient for the entire house. On certain days Jen felt she would die of heat stroke.

On the second Saturday after the “mud incident”, as Jen appropriately named it, Aunt Gabby woke her early. “Get up Jenny.” It wasn’t a suggestion.

Jen rolled onto her side refusing to acknowledge her aunt’s existence at that particular time. Maybe if she ignored her she’d go away and let Jen sleep. It was a vain hope.

“Jennifer, I said get up.”

Jen suddenly felt like she was in high school again with one of her stepmothers trying to get her up for school. Luckily, she loved Aunt Gabby far more than any of her father’s flings. “What time is it?” Jen asked.

“Quarter to,” Aunt Gabby responded.

“Quarter to what, Aunt Gab?” Jen was trying to not sound annoyed.

“Six.”

Jen cringed and buried her face in her pillow.

Aunt Gabby sat on the side of the bed. “You need to get up honey, you can’t hide here forever. I won’t let you make my home your little escape from the world. It’s time to get back in the saddle.”

Jen looked up at Aunt Gabby; her wrinkly old face didn’t match her bright, fierce blue eyes. “And what saddle might that be?” Jen asked. “I’m not going branding again if that’s what you’re saying.”

“Nope not branding, the next best thing,” Aunt Gabby said excitedly. She stood up and opened the closet. “Annie will be here at six-thirty to pick you up so you’d better get dressed.” She opened Jen’s closet doors and began throwing shirts on the bed. “Don’t you have any jeans?”

“No.” Jen still wanted to sleep.

“Are you kidding me?” Aunt Gabby looked incredulous. “My goodness child, what do you work in?”

“Skirts and slacks.” Jen refused to open her eyes. She burrowed deeper into her blankets and focused on the dream she’d been having before she was so rudely awoken on a Saturday morning.

“Well, I know that, but what do you do real work in?”

Jen rolled her eyes and looked at her aunt. “Real work?”

Aunt Gabby just nodded slowly, her hands on her hips waiting for Jen’s reply. They looked at each other for a moment and Jen decided she wasn’t going to step into Aunt Gabby’s trap and make an argument about it. She knew that’s what she wanted her to do so she’d wake up. Instead, she rolled over and covered her head with her blanket.

“I’ll call Annie and tell her to bring you a pair of jeans and some boots,” Aunt Gabby said as she walked out of the room.

“For what?” Jen called after her.

“I told you darling, you have to get back into the saddle.” And with that she headed downstairs.

Jen grumbled under her blanket, “Damn, stupid, saddle, dirt and mud.”

“Coffee’s done!” Aunt Gabby yelled up the stairs.

Jen heaved a sigh of defeat, threw her covers off and made her way downstairs, not even bothering to get dressed. Annie was there twenty minutes early.

“Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning!” she sang as she walked in the house. Jen held her head, and mentally thanked God that Annie had never been around when she had a hangover.

“Hey, I brought you some clothes!” Annie began as she sat down next to Jen at the kitchen table. “Aunt Gabby said you don’t own a pair of jeans. I can’t believe that! I didn’t think there was a person in the world that didn’t own a pair of jeans.” She giggled to herself as she pulled
some jeans out of the bag she was carrying. “Well, maybe not the whole world,” she went on, “I mean, I really have no idea what people wear in other countries but if they haven’t tried jeans they sure should!”

Jen stared in silence. She liked Annie, but she couldn’t help but imagine duct taping her mouth shut. It was far too early to be so damn chipper.

“Well, you wanna get dressed so we can be on our way?” Annie asked.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jen said flatly as she sipped her coffee. “I refuse to go branding again.”

“Oh!” Annie smiled and her brown eyes and long eyelashes made her look like a deer. “We aren’t going branding. Now come on, you can’t go riding in those skimpy things.” She gestured to Jen’s pajama shorts and tank top.

Riding? Riding? Riding what? Jen was sure she heard the word
riding
. She looked at Aunt Gabby who just nodded her encouragement.

“Now I know that you’re a little thinner than I am,” Annie started, “but I brought a couple of my skinny jeans so you can try them both on and see which fits best.” She handed Jen the jeans and smiled enthusiastically. On the way upstairs to get dressed, the thought crossed Jen’s mind that it was a good thing Annie had pretty teeth. Otherwise her smiles would be much harder to take.

Ten minutes later Jen came down the stairs in blue jeans, boots and a light blue, short sleeved blouse with ruffles down the front. At Annie’s suggestion, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She couldn’t remember the last time she wore her hair that way. “These fit best.” She gestured to the jeans.

“Oh you look adorable!” Annie exclaimed. “The pants look a little big but we’ll just have to go shopping later and get you a pair that fits. Once you go denim you never go back.” She waved her finger at Jen and laughed at herself. Jen felt tired again. This was going to be a long day.

A few minutes later Jen was in the passenger seat of the same truck she had been two weeks earlier. Except this time she wasn’t covered in mud… yet. After a few minutes of driving Annie spoke up.

“Are you ok with getting that shirt a little dirty?” she asked reluctantly. “I don’t want you to ruin any more of your nice expensive clothes.”

“All my clothes are nice and expensive.” Jen tried not to sound rude but it was useless.

Annie smiled.
“Of course, you work in New York, and you have to dress nice. That’s one thing Zack always said. He said he never saw so many rich and so many poor people as he did in New York.”

Jen was suddenly attentive
, “When did he go to New York?”

“Oh he was there a lot when he was in school,” Annie said as if it were no big deal.

“School?” Where did he...”

“We’re here!” Annie
cried as she pulled the truck onto a long dirt driveway. As they drove closer, Jen could see a barn and three saddled horses that were tethered to a post. Annie put the truck in park and jumped out without another word. She ran to one of the horses, a dark black beauty with a single white diamond on its forehead. She started cooing at the animal, kissing its nose and petting its neck.

Jen sat in the truck, her heart racing. “No way in hell,” she said out loud, shaking her head.

The passenger door opened and Zack was there. He was dressed in his usual garb, plaid shirt, boots, jeans, a hat. Jen couldn’t put her finger on it, but even though he never varied from his country attire, there was something attractive about the way he dressed. “You ready?” he asked, but didn’t stick around for a response. He walked toward the horses before Jen could say one word.

“I’m not going,” Jen stated as she got out of the truck. “No way. No way in hell am I getting on that thing.” She pointed in the direction of the horses. “I have never been on a horse. What if I get bucked off? Or trampled?”

Zack turned and looked at her but said nothing, and Jen realized she was bothered by that little trait of his. She could handle anything anyone had to say. What she couldn’t handle was silent looks that were hard to read. She didn’t like it.

“Jen, you’ll ride Stallion,” Annie said, pointing to a big brown horse.

“No, this isn’t a good idea.” Jen was holding her hands up. “Seriously, I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve even seen a horse in person.”

Zack was suddenly beside her. “Horses have a sixth sense. They can feel if you aren’t
comfortable. Just pet him. He’s a Stallion, hence his name,” he said and then winked at her.

Jen looked at Annie, who was still petting her black horse. “What’s its name?” she asked.

Annie smiled. “Her name is Ember. We helped raise all of these horses. Ember is the youngest.”

Jen relaxed a bit. “You raised them? That’s really cool.”

Zack piped up, “Stallion is the oldest, the most experienced and the calmest of the three.” He looked at her teasingly. “He’s the only one that would be able to handle you.”

Jen glared at him and responded sarcastically, “Really?”

A chuckle escaped him and Jen rolled her eyes. She turned toward the horse in front of her; he was big, really big. She was sure he was bigger than the other horses. I can ride this thing, she encouraged herself. She took a step towards him, then two; she held out her hand and closed her eyes. She touched the tip of his nose and he reared slightly. Jen jumped back and so did Stallion.

“I can’t do this! I tried and he doesn’t like me.” Jen backed away and put her hand over her heart, breathing deep to try and slow it down.

“I thought New Yorkers weren’t afraid of anything,” Zack said mischievously as he put some things in the back of the truck. He jumped off the truck bed and jogged to where she was standing; about fifteen feet from the horses. “You need to let him know that you trust him,” he said. “He’ll take care of you.”

“But I don’t trust him,” Jen stated honestly. She glanced at Stallion and he seemed to be watching her. She looked back at Zack, awaiting his response. He smiled at her, his dimple appearing.
Damn it!

“Do you ever get tired of not trusting?” Zack asked her.

Jen scoffed, “I trust. I trust some people.”

Zack raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. He looked like a puppy when he did that. Jen was
still angry at him from the branding episode and was a little annoyed that he was so adorable.

“I do! I trust my Dad and Aunt Gabby,” Jen declared ardently when she realized Zack didn’t believe her.

“I didn’t say you didn’t trust any people, I asked if you got tired of not trusting in general,” Zack replied.

Jen felt slightly confused but before she could respond Zack went on. “Sometimes we lose trust because we believe that there isn’t anything we can’t do on our own. But that isn’t true. People need people. And I believe,” he reached for Jen’s hand and poured some grains into it, “I believe that people can learn a lot from animals, horses in particular.” He walked behind Jen,
and slipping one hand around her waist and the other under her outstretched hand, he gently pushed her toward the horse. “Horses can teach you how to trust.”

“But what if he just doesn’t like me?” Jen asked, truly concerned.

“Not possible,” Zack whispered.

Jen tried to focus on the large horse that was getting closer with every step, but all she could concentrate on was Zack’s hand around her waist and his breath on her ear. When they were a couple feet from the horse Zack stopped her. “Now wait,” he said softly.

Jen stood there, arm outstretched, waiting. Stallion looked at her for a few seconds as she gazed back at him. She realized for the first time how pretty his coloring was. He looked like he was wearing white socks and had a white mark on his forehead much like Annie’s horse. But Stallion’s wasn’t a diamond; it was more like a star. She smiled inwardly at that and when she did, Stallion took a step toward her. She instinctively tried to step back but Zack still had his arm around her and stopped her. “Just wait,” Zack encouraged, “don’t be afraid of him.”

One, two, three steps; Stallion was close enough to sniff the grains in Jens hand. Suddenly he was eating, and Jen felt the hot breath on her hand. Once the grain was gone Zack gently led Jen’s hand up to Stallions nose, and then down his neck. He sniffed and shifted but he seemed calm. Jen smiled in amazement. The wonder and admiration she felt being so close to such a magnificent animal was unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

“He likes you,” Zack said with a smile. “You two will do great together.”

Jen smiled in return and nodded.

“Well,” Annie’s voice broke the moment. Jen looked at her and felt embarrassed. She had forgotten Annie was there and knew that she had witnessed the entire scene between Jen and her brother. However, she didn’t seem bothered by it. “Let’s get this show on the road!”

Zack showed Jen how to get on the horse and they adjusted the stirrups for her height. They started off slowly, walking across the countryside. And what beautiful country it was! Jen had always thought of herself as a city girl, but after seeing the wheat fields, open rolling hills and breathtaking vistas that day; she started questioning whether that was still true. They rode all morning, and as noon drew near, they stopped for a picnic in a meadow at the top of a
small mountain. Jen was again taken aback by the beauty of her surroundings.