The One Place (6 page)

Chapter 11

The next morning I got up and just threw clothes on. I had showered the night before when I got home to get the day of work and food off of me. I figured any further effort would be a waste since Ruthie talked me into going to Zumba with her.

I would put in the unhealthy amount of effort women usually go to when I came back from Zumba, before Tuck picked me up. If I was going to spend the whole day with him I could at least give him more material for his comments by looking decent.
Yeah
, that was the reason. Denial, party of one.

Anyway, I got up, threw clothes on, brushed my hair and teeth, and put my hair in a ponytail. I was sporting my lavender tee, a pair of shorts, and my converse. I pretty much looked how I looked every other day. I also lotioned my legs, as to not leave giant flakes of skin all over the Zumba studio.

I made my way down the hall and into the kitchen to make my Coke. What? A Coke before going to workout made perfect sense to me. I opened the cabinet, got out one of my styrofoam to-go cups, filled it with ice, got a Coke out of the refrigerator and poured it in. I waited for the fizz to settle each time so that I could get every last drop in there.

Finished Coke in hand, I grabbed my keys and purse off of the kitchen island turned left and headed for the door. I flipped the panel down on the alarm and entered the code to deactivate it. Looking down at myself making sure I got everything, I unlocked the deadbolts, turned back to the alarm and reactivated it, and went out the door. Finishing my routine of locking up, I jumped when I heard, “Hey!” shouted from right behind me. I did a jump and turn move to find Ruthie and Jezzy standing behind me.

“Jesus. You guys scared the shit out of me!”

Ruthie just shrugged to which I returned, “I see you don’t care about my heart health then. Nice to know now, I guess.”

“Oh, whatever. Get over it you cry baby.”

I rolled my eyes at her and asked, “What are you doing here anyway? I thought we were meeting there?”

“Yeah, well, Jezzy decided to come too, and we wanted to make sure you didn’t back out.”

I put my hand to my chest in mock offense and said, “Hey! I can’t believe you would think that of me!”

“Well, I know you weren’t too fired up to come-”

“No, no. I mean I’m offended that you think I would be dumb enough to stay home if I was gonna skip out on you. That’s the first place you would come looking for me. What do you think I am?”

We all dissolved into a fit of laughter and started walking back toward Main Street. I decided to breech what I knew was probably going to be a sensitive subject while I had Ruthie relatively isolated. “So, Ruthie, what’s the deal with Bobby?” She started to get defensive immediately, but I kept right on going. “I mean don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen him, he’s definitely cute. And I’m not involved enough in your relationship to know how it really is, I get that. Just from what I’ve seen, or heard, he’s not good enough for you.”

Before Ruthie could speak, Jezzy put in her two cents. “Yeah, totally, he’s is so not good enough for you! I don’t get it at all! No one gets it!”

Great. Now we were tag teaming her. Hopefully she didn’t get too upset.

“Look. You’re right, you don’t know. He can be different when it’s just us together. And I know he’s not exactly the best guy, but there aren’t that many to choose from here. I mean I probably won’t be with him forever, but for now it works alright.” Shaking her head, she finished, “Guys, I don’t wanna talk about this.”

Jezzy started to say something again, but I pierced her with a look. The last thing we needed to do was alienate ourselves from her so that she didn’t want to come to us if he actually did something to her for fear that we would be all “I told you so”.

“Okay, Ruthie. Just know that both of us want what’s best for you. Whatever that is.”

She nodded and said, “Thanks.”

Okay, definitely time to change the subject. “So what do I need to know in order to be prepared for Zumba?”

Ruthie smiled big again, did a little wiggle of her hips and said, “You just need to be willing to shake your hips. And with your ass, I’m sure that you will look fabulous doin’ it. And, um, really the only other thing is that you hopefully like Shakira and similar music, because that’s what you’re gonna live with for the next hour or so.”

********

Back in my apartment, freshly showered and lotioned, I was deciding what clothes to wear.

Zumba was awesome. It totally kicked my ass, but it was totally enjoyable. I decided to take off the breakfast shift every once in a while and go with Ruthie. Jezzy seemed to like it too, though let me tell you, if I thought her boobs bounced before, they really did in a tight workout halter while she shook her hips with all she had.

After debating for awhile, I pulled on my jeans and a pink tank, and tied on my converse. Who knew what we would be involved in today, and I wasn’t going to wrestle a calf in Mary Janes. I planned on being involved in everything. If we were going around because Tuck had to help people, I was going to help too. I wasn’t one to sit back and watch the action.

A knock on my door startled me. Sweet holy Jesus, was it Eleven already? As I made my way down the hall and past the kitchen I looked at the clock on the microwave. 10:45. He was early. Oh man, this was trouble. I had planned on having another Coke before he got here.

I opened the door, ready to call him out for committing such a crime when he stuck his hand towards my face. I took it in to notice that, enclosed in that hand, was a Coke. Okay, so I could hold off on killing him.

“You’re lucky. I was just plotting your murder because you had cut off my second Coke of the day. Turns out I’ll let you live for a little while longer.”

He chuckled and I used that moment to take him in. He was wearing jeans (of course), a tight navy blue t-shirt and his workboots. He also had on a fitted black ball cap, backwards, and a day’s worth of stubble on his face. He was rugged. And
fucking
gorgeous.

“I would never come between a woman and her Coke. Well, this woman and her Coke, anyway. As for being early, I have no excuse. I’m just usually early.”

Well, there were worse qualities in a man, I suppose. Though, if he was early with other women, he probably spent some time waiting. “Alright, well, just let me lock up and we can go.”

I headed to the island to get my keys and purse and shouted, “So where are we headed first?”

Only, I turned around and found that he had followed me in and was right behind me.

“Well, hello there.”

He ignored me and stated, “Place looks good.”

“Why, thank you. I had not one thing to do with it.”

That got me another smile. His smile was the best. That was going to be my goal for the day. I wanted to get as many smiles out of him as possible.

We walked back towards the door, I set the alarm and locked up, and then followed him out. I froze. Holy shit, there were two horses there. Saddled and ready to go.

“Um, horses?”

“Yep.”

“Am I going to get any more explanation than that?”

He just shrugged. “Figured this would be easiest and the most fun. We’re gonna need ‘em later at the Anderson place anyway.”

“Weren’t you worried that I might not know how to ride?”

“Nah. You don’t seem like you’re scared of much.”

Well, he got that right. When it came to myself, I was never scared of much of anything.

“Alright, well lucky for you, I can ride. It’s been awhile, but you never forget.” I had ridden quite a bit in Georgia where I grew up. Nothing intense, but we used to do trail rides and a little team sorting for fun.

“Nope.”

“Okay, who am I riding today?”

Both of his eyebrows shot up, reminding me that I was talking to a male. Jesus.

“What horse! Geez! Get your head out of the gutter!”

He chuckled, took the reins of a bay quarter-horse, and pulled him over to me. He was pretty short and stocky with a white star on his face. “This is Hatch. He’s a gelding, he’s not too temperamental, and we had a talk about him bein’ real careful with you.”

I stepped over to Hatch and held the back of my hand out for him to smell me (A horse gets to know you by smell.). As he got familiar with me I turned my hand over and rubbed it up and down the middle of his face. He leaned his face into my hand and seemed to savor the attention.

“I think you and me are going to get along just fine, Hatch.” Tuck watched closely as I bonded with his horse. He looked like he liked what he was watching but snapped his face back to it’s mocking smirk and said, “Ok. If you girls are done gabbin’ we better get movin’.”

I ignored him and kept murmuring to Hatch, “Don’t you listen to him buddy. He’s just a grumpy old man. If you’re a girl, you’re the most handsome girl I’ve ever seen.”

I vaguely noted Tuck chuckling again as he grabbed my waist with both hands, picked me up, and set me up on Hatch’s back. I was startled by the abrupt movement but more so by how good it felt to have my waist wrapped up in Tuck’s hands. Not to mention, he lifted me like I weighed nothing. I wasn’t heavy, but I wasn’t a feather by any stretch of the imagination.

I pulled myself together and settled myself in the saddle, taking the reins from Tuck and putting my feet in the stirrups. I was just finishing adjusting and got to watch as Tuck walked around my horse to the one next to me (Another gelding, this one sorrel in color with a blaze on his face), grabbed the saddle horn, and swung himself up into the saddle. Without using the stirrups or anything. God, that was hot. I did not tell him this. Instead, I did what I did best and teased him.

“Show off.”

The end of Tuck’s lips twitched and he said, “Only for you, darlin’.”

Darling.
Not even knowing what hit me, I subconsciously reacted to that word. I could hear Andrew’s voice running through my head.
You’re going to learn your lesson one of these days, Darling.

Noticing my unease, Tuck tried to calm me, “Relax, Babe. Hatch can feel you get tense and he’s gonna react to it.”

I tried to calm myself and said quietly, “Please just don’t call me that.”

Tuck immediately agreed because he could tell how much it had gotten to me. “No problem, Babe. I don’t ever wanna do anythin’ that’s gonna make you react like that.” He paused to look me over for a few seconds. “You ok?”

“I’m fine,” I lied. Because I would be fine, I just never knew how well trained my body was to disliking that word. I guess people had used it with me before, but never another man.

Ready to move on from this and have fun doing something different for the day, I made an effort to get us back on target. “So where are we headed?”

Tuck took my cue and dropped it. We both picked up our reins, gave our horses a bump with our heals and moved out. “First thing we gotta do is go over to Mrs. Tanner’s house and bring all of her Fourth of July decorations back up into the attic for her.”

My head whipped around to him as I tried to wrap my head around what he said. “Fourth of July decorations?”

He just smiled. “Oh yeah. An elderly woman in small town Tennessee? No way she’s gonna pass up an opportunity to fly all her American flags.”

I nodded my head in understanding. “Okay, so what do we do after we help the elderly store their patriotism?”

Tuck’s face lit up in a smile filled with warmth. Man, I was starting to love his smile. “I thought we could stop and have some lunch before we head over to the Andersons’ to help herd some of their cattle.”

That sounded awesome. Both parts. Lunch and herding cattle. So I downplayed it just a little and told him. “That sounds pretty good on both counts. I like food and I can be down with herding some cattle.”

Tuck just kept smiling and walked along beside me headed for Mrs. Tanner’s house. I followed his lead because I hadn’t met Mrs. Tanner yet and had no clue where she lived. We fell into a comfortable silence and just enjoyed each others’ company. And it really was, just that.
Comfortable.

When we got to Mrs. Tanner’s house, which I discovered was just past the other side of Main Street, kind of behind the diner, we walked the horses right onto the front yard. Tuck jumped down, threw his reins on the ground, and rounded the horse to help me down.

I felt it was necessary to tell him that I could do this myself. “I can get down myself, you know.”

He just said, “Like it better this way.”

Okay. Whatever. It wasn’t worth a battle because, quite frankly, I liked his hands on me too.

He threw the reins of my horse on the ground too and headed for the house. “Wait. We don’t need to tie them up?”

He shook his head. “My horses ground tie. Just drop their reins on the ground and they stay.”

I was flabbergasted. I mean I had some horse experience, but I had no idea there were horses out there good enough to do that.

“Really? That is so cool! I had no idea that was possible.”

“Really. Now, come on. Let’s do this so we can go get some food.”

“Wow. Somebody’s impatient.”

Instead of answering, he just grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the door. Before we got there, it opened and Mrs. Tanner stepped out. “Hello, my dear Tucker. Thank you so much for coming to help me again.”

Tuck stepped onto the porch and kissed her cheek. “It’s no problem.”

“Always so sweet, Tucker dear.” As if she just noticed me standing there- which maybe she did; when Tucker was around he stole the show- she sing-songed, “Oh! And who is this pretty little thing you have with you today?”

I stepped up and held out my hand, “Hi Mrs. Tanner. I’m Natalie Jenkins. I’m just helping Tuck out today.”

A smile settled on her face and she murmured, “I just bet you are, dear.” Just noticing my hand she shooed it away and pulled me in for a hug. “What is this nonsense with a handshake? I want a hug, dear. I don’t have that many years left to get as many as I can.”

Turning back to Tuck, she continued, “The boxes are just in the hall. Mr. Tanner helped me take down the decorations, but I told him he wasn’t allowed to take the boxes up with his new hip. He didn’t take too kindly to that. Stubborn old man.”