The Stable Boy (5 page)

“Okay, I will set the table,” I said, smiling.

“Sounds good, but you are not allowed to look at the stove. I will get you the dishes, if you tell me where they are.”

“The dishes are in the cupboard to the left of the stove.”

He grabbed two plates, forks, knives, and napkins. I went to the porch. I set the table. Glancing in the window, I could see him looking out at me smiling. I smiled back at him. I went back inside and he handed me a cup of fresh brewed coffee. I to
ok his cup outside with me. I sat down, looking over the farm. A sense of happiness came over me. I had not felt it since the passing of John. I did not know if I should feel wrong about it, but had decided last night that I was going to live my life one day at a time. If having Josh here was causing me to be happy, then he could stay until it wore off. Alison had a point. I needed to start being happy and living my life for me. The slamming of the screen door jolted me from my daydream.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said.

“It’s okay. I was just daydreaming about the farm.”

“Memories?” he asked.

“Sort of, it is more of taking life one day at a time from here on out.”

“Remind me to thank Alison on Saturday.”

“For what?” I inquired.

“Opening your eyes to this new way of thinking,” he answered with a smile.

“How do you know it was her and just not something I decided on my own?”

“Because you were different when you came back from talking with her,” he said.

I shook my head and smiled. “She definitely helped me get through what was ailing me. She is a great friend. I am glad she has always been there when I really needed her. So, what is for breakfast?”

“This morning’s feast consists of over easy eggs, biscuits and sausage gravy, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a fruit bowl.”

“I hope you are not expecting me to eat all of this.”

“Just a little bit of everything, not a lot,” he said.

“Okay, a little bit of everything I can handle.”

He began with placing a half of a biscuit and some sausage gravy on my plate. He put an egg on top and some fruit on the side. I had never had someone make a plate for me. It was a welcomed change. He poured a glass of orange juice. I waited to begin until he made his own plate. The first bite was like heaven exploded in my mouth. He definitely knew his was around the kitchen.

“This is excellent,” I said.

“Thank you,” he said. It was his turn to blush.

“Where did you learn to cook?”

“Grandma always had me in the kitchen when I wasn’t tending to the farm and making pickles with grandpa. She always said that if a man can cook for himself he would never go hungry.”

“She was a wise woman.”

“Yes, she was. A very loving, caring, wise wom
an who would do anything for me. I miss her,” he said with tears in his eyes. I reached over and grabbed his hand. He smiled. I leaned over, kissing his cheek.

“She would be very proud of the man you turned into.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I can only hope to continue to make her proud.”

“I am sure you will have no problems.”

He reached under the table and gave my thigh a light squeeze. My insides tingled. We ate the rest of our breakfast. I cleared the table while he went back to work. An hour later he came in for a glass of water, shirtless. I turned away from him.

“I am going to get the wheat in the ground today.”

“Great, I believe the seeds should be in the barn with the equipment.”

“Yes, I saw them in there.”

“What would you like for lunch, today? I promise to have it ready at the proper time.”

“What ever you make will be great. A sandwich may be best as I will be busy most of the day.”

“Okay, I will bring it out to you.”

“Sounds good, thank you,” he said walking out the door. I watched him walk to the barn. That boy stirred something in me I had not felt in quite some time. I went to the office to work, but failed to get anything done. I kept picturing him shirtless. He was a distraction. I need to get this work done. It was as if the doctors did not give me anything for a month. There was a lot to do here. I began the first file, but every time I blinked he was there. I pushed forward and really concentrated on the file. At 11:45, I went down stairs to begin making lunch. I saw him on the seed spreader. I smiled and made his sandwich and mine. I grabbed a jug of ice cold sweet tea and
two glasses. Taking the gator out to where he was, I pulled up ahead of him. When he reached me, he turned the machine off. He climbed down, wiping himself down. He skin was glistening with sweat. I had to restrain myself from asking if he wanted help.

“I told you I would have lunch ready on time today,” I said with a smirk.

“Yes, you did. I didn’t realize how hungry I was already. I probably would have kept working not even realizing what time it was.”

“Sometimes, it’
s hard to pull yourself away from work when you really get into it.”

“It is, especially when you love what you do.”

“I agree. That has a lot to do with it.”

He took a big bite of his sandwich and chased it with swig of his sweet tea.

“Have you ever been on that thing?”

“No, John handled all the equipment. I handled the house.”

“Do you want to give it a try,” he said with raised eyebrows and a smirk.

“There is only one seat. I can’t see you standing on the side of it trying to help me.”

“Who said I would be standing? You could sit in my lap.”

“Um, no,” I said with a slight giggle. My face heated up.

“At the rate you turn red, I feel like I am turning into your husband.”

“I embarrass easy. That was one of the things he loved about me.”

“I can’t say that I blame him. It’s quite cute when you do it.”

“You be quiet.”

We both laughed. It felt good to laugh. I had not had a chance to do it over the past couple of years. With him, I was doing it a lot. He was bringing me back to life. He was fixing everything that had been broken inside of me.

“What are you smiling about?” he said as he brushed my hair off of my shoulder.

“Nothing, just thinking about things,” I said.

“Evidently, it’
s good things.”

“Very good things,” I said. “I should let you get back to work. I need to do the same.”

“Okay,” he said leaning over. He kissed me. I did not push him away. I returned his kiss. He placed one hand on my hip. I placed my hand on the back of his head. Everything in me wanted him right there. He pulled away.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” he said as he climbed out of the gator and back into the seed spreader. Starting it up, he pulled away. I sat there for a few minutes, contemplating on whether or not to follow him and climb in his lap. I decided on going back to the house for a cold shower. I walked in the door to hear my phone ringing.

“Hello,” I said.

“Any dirty details to tell me, yet?” asked Alison.

Laughing, I replied, “Let’s see, we’ve watched some movies and hugged each other afterward. He cooked breakfast for me this morning. Just a few minutes ago we kissed, but that is about as dirty as it gets.”

“He cooked breakfast for you?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Was it any good?”

“It was very good.”

“Oh, then he is a keeper.”

“Alison!”

“Seriously, if a man knows his way around the kitchen, then he is a keeper.”

“You definitely have your own way of thinking about things.”

“I know
, isn’t it great? Now let’s get back to the more important matter, how was that kiss?”

“It was definitely not like kissing John.”

“Better or do you need to teach him a couple of things?’

“There is no teaching needed. It was different. When I was so used to John’s kissing, Josh’s took me by surprise.”

“Oh, I like the sound of that. There was no feeling of panic?”

“Not nearly as bad as the last time. I am going to take this one day at a time.”

“That is awesome. You need to move on. If this young, handsome man will awaken the person you once were, then you need to let him do it.”

“I am,” I said. “I wanted to thank you for
the other night. I know these past couple of years have put a strain on our friendship, but I did not know how to live my life without John in it. I always knew you would be there if I needed to talk. When I panicked the other day, you were there to show me that everything was going to be okay. So, thank you for always being my best friend, Alison, you are the best person for the job.”

“You’re welcome. You know I love you. I loved John, too. You are like family to us. I will always be here to help you through anything and hopefully get all the dirty details,” she said laughing.

“You are crazy. I need to get back to work. I will talk to you later.”

“Okay, but I want to be the first one you call afterward.”

“I promise if I call anyone, it will be you, crazy lady.”

“Awesome, talk to you soon,” she said. “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye,” I said, shaking my head as I hung up the phone. I decided to go back to work, if I could concentrate on it. In my office, I sat at my desk facing the window. The view from my window consisted of the paddocks where the horses galloped, ate, and played all day long. To me, this was the best view of the farm. I loved watching the horses all day. I could work on a file, then look past the computer screen to see them. I watched the babies play with each other for a few minutes before I began on the next file. I picked up the next file on the pile. It was for Mr. Jacobs. He owned the local diner. According to the young Doctor Russell, he suffered a bad burn on his left hand. He said that he did not feel that the griddle was hot until it had already burned his hand. Doctor Russell diagnosed him with Diabetes after running some blood tests. With a blood sugar over 200, it was time for Mr. Jacobs to be placed on insulin along with monitoring his blood sugar. He said Mr. Jacobs was not happy. He asked how he was supposed to know if his food was good if he could not taste half of it. Doctor Russell suggested getting one of the other younger cooks or a waitress to taste it for him. He also commented that he doubted that Mr. Jacobs would listen as he was well into his 60s and set in his ways.

I felt bad for the young Doctor Russell as most of his patients were older than his dad or in the same age bracket. They were just used to dealing with his dad and were not going to listen to the young one they watched grow up. Looking up from my computer screen, I could see Josh in the paddock working with the unruly colt. The colt seemed to take to him. He did whatever Josh asked him to. This made me smile. I watched for a couple of minutes before I picked up the next file. This one belonged to Cecily, who was my hairdresser.

She went into the office because she had an upset stomach. After running the routine test, it was discovered that she is pregnant. ‘Good for her,’ I thought. ‘She had been trying for quite some time. It looks like she and her husband will finally get the child they had been hoping for.’ I was about to begin the next file when there was a knock on the office door.

“Hey, Claire,” Josh said from behind me. “I am going to take a shower before dinner. This time I promise to close the door.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize what time it was. I will get dinner started while you are in the shower.”

“Okay.”

I shut down my computer and followed him down the stairs. He turned down the hall to take his shower and I went to the kitchen. Following my usual routine, I turned on the radio and began making dinner. I seasoned some shrimp and skewered them. I was cooking on the grill again tonight. These fall nights were perfect for using the barbeque grill. I cranked up the radio as my favorite song started to play.

“She said ‘I’m going out with my girlfriends for margaritas at the Holiday Inn.’
Oh have mercy! My only thought was tequila makes her clothes come off.” Joe Nichols sang.   I began dancing around the kitchen. I grabbed the lettuce from the refrigerator. Tonight, I was going to make skewered shrimp lettuce wraps with homemade cocktail sauce and grilled zucchini. I was slicing up the zucchini when my favorite part came on.

“Them panty hose ain’t gonna last too long if the DJ puts Bon Jovi on. She might come home in a table cloth. Yeah, tequila makes her clothes come off.” Joe and I sang in unison.

“So does it?” I heard from behind me.

“So does what,” I said, slightly embarrassed.

“Does tequila make your clothes come off?”

“Um, no, but it will Alison’s,” I laughed, turning around. “Just how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” he said.

“John used to do the same thing. He would never tell me he was there, just watch me make a fool of myself. He would watch from the stairs. He would come down to the fourth step and sit down. The fifth one squeaks, loudly.”