When You're Back (Rosemary Beach #12)(20)

Yes . . . no . . . ugh! I had to talk to him. I had to face this. It was my life. Our life. I had to find my direction in it.

“I want to get a job,” I blurted out, for fear that I wouldn’t say it if I waited. “I want to get a job and a GED and take college courses online.”

There. I had said it.

Mase stopped and studied me. He didn’t say anything for a moment, and I worried that I’d sounded ungrateful or unhappy. I wasn’t unhappy. I loved him. I loved being with him. I just needed more than being here all the time.

“You want a job?” he asked. “Who have you mentioned that to?”

I shook my head. “Just you,” I replied. I didn’t think I’d said it to anyone else, but maybe I had told Blaire, or was it Harlow? I couldn’t remember.

“Why do you want a job?”

“I want to make money. I don’t want you paying for my school and”—I held my hands out—“everything. I want to contribute. Staying here all day is . . . it’s not doing anything, really. I need to work. I need to get my GED.”

Mase let out a sigh and put his hands on his hips as he studied his boots a moment. He was upset. I had upset him. This was what I didn’t want to do. I had opened my mouth to apologize when he looked back up at me. “OK. I understand. How do you feel about answering phone calls and e-mails and cleaning horse stalls?”

What? Was he trying to give me a job? That wasn’t what I meant. He didn’t need me. He was making up a job for me. I had to feel more independent than this. I needed that security. “No, Mase. You can’t make up a job for me. You don’t need help. I have to get a job out in the world and bring money home.”

A small grin tugged on his lips. “It wouldn’t be for me.”

“Huh?”

He reached down and pulled off his muddy boots and set them near the door, then walked toward me. “Arthur Stout’s wife, Piper, gives horse-riding lessons at their stables. She needs an assistant. Arthur offered you the job today.”

He reached for my hand and held it in his like he was examining a priceless treasure in his palm. “You’d have to answer phones and take notes. Write them down. You’d have to read e-mails and reply to them. I didn’t tell Arthur about your dyslexia. That’s something for you to tell Piper if you want this job. I believe you can do it. I believe you can be the best damn assistant in the world. But I need to know if you believe it.”

A job that didn’t involve cleaning toilets. An assistant job. In an office. Wow. That was more than I thought I could do. “I’d tell her,” I assured him. “Yes, I want it. That would be a great job to have on my résumé.”

He nodded. “I agree. And I think you can do it. I hate to think of you gone all day, but I also want you to be happy. I want you to have everything you want in life.”

I wanted him. He was the most important thing. But I did want other things, too. This was the first step toward being my own person. Reaching up, I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close. “Thank you. Thank you so much for this.”

Mase kissed my head. “Don’t thank me for wanting to make you happy. I intend to keep you here. Whatever I need to do to make sure that happens, I’ll do.”

Smiling, I laid my head on his chest.

“I’m filthy,” he said, running a hand down my hair.

“I don’t care. I like you this way. You’re my sexy cowboy.”

Mase chuckled. “Sexy cowboy, huh?” I nodded, and he held me tightly against him. “Why don’t I fix us some sandwiches, and then you can take a shower with me to make sure this cowboy gets all clean.”

I pulled back and smiled up at him. “What kind of girlfriend would I be if I stayed here all day and didn’t fix you any dinner?”

“I didn’t smell anything,” he said, looking toward the kitchen.

“Because the fish is battered, and the hushpuppies are all rolled up and ready to go. I was just waiting for you to fry them so they’d be nice and hot. Fix yourself some sweet tea. It won’t take me but ten minutes to fry everything up. The coleslaw is already chilled in the fridge.”

His eyes lit up. “Seriously? Fried fish? Hot damn. I’ll wash up and set the table.”

Grinning, I ran a finger down his dirty shirt. “Why don’t you take a shower so you can be clean for dinner?”

“A shower with you sounds like more fun,” he said, with a pouty look that made me want to follow after him.

“You’ll enjoy eating if you’re clean. We can always get dirty again later.”

“Keep talking like that, and we won’t be eating until later.”

Giggling, I ran to the kitchen to grab the fish out of the fridge before he could grab me.

“Fine. But we’re getting dirty later. You promised.”

I flashed him a grin, then went about getting the oil hot.

Mase had left me early this morning, like always, but he came back around eight thirty to wake me up. Piper had been thrilled to hear that I wanted to come in and speak with her about the job. She was expecting me around eleven. Luckily, Piper didn’t live by ranch hours. She liked her sleep.

He kissed me and reassured me that I could do this. He also said he would come get me at around ten forty to give me a ride there. I didn’t have a car here, but I wasn’t sure of my way around anyway. This was another thing I hadn’t considered. How was I going to get to my job every day? I couldn’t just walk.