River's End (River's End Series, #1)(77)
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Oregon. Got a horse to look at.”
“Oh.” She didn’t like the sound of that. Jack was leaving? He was always there. She might not see or talk to him for days on end, but she always knew he was there nevertheless. He was there if she ever needed anything. How could she endure his absence if she needed him? “How long will you be gone?”
“Why?” he asked while absently, rifling through the gear stowed in the back of his truck. He seemed to be barely listening to her. “You need something?”
“Uh… No. I can take care of it.” Her toilet was leaking fresh water around the base. Seemed like something it should not be doing.
He walked towards the small tack area of the horse trailer before his head popped back out and he looked at her around the door. “What it is it? I can tell by your nervous fidgeting that something is up. I don’t have a lot of time, so out with it.”
Warmth flooded her face and she kicked the dirt near her feet, which was so dry, puffs of it swirled around her ankles. “My uh, trailer seems to be having a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“The uh… well, the toilet.”
He shut the door on the horse trailer. “All right; let’s take a look.”
His tone was easy and mild. “Aren’t you leaving right now?”
“Don’t you need a place to go?”
Her facial skin felt instantly sunburned. She could not discuss this subject with Jack. “What are you going to do?”
He raised an eyebrow at her and replied quizzically, “Fix it. Not a big deal. Trailers can be a pain sometimes. Come on.”
She was miserable and well beyond embarrassed as she trailed behind Jack. He entered her trailer, opened her bathroom door and looked at it. She stayed outside, wanting to die rather than think about what he was looking at, and worse, what he was thinking. He came out and walked past her, heading outside to where the hose from the trailer tanks hooked into a pipe in the ground. She had only a vague idea of how it all worked.
“A fitting broke. I’ll be right back.”
She didn’t look up when he said that. She had no idea what he meant, but damn if she would ask. He walked towards Shane’s shop, where they kept all their tools. He was back only minutes later with some tools piled in a bucket. He went inside and she could hear him thumping around. She refused to go in the trailer, or even look up at him when he finally emerged, apparently satisfied with his success. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared out, red-faced, over the valley, suddenly hating the trailer.
He finally reappeared with a casual, “If it happens again, just tell Ian. Or even Ben. They know how to take care of it.”
He spoke as if it were no big deal. When she didn’t answer, he finally nudged her toe with his boot. “Erin?”
She narrowed her gaze onto a tree she spotted across the river. “How could you not tell me you were leaving?”
His expression went from amused to surprised. “Like I said it just came up. Why? You going to miss me?”
Yes, desperately. Instead she said, “Well, what if something goes wrong again? Or I need something fixed?”
“Then ask Ian or even Ben. They can handle most anything that comes up on these trailers.”
She buried her face into her arms.
“Look, I’ve got to get on the road. I’ll see you in a few days.”
She didn’t like hearing that either. She finally looked at him as he started down the steps of the deck. He had her attention now. “How many days?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. A week, maybe two. It’s a long drive. And I got more than one stop. I’m delivering that two-year-old mare I’ve been working with to its new owner, and looking at a couple of others to see about training.”
“How come you never mentioned this before?”
“I didn’t know I had to. Besides, I thought Ian was going, and at the last minute, he asked me to go. Anyway, like I said, if anything happens, just tell Ian.”
With that, he waved and started towards Shane’s shop, whistling as he swung the bucket by his side. He was whistling. At ease. He was acting happy to be leaving. She glared after him. Why was he so happy about leaving? Because he got away from her? How could he leave her there as if it were nothing? She sat down in a huff, and let her anger roil around in her gut to counteract the unease of Jack leaving. How dare he just leave her like that?
****
It was a full two weeks and a day before Jack finally pulled into his own driveway. The horse trailer was empty. The horse he specifically left to see about was still too wild to even load into the horse trailer. He might return for it in a few weeks if the group in charge of its care could get close enough to slip a rope over its neck.
It was mid-afternoon by the time he reached the ranch. The day was very hot outside. He glanced at the dash of his truck, which said it was over a hundred degrees. The air conditioning was on high, but he fully expected the furnace-like air that would engulf him when he got out. He pulled a U-turn in the driveway and backed the trailer up until it was under the lean-to of the storage shop. Once in place, he unhooked the hitch before unloading his gear into the barn. Beads of sweat rolled off his face and arms. He finally got back into the truck, and pulled it forward before parking next to Ian’s truck. It was Saturday afternoon and seemed like everyone was home.