Make It A Double(9)

I can see three buildings with a small barn in the back. Each building is beautiful… constructed in cedar-shake siding with forest green, wooden eaves. It looks rich, yet rustic. The main building has flowerbeds gracing a slate-stone path to the front door, and I can see a slate path leading from that building to the two smaller buildings.

A beautiful, wooden sign sits beside the stone path that simply says, “The Haven,” and there is a man in his early twenties standing near it, leaning his hip up against one of the posts that anchors it into the ground. Alyssa glances at him and I swear I hear her snarl, but she doesn’t stop the truck. Instead, she follows the dirt road around the side of the main building and all the way to the small barn.

When she stops, she turns the truck off and says, “You can just wait here if you want, or feel free to get out and look around. I’m just going to get a few bags of the pine shavings off and get a stall set up for the horse. It should be here soon and once I get him settled, I’ll take you home.”

I start to nod my agreement but she’s already forgotten me, jumping out of the driver’s door. Alyssa walks to the back of the truck, and I know this because I’m watching her in my side mirror. But rather than starting on the pine shavings, she keeps walking back toward the main building. I see the man that was standing out front come around the side, and Alyssa practically stomps up to him.

Her posture is stiff and angry, and when she comes to stop in front of him, I can tell she’s not happy to see him by the way her arms are waving around as she’s talking. The dude is standing there, holding his arms out, trying to calm her down. When he reaches out and takes ahold of one of her shoulders, she wrenches free and jumps back, pointing at him to go. That’s when I see fear on her face.

Yeah, that’s not going to work for me, so I step out of the truck and slam the door behind me, walking toward Alyssa. The man sees me approaching, and his eyes narrow.

“Is there a problem?” I ask.

Alyssa turns to look at me and I see relief in her eyes, so I made the right decision in getting out of the truck.

“No,” she assures me. “Chad was just leaving.”

She gives him a pointed look, while crossing her arms over her chest.

Chad looks from her to me, and then back to her again. “Who’s that?” he asks, jerking his chin toward me.

“No one. A volunteer,” she says dismissively. “Now, please leave.”

The dude stares at her for a moment more, his eyes hard and probing. But then, oddly, they soften up and he says quietly, “Sure, baby. I’ll call you later.”

Alyssa doesn’t respond, just continues to glare at him. My keen eyes also notice a small shudder that runs through her body. He finally gets the hint and leaves. Neither of us moves until he rounds the corner of the building and is out of our sight.

“Who was that?” I ask, but Alyssa is already moving past me back toward the truck.

“No one,” she says, jumping up on the back of the trailer, which is stacked with hay bales on the bottom and plastic bags of what I’m guessing are the pine shavings on the top.

Climbing up to the top of the heap, she starts pushing at a bag of the pine. I watch as she grunts and strains but, within just a few seconds, she’s able to accomplish her task. The first bag hits the ground in a puff of dust and wisps of straw that were sticking to the outside of the bag. She starts working on the next one, making short work of it as well.

I watch for just a moment more, admiring the way she is attacking the job. She’s clearly not the type of heiress that I imagined, who sits around painting their toenails or shopping all day long.

“Where do you want me to move these?” I ask her, having no clue why I volunteered to help her further. It just sort of popped out of my mouth, but fuck… it’s out there now. No taking it back.

Glancing up at me, she rubs the back of her hand across the sweat on her forehead. She studies me for a moment, and I can see deep down that she wants to refuse my help. Not because Alyssa is adverse to help in general. Hello… she runs a non-profit that relies on volunteers. No, she doesn’t want my help because she’s still pissed at me, and she wants to keep the interaction down to a minimum.

I can accept that.

Still, she knows she’s in a time crunch so she swallows her pride. “In the first stall in the barn.”

Reaching down, I easily haul the heavy bag up and over my shoulder, walking it into the barn. When I reach the first stall, I walk through the open door and let it fall to the ground with a thud.

Then I head back out to help Alyssa with the rest.