Desolate (7 page)

After a moment, I risked it and spoke again. “I’m sorry for upsetting you back there, but I don’t make a habit of making women cry and I wanted to make sure you were okay to drive. These roads aren’t that safe at night on their own, and throwing emotions into the mix makes them even worse,” I stated to the back of her head. She was still breathing pretty heavily and had yet to move. I probably looked like some insane person just standing here waiting for some sort of response, but I couldn’t leave knowing she was upset before. My parents’ would kick my ass even at my age if they thought I let her drive away upset.

A few moments later, she moved her head back and rested it on the headrest. She’d steadied her rapid breathing a few moments later and turned toward me and hung her legs out of the side of her vehicle.

“You didn’t have to come check on me. I can take care of myself. But thank you for making sure I was okay. It wasn’t anything you said. I’m just not used to all of this,” she confessed as she waved her hand around into the night sky.

I wasn’t sure what she meant about ‘all of this,’ but it wasn’t my place to ask.

“Are you okay to drive? You looked like you were having a little trouble breathing a moment ago.”

“I was after you scared the life out of me,” she stated with a stern look, trying to look tough. Only a hint of a smile appeared on her face.

“I apologized for that. I didn’t mean to, but I had to get your attention somehow before you left.”

“Thank you for being a gentleman, but I’m fine. I better go. Goodnight, Weston,” she replied and pulled the door closed, leaving me standing there as she put the SUV in reverse and pulled away. It was as I watched her taillights disappear into the distance that I realized I’d never gotten her name. That didn’t sit well with me, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. Instead of going back into the bar, I headed to my vehicle with thoughts of the woman with no name on my mind. Tomorrow I was due to help Clyde with the old Miller farm. I needed to be focused to get the tiresome job done. It was something to do to pass the time until my dreams could come true in a few months.

B
efore walking
out of my parents’ house, I walked down the hallway and opened the door. The soft snores coming from my angel filled my heart with happiness. She had only cried for her momma that first week. The first time she cried for her broke my heart. She’d scraped her knee on the gravel driveway and cried for an hour straight, the whole time asking for her mom. She hadn’t asked for her since that first week and I was selfishly thankful.

Every part of me wanted to pick her up and cuddle her, but I knew better. I had to leave and she’d be a bear if I woke her up, especially if she woke up this early. Without making too much noise, I backed out of the entryway and pulled the door shut.

I grabbed the tin lunch container and my hat and walked out of the door. The drive over to the Miller Farm only took fifteen minutes, and before I knew it I pulled into the gated driveway. After I entered in the code that Clyde had graciously given to me, I waited for the gate to open fully then drove through. The creaks and groans that came from the gate had me making a mental note to get it oiled before the day was through.

The driveway twisted and turned and finally a house came into view. The farmhouse was old and the wear and tear was obvious, but it had a good structure or good bones as my mother said. The shutters were in desperate need of being replaced and the roof had some shingles that were falling off. I parked beside the house and got out of the truck. There was a lone light on in the house, but it appeared to come from a bedroom. Clyde never said where I should go, only to be here bright and early at six a.m. I was ten minutes early, but he didn’t appear to be anywhere in sight. There was only an SUV in the driveway, and I knew for a fact that Clyde drove an older model truck. As I was about to walk over to the house, I saw the headlight off in the distance.

I got out of the truck and leaned up against the side, waiting for Clyde to finish driving up the long driveway. The gravel crunched under his tires as he came to a stop and parked the truck. I walked over and greeted him.

“Hey there, Clyde. It’s good to see you,” I stated, holding out my hand to greet him.

“You know that’s no way to greet this old man,” he replied, swatting my hand to the side. I pulled him into a hug that I knew he wanted and patted him on the back a few times before I pulled away.

“Sorry about that. You know me. My momma would have my hide if she knew I didn’t at least attempt to shake your hand,” I laughed.

“Yeah, yeah. Always making sure you did what your momma wanted,” he replied with a laugh of his own.

“Thanks for this by the way. I needed something to keep me busy while the garage gets up and running.”

“You were the first person I thought of when Ralph got hurt. Now let’s go inside and get the paperwork filled out before Magdalena has my ass on a stick. She might just let us have a cup of her famous coffee while we fill it out, too,” he joked. I hoped so. I’d need all the caffeine I could get in order to get through this day. I knew the manual labor would take its toll before too long.

We walked over to the side of the house to one of the doors and Clyde knocked before he peered inside.

He put his head just through the crack and called out, “Hey Magdalena. Are you awake, sweetheart?”

He waited for a moment then waved me inside as she yelled back, “Come on in, Clyde. I’m in the kitchen.”

He took off his boots at the door and I followed suit. We sat them neatly by the door and walked around the corner into a decent sized country kitchen. The cabinetry was all hand done, I could tell by the intricate designs at the tops. They were stained a dark cherry color, but the handles looked to be new, a chrome style of sorts. I continued to look around the kitchen and take in the space that someone obviously had been working on when I heard faint footsteps coming from down the hall.

“Have a seat at the table, Wes. I’ve got the paperwork in the office,” Clyde responded before he disappeared down the hallway I’d heard the footsteps coming from.

I walked across the room and took in the rest of the space. The dining room table appeared to also be handmade, but unlike the cabinets, it was left unfinished with eight chairs to match.

I was looking up at the pictures that hung on the wall when I heard someone come up behind me.

“Hi, you must be Mr. Corbin. I’m Magdalena,” she replied with my back still facing her.

Turning around, I couldn’t stop the shocked expression that appeared on my face. The gasp that escaped her let me know that she recognized me the same as I did her. There’s no way the universe would mess with me this bad. I’d hated myself for not getting any information about her, and just like that here she is. In the flesh. When I thought I’d never see her again, I wanted to kick my own ass. Inwardly, I thanked my lucky stars that the universe had my back with this one.

“It appears we’ve already met, sweetheart,” I replied with a smile while I took her in. She was in a pair of tight black pants and a long sleeved t-shirt that hugged her just right.

“That it does, Mr. Corbin. Pleased to meet you again. I’m Magdalena DeLuca,” she stated with a grin, holding her hand out to shake mine. Without giving it much thought, I reached out and shook her hand. She lightly gripped my hand and pulled away before I had time to even register that it had occurred.

“Pleased to meet you, Magdalena. But please, call me Weston,” I replied with a grin.

“I’m running a bit behind this morning. I usually have coffee ready for Clyde. If you give me a few minutes, I can have it all ready for you guys before y’all get the day started,” she replied before she turned and walked to the other side of the room.

She hummed as she moved around the kitchen, opening and closing cabinets until she had what she needed. Before long the sounds of the coffee maker echoed through the room and she walked back over to where I still remained standing.

“It won’t take too long,” she replied and looked down to the floor.

“I’ve drove by this place, but I’d never been inside. From what I heard, the Millers were good people,” I replied in an attempt to make small talk.

“They were very good people,” she countered, a frown appeared immediately before she looked away. However, she said nothing more.

“From what I’ve heard, this place has sat empty for a very long time. What brings you here?” I questioned, trying to continue the conversation.

“I own the place,” she whispered back, fidgeting with her hands the entire time. She kept looking at the coffee maker like she’d rather be anywhere but in this room with me.

Clyde came back into the room with a manila folder in his hands at the same time I was about to speak.

“Sorry it took so long. I thought I had it all together, but I was missing something and that dang printer didn’t want to work,” he laughed. He was way too chipper for it to only be a little after six in the morning.

We sat down at the table, and I filled out the mounds of paperwork. Getting a job was like signing your life away in a sense. When I was on the second piece of paperwork, she came over with a cup of coffee for each of us. She sat them down on the table then disappeared down the hall.

I hurriedly finished reading over and signing the rest of the documents and slid them across the table to Clyde. The smell of the coffee taunted me the entire time, but I knew better than to even attempt to fill out anything and drink coffee at the same time. It never failed. I’d spill any drink I had in my hands on the documents and have to start all over again.

I took the cup and blew on the black liquid before I brought the cup to my lips. I sipped the coffee and was shocked at how right Clyde had been. It was perfect. Not too strong. Not too weak. Even the texture was spot on. And best of all, it didn’t taste burnt like it did when I made it.

“Let’s put these in the coffee mugs and get to work. We’ve got a lot to catch up on,” Clyde replied as he walked over to the counter. He grabbed two stainless steel coffee mugs and poured both of our cups inside along with adding more and twisted the lids on each. I took the mug he handed to me and walked to the door we entered.

We put on our boots and walked outside, the crisp morning air instantly caused a chill to run through me. Fall was definitely in the air. I walked over to my truck and grabbed my lunch tin and caught up with him on our way to the barn.

“We’re going to go around the outer perimeter of the property and fix the fencing that’s broken or near breaking. She wants to make sure it’s all done before the winter comes that way there aren’t any weak spots. After we load everything we can into my truck, we’ll start where we left off the day Ralph got hurt,” he replied as he continued to tell me our plan for the day.

“Sounds like a plan to me. Lead the way,” I gestured, the thought of Magdalena never once leaving my mind. We loaded the truck up with boards, a saw, and the other tools we needed and set off to start our day.

We’d fixed two spots of broken fence and were now on our third by the time lunch time came around, and Clyde said we could take a break. We both grabbed our lunch tins out of his truck and walked around to the back. I pulled down the tailgate and we both got up on the back. I took out the sandwich that I’d made this morning and decided now was as good a time as any to question him about the woman that I apparently worked for.

“What’s the story about Ms. DeLuca?” I asked, taking a bite of the ham and cheese sandwich.

“She’s had a tough life. I won’t go into much because it’s not my story to tell, but she inherited this place from her parents. Her grandparents were the Millers,” he replied before he took a bite from his sandwich.

“I thought this place had been vacant for a while,” I said after I swallowed another bite.

“No one’s lived here for many years,” he replied, but didn’t go into any more detail.

“Why’d she come back now?”

“That’s the part of the story that isn’t mine to tell. I’ve kept this place up after her grandparents’ passed. Fixing things and making sure the fields were cut, but the animals were sold off after their passing. She came back for her own reasons. Ones you won’t find out from me. What’s with the twenty questions?” he responded.

“I met her last night at the bar. I tried talking to her then, but she wasn’t having any part in it. Seeing her this morning was a shock considering I knew nothing about her, not even her name,” I confessed.

“Please tell me you didn’t do anything stupid last night or that any of those idiots didn’t do anything to scare her off.” He was awfully protective of her, and I was glad she had him in her corner. He was a great one to have.

“Do you really think that little of me? Of course I didn’t do anything. I tried to buy her a drink. Make small talk. She refused and left,” I joked. Saying it out loud made me sound pathetic.

“That’s good to hear. But it still doesn’t answer my question. What’s with all of the questions?” he asked again, this time with a more demanding tone.

“I’m just curious is all? I like to get to know people. Especially people I work for,” I replied. Something about her called out to me the moment I saw her, but I couldn’t explain it. It’s like I gravitated toward her against my own will.

“Whatever you do, Weston, please be careful. She’s weary to be around anyone. Last night was the first time she’s done anything since she arrived six months ago. Don’t try and push her because she won’t allow it. She’ll push you right back. She’s been through a lot and doesn’t understand any of it, so please use caution when you’re around her. That’s all I ask. She’s like my own daughter. I’ve known her since she was born, and I watched her grow into the woman she’d become today. However, she’s a lot more guarded now and for good reason,” he confessed. Only with this confession, I had more questions than answers. And a nagging thought in the back of my mind.
‘What in the world happened to her and why wouldn’t he tell me?’

We finished eating our lunch in silence, and the entire time my mind worked on overdrive coming up with every scenario imaginable that could’ve occurred to bring her here today. Only the one that actually brought her here I’d have never guessed in a million years, nor would I wish upon anyone.

The day quickly passed by and before I knew it the sun was setting off in the distance. Nothing was more beautiful in my opinion than a mountain sunset. Clyde and I packed up the truck after a successful first day on the job. At least it was in my opinion. The whole fence on the west side of the property was now completely fixed, six spots total needed patched or boards replaced.

“Great day, Clyde,” I stated as we got into the truck to head back to the house.

“That it was. If we keep up at that pace, we’ll have this done in no time,” he replied.

“That’s the goal after all, right?” I joked.

“That it is, but we knocked out two days’ work in one. I thought we’d need at least one more man, but you’re a quick study and you’re quick at what you do,” he countered.

“Hey. You act like I’ve never done this before? You know I’ve done this countless time with my old man,” I replied with a laugh.

“Oh you have? I’d never have known,” he joked again.

“Yeah, yeah, old man,” I replied. It was nice to laugh and joke again. It felt like forever since I cut loose with someone.

We arrived back at the house, and I looked around for Magdalena, but she was nowhere in sight.

“She’s probably in the barn, but I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. This is her time with Shadow,” Clyde warned.

“Who’s Shadow?” I replied.

“Her horse. She’s slowly bringing her out of her shell. It’s taken months, but I think she’s finally allowed herself to actually get attached to the animal,” Clyde replied with a shake of his head. He must’ve realized that he revealed more than he should have. Which had me wondering just what exactly brought her here in the first place.

I got out of the truck and looked over to the barn, debating if I wanted to go over and talk to her or if I should just head home. Thoughts of my sweet little girl crossed my mind, and I decided to heed Clyde’s warning. There was always tomorrow.