She smiles brightly. “That’s more like it.”
I return her smile and let Jenna drag me out of my bedroom and down the stairs. As soon as we step outside onto the patio, my stomach clenches.
“Don’t be nervous,” Jenna whispers, patting my hand like a little old lady.
“I’m not nervous. I’m just…”
“I know. You’re nervous.”
I laugh. There’s just no talking to Jenna.
When we get closer to the stable, I can hear music drifting out from the open bay doors. When we round the corner and step into the light, Trick and Rusty are sitting in two folding chairs pulled just outside the office door. Rusty is playing air guitar on his leg with a beer in one hand. Trick is looking on, laughing, pounding out a beat on invisible drums.
“Just in time to see the band,” Jenna quips, bringing both guys to a comical mid-air halt. “Don’t stop on our account. I’ve always wanted to kiss a rock star.”
Ohmigod! She’s coy and brazen at the same time! How does she do that?
Rusty grins from ear to ear. “Then, baby, you’re about to have the night of your life.”
Jenna giggles attractively and I glance at Trick. He’s not watching them. He’s watching me. I feel my cheeks get hot and his lips quirk at the edges. He turns his head and looks at me from the corner of his narrowed eyes, as if he’s debating whether or not I blush on purpose. I shrug, assuring him it’s beyond my control. He shakes his head and a slow grin spreads across his face. Without taking his eyes off mine, he raises his beer to his lips and takes a long drink. I can’t help but watch his mouth, where his lips are pursed against the bottle. And then the action of his throat as he swallows.
I’m pretty sure my knees have turned to butter.
Trick stands. “Here, take my seat. I’m sure there are a couple more chairs around here somewhere.”
Jenna slides quickly into Trick’s empty seat and smiles her brightest smile up at me. “Cam, you know this place inside and out. Why don’t you help him find some? I’ll wait here with Rusty.”
She turns her smile on Rusty and he is appropriately dazzled. There’s a look in his eye, though, that makes me think he’s not going to be the docile prey Jenna is used to. She might just have her hands full with him.
I smother a grin with the back of my hand. Serves her right! Every man-eater meets her match eventually.
“Come on,” Trick says, tipping his head toward the dark night outside. “I think there might be a couple in the storage shed.”
I nod at him and turn to Jenna. “We’ll be right back.”
“Take your time,” she says, widening her eyes meaningfully.
I smile at her then smile at Rusty, who looks like the cat who ate the canary. I wonder if Trick really didn’t tell him Jenna and I were coming. He seems genuinely surprised. Thrilled, but surprised.
I follow Trick out and around the corner, leaving the rectangle of light from the open stable door behind us. It gets darker and darker as we cross the yard to the shed that sits behind the round pen.
The moon is huge and bright overhead, illuminating the tiny white flowers that sprinkle the lush grass at my feet. I pause to pick one, twirling it in my fidgety fingers. A lightly sweet, floral scent drifts up to my nose. I inhale deeply, letting the aroma sooth my jangling nerves.
“You like flowers?”
“Some of them. Why?” He nods toward my fingers. “Oh. Yeah, Drogheda used to braid these into my hair when I was younger. They have long stems that are perfect for that. I don’t know if I liked them before then, but I know I’ve loved them ever since.”
“How long has she been with you?”
“Since I was seven or eight I guess. Something like that. A long time. She’s like family now.”
“Did you have a different housekeeper before her?”
“No. That’s when the business sort of took off, I guess. Life changed a lot after that.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, before that, we lived closer to Greenfield. Our house was much smaller, we only had one car. I went to public school and got to play at the playground. Daddy was home more and Mom was just…happier, I guess. I don’t know. It seems like everything changed all of a sudden. Not that it was all bad. Don’t get me wrong. But Drogheda was definitely one of the good things to come out of it.”
“So you’re saying you were happier when you were poor?”
I laugh. Even to my own ears, it sounds a little bitter. “Would that be so strange?”
Trick shrugs. “Maybe. Money solves a lot of problems.”
“For adults, that’s probably true. But for kids, sometimes it just creates them. I didn’t care that we didn’t have a lot of money. I was happy. And, let me tell you, there are a lot fewer expectations when you’re poor, too. Well, not even poor. Just not…wealthy.”
“Poor little princess, is that it?”
I whip my head around to look at him, immediately taking exception to what he’s insinuating. But I see his playful grin and my anger dies. I smile. “Sounds like it, doesn’t it? Poor me?”
“Nah, you’re not the type. I knew that after talking to you for two minutes.”
“You did?” This should not please me as much as it does. I try to suppress my wide smile.
“Yep. I knew you were a phone sex operator right off the bat. And I’ve never met a snobby phone sex operator in my life.”
I laugh. “And just how many have you met?”
Trick tilts his head back and starts counting on his fingers. I watch him tick off ten and then start again.
“Um. One,” he says anticlimactically, grinning. “Just you.”
“Well, I hate to disappoint, but…”
“You never disappoint. I don’t think you have it in you. In fact, I might go so far as to say that you strive not to disappoint.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It just seems that way, like maybe your father has everything all planned out for you and you’re going right along with it.”
I want to argue, but he’s hit a nerve that feels all too raw and real. I’ve wondered the same thing a thousand times, especially lately.
“You left your dream behind. How is that so different? You’re not going after what you want either.”