Love on the Ranch Page 8

  Chapter Eight

  When I awoke the next morning, I decided to have a changed frame of mind. There was no way that I was going to let yesterday bother me any further. Blake had not even really made a move on me. For all I knew, I could be imagining the chemistry between the two of us.

  I dressed and went to the kitchen with the intention of finishing my to-go plate from yesterday. A note awaited me on the counter.

  'Parts arriving tomorrow for your car. In the garage working on it now.'

  Funny thing was, I had almost forgotten about leaving until yesterday. Somehow things felt settled here. The sense of peace I was feeling about being here was awesome, but it was also a bit false. The truth was that I did not know much about Blake and I had not divulged much about myself either. For all he knew, I was some drifter with a raggedy car.

  The sun was beaming down when I walked to the garage. I found Blake in there, music blasting, him under my car and tools spread out all over.

  I stood there tapping my feet to the beat of the song on the radio, waiting for Blake to come from under the car.

  "Why have you been standing there all of this time without saying anything?"

  He rolled on a board from under the car. Wiping his hands on a rag, he stood up.

  "I didn't want to disturb you or anything."

  "You are not disturbing me at all. I finished what I could today. The rest I will do tomorrow after the part comes in." He started throwing tools into their storage place.

  "Thanks for that. I mean, I know that it would have cost me an arm and a leg if I had gone to town to have a mechanic fix it."

  "Hmm." He nodded and went over to a cooler in the corner. Pulling two drinks from the ice, he turned to me and tossed me one.

  Thankful for good hand- eye coordination, I caught the bottle of ice cold water.

  "So have you figured out where you are headed after your car is fixed?" He gulped down the water as he leaned against the car's door frame and waited for my answer.

  "Not really." I twirled the bottle around in my hands.

  "You're just going to stay here in town for a while until you figure it out?"

  Instead of getting frustrated and inferring what I thought he was asking, I answered his question with another question.

  "And what if I decided to do that?"

  "It may be good for you," he shrugged, tossing the empty water bottle successfully into the trash can.

  "Good for me? How is that?" I was determined to drag something out of him.

  "I live in a wonderful place here. And you said that you were looking for something with a slower change of pace. It doesn't get any slower than living out here. Open range. Fresh air. Friendly people. You may find that it's just what you have been looking for. If you are willing to give it a try."

  Those blue eyes were staring through me again. "I do like it here so far. Everything is so gorgeous out here. So peaceful. That is the kind of peace I have been looking for. But I'm just not so sure of where I would like to end up. Maybe here, maybe somewhere else. But I still have some time to figure it out."

  Blake opened his mouth to speak, but he snapped it closed. I wanted to know exactly what the thought was that went across his mind. But I left well enough alone.

  "I'll see you back at the house. And that's great news. You know, that the part is coming in. I can get out of your hair soon."

  Not even waiting for him to respond, I turned and headed back to the house.