Page 24 of Starting Our Chance

13 Loretta

Yes, I will be thefirst to admit—I was a nosy neighbor. But I got it from my mama.

When instead of asking me how I slept, Mama had flat out asked me what the hell I was thinking leading Duke along. I told her that we were an item. I might have said it with a bit of vinegar behind my words, but Mama took it. Then, instead of giving me the lecture she had when I first started dating, she merely told me to be careful with that boy. When I heard that, my bristles came down. It told me that Mama cared about him just as much as I did. So, we chatted about this and that. She had the day off, but as a devoted nurse, she was still going to pop into the hospital to check on a patient from her rotation. He had had surgery yesterday, and she wanted to make sure he had done well through the night. By then, I had looked out the window and seen two males working on the neighbor’s farm. “Mama, who’s that with Duke?”

“Huh?” My mama was curling her eighties bangs and primping her thinning hair.

“Someone is helping him out with the hay.” I leaned against the window and watched them. “Do you know who that is working with him?”

“He has farmhands come and go. Never seems to find one to stick around the hobby farm, but the work still gets done.” Mama, lipstick and compact in hand, finished her toilette and began her descent to the main floor to put them in her purse. I followed her but went straight to the kitchen to continue staring out at the neighbors.

“Who’s he got this time, I wonder?” Glancing at the clock, I saw I had ten minutes before I had to leave. “Why don’t I take them some coffee and breakfast cake; they could use a break, surely?”

Coming up behind me, Mama pinched my shoulder in a playful gesture. Then in a stage whisper she said, “Lord, you’re bad, Peaches!”

She was every bit as curious as I was, though, because as we stepped outside, she called over her shoulder to text me what I found out. Then she clambered into her car and drove into town.

Armed with food and drink, I paused only to slip out of my designer booties and into my work boots. Only then did I saunter across the distance between the two houses. Any excuse to see Duke. I shook my head. Yes, adding a relationship to the mess that my life had become was probably not the smartest move. But Duke was right. We had always been two ships passing in the night, never going in the same direction. And what better time to start something new then when making a fresh start? Damn, it was a brilliant decision.

Pausing at the fence, I shamelessly took in the fine sight of the two working men, heaving bales of hay. My mouth was fairly salivating at the sight of Duke’s bare chest. His torso was glistening with sweat, despite the cool morning. And I took no shame in ogling his solid, jean clad legs. Sure, he wasn’t the bulkiest of the football jocks, but he was light on his feet and when need be, packed a powerful punch.

While the other man was a stranger—not that I was able to take a good look—Duke was delectable. How I was supposed to wait until this weekend to sink my claws into him, I didn’t know. But I can’t seem too desperate. It had been a dry spell, but somehow, I already knew that being with Duke would not be like being with anyone else. And I was eager! For as last night had proved, we had a personal connection and that would bring a deeper level to the physical act that I had fantasized over.

Deciding not to go through the gate, I precariously climbed the split wood fence. Without spilling a crumb, I made it to the top, rested my elbows on the fence and yelled into the still morning, “Mama sends her love and begs that y’all finish off this coffee cake.”

I didn’t dare climb down from the fence. From this distance, I could still make out the features of the men. Tearing my eyes away from Duke, I quickly looked over the stranger who was built, lethal, and lean, and who, at my voice, disappeared behind the hay bales. I didn’t catch a good look at his features, but the tattoo that wrapped around his back, left shoulder blade, and up onto his left pectoral was exquisite—some kind of warrior design.

Unable to sate my curiosity, I changed tactics and gazed upon my neighbor. God bless working men; this one was fabulous in the morning light. My tongue ran across my top lip. “Come get some before I drop it,” I called out to Duke.

“Just set it on the fence post and get to work,” Duke yelled back as he set his bale down, and not where it should have gone on the pile. “You don’t want to be late for Nikki.”

Puzzled at his words, miffed that he didn’t come to my call, and saddened that there was no term of endearment, I was momentarily stumped. His friend was still behind the trailer of hay, so I scowled and decided it wouldn’t be that easy to chase me off. Thinking of something to stall wasn’t hard. “Mama won’t rest if she doesn’t know that you ate every last bite of this.”

“Loretta Jane.” Duke’s voice was even and his hands were flexed on his hips. “I swear to you that we’ll eat it. Now run along, tell your Mama, and get that pretty little ass of yours to work.”

“You think my ass is pretty?” I stretched behind myself to fake examine it in the skin tight, designer jeans. “Ah, that’s so nice of you, Duke, to notice.”

But even that did not bring a smile to his handsome face. Setting the offering on the fence posts, I clambered down and nonchalantly headed back into the house for my purse and keys. Was he really that worried about my working habits? It felt like a stone had suddenly dropped into my stomach. What if he was embarrassed about us in front of his farmhand? I wasn’t quite sure what the official label of us was, anyhow. But I knew it was something more than a matter to be hidden.

~*~

WHEN I SAILED INTOwork, my eyes shifted to the clock on the wall. I was just on time, and after I touched up my ruined makeup and clocked in, I wouldn’t even be late. So what if I was dewy from the tumultuous car ride? A little powder would fix that. And with fresh mascara, no one would ever know that I had spilled a few angry tears on the drive here.

I heard Nikki sigh in her office as I passed by. I could have sworn her sigh had been from a place of sadness. That seraphic face was bathed in shadows of her own making. So after I called good morning, I asked, “What’s up, Lovely?”

“Nothing.” But she bounced up and followed me to the bathroom. “You woke up in a chipper mood,” she commented. Glancing at her through the mirror, it was as if she had merely shaken off whatever had been bothering her and was now ready to face the world. If only it was that easy for the rest of us to conceal our inner woes . . . .

I blotted at the raccoon shadows under my eyes. “Well, Duke came over last night.”

“Ooh, tell me more!” Nikki, grabbed the pencil from behind her ear and twirled it in her fingers. Then she took a good look at my face and blurted out, “What the fuck?”

“Ha!” I sniffed. “My thoughts exactly.”

“Spill.”

“Well, I’m not clocked in yet, so you’re my friend right now, right? My boss won’t mind if I linger and talk to you?”

“Oh, shut up!” Nikki tapped the pencil against her other hand. “Do I need to kill the bastard or not?”

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