Page 11 of First Chance

“I shouldn’t have left the house. It’s my fault.”

“You shouldn’t have to work in exile. There are enough good ones here, we’ll keep an eye on you. Don’t worry.” He stops and doesn’t follow me up the steps of the porch. “We’re not allowed in the house.”

“Oh, okay. Well, thank you again.”

“He’ll be here any minute, I’ll make sure Frank isn’t goingto bother you. Have a good day, ma’am.”

“You can call me Jo.”

“Alright, Jo. See you around.” He nods his head, and I watch him walk back to the bunkhouse.

“I told you to stay in the house,” Lochlan’s voice comes from behind me. He must’ve come in the back way. The porch wraps all the way around, so he was able to sneak up on me.

He’s wearing a worn pair of work pants and a dark long-sleeved shirt smeared with dirt. He stuffs faded work gloves into his back pocket and looks at me expectantly.

“I have something important for you to see.” I hold up the envelope, and he looks at it only a moment before returning his gaze to me.

There’s a standoff, neither of us acknowledging that I broke the rule about wandering. He glances at my shoes and sees the mud before inhaling deeply, exasperated by me.

“What’s so important?”

“There’s an urgent notice about renewing your rehab license. It’ll need to be put in the mail by the end of the day.”

He blinks a few times and then walks into the house without a word.

When I catch up to him in the kitchen, he’s ringing out a damp paper towel. “Sit.”

My butt plops into a chair immediately.

“Here.” He hands me the paper towel and proceeds to open and shut a few drawers in the built-in cabinet next to the table. I’m still holding the wet towel when he glances at me. “For your shoes.”

“Oh, thanks.” I wipe the drying mud off the edges of mytan pumps before cleaning the thin heel.

He sets a stack of certificates down on the table next to me and leaves again without saying goodbye, which I’m becoming quite accustomed to. So when he pops back up behind me a few minutes later, it makes me jump.

“Take off for the day,” he says after my heart returns to normal rhythm and I seal the envelope.

“Are you sure? I was just going to drop it off when I left at 5.”

“I need to fix something on the opposite side of the property, and I can’t trust that you’ll stay inside for the next few hours.”

“I didn’t go down by the barns for fun, I was looking for you because this seemed important.”

“That’s the third urgent notice I’ve received this year. They keep losing my paperwork, conveniently.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t need my guys distracted by the Princess of North Carolina strutting around.”

That smacks me right in the face. Hearing that nickname come out of his mouth so unprovoked rips right through me.

That’s how he sees me? Even after all of the hard work I’ve been putting in…

“Fine. See you tomorrow afternoon.” I gather my things quickly and shut my laptop a little too hard. I don’t know if he notices, but he doesn’t say anything.

I leave without looking back.

Chapter Five

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