Page 15 of Unforgettable Cowboy
Her imagination was getting the better of her.
She pulled her gloves out of her back pocket, gathering them in one hand.“I’m leaving an hour early today.”
Hayes lifted his eyebrows.“Have you checked with the boss?”
She gave him a mock-sweet smile.“Wade lets me set my own hours.I have to get to the post office before it closes.I don’t have delivery and I’m expecting some smithing supplies.”
“If I’m around, let me know when you take off.”
“Will do.”She touched her ball cap.“See you around four.”
*
Hayes glanced athis watch, then the field, hoping to see the side-by-side emerge from the timberline.It was past four and no Bailey, who had planned to leave early.
“Hayes!”
He turned to see Andy striding toward him.
“Yeah?”
“I need a couple more parts for the tractor.”He pulled his phone from his pocket.“Got the numbers here.I’ll just shoot them to you.”
A split second later Hayes’s phone dinged.He read the list, then nodded.“I’ll head out shortly.”Thankfully the implement store stayed open late during harvest.If he couldn’t get Wade’s tractor back in operation, he’d have to wait until Jim had a spare to lend.
“I could try to use the smaller tractor, but it’s not in the best shape.”
Kind of becoming a theme on the Tree Fork.
“Yeah.We’ll get that one back on its wheels, too.”Hayes rubbed his neck.“How long to put the big one back in action?”
“You get the parts today and it should only take an hour or two tomorrow morning.”
“Great.”
Andy headed back to the tractor that had been acting up and climbed into the cab.Hayes just hoped that it didn’t totally give up the ghost before they got the hay in.He checked his watch again.Okay.He was going to have to go looking for Bailey.Then he’d try to get to the parts store before closing.
He started for the barn where the quad was parked, when a flash of movement on the opposite side of the field caught his eye, and his taut muscles gave a little.It was Bailey, late but in one piece.The magnitude of relief he felt was stupid.
A few minutes later, when she drove through the gate he’d opened for her, he sensed that while all might be well now, it hadn’t been earlier.Otherwise, the front of her shirt wouldn’t be covered with mud and there wouldn’t be little flecks of the stuff on her ball cap and in her hair.
“What happened?”he asked after she’d parked the side-by-side.
She wiped the back of her hand across her cheek, causing dried mud to flake off.
“I had an issue.”
“No kidding.”
“I handled it.”
“Mind sharing?”he asked politely.
She gave him a look, obviously not in the mood for politeness.“I bogged down the side-by-side, had to dig it out.I didn’t have a shovel, so it took some time.”
“If the ground even hints at being soft, avoid it.”He knew he was stating the obvious, but he was still working on his reaction to her being late.Way out of proportion to the situation.
“Thanks, Mr.Helper Man.”She wiped her hands down her jeans.“Can I borrow a shirt?And maybe a sponge to get some of this off my jeans?”
