Page 47 of The Bodyguard
11
SABRINA
A Few Days Later
“You want me to do what?” I asked him as we stood in the barn where he kept his two horses, Evelyn and Nora. I had recently been introduced. “Have you met me?”
“You said you were bored,” he pointed out.
“I was looking for creative suggestions not actual work.”
“Stables have to be mucked.”
“Yes, by mucking-type people. I’m a Cowboy Princess!” I screeched.
He smirked and handed me the shovel. “Not anymore. Now you’re just a regular old girl from Dusty Creek. A little hard work might help you through that transition.”
“I didn’t know this whole bodyguard thing came at the cost of slave labor,” I mumbled.
“You said you wanted to stay here on the ranch.”
I had. Not because watching Garrett work would necessarily be boring, but I didn’t want everyone in town to know what was happening. The rule was that when I was in town, either he or a deputy would follow me. People would see that and start speculating.
“What am I supposed to do about shoes?”
Garrett looked at my feet. “You’re wearing cowboy boots.”
“Yes, but they are the only ranch-type shoes I have. I don’t want to get horse poop on them.”
“It’s horse shit. And fine.” He left me and went to open a trunk that sat just inside the door of the stables. “I’m pretty sure my mom…yeah, here they are.”
He pulled out two long black rubber hideous-looking things.
I screeched. “What are those?
He laughed. “I thought only your character on TV squealed at ugly shoes.”
“Don’t call those rubber abominations shoes!”
“Fine. I’ll call them what they are. Galoshes. You can wear these while you’re cleaning out the stalls. And once that’s done you’ve got to pitch them some clean hay. Evelyn and Nora are counting on you.”
“They’re in for some disappointment,” I warned.
“You don’t have to do this,” he laughed. “You said you wanted something to do and these are just some of the chores I have to take care of.”
I took the shovel from him and gasped at how heavy it was.
That only made him laugh harder. I snarled but he didn’t seem intimidated.
“Fine. I’ll do it. Just so I feel like I’m pulling some of my weight around here.”
“Whatever, Brin. You have my number. You hear or see anything, you call me. But since no one knows you’re here but me, you should be perfectly safe.”
I nodded. It was odd but I felt safe. Garrett wasn’t going to let anything happen to me. He was right about that. He’d always done a bang-up job being my hero. I set the shovel aside and followed him out of the barn and back to his driveway.
He got in his truck and gave me a wave, and I waved back at him thinking how domestic it all felt. I’d been sleeping here the last few nights. In his bed—granted, hisoldbed—my head on the pillow he used to sleep on. And now I was sending him off to work and I would be here when he came home.
I should bake him something. Something way better than just plain chocolate chip cookies. There were my chocolate pudding cookies. If I gave him those he might kiss me again.
