Her Country Heart (10 page)

A small, natural wood, ranch house appeared in a grove of Ponderosa pine trees. With a deep breath, she walked up the front steps and knocked on the door.

No answer. After several knocks, she wandered around the farmhouse and saw fenced enclosure. Mr. Hansen in his make shift barnyard was tending to his goats.

A lanky man with grey hair and blue eyes, she couldn’t guess his age, but he carried his body with the strength of a man still in full command.

He smiled when he saw her, and brushed the dust off his jean coveralls and blue work shirt. “Mrs. Long.” He bowed slightly.

“Hi Mr. Hansen, nice day we’re having.”

“How you doing with that maze of yours?”

“Um.” She paused, surprised by his question, apparently not a man to make small talk. “Well I—that’s what I came to talk to you about.”

He wiped his snarly hands on a blue bandana. “What can I do for you?”

“I see you have a small tractor and I was wondering—” Amy hesitated. If she phased it wrong she’d loose the help she so badly needed. “I uh—”

“Spit it out girl.”

CHAPTER 16

Mr.
Hansen’s voice sounded sharp, but his eyes remained kind, a smile still on his face.

“I could give you free range eggs if you help me get my hay bales into a maze. I don’t have any money, but I’d give you as many eggs as you want.”

He waved his hands in the direction of his chicken coop. Then he wiped his brow with his bandana and put it in his back pocket. “Do I look like I need eggs?”

“Well, I—”

She could feel her cheeks burn. Without another word she turned walked away.

“Don’t run off girl,” he shouted.

She stopped and looked back at him.

“You give up awful easy. If you’re gonna be a famer you can’t quit at the first sign of trouble, cause farming is nothing but trouble.” He winked.

“Uh, I—”

“Now Mrs. Long, like I said, I got lots of eggs. But I don’t have no apple pie. Since my wife Lucy died a few years back, I’ve had none.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

He rubbed his hand over his mouth. “I’d sure fancy some homemade pie.”

“You know I’ve got lots of apples and I can make pie. Even if you can’t help me move the bales, I’d be pleased to bake you an apple pie. Of course I know it won’t be as good as your Lucy’s pies, but I’ll do my best.”

“That’s good enough for me. I’ll bring my tractor down to your place tomorrow morning and move them bales to wherever you want.”

“Oh thank you Mr. Hansen. Thank you so much.”

“Call me Johnny. All my friends do.”

“I’m Amy to my friends.” She grinned and offered her hand.

He hesitated, cleaned his hand on his jeans and then took her hand. “Nice to make your acquaintance Amy.”

***

Just after she returned to the farmhouse, Amy’s smart phone rang. “Hello.”

“Are we on to meet at the ice cream parlor at noon today?” Vanna asked.

“Yeah. Does that still work for you?”

“It’s fine. My teaching assistant will cover for me at school. Emma will stop by Laurie’s house and give her a ride. Noon should give us all enough time to talk before you have to pick up Bobby from the after school program.”

“Great. See ya.”

She glanced at the regulator clock in the den, just enough time to shower and dress. She should wash her hair and put on make-up, but if she did she’d be late.

***

When Amy arrived at Sophie’s ice cream parlor, dressed in old jeans and a new white t-shirt, Vanna shouted hello from the table near the window.

“Hey,” Amy said.

“Emma and Laurie are on their way. They just texted me.”

“Great. It’s been a long time since we were all together. I kept up with them on Facebook, but it’ll be fun to see them in person. ” She sat down at the table. “Vanna, is that a new tablet?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s see if we can connect.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call my mom’s store a hot spot, but I’ll try. What do you want to look up?”

Before Amy could answer, Vanna typed in Wyatt Cameron’s name in the search engine. “Bet you’d like to know what he’s doing right now.”

“Vanna, not here.”

“No one’s looking over our shoulder.” Her friend laughed.

Amy had never told anyone, but she’d followed Wyatt’s progress on the rodeo circuit online. She was glad he’d recovered from his injuries and was winning again. No one seemed able to stop him. Even his brother wasn’t successful against him.

“Look Amy, here’s a photo.”

She glanced at Wyatt’s smiling face. Too often, in photos, he had a gorgeous woman on his arm when he accepted one award or another. In this picture he and an unknown brunette grinned at the camera.

“Amy.”

“Yeah. I see it.” She tried to sound uninterested as she stared at the gorgeous woman next to him. What had made Amy think he’d cared for her? For an intelligent woman, sometimes she was stupid, darn stupid.

“I wonder who she is,” Vanna said.

She watched Vanna scroll down and saw several photos of Wyatt with different women on his arm.

“I don’t know who they are, but there sure are a lot of them.” Amy yawned and hoped her voice had just right amount of boredom in it.

“You can quit yawning. You don’t fool me Amy McCarthy Long. I know you want him,” Vanna whispered in the crowded shop. “You told me how much you miss him. You fancy him. Admit it?”

“Do not. What’s so great about him anyway? I don’t get it.”

“Uh, well, let me see. He’s single, tall, handsome, and rich. Oh and he likes kids. Yeah, I don’t get why women like him either.

“Enough.”

“Okay Amy, you don’t want to talk about him, all right.” Vanna laughed. “You want a diet coke?”

“Sounds good. As far as Wyatt is concerned, I haven’t heard a word from him since he left. So it doesn’t matter how I feel. He wants Charlene.”

Vanna winkled her nose. “She’s not in any of the photos. There’s a different female in every picture. And none of them are Charlene. She must be an old story. Out of the picture so to speak.” She grinned.

“Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better. He’s got a lot of women after him and I’m not about to be just another one in a long line of females wanting Wyatt Cameron. Nuff said.”

“Liar, liar pants on fire,” Vanna said.

Amy giggled. “You’ve got to get away from the daycare kids more often. You’re sounding just like them.”

“I know. Isn’t it pathetic?”

They both laughed.

“I’ll get the cokes,” Vanna jumped up from the table heading toward the counter and then ran quickly back. “Look who just walked in,” she whispered and sat back down at the table.

Amy glanced at the front door in time to see Charlene, wearing red leather pants and a matching waist length jacket, saunter in her four inch black sandals into the ice cream parlor.

She tossed her long black hair back and even from where Amy was sitting, she could see the woman’s perfectly manicured red nails and painted lips. She was dressed to flaunt her beauty.

Amy might have found her amusing if she weren’t now feeling underdressed and unfeminine in comparison.

“Sophie, sugar, get me a diet coke with a drop of vanilla to go please,” the woman purred.

“I’ll get our cokes.” Amy got up before Vanna could and strode to the counter. “Hi Charlene.”

Lack of recognition spread across her face. She squinted. “You’re the apple girl. Aren’t you? From Granny’s farm.”

“Yeah. I’m Amy.”

“Where’s that darling little boy of yours?” She continued without giving her a glance. “Is his daddy back from San Francisco?”

“We’re divorced.”

“Oh.” Her eyes narrowed and her smile faded. “Wyatt belongs to me. Keep your dirty stubby little hands off him.”

Unconsciously, Amy glanced at her own callused hands and then back at Charlene’s manicured fingertips. “I have no claim on him.” She hesitated. “And from what I’ve seen neither do you.”

“You little witch.” She hissed. “If I were you I’d consider your reputation, especially with Wyatt living on your farm. For your little boy’s sake, I’d be careful who you piss off. It doesn’t take long for a
nasty
rumor to start in a small place like Sierra Creek.” The woman grabbed the paper cup so hard it looked like the coke might explode over the top.

“Back off. Wyatt’s mine. I won’t warn you again.” The words squeezed out between her nearly closed perfectly white teeth. Then Charlene marched out of the shop.

The wave of feral cat behavior shocked Amy.
What brought on that tirade?

“What just happened?” Vanna asked when she returned to the table carrying two diet cokes.

“You got me. Guess I’ve gotten under her skin. Don’t know why.”

“Maybe she’s seen the photos of Wyatt with all those women and knows he’s been living at the farm with you.”

“Vanna, don’t look at me like that. We’re living in separate buildings. He stays in the cottage. Anyway, if she’s been watching him on the internet, she can see I’m not in any of the photos.”

“Yeah, but neither is Charlene. She can’t get to the other women, but you’re here. Wyatt probably said something nice about you and it set her off.”

Amy took a quick sip of cola and considered her friend’s words. “Maybe he said something nice about Bobby. They get along really well, but not about me. I’ve been nothing but a pain to him. He had a promise to keep and as executor of Granny’s will he has a job to do. That’s all.”

“If he likes you, don’t push him away. You say you don’t need a man but…

Vanna’s smart phone went off. “Hey. Yeah, sorry to hear that. Okay.”

Amy watched her friend nod, tense and then disconnect. “Emma and Laurie aren’t coming. Emma’s car broke down and they’re waiting for the tow truck. We’ll have to reschedule the meeting.”

“Are they okay?”

“Yeah, but disappointed.”

“Darn, I was looking forward to seeing them. You know getting the high school crew back together.” She grinned.

“Can’t say I’m surprised the car broke down. Hard to believe Emma’s kept that old clunker going for this long. You know her husband lost his job when the mill closed? Going on two years now.

“That’s terrible.”

“Yeah and he’s still looking for work. I guess a lot of the men in town are. If something doesn’t come up soon we’ll lose a lot of good people. They’ll be forced to move.”

“Is that why Emma’s so excited about crafting for the farm’s pumpkin patch?”

“They really need the money.” Vanna finished off her coke. “Oh, did I tell you, she’s pregnant?”

“No.”

“How far along is she?” Amy smiled remembering the excitement of finding she was carrying Bobby’s and push down memory of her husband’s reaction when he said he didn’t want children.

“She’s about three months. So she’s still a little queasy.”

“Ugh, I remember that.”

“So if she makes money with her crafts, it will sure help.”

Amy glanced at the regulator clock that hung on a nearby wall. “We could flesh out some ideas for the pumpkin patch and update Emma and Laurie later. I think there’s still time.”

“Great.” Vanna crunched a piece of ice.

From her back pocket, Amy grabbed a piece of computer paper and flattened it on the table. “I’ve drawn an idea of the maze. See.” She turned it toward her friend. “Johnny Hansen is making it.” She smiled remembering the old farmer. “He’ll have it done in a few days.”

She took a quick breath “If you can help the little kids choose pumpkins in the patch and Emma and Laurie bring their crafts we’ll sell them. I’ll have apple and pumpkin pies for sale. Of course there will be jars of apple sauce and bottles of apple cider.” She paused. “If we had a little more time we could have a haunted house for the middle school kids.” She shrugged. “Maybe next year.”

“Wow girl, you’ve really thought this out. How about we have a few picnic tables and then we can serve the kids and parents pieces of pie and apple cider right there on the farm? I’m sure we could borrow the tables from my preschool.”

“I love that. Now I’m getting pumped. I so want this to work. Vanna, remember to tweet and share.”

“I will girl. And it’s going to work.”

“Hi Amy.” A male voice called.

She looked up expecting to see Wyatt.

Mike Donnelly, the manger of the Safeway store, stood grinning at her.

“Hey Mike. What are you doing here? You like Sophie’s ice cream?”

“You got me.” He laughed. “I’m sure the ice cream is great. But I buy my ice cream at the grocery store. I just saw you sitting in the window and decided to come in and say hi.”

“Sit down,” Vanna said.

“Thanks.” Mike sat down in the chair next to Amy.

Vanna winked at her.

Amy kicked her friend under the table and cleared her throat. An awkward silence began.

“Oh, I didn’t know it’s so late.” Vanna jumped up. “I’ll call you tonight. Got to go. Bye.”

Amy grunted. There was no way she wanted to stay alone and try to make “happy talk” with Mike.

His shoulders relaxed and he leaned back in the chair. “So you all settled in now?”

“Pretty much.” She finished her coke making a slurping sound with her straw and resisted the inclination to grab an ice cube and pop it in her mouth.

“Uh, how’s your little boy.”

“Fine.”

“He’s a cute kid.”

“Thanks.”

“Sierra Creek’s a good place for a kid to grow up.”

“What? Uh, yeah.”

Not exactly sparkly a conversationalist, but she couldn’t think of anything to say to Mike. Why was it so hard to talk to him when it was so easy to chat with Wyatt?