Oregon Outback (19 page)

Living in that reality was a necessary evil, but it wasn’t living, it was existing.

A glimpse behind him revealed he’d lost Rally around the lofty crags. He was getting too soft to keep up. Getting married and settling down could do that to a guy. That is, if you married a girl who wasn’t an adrenaline junkie, too, like Rally had.

Lucas yanked the handlebars around for a hard stop, the back tire skidding a half circle and throwing pebbles and sand into the air. While he waited for Rally, he took a swig from his water bottle.

Rally appeared around the crag, panting through his mouth. By the look on his face, he was willing himself, willing the bike, up the hill.

“I was beginning to worry.” Lucas replaced the bottle on the holder and laughed off Rally’s glower.

Lucas jumped on his bike and started on the incline again, working his momentum back up. The sound of heavy breathing, wheels crunching against dirt, pebbles, and rocks, came from behind, drawing near and fast. Though Rally hadn’t said as much, Lucas knew it was a race to the top.

He pushed himself harder. The muscles in his legs screamed. His lungs burned. And at the crest, he flew over the rise, releasing a shout.

The bike slammed into the ground, off-trail. His back wheel wedged between two boulders and stuck. Momentum threw Lucas into the air. He flew high, arcing over the trail, his arms and legs flailing, then slammed into the brush, thirty-plus feet from his bike.

After the initial shock fell away, Lucas groaned. He shook out his hands and legs, making sure nothing was broken.

Rally’s face filled his vision. “Are you all right?”

Lucas laughed. “Man, that was great.”

Reaching down, his buddy frowned and gripped Lucas’s arm, assisting him up. “One of these days, you’re going to get yourself killed.”

Dusting himself off, Lucas made his way to the bike and tugged it from between the rocks where it had jarred. “It wouldn’t be the same without the thrill, without the risk, would it?”

Rally helped him free the bike. “You’re crazy, you know that? You’ve got no fear.”

The tone in Rally’s voice made Lucas look up. His friend wasn’t smiling.

“What happened to you?” Lucas asked. “You used to call this fun.”

Rally’s skin gleamed with sweat. “I can’t afford to get hurt and miss work. I have a family to support. You need to grow up.”

A thousand retorts battled inside, but Lucas ignored the comment and, like Rally, got on his bike again. The frame remained sturdy and strong despite the collision with the boulders. Though he tried to recapture the spirit of the ride, the high it had given him, Rally’s comment had sucked the life out of it.

Rally had wanted to join him today, but it hadn’t been the same. Lucas had lost another friend to domesticity. Even two of his brothers were married now. But it had to happen eventually.

That was another reality. An existence Lucas wanted to avoid.

The next day Lucas and Rally hit the trails early but packed up at noon for their six-hour drive home from Oregon’s eastern border, the Lake Owyhee State Park area. Refreshed from time spent in nature, he steered his pickup into the parking lot at Oregon Adventures. Several vehicles filled the parking spaces. Business was booming today as always. He’d like to avoid seeing the place for one day, maybe two, but … not going to happen.

He lived in the apartment at the back of the building.

He and Rally removed their bikes from the truck.

“Got plans?” Lucas asked, even though he knew the answer. “How about hanging out tonight?”

“I’ve got a wife and a kid now. You might try it sometime.”

After seeing what that’s done to you? I don’t think so
. Lucas chuckled. “I’m not husband material. What girl would want me for that?”

Why did Rally have to be so serious?

“It can’t be like old times, Lucas. Why don’t you come over to my house? We’re grilling tonight.”

Lucas helped Rally secure his bike on the back of his minivan. “You’d better ask Katy first. It’s no secret she doesn’t like me.”

“Only because she thinks you’re a bad influence. Or that you’re going to get me killed by not filing a travel and rescue plan. Plus, I need to help with Jonathan. It’s not fair for her to be the only one taking care of the baby. But come over and show her a different side.” Rally grinned. “You never know. She might change her mind.”

“Yeah, that’ll be the day.”

Rally climbed in and started the minivan. “I’m serious. Come over and bring a date. You haven’t broken every heart in the county yet, have you?”

The words stung, but Lucas hid it with a smile. “Sure, I’ll bring a date.”

After Rally drove off, Lucas started for the back of the building, where his apartment and a hot shower waited.

“Lucas!” Ricky stepped through the front door of the rental business and waved Lucas over.

Ricky was one of the summer employees Lucas hired so he could take a day off. Two if he was lucky. “What’s up?”

“There’s a girl here, looking for a job. What do I tell her?”

“Tell her we’ve hired all we need for the summer. And would you take that H
ELP
W
ANTED
sign down, please?” He turned his back on Ricky, his shoulders knotting. He should get an apartment away from his business.

Ricky ran after him. “She’s answering an ad you had in the paper for a bookkeeper. Not for summer help.”

Lucas froze. She came by in person instead of calling first? He scratched his head, recalling he’d asked for interested parties to stop by. He’d long given up on anyone in the sparsely populated area answering that ad.

Images of an organized office and someone else doing his books danced in his head. Gripping Ricky’s shoulders, he said, “Tell her to wait in the lobby. I’ll be right with her.”
After I shower off
.

This was the one person to answer his ad for a bookkeeper. He couldn’t let her get away.

Avery sat in the uncomfortable, hard plastic chair and watched the outdoorsy types come and go while she waited. At the moment, a burly man in his late thirties, two rough-and-tumble boys at his side, pounded on the counter, demanding assistance. Behind him, a woman, maybe forty, held hands with a man definitely ten years her junior.

On the other side of the counter, two college-aged kids scrambled to rent the recreational vehicles and appease customers. She felt sorry for them and impressed at the same time.

At least, if she got this job, she’d be in the back office. She wouldn’t have to deal with the chaos and stress. She’d left the pressure and hassle behind in Portland, at least for the summer. At least until she decided what to do. Though she’d been laid off along with fifty others, she counted it a blessing.

Ever since her apartment had been broken into three months ago, she hadn’t slept well, fearing another break-in. The next time she might be there.

The thought scared her.

A quiet, simple life in a less populated area was definitely more to her liking. She peered over her glasses—which she wore to look the part and not because she needed them except when working—at the framed photographs on the walls. One was simply a poster that read

Most of the other images portrayed people enjoying a sport. The word
FEARLESS
was in bold print underneath the image of someone riding an ATV over a sand dune. A scripture caption followed. F
OR THE
S
PIRIT
G
OD GAVE US DOES NOT MAKE US TIMID, BUT GIVES US POWER, LOVE AND SELF-DISCIPLINE
. 2 T
IMOTHY
1:7

The verse struck a chord in her. Hadn’t she just been thinking about fear? The poster also told her that someone at this business was a Christian.

“Hey.” One of the behind-the-counter guys addressed her. “Follow me.”

Avery shook away her musings and trailed the guy through a door—looking over her glasses to keep her balance as she walked—and down a short hallway to the last door on the right. A nameplate read L
UCAS
L
OVE
, O
WNER
.

Before he opened it, he smiled. “I’m Ricky, by the way. I hope you get the job. He needs all the help he can get.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Avery smiled, and adjusted her glasses.

Ricky opened the door and gestured for her to enter. Smiling, she stepped into utter chaos.

Her smile faltered when she saw the stacks of papers and files. Books and magazines hung jagged from a cheap bookshelf. All of this, she took in as she stepped into the office.

A dark-haired, sun-kissed man only a few years older than his help stood from behind the desk and came around, thrusting his hand out. “I’m Lucas Love.”

He’d laid on the cologne a little thick for an interview, in her opinion, and his hair was damp, like he’d just taken a shower. A navy polo shirt clung to his muscular frame, and cargo shorts revealed bulging calves. Not exactly professional attire, but what did she expect? This was a business about having fun.

“I’m Avery Summers,” she said, feeling entirely overdressed in her sure-to-get-the-job professional attire.

“Have a seat.” Mr. Love returned to the chair behind his desk.

She tucked her navy blue skirt under as she sat and adjusted her suit jacket. “Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Love.”

“Lucas is fine.” He beamed at her, his thickly dimpled smile the kind to stop a young girl’s heart. Thankfully, she wasn’t that young or naive anymore. “You’re here to interview for the parttime bookkeeper position, is that right?”

“Yes.” Avery cleared her throat and tugged her résumé from her slim portfolio. “Here’s my résumé.”

He leaned forward, and when he took it their fingers brushed. Warmth spread through her. A warning rather than a welcome sensation.

Skimming the résumé, he cleared his throat. “Says here that you’re a certified public accountant recently employed by Baker and Company in Portland. What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”

Was he for real? Well, here went nothing. Avery shifted in her seat. “Mr. Love—”

“Lucas.”

Taken aback, she stared at him then regrouped. “Lucas, can I be straight with you?”

He cocked a dimple-laden half smile. “I’m counting on it.”

“My grandmother died and left me her house out here, and after paying the taxes I have a little money left. I’m tired of fighting traffic on the way to work, tired of the city. I used to visit my grandmother in the country, and I miss it.” Her heart ached. Her last year of college, her parents died in a car accident in Portland. Her grandmother was all she had left until she died, too. “I’m looking for … quiet. Simple.”
Safe
. No reason to tell him about her break-in.

His blue eyes were dark like the color of his shirt as he eased against the chair back and studied her. “And you’re looking for a part-time job to keep you busy.”

“Yes, that’s it.”

“Avery … can I call you Avery?”

“That’s fine.”

“Are you an outdoors girl? Ever ridden an ATV? That kind of thing?”

Her smile faltered. She’d lost the job already. “No. I’ve spent most of my time working, and catching up on work, ordering takeout because I’m too busy and too tired to cook. I haven’t had much time for—”

“Fun?”

She glanced at her nervous hands. “Right, fun.”

“You’ve come to the right place then.”

“What … are you saying I got the job?”

He tossed the résumé on the desk. “You’ve got the job.”

Grinning, he leaned back in the chair with his hands clasped behind his head.

“But, wait. I haven’t had a chance to ask you any questions to determine if I want it or not. Like what does the job entail?” Avery glimpsed around his office. “Will I have my own office? Am I just doing the books? What?”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you can handle everything and still find time to relax and have fun. You and I have something in common. I grew up on a cattle ranch and did chores every waking minute of the day. That’s why I started this business. So I could have fun while I work.” He stood and moved to the door, opening it for her.

She grabbed her portfolio and tucked it under her arm, her compact purse hanging over her shoulder. Standing near him at the door, she gazed up at him. He was a little taller than her, but not much. Probably five-ten. “When do I start?”

“Come back on Monday and wear jeans. You can fill out the paperwork. We’ll decide where to put your office. Move furniture around.”

Maybe it wasn’t what she was accustomed to in Portland, but it was new and different. Fresh and exciting. Lucas pulsated with energy and life.

But Avery couldn’t stand there and stare at him forever. Nor, could she walk a straight line wearing her glasses. She slipped them off, then looked at Lucas. “See you Monday. And thanks for the job.”

The vibrant smile behind Lucas’s indigo eyes faded a little.

What was that about?

L
ucas paced the small living room in his bachelor’s pad, thumbing through the pages in his little black book and waiting for Clarice to pick up on the other end. He’d never had a chance to transfer the contact information over to his phone.