The Impossible Art of Falling (Impossible Art #1) (4 page)

"Don't forget to take your hat off at the table," Meg scolded.

Strong hands reached up and pulled the offending item from the top of his head and hung it on the chair. He grinned at Meg sheepishly and all was forgiven. Meg dished out stew to the plate directly across from her, which is where he sat down. He kept his eyes on her the entire time and Jena felt a shiver reach down her spine.

"I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to introduce you two until now. Jena, this is Luke Thomas. Luke, this is my niece, Genevieve, but she goes by Jena."

"Pleased to meet you… although, I kinda already met her when I took her things upstairs," Luke responded, turning toward Meg. Jena opened her mouth to mutter a greeting but nothing came out, as usual. Instead, she nodded and cautiously dipped her spoon into the hot stew.

"Luke works for us. He lives here, takes care of the horses, and helps run the trail rides. We also have another young man, Kyle, who works here as well. He is only here to help with the trail rides. You’ll meet him tomorrow.” Luke looked up at her, and she could clearly see the watery color of his eyes. His gaze was intense… almost challenging. Great. This was not what she’d expected when she accepted her aunt and uncle’s invitation to live with them. She had thought it would only be the three of them. It felt like her presence made it one too many. She looked down at her dinner and picked at it delicately, trying to avoid Luke’s stares.

Most of dinner involved small talk between Rob, Meg, and Luke, allowing Jena to simply disappear into herself. She smiled and nodded appropriately, just to keep up appearances. Luke glanced at her curiously from time to time but seemed content to let her sit in silence. Luke had been told that Meg and Rob’s niece would be coming to live with them. Other than that, they had given him very little information. He knew she was some big show jumper and therefore, he assumed, probably had some stuck up attitude, and her lack of conversation earlier proved that. She was quieter than he imagined. Still, that was okay with him. He had no desire to start up a conversation with her anyway.

Her looks, however, weren’t something he had been prepared for. Her blonde hair fell in waves around her and framed an oval shaped face. Eyes that were an unusual gold color, carried a vacant expression and looked down from atop a small, straight nose and full lips. She was beautiful. He recognized the sadness in her eyes, as they mirrored the sadness in his own. Rob had told him she would be helping out with the horses, but looking at her delicate figure had him wonder just how much help she would be.

Jena looked up, only to meet Luke’s eyes. He clenched his jaw and turned the corner of his lip upward in a smirk. She really wished that her aunt and uncle had told her ahead of time about this boy. While she had been drawn to his looks at first, it was clear that he was like everyone else; those that stared at her in pity and sadness. She would just have to tolerate him, for now.

Eventually, after plates were scraped clean, and the food was put away, Jena was able once again, to escape up to her room. She quietly slipped into her bathroom, ignoring the voices that were rising up from the kitchen. She tried to forget about Luke, who certainly didn’t seem to be holding back his dislike for her. She felt it rolling off of him in small waves all through dinner after she caught him smirking at her. While she didn’t care — she wasn’t here to make friends — it just made her feel even more alone.

One of the best things about this old farmhouse was the claw foot bathtub that stood in her bathroom. Jena turned the water on as hot as she could stand and watched the water swirl around, filling the tub. Steam rolled around the bathroom and fogged the mirror. Once it was full, Jena slipped into the clear water and let her body sink in.

In the hot water, she was able to wash off the day. Traveling from South Carolina, moving her life from one place to another, was exhausting. When her fingers and toes finally shriveled, she reluctantly climbed out.

After changing her clothes, she walked back to her room, pulled back the quilt, and crawled into the big bed, her damp hair fanning around her. This was now her life. She would need to accept it. Now that no one was around, she couldn’t keep the tears from glistening on her cheeks and staining her pillow case. And because now, after this horribly long day when she was truly alone, she let them fall.

chapter 4

L
UKE HIT THE ACCELERATOR of his old Ford truck, as he drove through the hills on the way back to the farm. Sacks of grain and oats slid around, and he could feel their weight. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t been distracted lately. When Luke found out about Jena coming to stay, he expected someone much different. Instead, he walked into the house and found the troubled eyes of a beautiful woman. Her hair the color of corn silk, her eyes almost gold, and she had curves in all the right places. He found that he couldn’t stop staring. She wasn’t what he had been expecting at all. But then, she didn’t say a word. He tried to introduce himself upstairs in her room, and when she didn’t speak, he just assumed that he had startled her by suddenly showing up in her room. Then there was dinner. He found the silence unnerving at first, and then it made him angry. Did she think she was better than all of them? By the end of that first dinner, Luke was convinced that he had originally been right, and that she was just some spoiled brat who had gotten herself in trouble at wherever home was and had been sent to Tennessee. Rob had told him nothing about her, simply saying that she had a lot going on in her head, but that horses were her life. Not that he expected Rob to say much, as the man rarely, if ever, talked about his personal life. Luke didn’t realize Rob even had a niece until a few days before she arrived.

One thing was for sure. The girl wasn’t horse crazy. Jena hadn’t left the house all week, and she certainly hadn’t been down to see her horse. Instead, Luke had watched her silhouette haunting her upstairs window. Considering all that Luke had seen of Jena since she had arrived, Rob was either completely wrong or didn’t know his niece at all. Regardless, no matter how hard he tried to push the girl from his head, Luke found himself wondering about the strange girl at the window. Who was she really? Equally annoyed and intrigued, Luke found that she was all he could think about. And now, after only a week, he was determined to figure her out.

LUKE THREW ANOTHER BALE of hay down from the loft onto the back of the tractor to where Kyle was stacking them. It was the last of the fifty bales that needed to be moved from the hay barn to the main barn. The afternoon was hot and he reached to take off his now soaked t-shirt. His hair was wet and curling at the nape of his neck.
I really should make time for that haircut,
he thought to himself.
Or else let Meg trim it a bit
. He climbed down from the loft, feeling the air getting cooler, although it was still in the 80’s. He sat on the seat of the tractor, reached for his bottle of water, and drank. In the distance, he could see Jena sitting on the porch with a book in her lap. Today, she had finally left the interior of the house and the frame of her window, but still, Luke couldn’t hide his dismay. He didn’t consider sitting on the porch, leaving the house. Rob had said she would help, yet she hadn’t stepped into the barn once since she had been here. The sound of footsteps on the gravel tore his gaze away from the girl. Rob was coming.

“Ready to bring this over to the main barn?” Rob said, eying Luke with suspicion. He had been noticing the way Luke looked at his niece and could see the curiosity and underlying disdain. It wasn’t that he needed them to be best friends, but he did need them to get along, as they both lived here. “She’ll come around. We just have to give her time,” he said, reading Luke’s mind. Kyle continued stacking bales, pretending to hear nothing. Luke wasn’t fooled. The other man was eavesdropping.

“You keep saying that,” Luke said, with obvious petulance. “You also said that she lived for horses, yet she hasn’t been out to see a single one. I guess she’s just not what I expected.” Luke put his water bottle down and grabbed his gloves from the floor near his feet. 

Rob took his hat off and ran his hands through his sweaty hair. He paused for a minute. He hadn’t told Luke the whole story of why his niece was here, figuring Jena would be around, and he wouldn’t need to be explaining anything. He had never even told Luke or Kyle about losing his brother. He shouldn’t be surprised that Jena didn’t talk about it. Telling a stranger how you had lost your family couldn’t be an easy thing to do. And while Ted Grayson was Rob’s brother, he didn’t feel it was his story to tell.

“She’s just got a lot going on,” Rob finally said. The blank look on Luke’s face told Rob that the kid had no idea. Luke hadn’t lived with them when it happened, so he wasn’t aware of the loss. A few months of mourning had passed before the other man came to work at the Grayson Ranch. He remembered that what would be international news in the eventing world, may not even make the paper in this small mountain town. “We just need to give her space.” By now, Kyle had finished and joined the two men.

“Luke, let’s take this last load. Kyle, I think we are done for the day. You could probably head home,” Rob directed.

“Sure thing, boss,” Kyle responded with a grin, and Luke cringed at the constant arrogance. Kyle began walking back toward the house. Luke shook his head and started the tractor. He glanced back at Jena sitting on the porch, and Rob could see a look of pity in his eyes. Rob hopped on the back of the trailer and headed back to the barn with Luke.

Kyle ambled back slowly, waiting for the two men to disappear around the corner. Once it was clear, he set his eye upon the girl sitting on the porch. He had been waiting for the perfect time to properly introduce himself to her. Especially since she seemed to want nothing to do with Luke.

“Hey there,” Kyle started, as he walked up to the porch. “I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I’m Kyle. I work here for your aunt and uncle.” He stopped in front of Jena and stuck his hand out. She looked up at him, her eyes squinted in uncertainty. He held his hand there for a second, but when she made no motion to take it, he lowered it to his side. “I, um, just wanted to say hi, that’s all.”

Jena was still staring at him. Well, at least looking at him with a vacant stare. Her eyes narrowed before she turned back to her book. Jena just wanted him to leave her alone. She had seen Kyle from a distance all week. She had seen how he handled the horses and how he sometimes pretended to work. She felt as if he were constantly putting on an act. He seemed to be more pompous when around others… a quality she didn’t like. So, as he stood on the porch in front of her, she chose to ignore him. It didn’t take long for him to get the hint, and she heard his footsteps retreating back to the driveway. The start of an engine and the skid of tires told her that he was gone. Only then, did she allow herself to look up.

Rob and Luke finished and were bringing the tractor back around the barn. Rob hopped down and let Luke park it. He saw his niece in the distance, still sitting on the porch. It was the first time all week she had left the house. He had been surprised at her lack of interest in the horses. He saw that her eyes were no longer on the book in her lap but looking off in the distance. He followed the direction of her gaze and noticed her horse, Gatsby, standing off alone in the large pasture, grazing. The lure was still there.  She may not have been down to see him yet, or even stepped foot into the barn, but he knew that the power of horses was too strong. He smiled to himself and turned to walk back and help Luke with the chores.

Jena exhaled a deep breath of frustration. She had been trying not to notice Luke working all morning, and the way he seemed to be looking in her direction every time she looked up. She didn’t like the way his eyes were constantly trying to bore into her. He clearly had it out for her; his aversion for her written on his face. As a result, she avoided him, or at least tried to. In fact, she avoided both Luke and Kyle. It wasn’t that hard, considering she was determined to not step foot into the barn. While she had hoped that things would be different here, a barn was a barn and the sights and sounds were all too familiar, too painful yet to comfort her. Instead, she found herself stuck in her room, occasionally gazing out the window or recently, sitting on the porch, book in hand. That is where she had been this morning when she, yet again, had to endure Luke glaring at her while he loaded hay. And that is exactly where she was when Kyle thought it would be a good time to try to get to know her. After enduring Luke’s staring and Kyle’s introductions, she turned back to her book and tried to concentrate on the words in front of her. She saw Rob speaking to both men, probably giving them a lecture. Maybe even telling them to leave his poor niece alone because she had just lost everything. She could feel it. Pity.