Sally: Autumn Storms (F&L Story #4)

Sally: Part 15

Part 15

“Who…is that?” Emma whispered, only loud enough to be heard clear across Sally’s backyard.  All eyes turned to where the feisty brunette stared.  Sage’s eyes popped out of her head, and Eve let out a low whistle.  Chloe, the pregnant one, grunted with appreciation.

Sally wanted to deck them all. 

Fifty yards away, Wilson worked to chop some wood for her fireplace.  He’d removed his shirt.  Tanned muscles bunched with every swing of the ax, and the bright sunlight glinted off his dark hair.  A pure feminine sigh – echoed by her guests – escaped her throat.

“That’s Wilson,” she said when her lungs refilled.  “I hired him last week.”

“He can come work for me any old day,” Emma crooned, scooting to the edge of her seat on Sally’s patio chair.

The girls arrived shortly after ten o’clock.  Eve – Sally’s niece – and Emma giggled as they rushed in, arm in arm.  Sage, practically glowing and happy as a clam at being newly married, thrust photos into Sally’s hands first thing.  And Chloe brought up the rear, waddling like only a pregnant lady could do and grumbling about the lack of caffeine in her life.

With the small talk out of the way, they moved to Sally’s screened back porch to enjoy cups of coffee and some cheesecake.  Sally poured over the photographs of Sage’s honeymoon while the new bride chattered nonstop about all that her and Carey, her husband, did while in Eureka Springs.  That was when Wilson decided to pop his gorgeous self into view.

“Please tell me he’s not married,” Emma demanded.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sally quipped.  “You are…all of you.”

“I’m not,” Eve piped up, grinning at Wilson’s bare back.  “And I just might dump Clint if he’s available.”

“He’s not,” Sally replied, too fiercely to not be noticed.  All eyes turned to her.  Smiles followed.

“Oh, really?” Sage said.  “So, that’s how it is.  Aunt Sally, you sly witch.  You’ve hired yourself some eye candy.”

“Just stop,” Sally huffed.  “Wil is my employee, that’s all.  And he’s damn good at it, too.”

“I bet he is,” Eve teased her.

“Wil, huh?  Since when do you give your employees pet names?”  That came from Chloe, who Sally never spent a lot of time with, so how the hell would she know what she called the people that worked for her?

“So…what’s he like?”

Sally shrugged.  “Just like I said.  He’s hardworking, and he doesn’t say much.”

“The strong silent type, huh?”

The question caught Sally off-guard.  That’s just what she thought the first day she met him.  Since then, she learned not to jump to conclusions.  Wilson didn’t say much, but that didn’t make him dumb.  He knew his way around a farm.  He knew exactly what had to be done, before it needed done, and every time she talked about her chicken raising strategies, he seemed to hang on her ever word, soaking in the information.  Sally never had to tell him something twice.  If she told him that the Reds needed a certain amount of vitamins mixed into their feed at certain feedings, he remembered.  If she described a particular variety of pumpkin and needed one from the field, he’d go get it and not bring back five different kinds because they all look alike.

Yes, he was quiet, but his actions spoke volumes.

“You can say that,” she answered when the other girls looked to her for an answer.