Back On The Saddle

Chapter Five

Fay Harlow

MY sleep was broken, so badly broken that each time i would wake up the tears would flow again and i'd fall asleep. Each time i would wake up my heart would legitimately break every single fucking time, images of Noah and the blonde girl kissing, the videos, his threats and the way he spoke to me on the phone last night was haunting me. It took me longer then it should of to get out of bed this morning, but when i did; i showered, over washed my face and put to much concealer on to try and hide the bags and redness. The last thing i need is questions from my dad - which now thinking it i hope he didn't hear any of the conversation that i had with Noah last night - today i woke up single for the first time in years i was alone again. I was in the middle of grabbing a drink of water when Ben comes running into the house yelling out my name; i look over at him as he enters the kitchen, a glass of water at my lips as i wait for him to tell me what he needed from me.

"Fay, we need you in the sheering shed. Bailey is way to slow and we are falling behind, your dad wants it done in the next two hours," he quickly rambles out.

"He needs to learn," I tell Ben pouring the rest of the water into the sink, "He's not going to learn if people fill in for him."

"I know but David is on our back cause we are far behind, he has plenty of time to learn but right now we need someone who knows how to sheer," he says, it's weird to hear my dads name; it felt so foreign to me. It was just us on the farm for so many years before i left so his actual name was hardly bought up unless we were in town.

"Okay," I say walking past him, "You coming?"

BY the time we got to the sheep shed, Western was screaming at Bailey to just fuck off and do something else; i can understand being frustrated when doing this job because it's time crunching but there's no reason for him to be swearing at the other workers. Bailey grumpily is about to push past me when i grab his shoulder and smile.

"You'll get the hang of it, ignore the grumpy bastard over there," i tell him, he nods and walks out.

"Stop babying them, they aren't kids," Western says sending a sheep through the gates, "He needs to learn."

"Yeah and cussing them out wont help them learn faster now will it?" I tell him.

"I don't know why your father insists on you helping out, i think we had a better chance at catching up with Bailey working," Western says as he's dragging in another sheep sweat dripping down his tanned face.

"Oh so you don't think i'm quick enough?" I raise an eyebrow, "Wanna make a bet?"

He looks up as he's mid into sheering the wool off of the sheep, "Okay what are we talking here?"

"Loser has to get naked and jump in the lake down at the Far East side of the cattle's paddock," I answer, it was an old tradition the adults used to make bets when i was younger.

I'd sit on a stool in the corner watching them in awe work away in the sheering shed and to pass time - also probably to make everyone work faster - they would place the bet. Then we would watch the loser jump into the gross green lake naked, usually dad didn't let me watch that part, he'd cover my eyes until they were in the water.

"You haven't got the guts," he laughs, "Besides why make that bet when you are going to lose?"

"Shake on it," I challenge him, "Unless you're scared?"

I reach my hand toward him, he quickly let's go of the shearer's and shakes my hand. I feel a tingle in the pit of my stomach as his long fingers wrap around my small hand; one bounce and i pull my hand back.