Chapter 19
The hangover the next morning was killer. Killing my thought process had not worked in the way that I wanted it to. I now had an awful headache and sore feet to go with it. Tap tap tap… What the heck? Realizing that I hadn’t woken up on my own, I hollered out to whoever was knocking on my bedroom door. “It’s open.” I watched as the door creaked open and Zoey’s little brunette head poked in. When she seen I was still in bed she walked in and snuggled under the covers with me.
“Nayvee what’s wrong?” She asked me, sounding as worried as a little five year old can sound.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Because you’re still in bed. You never stay in bed this long.” I froze for half a second; never having realized how much these little ones had really paid attention before now.
“Nope I was just waiting for you. See I knew if I hid in my room long enough you’d come in. Then I could smuggle you under my covers and keep you forever!” She squealed as I pulled the covers up over our heads and started tickling her.
After a minute we stopped to take a breath and lay back on the pillows, momentarily worn out. Zoey started glancing around my room with a confused look on her face.
“Nayvee? Where in the world did all these flowers come from! You look like you’ve been planting a garden in your bedroom.” I hesitated, knowing exactly what would happen if I told her the truth. I wasn’t wrong.
“They are from a boy.” She scrunched her face up like she was thinking very hard, and then it lit up like a lantern.
“They are from Garrett aren’t they.” It wasn’t even stated as a question. The look of exasperation I gave her was enough to confirm her guess. The giggles erupted like bubbles from a blower. They got harder and louder until I thought she would pass out from lack of oxygen. All I could do was hide my head back under the covers. It just caused her to laugh even harder. Just then Aunt Claire stuck her head in to see what all the noise was about.
“Alright Zoey I think you’ve tortured Nayvee enough. Hurry downstairs and eat your breakfast so you can finish your chores.” The giggles stopped instantaneously only to be replaced by groans. Reluctantly she dragged herself from my bed and shuffled out of the room. I gave my aunt a ‘thank you’ smile. She winked at me conspiratorially before shutting the door and following Zoey downstairs.
I decided that I was already awake so I had better just shower and get dressed for the day. I had been doing so much work for Jared lately that I had almost completely neglected to help Claire with anything. It was time I pulled my weight a little inside the house. I started by picking up the few things laying around my bedroom and opening the window to let the fresh air in. I had spent so little time in my room that it was starting to smell a little stale. Pushing the heavy glass high enough for it to stick, I looked outside to see a beautiful day. The day wasn’t the only thing that was beautiful. Garrett was standing in the bed of the truck, throwing bales of hay onto a pile that his friend Trevin was stacking. Apparently they came as a packaged deal, although honestly I hardly noticed Trevin at all. The muscles bulging through Garrett’s shirt was enough to make me catch my breath and I really needed to thank the designer for wrangler.
I seen Trevin nod his head in my direction, giving notice for Garrett to turn around and see me ogling him through the window. Blast! I jerked back into the room, smacking my head on the bottom of the glass in the process. Glaring accusingly at the window, I turned around and continued my cleaning. I was now cleaning with a passion and by the time I finished my room and bathroom were sparkling. I heard a low rumbling sound that startled me, until I realized that it was just my stomach. I was famished. Pausing to look at the time on my phone, I noticed a new message icon pop up.
7:00am R U still alive? pace
7:10am Haven’t heard from you in days. pace
9:00am Going to come find you soon if you don’t reply pace
11:12am Loading my truck now. Pace
Seeing the time that the last message was sent, I looked at the clock. 11:17. Crap. I hurried to reply.
STILL ALIVE! Don’t send a search party. Sorry. Been busy
The chime on my phone was almost instantly after I pressed send. The boy had some super fast typing skills. I had to give him that.
11:18am too late J
Garrett
Contrary to what he should have felt like, Garrett was having a pretty alright morning. He was lucky enough to wake up with no hangover, and even though the night before hadn’t went as well as he would have hoped, he still got a kiss out of the deal and the simple fact of knowing that Nayvee had spent the remainder of the night alone in her room. Then to top the icing of the cake, he had caught her staring at him googly eyed out her bedroom window earlier that morning. So when he seen her strolling through the yard towards him looking beautiful as ever, he assumed his day was only going to get better.
Walking out of the now clean tack room (his favorite room on the spread), with a tiny halter and long lead rope in his hands, he headed straight towards her. The nervous look on her face made him all the more cocky. He just knew that she was there to apologize for the night before and tell him that she wanted him back. He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Hey can I talk to you for a second?” He tried to restrain the ever stretching grin, but was unsuccessful.
“Sure, what’s up? Want to come help me halter break this little filly?” Her face brightened.
“Yes I’d love to! But I really do have to talk to you too.” He just tilted his head towards the pen with a little grulla mare and filly. The mom was a gentle mare that was trusting with what the humans did around her. She stood soundly while Garrett and Nayvee slowly walked into the pen towards her baby. The filly was very curious and walked straight towards them. They started to rub her neck and sides, getting her comfortable with them being around. They gently slipped the halter up over her nose and buckled it. It was then that Garrett spoke up.
“So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Actually I wanted to ask you a favor.” He stopped for a second. Wondering what she could be asking of him.
“Okay.” Just then they heard a trucks loud honk, as the filly reared up away from them, smacking her head into Garrett’s chin. Swearing, he looked over at the truck and his eyes caught fire. “Who the bloody hell is that?”