weeks? Do you all go around sweeping up the damsels in distress and carting them off to the ‘medicine man’, or is that just something you’re doing to Amy because you think she’s vulnerable enough to fall for it?”
“Look,” Carey started, completely dumbfounded by her accusations. “I don’t know what’s happened to offend you, but I ‘swept up’ Amy because she was about to get her forehead kicked in by a charging horse, one that was dragging her, I’d like to add.” He pointed behind him to the RV. “If you’d like to step in there and take a look at her injuries for yourself, you’re welcome to. But knock first, she might not want you in there.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Karen demanded, jutting out her jaw at his insinuation.
“It means exactly what I said. Amy’s a big girl, and she’s tougher than anyone I’ve had the pleasure of riding with on one of these drives. But if you think she needs rescuing from me, by all means, you can go in there and you can be the one to sweep her up and save her. I was just doing my job.” He turned and stormed away before he could say something his dad would make him regret.
Chapter Five
True to his word, Carey found Amy after the rest of the afternoon’s ride and lowered himself to sit beside her on the cool ground. He laughed quietly when he looked over at her and saw that she was asleep, sitting up with her dinner untouched in her lap. “Psst,” he whispered close to her ear before sitting straight up, an innocent look plastered on his face. Amy jumped slightly and looked around, embarrassed at having fallen asleep during dinner.
“Tired?” he asked coolly, before taking a bite of his barbeque sandwich. Amy nodded slightly and speared a piece of potato, chewing it without looking in his direction.
“So, how’s your back feeling? Are you gonna survive?” he asked lightly. She didn’t respond right away, causing Carey to lean forward to see her face. “Hello? I asked how you’re feeling?”
“I heard you. I also heard you earlier. I heard you when you were talking to Karen,” she answered frostily. “But you don’t have to be polite anymore. I know you’re only doing your job.’” She took another forkful of her dinner, more for the excuse of eating to avoid having to talk to him than from actual hunger, having nearly lost her appetite altogether.
Carey was confused for a moment, but then remembered his argument with Karen. “Oh, you heard that?” he asked, his good mood sinking just a little bit. Amy silently smirked at him, then turned away and went back to eating. “That’s not what I meant to say, Karen just got me really frustrated. I’m sorry, really. It came out wrong.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Amy managed to reply before standing up. “I won’t be any more trouble for you. I’ll let you focus on your real work.” She turned and walked away, leaving him to wonder how this had all gone horribly wrong. He considered just leaving well enough alone, certainly now that he had two different guests on this trip angry with him but when he saw the triumphant look Karen shot him, he decided to act. He jumped up and followed Amy, resisting the urge to shoot an inappropriate gesture in the witch’s direction.
With her injured back, it wasn’t hard to catch up to her. Carey approached her where she was standing behind one of the trucks, away from the prying eyes of the others, and touched her lightly on the arm. “Hey, Amy. Stop a second and talk to me.”
“What?” she demanded sadly, angry with herself for letting Carey see how much he’d upset her when she turned and saw his face. He could tell that she seemed to be on the verge of tears. “What is it? I meant what I said, you don’t have to look out for me. You have your job to do and I’ll stay out of your way from now on.”
“Amy, you’re not in the way, and I didn’t help you today because I had to. I helped you because I couldn’t stand the thought of you getting hurt.” Carey watched her carefully, but ignored the voice in his head that began telling him how weird he sounded, how pathetic. He shook his head and continued, no matter how ridiculous the thought of pouring his heart out to someone he’d met only days ago might be. “I don’t even know you but for some reason, I’ve figured out that I spend a good bit of my day trying to make you smile, because your smile is the best thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
She stared at Carey, unsure of how to respond, waiting for all of this to make sense but at the same time, hoping it would keep being so unreal. He waited for her to say something but when she stayed quiet, his heart began to drop.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I mean, I don’t know anything about you and it’s not my place to tell you these things. For all I know, you have a boyfriend back home and…”
Amy closed the distance between them and kissed Carey hungrily, not caring who was watching. Karen could stand there and give us pointers, for all I care, she thought as she lightly placed her hands on Carey’s arms, warming inside when he returned her kiss and put his hands at her waist, drawing her closer.
“Oh, wow,” she said, breaking the kiss and looking sheepish. “it’s my turn to apologize…”
“No, don’t apologize!” Carey insisted, his grin lighting up his face.
“I shouldn’t have done that, I’m so sorry!” She looked away, embarrassed at letting his words get to her like that.
Carey stepped closer to her again, looking into her eyes and saying, “I’m really glad you did. I’ve wanted to kiss you since you stepped off the bus!”
Amy laughed lightly, still shocked at herself for being so bold, so out of character. “Well, I can’t say the same. When I stepped off that bus, there were two of you! I wouldn’t have known who to attack! But seriously, I’m sorry for throwing myself at you like that.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Carey said quietly, taking one of her curls between his fingers and playing with its silkiness. “I’m not.” She looked up at him and saw her own want reflected in his expression but this wasn’t the time or the place, especially not now that she could hear voices approaching the vehicle. Amy decided it might be best to change the subject as they stepped out from behind the truck and headed back to rejoin the group.
“I don’t see how you guys do it. How do you do this much manual labor all-day and still have the energy to sit around talking and singing after dinner? It’s all I can do to keep my eyes open, but I’m afraid I’m going to miss something if I close them.”
“Well, it’s not exactly like you only endured a regular day’s work. Your poor little body was pretty beat up out there today. But to answer your question, we get used to it, I guess,” Carey conceded. “I can only imagine how out of place I’d feel if I tried to follow you around at work for a week. You do things that I don’t have to handle, you know.”
“Like what?” she asked, making herself comfortable near the campfire that was beginning to take hold.
“I don’t know exactly, but I’m guessing you go to the grocery store, you go out to eat, you look like you go to the gym,” he said, pinching her small bicep between his fingers lightly, thrilling her as he did. “You probably go to the movies and stuff like that. Right? I don’t think our cowboy lifestyle…sorry, cow human lifestyle…is any harder than your life. It’s probably just different.”
Amy smiled at his mention of their joke from before, then nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t think anything of going to the movies at eleven o’clock at night, then getting up and going to work
