The house was silent when Maisey woke, and dark. It had been three weeks since she'd talked with Brett about leaving. Three weeks of procrastinating going. She slipped out of bed, dressed and made her way to the kitchen to make breakfast.
They had developed a routine: Ned would come in first, silently pouring his coffee and accept a plate of fried eggs and toast; Brett would join them ten minutes later, having showered, take a plate of scrambled eggs with ketchup and toast with a piece of fruit. It had been easy to step into the routine with the two undemanding men. At first she'd done it because she was awake anyway, and then she had justified that it was only fair that she cooked since she couldn't go into the fields with them and she was staying with them and not paying rent. Not for the first time she wondered if there was a cure for allergies.
After breakfast the two men would load the dishwasher and head outside. It was raining so they grabbed rain gear from the mud room. Brett stopped before he went out, "Are you up for going into Blindloss with me today?"
Maisey hesitated but agreed with a nod, he tipped his hat onto his head with a nod and followed after his uncle. She was safe with Brett, she told herself, and there was no way Luke could have found her here. She didn't even think Blindloss was on a map: from what Brett had told her the original townsite was mostly gone now, but a few businesses had reopened as people decided they wanted to live near but not in the growing city of Medicine Hat. There was the clinic--both human and animal--where Andy worked, the feedlot, a bar and pool hall, a grocery store and Lucy's diner. If you wanted anything more you had to drive to Medicine Hat.
The young woman sat down at the table to make a menu and a list for town. She assumed Brett had specific things he needed to do, likely at the feedlot and wondered if she felt like she could handle the grocery store alone. She hadn't left the ranch since she'd arrived.
Nerves kept her on edge: she scrubbed the fridge, microwave and stove, set chili to cook in the slow cooker, prepared vegetables for a stew and bagged them up for the next day, showered and dressed for town. It was almost eleven when Brett came in and he immediately realized something was wrong: the kitchen sparkled but Maisey was no where in sight. "Mace?" he called out, "Maisey? Where you at?"
"Porch."
Brett made his way to the swing, "You don't have to come if it's too much or too soon."
"I want to," she told him, "Only..."
"It's okay to be anxious," he told her crouching down so his face was level with hers but he was back further, "You don't even have to get out of the truck if you don't want to, and if you do I'll be right there." He hated the tension in her eyes. It had been Andy's suggestion to ask her and now Brett was kicking himself.
"I want to try." She said again.
"Okay then," he nodded, "Let's get going then. I need to pick up some fence posts and a spool of wire, we've got a couple of spots that need repairs. Was there any groceries you wanted me to grab while we're in town?"
"List on the table." Brett grabbed it and then followed her to his red Dodge. Hers had the quad cab so was a bit bigger but his was used for work and it showed. He helped her with the door and made sure she was settled before going around to the driver side. "Mace, there's likely to be folk asking questions," he told her as they drove out onto the main road, "You're a new face, we need to have a signal so that I will know when you've had enough or when you're uncomfortable. A safeword or something."
Maisey thought for a long while, "I probably won't say anything." she admitted. "I would probably do like I did that night on the tailgate and pretend like everything is okay."
"I don't want that for you." He told her, "Do you want me to stay close or give you space?" Maisey shrugged and stared out the window.
"Is it haying season already?" She asked.
"Second cutting," he told her, recognizing the topic change as a plea to stop asking her, "Ned hires a crew to cut his hay. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it, but we've got our hands full and Junior isn't any help at all, insisting we sell, I'm damn glad he moved up to Calgary last month, he's far less mouthy to Uncle Ned." Maisey had shuddered when he mentioned Junior, "How did you know it was haying?"
"Combine in the field," she flashed him a smile, "Back on the farm that was the one thing I could do: watch the combines and the hay trucks from the safety of my bedroom window. I wasn't allowed out during haying season, I used to get so sick with the allergies."
"A shame," Brett told her, "hay is so much fun to be around: the bales are heavy, you get covered in dust and you're always itchy." She laughed at the things he was pointing out. "I would rather ride the fence anytime than hay." He pulled into the feedlot, "Do you want to wait?" She nodded and he got out.
"Hey Brett," a man came out of the office followed by a young woman in jeans, her brown cowboy hat sat back further on her head than Brett wore his. The two men shook hands and Maisey heard Brett great the woman. After a few minutes Brett was headed back to the truck with a spool of fence. He moved the truck closer to a pile of posts and went out to help load the ones he needed. The man had gone back into the office after loading but before Brett could get into the truck he stopped and turned back to the girl and Maisey realized she was talking to him.
The girl had followed Brett over to the truck and was asking about Ned and the calves, then asked Brett if he'd be at the hall that Friday night. With a glance at the truck Brett shook his head and Maisey realized he'd been putting off his friends to babysit her. "Brett, I am more than capable of visiting with Ned without you to chaperone," she called out.
"Who is that?" the girl's tone was contemptuous, "Is she why you haven't been around? Who is she?"
"Her name is Maisey," Brett said, "Maisey this is Addie. Maisey's staying with me and Uncle Ned," he told Addie, "She's been unwell so I've been staying close at hand."
Addie took off her hat and stuck her head in the driver's side window, "Sorry to hear you haven't been well Maisey," she said, "Hope I wasn't rude, you'd be welcome to join us on Friday. We like to play a little pool and sometimes do a little dancing."
"Thank you Addie," she said, "I'm still not all that well, this is my first time off the ranch since I got to town but I'll see how I'm feeling, but I won't let Brett use me as an excuse anymore."
The blond woman nodded and leaned back, a smile on her face as she touched Brett's bicep possessively, "No excuses now Brett, make sure Andy comes too Melissa likes beating him at pool."
"I'll be sure to tell him," Brett nodded and reached for the door, "Got to be off now Addie, still need to make another stop and Uncle Ned is waiting on these posts."
"Nice to meet you Maisey," Addie waved and stepped back.
Brett groaned as he drove away. "You couldn't have bailed me out?" he teased, "Addie is quite possibly the only reason I hate coming here. She's all hands and doesn't take a hint."
Maisey laughed, "Would you have rathered I pretend to be a shrew of a girlfriend, possessive and demanding?"
"Yes." Brett deadpanned.
"That bad?" she winced.
"Since the fourth grade." he told her. "So if we run into anyone else at all who thinks that they should paw me, please bail me out. I'll wash dinner dishes for a month."
Laughing, Maisey forgot about her nerves. It didn't take long to pull up in front of the grocery store after they left the feedlot: they were at opposite ends of the same street. Brett grabbed Maisey's list and helped her out of the truck before guiding her into the store. He tried to ignore her hesitation but when she stopped moving two steps in he quickly reached over and took her hand in his and squeezed gently: "It's okay," he said beside her ear, "I've got you." She nodded but did not release his hand.
They got stopped a few times in the store to chat: mostly just an introduction and questions about how Ned was these days and well wishes that Maisey continued to get well but Brett learned quickly that Maisey had figured out an easy way to let him know she was uncomfortable. When they left a particularly trying conversation he tucked her hand around his arm and flexed his hand: she had been squeezing it hard. "Mr Nelson owns a ranch on the other end of town from ours," he told her, "he doesn't normally come into town unless it's to pay his accounts, you won't see him much." More than once in the store people looked but didn't comment on the fact that he, Brett Franks, was holding hands with a woman that wasn't Addie. He cursed small towns but refused to let go of Maisey.
After they paid and got back into the truck, Maisey gulped in air while her body shook from the tension she'd been holding in. "Go," she said softly, "I need to be home." Then before he could ask she answered, "I'll be fine, it wasn't as bad as I feared but the anxiety of what would happen if I went over budget or if I didn't get the right brand was there and I couldn't help but fear a reaction every time I picked something up. I just need to not have anymore strangers eyeing me, measuring me and wondering who I am and why I'm here." she realized she'd been squeezing his fingers, "I'm sorry, I hope that you won't have gossip because of holding my hand. I appreciate the comfort it brought."
"They'll have us married by the end of the month." Brett joked and wished he could take them back before he finished the sentence.