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."Hello," she said."Hey, there's a storm brewing.Marty says the weatherman on the television at his house says it's coming our way.We still got the small square bales on the ground.We can use every hand we can get to put it in the barn before the rain hits.You mind driving a truck?" Slade asked."You got anyone else who can see over the dashboard that can drive?" she asked."I won't beg," he said coldly."I'm not asking you to beg.I can handle a set of hay hooks as good as you can, so if you can get someone's kid to drive, I'll help load.Where are you?""Not far.I've got a pickup ready to unload.Meet me in the barn where the kittens are.""I need gloves.""Granny's are on a hook inside the back door, right beside her hat.You might want to wear that, too."By the time he reached the barn she'd moved the kittens to a safer corner, the momma cat following along behind, meowing loudly.He backed the truck into the barn and Jane grabbed a set of hooks and began to unload.They worked side by side until the bales were stacked uniformly, then she hopped into the bed of the truck and he drove back to the field.When the truck came to a stop, she wasted no time before getting out, but left the hooks in the seat of the truck.She could load twice as fast simply by picking up the baling wire and tossing it to the hired hand, who had gotten ready to catch it.Next time she'd do the easier job of organizing the hay in the truck to make the most of the space.It was a switch off.The one who threw the bales for one load organized the next time around to prevent exhaus tion.As it was, every muscle in her body would ache at bedtime and the next morning it would be a miracle if she could move.It had been years since she'd worked the hayfield, but she remembered the hard work.Her father had tried his best to talk her mother out of making her learn everything about ranching from the ground up, saying that a girl would never need the knowledge.Her mother did not share his viewpoint and she'd won the argument.Ellacyn Jane spent time in the hayfield, mucking out horse stables, planting a garden, canning green beans and corn, making jelly, balancing a checkbook—and then she went to college to learn how to run a business.They were running two trucks that evening.When Jane's truck was finally loaded and the driver started back to the barn, she hopped up on the empty one just returning and got ready to stack.On that load, Slade threw and she stacked.The rhythm was fast-paced and kept her hopping to stay up with him.She could have asked him to slow down slightly but there was no way she would give him the satisfaction of knowing she couldn't match his speed."That's it.We got it in the barn before the storm hit," Slade said when they reached the barn with the last load.He'd barely gotten the words out when the first drops of rain hit the metal barn roof.Along with the thunder right overhead, it sounded worse than it really was.Slade leaned against the side of the still-loaded truck."You lived on a ranch, or at least grew up on one.No one knows how to do that unless they've spent a lot of time ranching," he said."I never said I didn't know anything about ranching," she said breathlessly."Help me get this off the truck and go have some supper.I'm starving.""You are avoiding the issue," he said."I am not.I admitted that I'm hungry.Now are you going to unload or do I have to do it all myself.Maybe I played you out in the field, huh?"He grabbed a set of hooks and fought hard to keep up with her as she tossed the bales.By the time it was all stacked the storm had passed, the rain had stopped and the stars were just beginning to twinkle.Jane inhaled the fresh clean scent of rain and shut her eyes.For a minute she was sixteen and back on the ranch in Mississippi, her mother standing beside her, both of them exhausted to the point of giggles after a long day working beside the hired hands."What were you thinking about?" he asked softly."Old times," she said."Want to go out for supper?""No thank you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]