True Belonging 2 by Ella Cooper
Chapter Two
Eliza
I went to bed with a head full of mist and a stomach drowning in fluttering butterflies. Several times in the kitchen, I had to stop myself from getting up and grabbing Flint again. I couldn’t believe that he’d convinced me to stay, but now I simply couldn’t get myself to even consider leaving.
At the same time, I didn’t want to be in love with him. I couldn’t be. We hadn’t known each other for very long, and besides, even if I stayed for a few more weeks, I would have to leave eventually.
As I laid my head down on my pillow, I repeated to myself that I wasn’t going to kiss Flint again. This little crush would pass soon enough, and then I could move on. I simply couldn’t give in to it. All that had happened in the kitchen was a moment of weakness that wouldn’t repeat itself.
Even while I drifted off into sleep, I doubted that.
“Knock knock.”
I blinked my eyes open to the bluish twilight of the early morning and saw Flint’s figure in my doorway. It felt as if I hadn’t gotten even a wink in. Groaning, I rolled over in bed lazily.
“You’re kidding,” I mumbled into my pillow. “The sun’s not even out yet.”
“Mm, this is a ranch,” Flint pointed out with amusement in his voice. “You’re supposed to be up way before the sun. Besides, you’ve got to get ready to go into town.”
“Just an hour, come on,” I growled in return, almost hissing when Flint switched on the room’s light. “I’ll be quick when I get up.”
“Don’t make me throw a bucket of water on you,” Flint joked, but I wasn’t sure whether he’d actually do such a thing. “I’m going to take a shower. When I’m done, I hope you’ll be up.”
I grumbled under my breath until he closed the door behind him. I didn’t think that he’d follow through on his threat, but I knew he was right. We had a lot to do during the day, and I did need to get up. A mug of coffee might help, and so that was the first goal that I aimed for.
Rolling out of the bed, I still had to peer through eyes pulled into slits until they became used to the light. It was slightly cold, too, and I wrapped a thin blanket around my shoulders as I shuffled down to the kitchen.
The shower ran for about five minutes, and a short while later, Flint appeared in the kitchen. He was fully dressed, his dark hair still wet, and a smug smile plastered on his face. I glared at him unhappily, still not impressed that I had to be awake at such a terrible hour. I almost felt like throwing my coffee at him, just to wipe that smirk off his face.
“You’re not a morning person, are you?” he asked as he switched the kettle on for himself.
“I had a late night, if you’ve already forgotten,” I answered, measuring the space between us. I could put down my cup and wrap myself in his arms within seconds. Instead, I looked away, knowing that it was dangerous to think like that.
“Once you’re dressed, we’ll head down to the barn,” Flint said, ignoring the route that I was steering the conversation in. “Plan for the day. Then we’ll go into town. Sound good to you?”
“Yeah, I suppose.” I shrugged. “Although I could take a nap while you go down to the barn and wake up again when you want to leave.”
“Nice try.” Flint shook his head at me as if I was a belligerent child. “We can have breakfast at the diner in town, if you want. Saves us a bit of time.”
That did sound good, but at the same time, it was too close to a date for comfort. I would have to be really careful with my feelings if I agreed. In the middle of thinking about it, though, I noticed that I was already nodding.
As soon as I finished my coffee, I went upstairs to get dressed. I wore Flint’s smallest set of clothes, but they still hung on me like bags. Trudging back down to where he was waiting on the porch, I realized that I was looking forward to the trip into town. It would be nice to get something appropriate to wear.
“Ah, don’t you look lovely,” Flint joked, but I sensed a hint of truth in his statement. Fighting against the redness that threatened to spread across my cheeks, I glowered at him. To emphasize my annoyance, I started stomping down to the barn.
“This wall seems pretty bad.” Flint pointed to a section where the wood had started to rot and the paint was peeling off. “We’ll have to replace the wood and paint it over.”
“Good place to start,” I said, breaking off a bit of dry paint. “It’ll take a few hours at least.”
“Seems like that’s all we’ll get to do today, then.” Flint started walking back up to his truck. “Since we’re headed to Phoenix and all.”
“Phoenix?” I jogged after him. “Aren’t we just going into New River?”
“Well, there’s a Goodwill and a Wal-Mart, sure,” Flint said, pausing to look over his shoulder at me suspiciously. “But I figure you wouldn’t want to go clothes shopping there.”
“No, it’s fine, really,” I insisted. Some of my family lived in Phoenix. Surely they’d call my parents if they ran into me in town. Of course, it was a big city, and it was unlikely, but I didn’t want to risk it. “Goodwill always has a few hidden gems.”
“Well, all right, if you insist,” Flint said with another shrug. “Let’s head out, then.”
We got into the truck, and Flint instantly turned on country music. I wasn’t really a fan of it, but I didn’t point that out. I didn’t want him to think that I was a difficult person to live with.
“Breakfast or clothes first?” Flint asked, and my stomach growled in response.
“Clothes, I think,” I answered, slightly embarrassed. “I’m tired, but I want to get it over with.”
“Ah, another cup of joe will take care of you.” Flint shrugged. I was a bit mad that he looked like he’d had all the rest in the world. At the same time, I kept catching myself glancing over at him, thinking about that kiss that we’d shared the previous night.
Eventually, I had to force myself to look out of the window instead, reminding myself that I couldn’t stay on the ranch forever. The more I developed feelings for him, the more difficult it was going to be to leave.
“I’m wondering,” Flint said as we climbed onto the main road, “why did you choose New River? Why not some other hick town in the middle of nowhere? Why stay in Arizona?”
“I bought the first bus ticket out of Tucson that I could,” I admitted. “I could only afford to go that far.”
I didn’t add that I was pretty glad that I’d ended up in New River. If I’d been able to leave the state, I wouldn’t have met Flint. Even if the circumstances weren’t perfect, I was grateful for that. I had a place to live, a job, and good company, although it wouldn’t be for much longer.
“Ah, I see,” Flint answered thoughtfully. “If you could go anywhere, where would it be?”
That wasn’t a hard question to answer. “New York. It might sound ridiculous, but I’ve always wanted to see all of those lights, you know? Whenever I see it in a movie or on television, it looks like some kind of impossible, magical place.”
“Big city girl, huh?” The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. “I guess if there’s any city worth going to, it’d be New York.”
The small talk kept going as we drove. I found out that he’d fallen off a horse as a kid and broken his arm and tried to hide it so he wouldn’t get into trouble. In return, I told him about the time I skipped school and tried a cigarette, only for it to make me throw up. Flint thought that story was particularly funny.
Before I knew it, we were in New River, parked just outside of the Goodwill. Flint got out of the truck first and opened my door for me. Surprised, I thanked him, wondering whether he was just being polite or if he was actually trying to flirt with me.
The Goodwill was quite a bit bigger than I’d thought, but it wasn’t terribly busy. We started searching through the racks, and Flint held up a belt with a giant belt buckle shaped like a bull.
“How about this?” he joked. “I think it would look fantastic on you.”
“Oh, yeah?” I grabbed it from him and slung it around my waist. “Ah, it does. Too bad it’s not in my size, huh?”
“You’ll have to gain a few pounds then,” Flint said as he took it back and hung it over a railing. “All right, let’s get serious. Grab anything you like, and I’ll meet you at the fitting rooms.”
“How about we make it a game?” I suggested as an idea came to my mind. “You pick out things that you like, too, and we’ll see which fit better.”
“Not bad,” Flint answered, nodding thoughtfully. “I bet I win.”
“It’s not a competition,” I laughed, but he was already heading down the racks.
I gathered several pairs of jeans, a few shirts, thick leather shoes, and three jackets. In my head, I was reminding myself that this was only for a few weeks. At the same time, I couldn’t pick out too few items, since that would make Flint suspicious. I felt a bit guilty, since I thought most of this would be a waste of money, but I wasn’t going to risk being interrogated.
Flint met me at the fitting rooms once we’d both collected armfuls of clothing. What caught my eye the most out of his pile were the coveralls lying right on top.
“Oh boy, those are… interesting,” I said, scratching my head, and Flint simply laughed.
“Come on, I hear they’re the latest fashion in London,” he insisted, handing them over to me. “Seriously, though, these will prevent a lot of future injuries. See if they fit you.”
He was right, of course. The scratches on my knees and the wound on my hand testified to that. I went into the fitting room and was surprised to see that the coveralls fit like a glove. On top of that, they were pretty comfortable.
I spent the next half an hour or so trying on different clothes and showing them off to Flint. He’d remark often with jokes about how good I looked, or how great of a fashion sense he had. I found myself filling with a warm feeling as time went on. The more time I was spending with Flint, the more impossible it was becoming to deny that I was falling for him. Harder than I’d ever fallen before, if I was completely honest with myself.
It didn’t matter, however. I was going to leave at some point, and he would stay behind. I just needed to make sure that it didn’t break either of us too much when I did.
“Okay, let’s pay,” Flint said, carrying the clothes that we’d chosen while I took the three pairs of shoes. “Hope you’re ready for a hearty breakfast, because I’m starving.”
The smile he offered me was close to melting my heart. I couldn’t understand how this man had this kind of power over me when I barely knew him. It made me wonder if he felt the same way, or if he was simply being nice.
The same set of country songs played in the car as we drove to the nearby diner, where Flint ordered two heaps of pancakes and coffee for both of us.
“Eat up,” he said, motioning to the massive pile in front of me. “Don’t want you running out of energy halfway through the job.”
“Yeah, I might need to save some of it for later,” I said, laughing at the ridiculous size of the serving. “Otherwise I’ll be rolling out of here instead of walking.”
We spent breakfast joking around and planning the rest of our day. The more we spoke and the more time I spent with Flint, the harder it was to deny my attraction to him. I kept catching myself noticing small details in his body language, the dimples in his cheeks when he smiled, or the roughness of his hands that knew hard work.
By the time we got back into the truck to return to the ranch, my thoughts were overwhelmed by him. I imagined leaning into him on a cool morning as we sat together on his porch, hot mugs of coffee cradled in our hands. It was a future that was tantalizing, but I was crushed each time I reminded myself that it was one that was impossible.
“You all right?” Flint looked at me from the corner of his eye as we pulled up in front of his house. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”
“Oh, huh, I didn’t notice,” I lied, instantly pulling my eyes away from his gaze. “Probably still a bit tired.”
“Well, better pull up those socks.” Flint switched the truck off and opened his door. “We’ve got a lot to do.”
He led me down to the barn, where he pointed out the bits of wood that were rotten and needed to be replaced.
“I don’t think we’ll have to pull the whole thing down,” he explained, his expression deeply focused. “But we’ll have to get these out. Do you know how to take a nail out with a hammer?”
I glared at him incredulously. “No, I was born yesterday.”
“All right, no need to be so snappy,” Flint said as he handed me a hammer. “You start on the bottom, I’ll work at the top. You know, because I’m taller.”
It felt like he was purposefully annoying me now. As if he enjoyed watching me get frustrated with him. I wanted to stick my tongue out at him like a child, but I managed to push that urge to the back of my mind.
I started pulling nails out of the wood with the hammer he had given me. I tried to put all of my focus into doing that instead of thinking of how the wind blew teasingly through his hair.
Soon, I was almost lost in the rhythm of the movement. Hooking the hammer behind the nail, pulling, pulling, pulling until it came loose, and then dropping the nail on the growing pile on the ground. Once I’d finished with an entire slab of wood, it would easily come out of the wall.
I was so entrenched in the work that when I heard a cheerful tune above me, I jumped, landing on my backside. Flint laughed lightly as he took his cell phone out of his pocket.
“You’d swear it was a bomb,” he said, shaking his head at me. “Don’t worry, I don’t think it’s going to hurt you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I answered and rolled my eyes, pretending that I wasn’t completely embarrassed.
“Flint Mayfield,” he said when he answered the call. “Uh huh, what do you want?”
He glanced at me with a look that told me he was going to walk away to have whatever conversation this was leading to. I shrugged, pointing at the wall in front of me. I had something to keep me busy.
“I don’t see why that should concern me” was the last sentence that trailed over the breeze as Flint left. I could hear the frustration in his voice, almost building to the point of anger. I was curious, but I wasn’t going to stick my nose into his business.
I went back to what I was doing without trying to eavesdrop in the least. If he wanted to tell me, he would. I added a little whistle to my work, creating a tune from the world around me. For several minutes, it was only me and the wood, a little corner all to myself. It was therapeutic, almost enough to take my worries away.
“Hey, Eliza.” I recognized the voice that spoke behind me as Flint’s cousin’s wife, Kate. I got up and wiped my hands on my pants before I turned to her. She was leaning against a weight-bearing beam, a basket of eggs on her hip.
“Kate, hi,” I said apprehensively. My experiences so far of Flint’s family were anything but pleasant, and I didn’t know why she’d approached me so casually. In her eyes, I could see that there was something she was positively burning to say.
“You know, I’ve been watching the news this morning,” Kate continued, studying me from head to toe. “There was a missing person segment. I didn’t hear the name, but I could swear the girl’s picture looked exactly like you. Is there something that you’re hiding from dear cousin Flint, hmm?”
Her whole attitude was covered in venom, and I could tell that she thought she’d caught me out. I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t believe that my family had actually had the audacity to report me missing. At the same time, it wasn’t that much of a surprise.
“No,” I insisted, fighting to keep my voice even. “It was probably just your brain trying to find a pattern where there wasn’t one. I’m not missing.”
“Yeah, sure,” Kate answered, but it was clear that she didn’t believe me. “As long as you know that I’m going to be keeping a close eye on you. If you’re lying to me, I will find out.”