Drifting into Darkness (15 page)

I gave her a small nod. “Yup.” I signed out for the day and we headed back outside.

“I’m heading over to the house to hang out with Mrs. Johnson until Derek is done. I hope to hear from ya later,” she urged with a smile.

“All right, I’ll talk to you later,” I said as I turned and walked toward my car. I think she waited to ask me to go out on purpose. They’d been going to the track every weekend from what I’d heard and then hanging out after, which meant partying. She knew I wouldn’t come, so that was probably why she never asked.

I’d try to make an effort to go tonight, but that really depended on my body. I’d lost weight since working on the farm and gained some muscle definition, but the aches and pains still plagued me every day. I needed a back massage in the worst way.

Maybe I’ll try to find a massage therapist and make an appointment for Saturday,
I thought as I made my way home.

I was about a mile away from the main cross section when I saw a white car on the side of the road, going the other direction. The hood was up and a guy was leaning over the engine. I felt bad that the guy was broke down on the side of the road in this heat, but there was no way I was stopping. It was in the middle of the day, but we were out in the boonies, as Lisa liked to call it, and there was no telling what could happen.

As I passed the car, the guy moved away from the front of the car and walked toward the driver’s side door. I looked in my rear view mirror and pressed on the break.

I saw Landon opening his door and reaching in for something. I shifted my car in reverse. I had no idea what I was doing, but I didn’t want to be rude and just leave him out here stranded if something was wrong with his car.

I veered off to the side of the road and stepped out of the car. He looked up at me as I made my way over to him. I didn’t have to worry about traffic because the road was never busy.

“Hey,” I said as I approached him with my hands in my pockets. I looked over the two-door car and then met Landon’s gaze. Heat rushed to my cheeks as I stood there. “I was just passing by, on my way home, and saw you,” I pointed to the car. “Do you need a ride or something?” I asked, not knowing what else to say.

I took a moment to look him over. He was wearing khaki cargo shorts, a dark blue t-shirt, and grease. There were black smudges and stains all over his clothes and his hands were smeared in black too.

He sighed in frustration, looking back at his engine. “Actually, I just might, yes,” he looked back at me with a small smile.

“What’s wrong with it?” I asked, trying to make conversation.

He reached in the engine and grabbed at something. “The intercooler pipe blew off the turbo.”

“The whata blew off the whata?” I asked laughing.

He looked at me with a genuine smile. “You see that right there.” He turned the flashlight on and lit up the area he was talking about. I could clearly see something was broken, but I had no idea what I was looking at.

I nodded.

“This right here,” he pointed, “is the turbo. That pipe, that’s not attached, the air runs through it to the propeller blades inside the turbo housing. The car can’t run without it. Therein lies the problem.” He stood up straight, folding his arms over his chest.

“Ah,” I said still looking over the engine. “I can see your predicament. How hard is something like that to fix?” I looked up and wiped off the sweat running down the side of my face.

“Not hard at all, but I don’t have a clamp or my tools. Are you sure about that ride?” he asked with a smile. “I’m really dirty.” He held his arms out so I could see all of him. He had grease on the side of his face with his five o’clock shadow. All it did was bring out his bright blue eyes. He was such a beautiful man.

A beautiful man with a beautiful body
, I thought, as I looked him over some more.

It was then I noticed the small tattoo on the inside of his left wrist. I couldn’t see it clearly since it was covered in black smudge, but it looked like a flower. I’d never noticed it before because he always wore gloves on the farm.

“Sadie?” I blinked up at a smiling face. “Are you checking me out?” he asked blatantly.

My cheek flushed. “What?” I shrieked. “Gah! No,” I said diverting my eyes.
Way to be subtle, Sadie.
“I was just…looking at all the black stuff,” I stated, pointing all over his clothes. “You
are
very dirty. I’m not sure I want you in my car.” I turned and laughed to myself as I walked across the street, but not before I saw that cocky smirk leave his face.

“I was just kidding,” he yelled to me.

I kept walking and bit my lip. As I got to my door, I turned to him with a smile. “I was too. Come on,” I waved to him. “Let’s get in the car. It’s hotter than hell out here.”

He laughed, shaking his head, as he pulled the hood to his car down. He jogged to the passenger’s side door and got in.

I started the car and put the A/C on full blast. I had finally gotten the thing fixed a week ago. It was heaven. Like being in my own icebox.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” he asked again.

I looked down the road to make sure no cars were coming so I could make a U-turn to head back toward the farm. Turning, I looked at him and smiled. I never realized how big he was. I knew he was tall, but he took up all the space in the front. He was so close I could smell his cologne and sweat.

It wasn’t a displeasing smell either.

“It’s fine, really. I don’t have any plans anyway.” I looked straight ahead as I drove. It would only take about ten minutes before we were back at the farm, but being in an enclosed space with him was causing a slew of butterflies in my stomach. And even though I was being blasted by Artic air from my vents, I could still feel the heat in my ears. Every time I was either flushed or embarrassed, my ears turned beet red. Why the butterflies? I had no idea. We found ourselves alone every day in the stables, but this was different. It had nothing to do with work.

I turned my head slowly to get a look at him. He was looking straight ahead, but my movement must have caught his eye because he looked at me and smiled. I smiled back and bit my lip. I felt like a teenage girl. I looked back at the road and rolled my eyes at myself.

We were too quiet. I needed to break the awkward silence. “What kind of car is that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like it before.”

“It’s a 93 RX7. So you probably wouldn’t see it a lot now since it’s an older car. The body style is completely different.”

“Is that the car you use to race?” I looked at him as I asked.

A smile spread across his face. “Yeah,” he answered. “I just installed a new turbo for the race next week and was taking it for a test run. I’m hoping to get my time down.”

“Cool,” I nodded. I didn’t have anything else to say to that. It wasn’t like I had any idea what he was talking about.

“You have no idea what I’m talking about do you?”

I shook my head and laughed. “Nope.”

I turned down the road to the farm. “Keep going past the office entrance and turn into the driveway to the house. Then keep going until you see the garage.”

I pulled up to the garage and put the car in park. He opened the door to get out, but I didn’t know if he wanted me to stay or not. “Do you want me to stay and give you a ride back?”

He turned, “Sure, if you don’t mind spending some time with me,” he smiled. “I’ll only be a minute. I just have to grab a clamp and my tools.” He left the car and started jogging toward the garage.

I smiled to myself. I hadn’t minded spending time with him for a couple of weeks. So, no, I wouldn’t mind at all. Everything about him was a mystery to me. There were many layers I wanted to pull back. He intrigued me that much.

I looked down at my hands in my lap and looked at my nails. I’ve been wearing gloves since my second week on the farm, but I still managed to get dirt under every nail.

Then it hit me. “Shit.” I pulled the visor down and looked in the mirror. Holy hell, I looked like a drowned rat with frizzy hair. I let out a sigh and held my head in my hands. I had sweat streaks going down my face. And even though he was used to seeing me like this, it wasn’t ideal, and very unattractive. Should it matter? No, but I still wanted to look decent. Oh, well, there was nothing I could do about it now.

I looked up to see Landon walking back to the car. He had a toolbox in hand and a baseball hat on his head. I looked on with my mouth hanging open because he looked hotter than hot with his sweaty shirt sticking to him like a second skin and his head tilted down with a cap on. If I didn’t have the A/C on, I’d probably be fanning myself.

He opened the door to the car and slid into the seat. “All right, I’m sure I’ve got everything.”

I reversed all the way down the driveway and made our way back on the road. We were quiet the whole way, which wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be. It was a comfortable silence.

I didn’t feel like I had to talk, but I did glance at him a couple of times and I was rewarded with a smile. Just the way he looked at me from under the rim of his hat had my cheeks flushed again. I was sure he didn’t mean to look at me that way, like he wanted to ravage my body. At least, that’s what I thought when I got that look. He’d done it a couple of times in the past and I reacted the same way every time.

I didn’t know what had come over me lately. It was like my hormones were on speed. I needed a girl chat. Hopefully, Erin would have time to talk later.

I pulled off the road, in the same spot as before and put the car in park. “Well,” I turned to face Landon, “I’m glad I was driving by when I did. Even though I’m sure you would have eventually gotten a ride.”

“Yeah, I’m glad you were too.” He opened the door, but turned to me before he got out. “I’m going to take the car for another run later. Would you like to go with me? See what all the fuss is about.” He gave me a sly grin and that meaning could be meant for so many things.

I giggled like a dork. Seriously, I needed help. I’d slap myself in the head if he wasn’t sitting right there.

Did I want to go with him? I did want to get to know him better. He was easy to be around.

Wait. Was he asking me out on a
date
? I thought he didn’t date. Or maybe I was reading too much into it. He was just asking me to go with him on a car ride. But that seemed like a date to me.

“Hello, Sadie?”

My eyes snapped up to Landon’s.
Shit.
I cleared my throat. “Sure, that’d be great. Do you want me to meet you back here, I mean, at the farm?”

He smiled brightly, “Nah, I’ll come by and pick you up. How about seven? Is that okay?”

“Uh, sure,” I smiled.

“Okay, I’ll see you then.” He got out of the car and walked across the street.

I sat there and watched him.
What the hell was that?

Landon was taking me for a
ride
. Maybe he took girls for a ride all the time. Then I laughed out loud. “Of course he takes girls for a ride. Probably the ride of their lives.” I sighed at my mind being in the gutter. It hadn’t been there in a while so maybe that was a good thing.

I slowly pulled out onto the road and he waved to me with a smile as I drove off. It was then I remembered Lisa and bowling. Maybe I’d be back before then. I’d just have to wait and see.

Ten

I called Erin as soon as I walked in the door. She answered after the second ring.

“Hey, girl,” she answered.

“Hey, what are you doing? Are you busy?” I lay down on the couch and flung my arm over my head, exhausted from the day as usual.

“Nope, I don’t go into work until five. What’s up?” she asked as I heard something bang.

“What are you doing?”

She laughed, “Sorry, I was going through my closet. Some of my shoe boxes fell.”

“Seriously, Erin. You need to get rid of all those shoe boxes. One day they will all fall on you and we won’t see you for a week,” I joked. She had an addiction with buying shoes and nowhere to store all of them. She still lived with her parents while she went to school and they only had a three-bedroom house. Her closet was packed full of shoe boxes. Why she had her shoes stored like that was beyond me. She even put pictures on the front of the boxes, which I guess was a smart idea since she had so many.

“Hush, you’re just jealous,” she mocked.

“Ha, jealous? No way. I have around twenty pairs of shoes. I don’t need over a hundred like you. How could you possibly wear them all?”

“Shhh, they’ll hear you,” she whispered. “My little precious.” I could just see her stroking her shoes.

I shook my head at how silly she was. “I miss you, you know that?”

“I know, babe. I really want to come down there for a visit before the semester starts, but we’ll have to see.”

I smiled to myself. I really hoped she’d be able to come down. “So, I called you for a reason.”

“Yeah?”

“You know that guy I was telling you about?”

“Landon? Too good for a relationship, sleeps around with blonde chicks, sexy farmer guy?”

“Yes,” I laughed. “That’d be him.”

“Okay, spill the beans, Sadie,” she insisted.

I told her everything that happened after I left work and waited for a reply.

“Why do you sound all nervous about it?”

“I don’t,” I said defensively, and then I sighed. “Okay, maybe I do, just a little. I’m not sure what to think of it. Do you think he was asking me on a date? Because according to everyone, he doesn’t date. And this guy is Hottie McHotster with a chocolate shake on the side.”

“Damn, that hot?”

“Yes,” I groaned. “I feel so out of my element. I haven’t done this kind of thing in so long. I feel like if this were a date, it would be my first one, ever. You know how Jason and I started going out. It was never about dating. I couldn’t even tell you when our first official date was. We were young and stupid. Going out with a group of friends was considered dating back then. This would be just him and me. In a car. Alone.” I could already feel the nervousness in my stomach.