Tackling Summer (2 page)

“Dad?” Maddox’s voice was too loud, and the big bay shifted and flared its nostrils.

Mitch Eber straightened and gently placed the horse’s foot on the packed dirt floor. “Easy there.” He ran a large hand along the horse’s sleek neck. Mitch was well over six foot and solid. No beer belly on this cowboy. His salt and pepper hair was flat from the hat he’d removed before squatting under the horse.
 

“Chel!” His eyes twinkled as he crossed the barn in three easy strides. He picked up Chanel and spun her around. “You made good time.”

“Yeah, I was ready to get home. I skipped lunch, though, so I’ll need to see what you’ve got at the house.”

“Lucky for you, your Aunt Christine sent home leftover chicken and dumplings last night, and I haven’t gotten around to eating yet either,” Mitch said.

Chanel smiled. Mitch’s sister-in-law often kept him fed while his daughter was at school. Breast cancer had taken Chanel’s mother, Margo Eber, when Chanel was ten. Like Mitch, Christine had lost her spouse young. The two had kept each other company and worked together to raise their kids. There’d been whispers around the county about them being romantically involved, but Chanel and her cousins knew better.
 

“I hope you aren’t wearing out your welcome,” Chanel said. Sometimes when Chanel was at school, Mitch could get lonely and spend an awful lot of time at Christine’s farmhouse over the hill. What would happen when she stopped coming home at regular intervals? This could be her last full summer at home. She would be graduating next spring.

Mitch waved off her worry. “That’s what’s so great about Christine. She’ll speak up if I’m pesterin’ her.”
 

 
Maddox sneezed behind her, a reminder her of his presence. “Oh! Dad, meet Maddox Warren. I found him bottomed out a couple miles before our turnoff.”

Mitch shook hands with the football player. “Mitch Eber, glad you made it.”
 

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Maddox said. He turned to Chanel. “Mitch is your dad? You could’ve mentioned that in the car.
 
And I didn’t tell you my name.”

A wicked smirk planted itself on Chanel’s lips. Messing with this guy was too much fun. “No, you didn’t.”

“Then how do you know it?”

“I just drove in from DU,” she said.

Maddox’s tanned face lost some of its color.

“You’re a bit of a local celebrity around campus,” Chanel said.

Maddox swallowed and nodded.

“What’re you drivin’?” Mitch asked.

“Mazda Miata,” Maddox said sticking his chin up a bit. Chanel suppressed an eye roll. On campus, a shiny sports car was a big deal. Not so much out here.

“Uh huh,” Mitch responded keeping his face impassive. “Well, Chanel here can give you a ride back out there in my ranch truck. Chel, you know where the towrope is in the shop. You ought to be able to pop that little thing right out of that wash. By the time you get back, I’ll be done here, and we can have lunch.”

***

Chanel drove her pickup over to an A-frame log house that overlooked the barn, some other buildings, and corrals. The green roofs on two small houses reminded him of the houses in a Monopoly set. She led Maddox to a large gray Silverado. He noted the keys dangling from the ignition and reminded himself there was no one around to jack the truck. Even in his gated community in urban California, things had to be locked up tight.
 

They drove to another building constructed of the same dark stained wood as the barn. This one was filled with workbenches and rows of tools hanging from pegs on the wall. The ceilings soared overhead, and he wondered what kind of monstrosity would require so much space. There were grease spots covered in sawdust on the cement floor, and the air had an acrid smell. Chanel moved with confidence around the benches and quickly fished a towrope from a plastic tub tucked under a dusty counter.
 

His curiosity was piqued about what all they did in here, but there was no way he was going to show this girl his interest. She was way too much of a smart ass. That stunt she pulled revealing herself as the farmer’s daughter had thrown him for a loop. He had a sinking feeling he was going to be stuck with her all summer. She didn’t seem like the kind that was just around for a quick visit that she’d spend sunbathing on the A-frame’s deck. She was fun to look at, but there was an air about her that set his jaw on edge.

As they drove back down the dirt road, she finally spoke. “Where do you come from?”

“L.A.” Maddox stared straight ahead. Small talk. If she went to Doumit, she had to know where he was from. He
was
a bit of celebrity, and his details had been in the student paper several times over the last three years.

“Little bit different here,” Chanel said.

Maddox blew out a long stream of air. “Ya think? It’s creepy how there isn’t anybody around.”

“Really? It makes me feel safe.”

They reached the bottomed out Miata. Maddox relaxed a bit to see that his car was still sitting in the ditch. He’d hated leaving it unattended. It could’ve been crushed by one of those logging trucks Chanel had mentioned, or someone could have found a way to steal it or its parts. Then he thought about how the keys to the pickup had been left in the ignition and realized his pride and joy was useless out here. That truck was more likely to be messed with.

Maddox jumped out of the truck when Chanel did and watched as she expertly hitched the towrope between the Silverado’s hitch and the tow point behind the Miata’s bumper. Impressive. He’d never known a girl who could do something like this. The ones he knew would have been panicking over their lifeless cell phones because they couldn’t call AAA. In all honesty, he wasn’t certain he could’ve gotten the two vehicles connected properly. He would’ve called AAA, too.

“No one would ever know something had happened to you out here,” he said.

“What?” Chanel looked up from her task.

“It’s what’s freaky out here. You could have an accident, or some maniac could stab you, and no one would ever know until you’d been missing for a while. You could yell for days, and no one would hear.” Maddox fought the urge to shudder.

Chanel laughed, flashing a pair of perfectly placed dimples. “What could happen out here? In the city all you have to do is go to the grocery store to get shot, mugged, or raped.” She pursed her lips and tapped her chin for a moment. “Although, a horse could buck you off and run away leaving you to the wolves.”

Maddox’s stomach lurched, and he tried to keep his face neutral. Wild animals hadn’t crossed his mind. He was used to dealing with crazy people in the city.
That
he could handle. Animals, he wasn’t so sure. Either way, he had a feeling this girl would hold his weakness over him all summer.

“Do you have your keys? I need you to throw it in neutral so we can pull it out,” Chanel said. She was all business.

He nodded and made his way to the driver’s side of the Miata. Chanel hopped back into the Silverado and waited for his signal. She threw it in gear and began to drive forward when he gave a thumbs up out the window. The rope went taut, and the small car rolled easily from the ditch. Chanel jumped back out and disconnected the towrope. Just like that she had him ready to go. He was impressed and intimidated all at once, and that annoyed him.

Before getting back behind the wheel, she peered inside the Miata’s open window. “Keep your speed down. There aren’t any holes like this between here and the ranch, but the bumps will be hell on your shocks.” He admired her tight ass as she jogged back to the Silverado. Next thing he knew, she was driving off, leaving him in a cloud of dust.

CHAPTER TWO

Maddox dumped his duffle bag onto the floor beside the double bed. They had nicer beds in the athletes’ dorm on campus. This was nothing more than an old mattress slapped onto a metal frame. The bed had been made up with a comforter with navy and green moose and bears parading over it. Two green cased pillows rested against the wall where it met the mattress.
 
He sat on the mattress and bounced gently, feeling the springs through the fabric.
 

Both the walls and floors of the small room were made from light planks of wood, dark knots scattered throughout. There were two windows with thin green curtains. One looked out over a meadow and snowcapped mountains in the distance. The other faced the Eber house with its huge windows. Maddox tugged the curtain over the glass, feeling as though the main house’s windows were eyes spying on his every move. That’s exactly what Coach wanted, wasn’t it—someone to babysit him and make him a better man this summer?

Pushing off the sagging bed, he took in the space he was supposed to call home for the next three months. Other than the bed, there was a dresser that matched the rest of the wood in the room. No lamps, just an overhead light.

Instinctively, Maddox reached into his back pocket for his smartphone. He ran his thumb across the surface to wake it up. No bars. With a sigh, he powered it off and set it on the dresser. It was useless to him out here.

Agitation grew inside of him. Chanel had led him into this tiny house, pointed him to his room, and left. All he’d seen on his way through the living room were a couple of beat up recliners and a dinged coffee table cluttered with dirty coffee cups and magazines with cowboys and guys in hunting gear on the covers.

He had to call someone and tell them the living quarters were unacceptable. Hell, this whole situation was unacceptable. Striding back into the tiny living room, Maddox spied a small TV resting on a dusty black stand. What were the odds of this place having dish service? He’d explore that later. Right now he needed a phone. Not seeing one in the living room, he made his way into the little kitchen. Given the state of the other room, Maddox was surprised to discover how tidy it was. The counters were wiped clean, and a handful of washed dishes were stacked in a drainer in one side of the sink. His stomach growled. No one had told him how he was supposed to eat around here. Chanel and Mitch had shared their leftovers at lunch, but he hadn’t been invited back for dinner. He didn’t get the feeling eating every meal with them was the game plan. Maybe there was a cook they’d forgotten to mention. Surely, all these single cowboys didn’t feed themselves.

A rotary phone was mounted to the wall next to a set of cupboards. Maddox picked up the receiver and was surprised to feel his tension release just a bit at the sound of the dial tone. It told him there was still an outside world to be contacted. He’d never felt so trapped in his life. Growing up in the city, he’d never really been alone before. Day and night, there was always the sound of humanity outside Maddox’s city home. It was too quiet out here.

He raised his finger to dial. He’d never used one of these before. Who was he going to call? Coach Talbot had said he didn’t want to hear from him until July, and that would be for a formal evaluation. His spot on the team wasn’t secured. He’d been informed that talent simply wasn’t enough anymore. Maddox knew complaining to Talbot now would just dig him further into his hole. Maybe his parents could help. While they’d encouraged Maddox to go along with this banishment for the summer, he could tell they weren’t entirely sold on it. They didn’t think their son belonged out here in the boondocks anymore than he did. However, they did like to keep up appearances and enjoyed their box seats with the bigwigs at home games. Making waves might mess up their status. Maddox’s brow furrowed as he processed this thought.
 

Shaking it off, like he always did when he thought too long about his parents, he started going down his mental list of teammates and friends. Most of the guys would just tease him, with the exception of his closest friend, Hollace Jameson who played running back on the team. Some were glad he’d been sent away for an attitude adjustment. Suddenly, the dial tone wasn’t so reassuring.

The front door opened and a short, round man stepped inside. He wore dusty jeans and a faded red western cut shirt. A dirty straw cowboy hat sat on his head.

“See ya got here,” the man said, removing his hat and hanging it on a horseshoe hook beside the door. “That phone don’t have no long distance. Gotta use one of them phone cards.”
 

Maddox replaced the receiver and turned to face this stranger.

“Name’s Jerry Spindle.” The man held out a thick fingered, grubby hand.
 

Maddox reluctantly took it. “Maddox Warren.”

Jerry nodded. “Mitch said you’d get here today. Guess you figured out which room was yours.”

“Yeah,” Maddox said resigning himself to the fact that this guy was his roommate. Neither Chanel, nor Mitch had mentioned Jerry. It shouldn’t have surprised him that someone already called the place home given the lived in quality of the place. He couldn’t think of anything else to say, and Jerry didn’t seem very talkative as he stepped around Maddox to the kitchen sink and pumped a generous puddle of soap into his hand from a clear dispenser that was just about to expose a woman’s boobs. A couple more pumps would drop the soap level just enough. Maddox smirked. At least his new roommate had a sense of humor.

“So, when’s dinner?”

Jerry grabbed a hand towel and eyed Maddox. “When you make it.”

A small wave of panic swept through Maddox. He’d never even made a sandwich for himself. His parents’ housekeeper had kept him fed at home, and the school made sure the athletes had three squares a day with food constantly available in the cafeteria for in between.

Jerry grinned revealing teeth speckled with tobacco grains. “Let me guess. You’ve never fed yourself before.”

Heat radiated through Maddox’s cheeks.

“Unless Mitch or Christine invites you over for grub, it’s every man for himself around here. I’ve got a grill on the porch you can use, but you’ll need your own groceries. Guessin’ you don’t have none yet.”

 
Maddox ran a hand through his hair and noticed the disapproving look Jerry was giving him. Was it for being a dumbass, or was his hair too long? Jerry didn’t have any left on top, and what remained on the sides was shaved down to the skin. No wonder he wore a hat. That bald dome would fry in the sun.