Unbreakable (6 page)

As she stooped and shoveled, her mind drifted to the secret stash of weed she had brought with her. So what if she had agreed not to smoke it whilst she was here? She certainly hadn’t signed up for this. Staying on a ranch over the holidays sounded romantic, but this wasn’t a holiday. This was punishment. God, if her parents could see her now…no doubt they would tell her she deserved it and it was character-building or some crap like that. No, she was entitled to a reward after this was done. She could say she was going to take the dogs out for a walk, then she could find a quiet place and enjoy some downtime in private. She wouldn’t get high, she wasn’t stupid. Just enough to take away the boredom and to give her something to look forward to.

As she continued shoveling, her thoughts drifted to the people she had left behind in San Francisco. What was Abby up to at this moment? Probably still in bed… Had she been keeping in contact with Mark despite her parents’ efforts to keep them apart? Sophie scowled at the thought of Mark. If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t be here. If he hadn’t made moves on her and refused to take her and Abby home, they never would have got caught, they never would have been sentenced to community service, and she wouldn’t be here wasting her holiday away in the back of beyond. Suddenly aggravated with the whole situation, Sophie cursed in disgust. “This is bullshit!”

“Actually it’s horseshit. The bulls stay outside.”

Sophie raised her head at the sound of a male voice before straightening up at the sight of the tall, lean stranger standing a few feet behind her, the whisper of a smile playing across his lips. He looked to be about the same age as her, with sun-streaked blonde hair and skin that retained a light tan despite the time of year. However, what really struck her was his eyes. She had never seen eyes of such vivid green before. It was hard not to look at them, especially considering the face that went with them. He was without doubt the hottest guy she’d ever seen. Maybe this holiday wouldn’t be such a waste of time after all… However, recollecting her current position, a wave of self-consciousness flooded her.
Oh crap, just when things couldn’t get worse, an insanely hot guy sees me shoveling manure. Not exactly the ideal first impression
. Well there was nothing she could do about it now…except stop staring.

Sophie looked back down at the shovel in her hands, realizing she’d been staring too long at him. “I know what it is. I was referring to something else. You shouldn’t sneak up on people, you know.” Her voice was filled with as much indignation as she could muster in order to cover up her embarrassment.

“I don’t sneak. You were just absorbed in your thoughts apparently. How’s the mucking out going?” He leaned nonchalantly against one of the stable doors as he gazed at her, a calm expression on his face.

“It’s going just fine, thank you.” Sophie resumed shoveling without looking up at him, but after a few seconds she paused and glanced up to see him still staring at her, a neutral expression on his face as he continued to lean against the door. Annoyance blossomed as she straightened up and narrowed her gaze. Was he going to watch her until she’d finished? He could at least offer some assistance or something. Her tone cool, she asked “Is there something I can help you with or are you just going to stand there all day?”

“Actually it’s the other way around, but by the looks of things I might be here all day if I just stand here and wait for you to finish.”

Sophie glared at the stranger. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He returned her gaze with an assessing stare. “Do you enjoy shoveling manure?”

“Of course not! Who enjoys shoveling manure? Do you think I’m doing this for fun?”

The stranger didn’t move as he continued to stare at her. “So why are you taking so long to do it then?”

Sophie was momentarily lost for words but she recovered quickly. “What is your problem?”

“Not much, really. Life’s pretty good. What’s your problem?”

“You’re my problem! You’re aggravating me while I’m trying to work.”

“That’s not true,” he replied casually.

“What do you mean it’s not true?” Sophie continued to glare at him. Good looks aside, whoever this guy was, he was seriously starting to rub her the wrong way.

“You’re not trying at all.” The stranger pushed away from the stable door and indicated the manure. “It should only take you forty-five minutes or so to finish this mucking out, since you’re new at it. You’ve been here an hour and it’s only half done.”

“Is that so? And you could do it better, could you?”

“I do it better every day, in half an hour.”

Suddenly an image clicked into place in Sophie’s mind. She remembered the photograph on the wall of the young man whose back was turned, her uncle affectionately embracing him. “Who are you?” she asked.

“Miller Rhodes. My father, Joe Rhodes, is the ranch manager.”

Seriously? This jackass is the guy Aunt Kay and Uncle Philip doted on?
She’d thought he’d be older. When she heard he was here with his family, she’d assumed he was married with kids, not that he
was
the kid in the family. Trying to calm her temper, she placed what she hoped was a neutral expression on her face before uttering “My aunt and uncle have told me about you.”

“They’ve told me about you, too.”

“Exactly what have they told you about me?”

“You’re their niece visiting from San Francisco over the holidays.”

“Is that all?”

“Is there more to tell?”

“I didn’t say that.” Sophie shrugged.

“They mentioned you’d be helping out around the ranch and that you might need some guidance.”

“From you?” Sophie scoffed.

“Yes. They thought we could relate because we’re the same age.” Miller slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans and stood casually, watching her.

“And exactly what sort of guidance could you possibly give me?”

“Well for a start, how to properly muck out stalls.”

“Hey, just because you’re wonder boy at shoveling horseshit, doesn’t mean I have to like it. I can get on just fine without your criticism.”

“I never said you had to like it, but at the rate you’re going it’s going to take all morning to get this done. I saw you earlier this morning when you first started and I watched you for a few minutes before I spoke. You rest more than you shovel and you work at a speed that suggests you’ve got all the time in the world to get this done. I don’t know how they do things in San Francisco, but here we can’t afford to slack off. If we do, the ranch suffers; a ranch your aunt and uncle worked for years to build up.”

“I’m not slacking off! And don’t you dare lecture me!” Sophie gave up trying to hold back her anger. “You’re a jerk, you know that? I don’t know what my aunt and uncle see in you…but maybe they just haven’t seen the real you.”

“Oh, they know the real me. Make no mistake about it. Maybe that’s why they’ve asked me to help you out. They know I don’t abide by slacking, and that I’ll be able to handle a city girl who loses her temper too easily.”

“You would drive a saint to lose their temper! And
you
make no mistake, Miller,” Sophie uttered with a sneer, “you might know your way around this ranch better than I do but you don’t know the first thing about handling a city girl who doesn’t take crap from arrogant assholes.”

Miller removed his hands from his pockets and folded his arms across his chest. “I wouldn’t call taking pride in your work and working hard arrogant.”

Sophie threw the shovel down onto the ground, pointing a finger at Miller as the clash of the metal hitting the concrete floor reverberated around them. “You know what? Since you’re such an expert, you clean the damn manure!” Striding past him, Sophie didn’t look back as she heard Miller call after her that she hadn’t finished yet. Storming off to the house, she took a few deep breaths before opening the front door and walking quietly up the stairs. Heading into the guest room, she closed the door behind her and retrieved the stash of weed and a lighter she had hidden in an empty deodorant container. Securing the items in her jacket pocket, she headed back down the stairs as quietly as possible but before she’d reached the bottom Kay appeared with the laundry basket in her arms.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Kay eyed her disapprovingly from the bottom of the stairs.

Oh shit
. “Um, I was going to take Badger and Tilly for a walk.”

Kay looked her up and down. “You’re not wearing any gloves or a hat. It’s chilly out there, Sophie.”

“Oh…right. I forgot. Thanks, Aunt Kay. I’ll get them from my room.” Sophie breathed a mental sigh of relief and headed back to her room to retrieve her hat and gloves before making her way down the stairs past her aunt. However, before she could make it out the door, her aunt called her back.

“Sophie, wait.”

Sophie paused in the hallway, trying not to betray how tense she felt. “Yes, Aunt Kay?”

“How did you get on with mucking out the stalls?”

“Um, fine, Aunt Kay.”

Her aunt smiled at her. “I know it’s not a particularly enjoyable job, but with Michael down with the flu your uncle and I really appreciate you helping out.”

“Uh, yeah, sure…no problem, Aunt Kay.”

“Okay, honey. Make sure you keep warm now.”

Guilt washed over her at the thought of not having completed the mucking out. Sophie sighed under her breath before murmuring “I’ll help you out with the laundry first before I go.”

Kay smiled. “No, don’t you worry about that. You go enjoy a nice walk with the dogs. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.”

“Thanks, Aunt Kay.” Sophie stepped outside and closed the door behind her, leaning against it as she steadied her nerves.
You’re okay. Nobody’s the wiser. Now just get the dogs and go.
Calling for the dogs, she waited a few seconds before two blurs of yapping, excited fur appeared before her. Calling the dogs to follow, she made her way off the porch and headed round to the side of the house before veering off into the small clump of trees where she knew a path would guide her into the fields beyond. Badger and Tilly trotted ahead of her, nosing the ground intermittently as they led her down the path. After twenty minutes of walking she spotted a hill with a few trees that looked like a suitable location. Continuing onwards, she eventually crested the hill and settled next to one of the trees, leaning her back against the trunk as the dogs spread out in opposite directions, happy to investigate the surrounding area until she was ready to move on.

The air was cool but the particular spot she had chosen was free of snow. She didn’t have a large supply so she was careful to use a modest amount of weed and was soon taking slow, satisfying drags, watching her breath mist every time she exhaled. Settling more comfortably against the tree trunk, she considered the morning events that had recently taken place. Miller was nothing like what she had imagined he would be. For someone who was supposedly around her age, he acted like he was some sort of authoritative adult figure she would have to toe the line with. As if.

Sophie forced herself not to get worked up over him, instead focusing on the tension easing out of her as she welcomed the comforting feeling of the weed beginning to take effect. A smirk lifted her lips as she thought of Miller sharing her weed with her. Like that would ever happen. He was way too self-righteous for that. Still, if anybody needed to loosen up, it was him. He acted like he was better than her but he didn’t know anything about her. How
dare
he judge her? Well screw him.

Sophie closed her eyes as she brought her legs up and rested one hand in her lap, the other hand resting on her knee as she held the joint loosely between her fingers. After a minute she began to feel like her old self again. She had needed this. The past couple of weeks had been tense to say the least but she felt much more relaxed now. It was less than two weeks until she was home again. A small amount of downtime like this every few days would help her get through the bored restlessness that seemed to be increasing every day. It would be simple enough to deal with her parents. Everybody could just keep a polite silence around each other and get on with their own lives. It was just a few more months until she would be finished with school. Once she got her own place, her parents could do what they liked. She didn’t care, as long as they kept her out of the drama. She was just so tired of all the damn drama.

Several minutes later Sophie stood up, crushing the joint under her shoe before calling to the dogs as she headed back towards the house. As she walked slowly along the path she decided she would go back and finish mucking out the stalls. Not because Miller wanted her to. She didn’t give a damn what he wanted. She would go back and finish because she didn’t want a scene to develop between her and her aunt and uncle. Things were going okay. There was no reason to rock the boat unnecessarily. However, she sure as hell wasn’t volunteering to help outside during the remainder of her stay in case she had to muck out stalls again. She’d leave that task to
perfect
Miller.

Sophie grinned as she thought about the warm beach in San Francisco’s summer. She’d be relaxing and working on her tan while Miller would no doubt be happily buried up to his elbows in some dirty ranch job. He probably didn’t even know how to relax if the opportunity presented itself. Sophie laughed quietly and slipped her hands into her jacket pockets, ensuring the lighter and weed was safely out of sight as she sauntered back to the house.