CHAPTER 2
When Maggie returned to the barn later that day, she found Jordan standing in the hook of the winch as John raised her to the rafters and lowered her again. "Okay, John, this time we'll hook onto a pallet of feed and see how that goes."
Maggie leaned quietly against the doorway of the barn and watched Jordan hook the winch to the straps supporting the feed pallet before climbing on top of the bags.
"Okay, John, take it up."
Jordan held on to the rope just above the winch as John slowly raised her and the pallet to the level of the hayloft. "Looks good from here," she announced. "Take it down."
John slowly lowered the pallet to the floor of the barn. When it was stable, Jordan jumped off and turned to John. "Good as new," she proclaimed. "You should be able to unload the feed safely now."
"Thank you, Jordan. Maggie will be happy to know the rafter is fixed."
"Yes, I am very happy," Maggie said from her position by the door.
"Maggie— you're back," Jordan exclaimed. "How long have you been standing there?"
Maggie walked up and linked her arm with Jordan's. "Long enough to watch your acrobatics. Do you always test out your own work like that?"
Maggie led Jordan out of the barn and across the yard.
"Well, I do have a habit of using myself as a test subject. I figure if I put myself at risk, I'll do a better job."
"I like that level of personal commitment," Maggie said. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."
"Okay, here is the bunkhouse," Maggie said as they mounted the steps to the cabin. Maggie pushed the door open and stepped aside so Jordan could enter first.
"Wow. This is really nice," Jordan observed. She looked around the well-furnished bunkhouse. It was built in an L shape off one side of the farmhouse and extended behind the main house. "Does anyone else live here?"
"No, you are the only one right now, so you get your pick of beds."
"So, I take it John and Jan don't live on the farm."
Maggie smiled. "John lives about a mile down the road. Jan does live here, just not in the bunkhouse."
Jordan turned red with embarrassment. "Oh, I… ah… well, that's really none of my business."
Maggie touched Jordan's arm. "No, I don't mind. In fact you should probably know that my lifestyle is a bit unconventional. You see, Jan is my… well, let's just say she's my significant other. Is that going to be a problem for you?"
Jordan said, "No. Why should it? What you do in the privacy of your own home is your business. I do have one question for you though."
"And that is?"
"Considering Jan's status in your household, am I to take instructions from her as well as you?"
Maggie grinned. "Absolutely not. Like I said, Jan is good with the animals, but not very proficient in other things. No, if there is something to be done around here, I will be the one to direct it."
"Well that's a relief," Jordan replied.
Maggie cocked her head to the side. "How so?"
"Because judging by her reaction in the barn earlier today, I don't think she likes me very much."
Maggie chuckled. "Don't let her bother you. She tends to be a bit territorial, but she's all bark and no bite. So, take your pick of the bedrooms and make yourself comfortable. Take a look around, settle in, and let me know if you need anything. Okay?"
Jordan shoved her fingertips into her back pockets. "I don't think I need anything right now. Oh, wait. Maybe some paper and a pen? I like to keep a journal, and I don't have anything with me right now to record today's entries."
"Not a problem. I'll go fetch it for you right now. I assume your diary is in your luggage?"
"Er… yes. My diary is in my luggage. Now that I have a job, I'll send for it. With any luck, it will be here in a couple of days."
Maggie crossed her arms and cocked her head to one side. "So I guess you'll need something to sleep in as well?"
Jordan turned red and looked at the floor. "Well, I thought about washing my things out in the sink tonight and just sleeping in the nude."
"You'll do nothing of the kind. Come with me. I have several old T-shirts here that my Dad left behind when they moved to Florida. Come pick out what you'd like to wear. He wasn't a very big man. There may even be some jeans and shirts of his that you can wear until your luggage arrives. As for the personal items, you're a few inches taller than I am, but it looks like we wear pretty much the same size jeans, so I'm sure I have some underclothes you can wear."
"You don't have to do that, Maggie."
"No, I don't, but I want to. So, come with me," Maggie said.
Jordan followed her from the bunkhouse into the kitchen of the farmhouse.
As they stepped into the kitchen, Maggie turned to Jordan and smiled. "Dinner time is normally a community affair around here, and everyone pitches in — however, I must warn you, if you can't cook, you usually end up doing the dishes."
Jordan grinned. "Well, I guess I'll be sporting dishpan hands 'cause I burn water."
Maggie chuckled. "Well, luckily for you, I can cook. In fact, I usually end up doing most of the cooking around here."
Jordan followed Maggie from room to room as she pointed out areas of the house. After the tour of the living areas was complete, Maggie led Jordan down the hall to the bedrooms. "That's my room," she said, pointing out the first door they passed on the left. "The bathroom is right across the hall, and down here at the end is a suite of rooms that my parents used when they lived here."
Maggie pushed the door open to her parent's suite. "Okay, let's see," she began as she opened a dresser drawer and pulled out a few T-shirts. "These should fit you." Maggie pulled open another drawer. "Also, here are some blue jeans that Dad sometimes wore. Like I said, he wasn't a large man. He was maybe three or four inches taller than you are, but he was pretty slim. If the cuffs are too long, just roll them up."
Maggie handed the pile of clothes to Jordan. Then she led Jordan back into the hall to her own bedroom. She pushed the door open and, instantly, the scent of patchouli reached Jordan's nostrils. Jordan inhaled deeply as she stepped into the room. "Hmm," she said unconsciously.
Maggie noticed Jordan's reaction. "It's patchouli. Do you like it?"
Jordan looked into Maggie's eyes. "It's my favorite scent," she replied.
Maggie smiled. "It's my favorite as well."
Maggie's gaze held Jordan's for a tad longer than would be considered conventional. After a moment, she inhaled deeply and regained her sense of awareness.
"Underclothes," Maggie said as the open a dresser drawer and pulled out a few pairs of panties, some socks, and a couple of bras. "I'm a 34C. Will that work for you?"
"Perfect," she replied as she accepted the clothing. "Maggie, I don't know how to thank you enough."
"No thanks necessary. After all, if you hadn't come along when you did, I probably wouldn't be here. That winch hit the floor exactly where I was standing. It surely would have killed me. I should be thanking you."
Jordan grinned and shook her head. "You probably would have seen it in time to get out of the way, but like you said, no thanks necessary."
Again, a silence fell as they stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Jordan broke the reverie. "Ah, I guess I should be getting settled in."
Maggie snapped out of her trance. "Of course, of course. Oh, let me get you some paper and a pen before you go."
Maggie retrieved a small journal from the bedside table and handed it to Jordan.
"Here. This is a spare journal I haven't used yet. I keep diaries myself, you know. I realize how important it is to organize your thoughts at the end of the day."
Jordan grinned as she accepted the book and pen. "Thank you, Maggie. You know, something told me you were the diary type."
"Really?"
"Yes, really," Jordan replied. She added the diary to the growing heap of things tucked under her arm. She looked at Maggie. "So, if you were writing today's entry right now, what would it say?"
Maggie looked up at the ceiling and squinted her eyes. She raised one hand for emphasis as she spoke. "It would say September 23, 2018. This is the day I almost died. Luckily, my beautiful blue-eyed guardian angel came to my rescue."
Jordan cleared her throat. "Well, I guess I should go settle in. Thank you again."
"You are welcome. Can you find your way out?" Maggie asked.
"No problem," Jordan replied. "This place already feels like home."
* * *
Maggie kicked off her boots, stripped off her blue jeans and flannel shirt, and threw everything into a heap by the side of the bed just as Jan entered the room.
"Wow. Now that's what I call a nice welcome," she exclaimed.
Maggie walked to her dresser to retrieve a tank top that she slipped over her head.
Jan frowned. "So I take it you're not interested in making love tonight."
Maggie stood in front of the dresser and tousled her curly hair in front of the mirror. "Jan, it's been a long day, not to mention a little frightening."
Jan pretended to be interested in something on the dresser. "How so?"
"For starters, having a three hundred pound metal winch nearly fall on my head this morning — that's how so. Do you realize I could have been killed? Thank God Jordan was there."
"There's something odd about that one," Jan replied.
Maggie tuned to look at her. "Why do you say that?"
"What do you know about her? Where does she come from? What did she do for a living before she came here? Have you asked her any of those questions yet?"
"I know that her family raised horses. I know that she is from somewhere around this area, but she hasn't specified exactly where yet. I know she seems to know what she's doing on a farm. I know she's good with her hands, and I know that if she hadn't been here today, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you right now. For me, that's all I need to know."
Jan snorted. "I'll bet she's good with her hands."
Maggie stomped up to Jan and stopped within inches of her. "What exactly to you mean by that?" she demanded.
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed how attractive she is," Jan said. "Are you going to pursue her like you did me when I first came to work for you?"
"The way I remember it, that pursuit went both ways," Maggie replied.
"Yeah, well I'm not sure she's going to be a welcome addition to the crew. She has kind of a know-it-all attitude."
"Oh, really? Just how much time have you spent with her to come to that conclusion?"
"I don't need to spend time with her. I think I'm a pretty good judge of character, and she doesn't look like a farmhand to me. She looks more like she should be sitting behind a desk or teaching school or something like that."
Maggie placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I'll have you know that she's very capable of working a farm. She inspected the rafter after you said it was probably a weak point in the wood, and she found where someone or something had mechanically cut through the boards."
"What?" Jan exclaimed. "How the hell did she come to that conclusion? I looked at the boards myself and saw no such thing."
"Well then, either you didn't really look or you didn't know what you were looking at because she showed it to me. It was clearly cut, not broken and not splintered."
Jan paced back and forth across the bedroom, clearly agitated. "I don't like what you're implying, Maggie. You shouldn't be letting this Lewis character put those kinds of thoughts in your head. She'll be nothing but trouble for us. Mark my words."
Maggie intercepted Jan's path as she crossed the room. "Let's get one thing straight, Jan," Maggie said in a stern voice. "When it comes to this farm, there is no
us
. This is my farm, and I will run it the way I see fit. Is that clear?"
* * *
Maggie entered the kitchen carrying several envelopes from the mailbox and noticed Jordan was on the phone. She thumbed through them as she waited for Jordan to finish her phone call.
"No sir, I inspected the board myself. In my opinion, it looks as if it was cut mechanically. The break was straight and clean instead of jagged and angled as I would expect it to be if the board had snapped under the weight of the winch."
Jordan paused for a moment. "Okay then," she said. "I'll let Miss Downs know one of your carpenters will be here today around noon to inspect the board. All right. Thank you. Goodbye."
"What did he say?" Maggie asked without looking up.
"He's sending a man over at noon to inspect the beam."
Maggie threw the last envelope into the bill pile and then looked up at Jordan. "Wow. Daddy never looked that good in those jeans."
Jordan blushed. "Stop that. You're embarrassing me."
Maggie crossed her arms in front of her. "Hey, how would you like to accompany me to an auction?"
Jordan shrugged. "Sure. If you want me to, I'm game."