“Um..yes, yes of course. I’m fine. Just embarrassed.” It was then that Sara realized that she was wearing no makeup, wearing an old pair of overalls with a dirty t-shirt underneath and her long red hair was in braids, like one of the girls from Little House on the Prairie.
Great. She meets mister handsome and she looks like hell.
She reached back and brushed off the dust from her bottom as she broke her stare, then squatted down to pick up the plants she dropped when she fell. As he bent down to help her, a gust of wind blew off his cowboy hat revealing a thick dark blond head of hair that was short on the sides and longer on the top. It had a little bit of curl to it and was wet from sweat.
He hopped up and chased his hat down, putting it back on his head. By the time he caught his hat, Sara had picked up all the dropped plants and continued to walk towards one of the other greenhouses, when she heard his voice once again.
“Ma’am? Ma’am?” he called out. She stopped and turned around towards him, the sun in her eyes making her squint. All she could think about was if he noticed all her wrinkles and sun spots from working outside with no makeup or sunscreen.
“Hi, my name is Alex. Actually, it’s Alexander. Most folks around here just call me A.J.” he said, holding out his hand to shake hers. She smiled big, knowing that there was no way in hell he would be interested in her, and shook his hand back, making sure to squeeze it nice and tight and not frail like most women do.
“Hello, Alex, Alexander, A.J.” she quipped, giving him the impression that since he had three names that he wasn’t sure what he wanted to be called, so she called him all three. He chuckled at her response.
The warmth of his hand in hers made her palms immediately break out into a sweat. Fortunately, it was a hot day outside so she figured he wouldn’t be able to tell it was from her nervousness. As she released his hand, she turned to leave and started to walk away.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” she heard him say with her back already to him. She stopped and paused momentarily before turning on her heel towards him again.
His head was cocked to one side as he leaned onto his right leg, his right hand now halfway into his pocket and the left hand on his hip. He was grinning from ear to ear, almost like he knew something about her that she didn’t.
“No, I am new to the area.” She said, pausing, not wanting to reveal too much information. In the past, she had freely opened up to anyone who would listen. She learned that being so open was actually deadly to a new relationship. Instead, she would be aloof and make the guy actually work a little to get the information from her.
“May I ask your name?” he said, as he took a step closer to her. She bit her bottom lip as she looked into his warm blue eyes. She swallowed hard, feeling the dust and heat finally catch up to her.
“Sara. My name is Sara.”
Flushed, she put her hand up over her eyes to block the sun so she could see him better.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Sara.” He said, as he tipped his hat to her.
She smiled as she looked down at her worn out shoes. Ugh. Why did she have to look like such a slouch today.
“There is a little place right up in the front that has some really ice cold beverages. Could I buy you a Coke, Miss Sara?” She liked the way he spoke to her, all gentlemanly like.
She wondered if he was from here or farther south the way he talked. She also couldn’t believe he was asking to buy her a drink. But she figured it couldn’t hurt and she was parched.
“Ok, I think so.” She replied.
“Let me finish up with Ralph and I will meet you up in the front, then Miss Sara.” She nodded and began walking to the front building to pay for her plants.
As she walked, she wondered if this guy was interested or if he was just feeling guilty for almost hitting her with the mulch. The way she looked right then, she figured it was the latter so she just chalked it up to meeting someone that was an actual gentleman.
It did give her hope that there were still nice guys around, albeit hard to find.
The front part of the greenhouse was the only part that was air conditioned. As she walked in and closed the door behind her, the cold air blew across her face and she stood there momentarily to feel it evaporating the sweat from her face and neck. It was so hot already and it was only spring.
She hoped her window air conditioner at the little house, she had would be able to handle the summer heat.
She looked around and over towards the back wall there were several outdoor type little bistro tables and chairs. They were surrounded by trees in pots and some of the trees were lighted with white Christmas mini lights. It was so quaint!
Who would have known such a perfect little spot was inside a nursery? Sara already felt so at home in this little town.
Sara took her plants over to the counter and waited in line to pay for them, admiring how they turned the place into a great little spot to hang out.
“That’ll be eight dollars.” the young man behind the counter said. She shelled out her dollars and got her receipt. Picking up her box, she turned around just in time to see Alex walk in the door.
“Hi A.J.” the kid behind the counter hollered.
“Excuse me, Miss Sara,” he said as he passed her, “Let me take care of my bill and we can go get that Coke I promised.” His smile sent shivers down her spine.
He’s not interested in you, he’s just being nice, s
he thought, brushing her hair a little under the breeze of the air conditioner.
She stood there and waited patiently for him to finish his business, hoping the cool air would help her not to look so wretched.
“Hi Marty, I got 50 bags of red mulch and a couple of Cokes. Just put it on the bill for the ranch please.” He told the young man behind the counter who nodded in acknowledgment.
Alex strolled back over towards Sara. “Shall we go have a seat?”
He lifted his arm up with his palm upwards pointing towards the seating area. She blushed as she walked passed him towards one of the little tables. It felt funny having a man be so polite and gentlemanly like, considering she looked like a tumbleweed right now.
Taking a seat, she watched as he went over to one of the old style Coke machines that had the single tall front door. You normally would put change in and pull out a bottle, then it would be replaced by another bottle that would roll into its place. This one just lets you take what you wanted.
Sara figured in this kind of place, people were honest and didn’t try to steal Cokes. She thought that was cool and loved the idea of that kind of integrity in a town and its people.
Alex brought the two Cokes over after removing the caps in the machine. It felt good to sit inside with the cool air conditioning. She could feel her face was hot and probably red from the heat. The sweatiness and the dust combined made her feel like Pigpen with a dustball following her everywhere.
“Here you go, Miss Sara. This will help quench your thirst.” He said, handing her one of the bottles. It was ice cold. She felt the cool glass bottle as it hit her lips. She loved a Coke in the old style bottles. As she lifted the end of the bottle, the cold liquid hit her mouth like water hitting a fire. The carbonation was perfect and it tasted so good. She wondered how it was that a Coke in a glass bottle tasted so much better than one from the can or plastic bottle. As thirsty as she was, she managed to finish half the bottle in the first gulp.
“Well, now, you were thirsty…” Alex chuckled as he drank all of his in one wash.
“Yes, it is pretty hot and dusty today. I hope we get a good rain soon. I need to get these vegetables in the ground and would rather let the rain take care of them instead of having to water them.”
“Actually, we get a good amount of rain usually. It is rare that someone has to water unless we are in the dead heat of summer. Summers can be brutal here.”
Sara put the bottle back up to her mouth and finished the Coke. She didn’t usually drink soda because she was weight conscious, but it was really good today and she didn’t want to turn down the invitation.
“Would you like another one, Miss Sara?” Alex asked.
“No, thank you. Thank you for the Coke, Alex, Alexander, A.J.” She said with a quirky grin.
He chuckled at her and found her quite adorable. “You can call me Alex. But I answer to any of the three.” He lowered his eyes momentarily, then raised them and leaned onto the table to get a little closer to her. She wasn’t prepared for that and leaned back in her chair to maintain her own space.
He felt the pullback and smiled at her.
“Thank you for sharing a Coke with me, Miss Sara. Can I help you to your car?”
In a flash, she thought about the situation. Under normal circumstances, she would be “Miss Independent” and say no, she didn’t need any help. And truthfully, she could manage just fine. But she wanted to see the effect of how letting a man help her might change the way the outcome of this meeting might be.
“Yes, thank you. That would be very nice.”
Alex beamed as he stood up and grabbed her flat of vegetables. He waited until she stood up and allowed her to lead him to the door, and then out to her truck.
He placed the flat in the back of the truck bed and opened up the driver’s side door for her. She wasn’t used to this kind of treatment. But she liked it! It was a strange and wonderful feeling to have a guy treat her so special, even though she was sure he was just being nice.
She hopped into the front of the truck and he closed the door for her. The window was already rolled down and he placed both elbows on the doorway.
“Miss Sara, we are having a barbeque over at the ranch tomorrow. You are more than welcome to come if you like. It would give you a chance to meet some of the locals. Would you do me the honor of being one of my guests?”
She looked at the face of this man leaning his head on his arm, looking at her with his steel blue eyes and soft smile. Was he asking her on a date? Was she dreaming? Surely he was just being polite.
“Where is the ranch?” she asked.
“Just take this highway about 5 miles south. You can’t miss it. Its called River Road Ranch. Once you turn onto the ranch road, just follow the blacktop to where it ends and you will see us.”
“Ok, I might just do that. What time?”
“Any time after noon. We usually start smoking chickens early in the morning and start eating around 2. After that, we just keep going as long as there are people still standing.”
“It sounds wonderful. I may see you tomorrow then.” Sara said as she started up the truck. It was an old Ford that she had managed to keep running. It wasn’t pretty, but she didn’t care because it did the job.
“I hope so, Miss Sara. I hope so.” Alex said as he backed away from the truck and let her pull away. She looked in her rear view mirror to see if he was watching her leave. He was. He waved as he caught her looking in her mirror too. She giggled to herself and could feel the heat of her face as she blushed again.
She took off in the direction of the ranch, not realizing it was even there on her trip to the nursery. As she drove home, she watched the road for the entrance to the ranch. Sure enough, she missed it before. She laughed to herself but was grateful that it was actually pretty close to where she lived. It was only a few more miles to her little patch of land.
Sara found herself having a hard time concentrating on driving as she thought about Alex and how handsome he was, even if he was covered in dust and dirt. She actually thought it made him look sexier all hot and sweaty. She caught herself daydreaming about him with his shirt off. He had to be at least 48, but was looking well chiseled for his age. Must be all that mulch throwing he was doing.
As she made her way down the tree lined road, she was feeling good about herself despite the fact that she felt like she wasn’t dressed to meet someone.
Then the feelings of doubt started to creep in. All the previous bad relationships had made her more than a bit cynical when it came to men’s intentions. She wondered if he was just being nice and wasn’t actually interested in her. Or maybe he was interested only for someone else, trying to play matchmaker for an uglier brother or something.
She shrugged off that thought and decided instead that she like thinking about him being interested in her.