“Won’t happen again,” said Ben. Raven nodded. It wouldn’t happen again. Ever. She took a deep breath. This was more complicated than she thought it would be living on the farm with Ben. The doubt slowly began to flutter in her belly again. Could this place ever be just hers and Ben’s? That would be the normal thing to expect as a new couple. But things on the farm were far from the normal she was used to. She looked at Ben. He smiled encouragingly at her as if they hadn’t nearly been caught in the act. She was attracted to him. She felt the connection there between them which was more than the fling that had started their yearly meet-ups.
Janette put a cup of tea in front of her with a thud. The liquid nearly splashed out, and Raven jumped. She looked up to see a grumpy look on Janette’s face. Would living with Ben’s mom be the deal-breaker? Be the thing that stopped them from having a future together?
Have we moved forward too quickly?She shivered. She put her hands around the cup of tea, the warmth offering no comfort. One thing was certain—Raven was going to have to work harder in building a relationship with his mom. That’s if she wanted to stay here on the farm.
Saturday, December 21st
“You sure there’s enough room for me here?” She turned to the left, found it just as uncomfortable and moved back to the right. It was a very tight squeeze in this cab for two adults, even if they were in love with each other.
“Yeah, heaps of room.” He didn’t even look at her as he concentrated on the controls to his right, moving levers. He sat on the only chair in the cab which, of course, made sense since he was the one driving.
“You’d think they’d design the layout so that there would be an extra chair in this thing.”
“I rarely get visitors here with me.”
“I can see why,” she said sarcastically.
He chuckled to himself. “It’s a one-man job harvesting with a machine like this.”
“I thought you wanted me here?”
“Of course, I want you here.” He reached over and squeezed her arm. The brief touch of his skin on her arm reassured her. Ben returned his attention to getting started. The combine’s engine roared into life.
Raven smiled, feeling the power of the machine vibrating around her. It was exciting and a bit scary both at the same time. She had no idea what Ben was doing as he checked through a series of switches. Come to think of it, she had no clue as to what was going to happen next. A shiver of nerves moved in her belly, and she held on to the back of the chair to steady herself. She’d never been inside heavy machinery like this before. This was so removed from her life in the city that it made her head spin. Raven wriggled again in hopes she might find a better position but with no luck. It wasn’t much fun sitting on the arm of the chair.
“Keep still.”
Raven froze. “Sorry.”
She wasn’t sure why she needed to be still, but there was a look of concentration on Ben’s face, and she didn’t want to be the one to break it with questions. Right now, she was in a situation where she would do as she was told.
The air conditioning blew out dusty air, and she was beginning to find the space too confined. The radio crackled, the reception lost. Raven reached up and tried to re-tune it, but when that didn’t work, she turned it off.
What the hell was I thinking?She glanced at Ben, who looked back at her. His grin brightened up his eyes which lightened the dark shadows from being so tired. Not that she would’ve known, after their session outside yesterday, she was rewarded with another longer one inside when they found out they had the house to themselves. It was just unfortunate Janette had come home earlier than she and Ben had anticipated.
To have had the time to reconnect with Ben was just what she needed. She hoped that spending this time on the farm with him now, helping him, would help give her more of an idea of what life was going to be like with him.
So far, she wasn’t sure it was helping. This morning had been hard. Instead of Ben slipping out of bed without waking her, he’d reached for her, rolling over to snuggle with her. It had been a delightful way to wake up until she realized there was no way this was going to lead to anything, and it was still dark outside. Half asleep, she’d dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers, and threw on one of Ben’s old flannel shirts. She wasn’t sure it was a good idea to wear jeans in this weather. Ben had reminded her that there were poisonous snakes out here, and the best way she could protect herself was with jeans and closed-in shoes. When she was following Ben to the combine and walked through the stubble of the stalks where the heads of grain had been removed, she was glad that her legs were covered. The stalks would’ve scratched her legs, and she didn’t even want to think about snake bites.
She even remembered to put on sunscreen before scrunching her hair into a loose bun as Ben was walking out the front door. She didn’t even know when he managed to have breakfast. She grabbed a muesli bar on the way out and managed to catch up to him just as he was putting his ute into gear. This harvesting business was serious work. He said something about the slightly cooler weather meant that he could get back to the paddock, and he didn’t want to waste any more time.
There had been a slight cooling overnight, and she’d slept like a log. She blushed thinking of the real reason why she’d probably slept well, which had more to do with Ben and the two of them being naked and pleasured than any cool change.
‘I’ll go around a few times, then you can have a turn.” His suggestion broke through her mini daydream.
Blood drained from her face as she computed what he was saying. “You sure?”
“Yeah, it’s not that hard.”
She didn’t believe him. “Maybe go around a dozen times or so, then I can have a turn.” Yesterday she’d been confident about driving the heavy machinery when they’d talked over a BBQ dinner. Now, here, sitting in the cab, the engine roaring with a power she’d never experienced before, she wasn’t so sure that this was a good idea.
He laughed and shook his head. “You’ll be fine, you’ve got me as a teacher.”
“That’s why I’m uncertain.”
“Hey, I’ll kick you out now, and you can walk back to the farm.” His expression was full of amusement.
“I’d like to see you try and kick me out.” She found her confidence pushing away the nerves that flooded through her at the mere thought of driving something so big like this combine.
