“If only I had the time.”
She raised an eyebrow at him in a sort of a mock challenge. “Chicken.”
The combine suddenly jerked forward.
Raven let out a short scream, wobbled, arms flying out for something to grab. Her left hand touched the window, and her right wacked Ben on the head.
“Careful.”
“Sorry.” She managed to regain her balance. It wasn’t as if there were anything to hold on to. She narrowed her eyes at Ben. “Was that deliberate?”
“No idea what you’re talking about.” He looked ahead, then down below, before checking the controls again. Raven was pretty sure he was hiding a grin from her.
“Right, we’re good to go. Let’s see if we can reap this paddock of wheat today. Hold on.”
Raven grabbed hold of Ben, wrapping her arms around his waist, squeezing behind him in the seat, her head on his shoulders.
“Don’t hold on to me.”
“I really don’t know what you expect me to hold on to if it’s not you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Time to get a little serious.”
“Okay.” She sat back up, putting her left hand on the glass of the window to steady herself.
“I’ll go easy.”
“Sure, you will.” She didn’t think that was in his nature on any level. He was more of a hard-and-fast guy.
Ben eased his foot off the brake, and they jerked forward. Raven nearly slipped off being perched on the arm of the chair.
“Easy, don’t bump me. It could end badly.”
“Because?”
“See the rotating blades down below? I have to keep an eye on how low it is from the ground, so my hand is on the lever here. You bump me, it could go crashing into the ground. Everything here is expensive, a few extra zeros on the end of it, and I can’t afford any breakage.”
Raven nodded, pushing her hand into the glass to keep herself from touching Ben. There was no way she wanted to nose dive forward if she bumped him accidentally and whatever it was he’d pointed out to her went into the ground.
It was bumpy driving through the paddock, and she found it hard to keep her balance. “I just need to go up to the crop, then I’ll slow down.”
“Fine,” she muttered, trying to use her leg muscles to stop herself from bouncing into him.
She saw the crop ahead, and as they approached, Ben slowed down. It was easier to find her balance, though she mused how sore her leg muscles were going to be later.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yep.” Although now she’d appreciate how comfortable the seating was in her car.
“Just relax, there’s nothing to it.”
“Sure.” She smiled back at Ben. She could tell he was loving having her with him.Maybe he gets lonely too?She hadn’t thought of that before. How lonely would it be sitting here with no company, even Snipper was back at the house sleeping the day away. Raven might not know exactly the work Ben did on the farm, at least now, but she was becoming more aware of the long hours he was spending alone. Somehow, it eased her feelings of isolation.
Raven leaned back a little to give some of her leg muscles a rest and engage a different position to stop her from bouncing around. It helped. She couldn’t believe how much of a workout she was getting just by trying to sit here and not knock into Ben. Gradually, she found herself settling into the rhythm of the heavy machinery.
Ben kept looking at the controls, lights going on and off, and then looking out the front to give himself a visual. His expression was full of concentration. She wasn’t sure how he managed to do this for such long hours during the day for the last few weeks.
Raven looked out through the front window. It was mesmerizing watching the stalks of wheat fold over onto the cutting blades and chopped. It looked effortless. The heads of grain rattled off somewhere else into the machinery, leaving the stalks behind. She understood now why the ends of the stalk were so sharp.
