“Are you still working for Jake?” She tapped her pencil on the desk.
Josh nodded. “He knows I’ve come here for an interview. He understands about the horses. I mean, like, I love the alpacas, but I want more to do with horses and the idea of equine therapy, I mean, that’s really, like, exciting.”
Lainey bit her tongue so she didn’t pull him up on his horrendous butchering of sentence structure. “You’re hired. If you want the job.”
Sunlight radiated from his face. “Wow! I really thought I wouldn’t get it. I saw some of the other candidates in the stables and they really knew what they were doing. Wow. Thank you so much. You won’t be disappointed.” He stood up and offered her his hand, which looked slightly sweaty.
She took it, knowing she’d touched far worse things in the last few hours. Working with horses was not the glamorous job it could be made out to be.
“And if I am, I’m sure Jake Maynard will give you your job back.”
The was a momentary look of worry that flitted across Josh’s youthful good looks, before he regained his composure and shook her hand harder. “Yes, I’m pretty sure he would, for sure.”
Her smile was forced, the banging now well and truly pissing her off.
It was cold outside,the wind having a nasty edge to it, but it had, at least, stopped raining. Lainey walked out of the farm’s office, an outbuilding that wouldn’t be the office for much longer, listening to Josh talk more about the horses that were already in her stables. He was keen, and clearly horse-hearted. From all the candidates she’d interviewed, he’d been the most well-qualified and genuine. There was one more person to see, and then she’d choose a second hand from her and the other candidates.
“See you a week on Monday.” Josh smiled again, giving her a weak salute. “I can’t wait.”
“Me too. I’m sure we’re going to make a great team.” She heard at least a little excitement in her voice, and it was genuine. He was the right choice.
The banging stopped.
A blonde head of hair peered at her from over the fence that she was trying to ignore as it was at least a foot higher than it had been that morning.
Several of the farm’s outbuildings were situated close to the perimeter fence between her land and Jake’s, with some of his outbuildings close by. She knew this was designed so that plumbing could be shared between, an easy option for the people doing the job.
Josh was too far down the path towards where he’d parked to realise that his soon to be ex-boss was peering over, his attention too consumed by the conversation he was already having on his phone.
“Pinching my staff now, are you?” The voice wasn’t friendly.
Lainey stopped and turned slowly. She looked at the man eyeing her from a safe distance, and it needed to be safe. Her brother, Shay, had never shied away from provoking her on purpose, and she’d become pretty good at letting lose a decent right hook.
Hitting someone you’d met a couple of times wasn’t really the “done” thing, but Lainey wasn’t particularly about doing the “done” thing.
“Helping someone achieve their dreams.” She fixed her gaze on him. “Not sure what dreams you’ve been trying to achieve with the racket you’ve been making.”
Jake leaned over the fence. He was wearing a gillet over a hoodie that’d definitely seen better days. His hair was windblown, curls that she’d never really seen on a man before, in complete disarray. Blue eyes were bright and sharp as he looked at her, eyes that she knew her sisters would happily drown in. Jake Maynard could’ve starred as the feature for every month in a Fit Farmers calendar.
“That racket has been achieving exactly what you asked me to do: fit the fence so the alpacas didn’t wander onto your land.” His eyes narrowed.
She debated sticking two fingers into them. No one had the right to be that much of a dick and so good-looking at the same time.
“There are two of them in the stables as we speak.” She was pretty sure they hadn’t moved on since she’d seen them there an hour ago. One of them, a slightly off-white thing, had curled itself up to Rex, Lainey’s stallion that she’d brought over from the stables she’d rented in New York.
Jake didn’t look surprised or sorry. “They causing any problems?”
“No. They like the horses. The horses like them.” She wasn’t going to lie. Alpacas were clean and pretty friendly animals. They were cheeky rather than destructive, and had a naughty personality that Lainey liked.
“Want me to go get them? They won’t get over or under or through this fence, unless it’s damaged.”
She shook her head. “Come through when you’re putting them away. I suppose you know where the stables are.”
He smirked and nodded. “I’ll put the rest of this fencing up, then I’ll be over. Wouldn’t want to disturb you later.” He paused, the thoughtful look on his face clearly forced. “You know, the town likes having new people move in – everyone who’s moved here’s brought something with them. They’ve really joined in with the community. But you might want to think really carefully about who you bring back here.” He nodded towards the farmhouse.
Lainey felt her blood begin to heat to a rapid simmer.
“The locals don’t take to nicely to wild parties or anything like that. Therapy stuff for kids is great, but any night business that you run won’t be taken kindly.”
