“How reliable is your source?Because you didn’t hear it from me,” he said.“We don’t spend as much time together as you seem to think.She and Tilly are friends, which takes a lot of the babysitting duties off me.She’s friendly with Pearl too.Plus, Mavis really likes her and has been teaching her stuff.”
He was overexplaining.He did that when he was guilty.Except he hadn’t done anything all that terribly wrong, not yet, so the guilt nibbling at the corners of his conscience and spilling out of his mouth was premature.
But his mom didn’t know that.She kept on loading the dishwasher.
“I’m relieved to hear it.She has some very unusual opinions about sex.”
Jayce choked on the cookie he’d swiped from the jar over the fridge.As much as he would love to hear about Malika’s unusual opinions regarding sex, he didn’t need to hear them from his mother.
“Can we talk about something else?”
“I don’t think so.”
She closed the dishwasher door with her hip.Then she folded her arms, meaning she was settling in for a lecture.
She did not disappoint.“Proceed with caution where she’s concerned, sweetheart.I can see that she’s caught your attention, and honestly, I’d be more surprised if she hadn’t.She’s unique.I like her a lot.But that girl has relied on women married to much older, far more experienced men, for her information on sex.Information that’s outdated and exceedingly patriarchal, might I add.There’s not a feminist bone in her body.And you are not at all familiar with the world she grew up in.She’s been sheltered.Very sheltered.Raised to be the wife of a much older, very rich man.A man who can indulge any sexual fantasies with her he likes, because he believes her body’s his right.You know what a shotgun wedding is, don’t you?
“Except her male family members are more likely to concentrate on the shotgun for you, not the wedding, because she’s already been bought and paid for.Mark my words.The wedding her brother arranged for her is going to happen, whether she likes it or not.She’ll still end up married to the same older, very rich man who bought himself a young, beautiful wife from an influential family.
“If you don’t take care, when he does marry her, he’s not going to value her anymore.All that spirit you see in her—her innocence, her perspective on life, and her pride—all of it will be crushed.All for a quick roll in the hay with a cowboy—because she’s as curious about you as you are about her.I want you to think about that.”
What grown man didn’t enjoy getting a lecture on sex from his mom?How had they gone from her encouraging any available woman who showed an interest in him toproceed with caution?
But in this instance, his mom was right.He’d waffled back and forth as to how experienced Malika might be.He’d had his suspicions, and his mom just confirmed them.His mom had no reason to worry.
She really didn’t.
“Thanks.I promise to think about what you said, and I’ll take it under advisement.But you’re worrying about nothing.She’s a paying guest, and I have obligations to Burning Scrub and the ranch.”He kissed his mom on the cheek.“I love you.”
“I love you too.But I can’t help but worry.You’re a man, and men tend to think with their lower body anatomy, not their brains.”
“That’s because we have two brains.Like dinosaurs.And both of my brains work just fine.”
“Good.I expect you to use the one on top of your shoulders to keep that girl out of trouble.”
He wrapped his mom in a full body hug, lifted her off her feet, then set her down.“She won’t get into trouble if I keep her busy.I’ll take her with me to check on the new rangeland and see how the haying is going.Since we’re handing out free advice, though, why don’t you sort things out with Dad while we’re gone?”
“Your dad needs to sort things out with me,” his mom said.
*
The truck bumpedacross the field, skirting long windrows of freshly cut grass waiting to be picked up by the balers.Tractors chugged steadily along at opposite ends of the field, churning out tidy bales that were tossed onto wagons to be hauled back to the ranch.
“We store those ones in the pastures,” Jayce explained when Malika asked about the large round bales lined up along the side of the field.“Not all of them.Just some.In the winter, when the weather’s bad, it can be hard to get into the pastures to feed the cattle, so we keep those out here for backup.We try not to leave more bales than we’ll need.They damage the ground—weeds grow underneath them.We’ll stack the rest in the yard, close to the barns.”
He stopped the truck and hopped out of the cab.“I’ll only be a few minutes.I want to check the computer on one of the balers.I had it serviced last week, and I want to see if it’s reading the bale pressure correctly.”
“Can I get out too?”Malika asked.
“You can if you like.Watch out for the tractors.”
The incredulous look she gave him made him smile.The tractors were too big and noisy to miss, but she was a city girl, and city people weren’t always aware of how fast the newer models could travel.If the driver was in a hurry, or distracted, he might not be watching out for women standing in places they shouldn’t be.
She’d borrowed coveralls and steel-toed boots from his mother.He’d dug out an old ball cap to help keep the dust and hayseed out of her hair, and the sun from her eyes.She looked like a cover model on a photo shoot forBack Roads of Montanaand not even the least little bit like a ranch hand.
Which meant, in a hayfield full of bored men driving tractors up and down windrows, she’d draw attention.There was nothing he could do about that.
The tractor and baler he’d come to inspect slowed down when it came to the end of the windrow, where he was waiting for it.Jayce jumped on the step and hauled himself up to the cab by a grab bar.The driver rolled the cab window down.A blast of cold air from the interior air conditioner smacked Jayce in the face.
