Her smile beamed from one side of her face to the other and I couldn’t help but take some pride in that. Making love to her had been the highlight of my time at the ranch and seeing her happy made me even happier. She was a sweet girl and she had been hiding behind that grumpy face for far too long. Sarah was too damn beautiful to be sad, or grumpy, or any other negative feeling. I made myself a promise to do absolutely everything right from that moment forward. No more making selfish mistakes that put my life or hers into jeopardy.
“Oh, you know, just talking business,” Sid said as he gave Sarah a quick hug. “Thanks again for the photos of the land. I appreciate all you’re trying to do.”
“Sure thing, Dad. I want you to be able to retire someday and the only way we are going to make that happen is if we get you some serious money.”
“I can’t argue with that. It sure would be nice to retire. Your mother has been begging me to buy one of those campers and drive across the country. Maybe someday,” Sid said nostalgically.
“I’m going to make that dream come true for you,” Sarah said.
I believed she would. Sarah was a dedicated daughter and she was determined to sell that land at a price that was worth it to her parents. I had no doubt in my mind that she would get them the money they needed to take a step back away from their ranch work.
There really was no reason Sid couldn’t hire a lead ranch manager to take over the duties he was doing. As long as he had a decent amount of money and could afford the person’s salary, a manager would take the pressure off of Sid and Meredith and give them the time they needed to actually start relaxing and enjoying their life. I suspected they didn’t take much time away from the ranch and had problem not even gone on many vacations over the years.
; “All right, enough of all this. You two get back to work,” Sid said and then turned to leave the barn.
“That’s my Dad, he’s so mushy and feely all the time,” Sarah joked.
“Your dad is a good man,” I said as we watched him walk across the ranch toward the main house. “He’d kill me if he knew all the dirty thoughts I was thinking right now.”
I grabbed Sarah and pressed her against the horse stall as my lips moved to meet hers. My adrenaline was running wild from the combination of making love to her and hearing the news from Sid. I felt like a teenager sneaking away to make out with his high school girl.
Sarah kissed me back a little bit and then pushed me away. She looked around to make sure no one had been watching us before she pulled me close for one last kiss. She already felt comfortable to me and I knew it was going to be hard to act normal around her when we were working during the day. All I could think about was getting her back into that damn bed.
“We can’t be doing this out in public.”
“I know. I know. But when? I can’t think straight. I keep seeing your naked perfect body walked away from the bed.”
I groaned and pulled her close to me again. With my hands on her ass I tried to kiss her, but she pressed me away. She looked around the barn to make sure no one had seen us and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I’ll come to your cabin tonight after everyone goes to bed,” she whispered to me.
I held onto her for a moment before releasing her. I couldn’t wait to have her again. I was going to work my ass off to get all my jobs done and hurry to get back to the cabin and finish cleaning up before she got there. I was so happy I had taken Forest’s job and had my own little home to bring Sarah to.
That night, and for many nights after, I made love to Sarah in my little cabin on the ranch. Life was good and I really couldn’t complain at all. I loved working on the ranch now and I looked forward to waking up each morning and getting to see Sarah. She was everything I had never known I wanted in a woman and I couldn’t get her out of my mind.
We flirted and teased each other like we were teenagers. It was fun, and exciting, and just what I needed to take my mind off of the thugs that wanted to kill me. I laughed more when I was with Sarah than I remembered laughing the entire year before I had arrived on the ranch.
As the weeks went on I stopped worrying so much about the news that Sid had given me though. Obviously, they wouldn’t be able to find me on some random ranch in the middle of Montana. I didn’t leave the ranch, not for any reason, so there was no way for them to really know where I was. Even if they had gotten close enough to figure out I was in Montana, they would never know where I was in the massive state.
As the weeks turned into months, I was coming up on my one year anniversary at the farm. Sid and Meredith were like family to me, and Sarah was my love. I hinted that I wouldn’t be around forever, and Sarah said she understood and was happy we had the time together we did. But I never truly felt like she understood that I would actually have to leave the ranch someday.
Overall though, I couldn’t have asked for a better placement while I waited for the trial. I hated that it was taking so long to bring Frank to justice, but I was happy where I was at. I was growing into a better man while I was on the ranch and I had Sid, Meredith, and Sarah to thank for that. They were good people and sometimes I felt like I was a better man simply because I had met them.
“Come have dinner with us tonight,” Meredith said to me one afternoon as I was watering the flowers in front of my little cabin.
“Sure,” I quickly replied.
I wasn’t about to turn down the opportunity to enjoy some good conversation with Sid, Meredith, and Sarah. The other ranch hands had become my friends, but I enjoyed hanging around the Miller’s the most.
Sarah and I snuck around and spent a lot of time together. I was certain that Meredith knew what we were doing, but I wasn’t so sure that Sid knew. If he knew what was going on, he didn’t seem to care too much. If he didn’t know, I felt horrible because I had lied to him on plenty of occasions about where I had been as well as where Sarah was.
“I know Sarah will be happy to see you,” Meredith said with a knowing look in her eyes.
Meredith was a smart woman. Even though I was sure that Sid hadn’t come out and told her who I was or everything about my past, she seemed to know there was so much more to me than what was on the surface. She also was a great bridge between Sid and Sarah and I. The longer I stayed on the ranch the harder it had become to hide my feelings for Sarah. We were still careful and didn’t come right out in the open and say we were sleeping together, but I knew that Sid and Meredith weren’t stupid. They had to know something was going on between us.
The way Sarah and I looked at each other, it was hard to hide our feelings. I was happy to see her and it didn’t matter if I had just seen her an hour before. Sarah was a vibrant and fun woman and she made me happy. Just being near her in the barn made me happier than working alone in there.