“What time should I come?”
“Let’s make it eight o’clock so we are all done with our chores for the day and can relax. I’ll open some wine.”
“Now that sounds like an invitation I can’t refuse.”
“We will see you then.”
I hurried off to find Sarah and tell her about her mother’s invitation. Sarah could tell I had something on my mind as I walked quickly toward her near the pigpen. I usually avoided those animals, they were the only ones that I still hadn’t been able to conquer. They were cute pigs, but I still felt the pain of that bite on my leg.
“What do you have up your sleeve?” she asked.
Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail and she had a beautiful grin across her face. What Sarah had said was her resting bitch face had all but disappeared in recent weeks and I took full credit for it. She was happy and it radiated from the inside out. Sarah’s happiness was certainly one of the clues to Sid and Meredith that something was going on between us.
“How do you know something’s up?”
“Because you wouldn’t be coming near these pigs unless it was important,” she laughed. “They are dangerous.”
Sarah held up one of the tiniest piglets and pressed it toward me jokingly. It was adorable, I had to admit it. But the pig that had bitten me wasn’t nearly as adorable and the rest of them seemed to mock me every time I came near them. I had settled on the fact that I just wasn’t a pig guy and luckily I had enough other farm hands around that I didn’t have to worry about being in charge of the pigs.
“I know, they are dangerous,” I joked. “Your mother invited me to come to your house for dinner tonight.”
“Really?” Sarah asked, not looking excited at all.
“Well that look was sort of depressing. Isn’t it a good thing? We can sit together at dinner and have a nice meal.”
“They are up to something,” Sarah said as she put the piglet back in the pen. “My mother is a sneaky one. You’ve got to keep your eye on her at all times.”
I had to laugh. Sarah’s mother was by far one of the sweetest women I had ever met in my life. If my own mother had still been alive she couldn’t have compared to how sweet Meredith was. I found it hard to believe she had any other ulterior motive than to just enjoy a nice meal.
“Didn’t your parents ever invite Forest to sit down for a meal?”
“I’m not sure; I was only here a few weeks while he was here. But I doubt it. I think my father just likes you.”
When I had first met Sid, I thought he hated me. The firm look at was across his face at all times had me constantly worrying that I had done something to piss him off. But the more I worked with him, the more I got to know him, and I realized he was just a serious guy. Sid didn’t have any time for worrying about if people liked him or not, he was trying to run his ranch. But everyone liked him. It was a relief to deal with someone who was always upfront and clearly a really good man.
Although Sarah had no idea, I knew that Sid had taken in others like me before. I knew his heart was big and he had opened his home to people who couldn’t be safe anywhere else. I appreciated that and would always care for Sid because of his willingness to help me. In my life, before coming to the ranch, I thought I was a generous person, but I really had only been selfishly generous. I threw fundraisers and parties, but only when they suited me. I gave away money to charity, but mostly because it was a good tax write off. I certainly didn’t think I was a bad guy, but my charity had been given selfishly.
Now, after seeing the work that Sid was doing on the ranch, I felt like I would someday be able to return to my life with a new sense of purpose. That was, if I was ever able to return to my life. It had been a year since arriving at the ranch and my life was now the life I knew there. I had no news of my company. No idea if the man I had left running it was doing a good job or not, I really wouldn’t even know where to start when I returned to work again.
“I like your father, too,” I added. “He’s a good man and your mother is a good woman. You’re really lucky to have them in your life.”
Sarah looked like she was about to ask me something but then decided not to. I knew she wanted to know more about me and she had always seemed so unsatisfied by the answers I gave her. My vague, non-answer responses just weren’t what she hoped for. But I couldn’t flat out lie to her; I didn’t want to and I tried to avoid it as much as possible. So, when Sarah stopped asking me questions about my past I was beyond relieved.
“Well, we better get our work done so we can enjoy dinner then,” she said and snuck a quick kiss to my lips in before she went back to dealing with the pigs. “I bet they want to know why I’ve been so damn happy lately.”
Over the last several weeks, Sarah had become bolder and bolder in showing her affection toward me. I didn’t mind; I loved it. I still tried to sneak in a quick feel or a kiss when I could as well, but I was much more careful than she was. It was funny how things had turned around for us.
Life was good for us th
ere on the ranch; I was happier than I had ever been in my life before. The simplicity of working all day and making love all night was perfection. If I didn’t have a company to run, I could have seen myself moving back to the area and keeping Sarah by my side.
Although I wasn’t really sure of the protocol when it came to a relationship that formed while you were in the protection program. I made a mental note to ask my agent the next time I talked to him.
“See you at dinner, dear,” I said with a wink as I walked away.
The day seemed to drag on forever, but finally I finished all my jobs and jumped into the shower to get ready for dinner. I didn’t exactly have any nice dinner clothes, but at least I had some clean jeans and a t-shirt I could wear. I wrapped a towel around me as I stepped out of the shower, but to my surprise I came face to face with a naked Sarah looking right at me as she stood in front of the bed.
Oh, how I loved to look at her body. She was a womanly woman and it made me hard every time I saw her naked. Her voluptuous breasts stood perky and teasing me with her hard nipples as I tried to look her in the eyes and not just stare at her naked body.