“I think they take their baths in the lake.”
The look on his face was nothing short of horror. And, on that point, I had to agree with him. Dogs got dirty. That was what they did. They rolled around on the ground tussling, they found dried-out worms on the ground and wanted to get their dead wormy scent all over their coats, they got sweaty and muddy and disgusting. Which was fine. But they needed a bath every now and again too.
It was something I had been thinking about bringing up to Ranger. The only thing that had been holding me back was the fact that his days were already so full of tasks. I knew if I suggested it, that he would do it. And that was just piling onto an already exhaustive schedule.
“This isn’t coming from me,” Finn started, tone more serious. “I’m not the prying kind. But Miller threatened to dump a bucket of glitter in my office if I didn’t so… are you alright? You two obviously have some, ah, tension.”
“I’m fine,” I lied. And, what’s more, he knew I was lying. Since I was terrible at it. I always had been. Usually, my mother would just have to raise a brow at me when she caught me trying to fib, and I would burst into tears and confess everything to her. “It will be fine,” I added. “We both just…”
“Aren’t great at the whole talking thing,” he filled in for me.
“Exactly.”
“I’m going to be hanging here for a few more days,” he told me, clearly thinking this was new information to me. “So, at any time, if you decide you don’t want to be here anymore, just let me know. I will bring you back home. No questions or anything. It’s not my business.”
“Thank you,” I told him, genuinely meaning it, appreciating him being there for me even if he barely knew me. It was, apparently, a quality a lot of this crew of co-workers possessed. “But I think everything is going to blow over. You know… eventually.”
I wasn’t entirely sure if I was trying to convince him of that, or myself.
Things went that way for the next two days, except dinner was a painfully uncomfortable sit-down episode each night seeing as wraps weren’t an option every night. And Ranger has just enough manners left to carry on occasional conversation to keep Finn from feeling too uncomfortable.
It was the third morning when the unfamiliar ring of a cell phone filled the peace of the cabin. It had never actually occurred to me before how shrill that sound was, how unnatural, how off-putting.
“Yeah?” Finn asked, picking it up casually, then having his body tense up at the voice on the other end.
“Got a job?” Ranger asked as soon as he ended the call.
“Yeah.”
“Gotta go now?” he went on.
“Yeah.”
“Want me to take you? It’d save time.”
“What about…” Finn started.
“It’s safe here,” Ranger cut him off, then turned toward the door. “Let’s go.”
Feeling utterly dismissed, I took a deep breath, looking around the small, empty, ridiculously clean space, feeling like the walls were closing in on me.
Tucking Gadget into the pen with his friends, I turned back to find the dogs watching me, heads tilted to the side the way they so often did with Ranger. Like they were awaiting instructions.
Curious, I held up my hand palm out, and demanded, “Stay.”
I honestly didn’t expect them to do it.
But when I turned back after starting to walk away, I found them all sitting or laying down, keeping guard of the animals. Even Captain who was letting out a little whining noise.
Not particularly knowing if I could call him without the others running around too, and comfortable enough with the path to feel safe enough without him – after grabbing a big stick – I walked on.
I didn’t even need anything from the greenhouse. Everything was petering out, and I wondered how long it would take for the other garden to get going enough to start producing a harvest.
Maybe that was why drying and bottling everything up as soups was a part of his schedule. To hold him over in the in-between.
But it wasn’t just him now. It was us. Well, it was for now. But if we worked things out and I got to stay, it would definitely be a we. And two mouths to feed meant a lot more food than he was used to. Then again, he also had to prepare for possible clients. Ranger was too careful with all of his homesteading to possibly run out of food.
Not needing to do any picking, I spent my time tidying up, brushing dirt and fallen leaves off the shelves, sweeping them off the floor and into a bucket Ranger would likely use for compost at some point. From there, I rearranged some of the trays, moving the empty ones to the shelves below the prep table, then, finished, not wanting to go back to the cabin yet, always finding peace in this warm place, I hopped myself up on the table, taking a deep breath, steadying my soul for the awkwardness that was sure to happen when Ranger was back, when we were alone in the cabin without Finn as a buffer.