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SEVENTEEN
Cole
I hadn’t wantedto stay to help with unpacking, but even with the tension I felt toward Raya, I couldn’t help myself. There was no denying the fact I was attracted to her in more ways than one, and even if she had hurt me with turning me down, I wasn’t the kind of guy who was going to hold that against her.
She admitted to giving the mixed signals, and she’d apologized for it. I could simply leave it as being miscommunication. We could patch this up and move on. After all, she did offer to make me dinner if I stopped at her place for an hour or two after work, and I could handle that.
I called Ham when I was off and in my truck, letting him know the change of plans.
“You’re going over to her place for dinner?” he asked. “This is the girl who refused the drinks you sent, right?”
“Sure, but she’s right. There is a tension in the air between us and if I’m going to be here for another couple weeks, I would like to have that cleared,” I explained. I didn’t tell him that I actually did like the idea of going over to her place for dinner. At least a little.
I wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who made friendships with women. I worked with women professionally, and there were the women I knew from the places I frequented. But, when it came to making friendships with women, I didn’t do it. I had work to tend to and very little time besides.
So, I didn’t prioritize making friendships, and I did my best to be polite and professional in my day-to-day interactions I had.
But, there was something about Raya that was just different than the other women I dealt with in my normal day to day life. The fact that she was smart, sexy, and had an incredible work ethic was enough to keep me on the hook for the rest of my life, not to mention she just had an attitude about her I couldn’t get enough of.
“You going to make a move?” Ham asked.
I knew he would.
“Easy there,” I said. “You know me. I’m not the kiss and tell type. I’ll just have to let you wonder on that one, bud.”
“Come on! She’s cute. I know I’d be all over it if she invited me over for dinner,” he said.
“Well, she invited me, not you, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get going,” I told him before hanging up the phone. I couldn’t help but shake my head at my buddy. I knew he liked to tease me, but I also knew he wasn’t entirely joking about what I was doing over there.
Not that he would think I was just going to go over for the chance to have sex. He didn’t even know she had already told me she was attracted to me, after all. But, I also knew he was hoping I’d find a good girl to have in my life, and if he thought she was attractive with the little he’d seen of her at the bar, then it only made sense that he would want me to go over to her place if I had the chance.
And without me even knowing what to expect, I figured the best thing to do was to just go over to her place and see how things went. If she wanted to kiss me, I had a feeling she’d not hold back. But, I wasn’t going to be the one to make the first move again. I had already given that shot, and after being turned down once, I wasn’t going to do it again.
But, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to let her be the one to take the lead on such things. I wasn’t at all opposed to anything she might have in mind, even if it was just as simple as having dinner and talking. If she wanted to take the route of being just friends, I figured I could put up with that for now. It was just a matter of time, however, before I would find a way to ask her out on an official date.
I’d just wait for the working relationship to be over, first.
Still, as I walked into the house, I was glad she offered me a beer, and the wine helped even more with potentially awkward silences. The conversation was easy, and after trying the meatloaf for the first time, I was hooked. That all but sealed the fact I was glad I came over, and I started being a lot more conversational with her than I was before.
She told me about her growing up life and her close group of friends, then she asked me about my own upbringing.
“Someone with as much skill around horses as you have must have been raised around them, yeah?” she asked.
“I was,” I said with a nod. “My father owned a ranch and practically raised me on his own. He passed a few years back to alcohol, but God bless his soul. He struggled with the drink enough in life, but he was never a mean alcoholic, and he didn’t let it get in the way of his goals in life, either. He built quite the place for himself and my mother, before she died, and when he passed, I was proud to take most of the horses that had been living there at the time.”
“Your mom’s gone, too?” Raya asked, the sympathy showing in her tone. “I’m sorry to hear that. Really.”
“I didn’t know her,” I told Raya. “Like I said, my father practically raised me all on his own. My mother was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer while she was pregnant with me, and while I was lucky enough not to get it myself, she battled it for only two years before it claimed her. I was only two when she died, so I don’t remember her at all.”
“But I’m sure you know about her from what your dad told you, right?” she asked.
“Oh sure, but I’m not sure that’s the same thing as knowing someone yourself, you know?” I teased. “I’m not traumatized by it. I mean, she was beautiful, and I hate that I never got to really know her, but I’m not carrying it around with me, either. I like to believe I’m doing what my parents would have wanted done with the horses I work with now.”
“I think it’s a really great thing that you help horses that need it,” she told me. “I mean, what I see those animals do with the people who come through is incredible, and I can’t imagine trying to use Romeo at this point with anyone. It would cause more harm than good to both of them.”
“Right,” I said. “But when you view the animals as beings who are also full of feelings and in need of help, then you can really bridge some of the distance that might be there if you didn’t give them that respect.”
I was amazed with how amicable Raya was throughout the entire conversation, and I liked talking to her about what I did with my time. Working with the horses was the best thing in the world for me, and I enjoyed being able to share that with her on a level that she not only understood, but one she also worked with herself in a different kind of way.
