Broken Hero

I shield my eyes from the sun and smile at his sweaty, happy grin. “Sounds fun.”

“How was your first client? How did it go?”

“It went great!”

He high fives me and runs back to the pen with a see you later! I really had lucked out with this place. The entire place is youthful, driven by kind-hearted, hard-working people. Mandy already spoke about a barbecue in a few weeks.

After circling around the low stables, I finally arrive at my destination. The ranch overlooks a wide sloping field of wildflowers. It continues for ages, the edge disappearing in a haze of trees. I don’t know why it hasn’t been converted into a field for crops, but I’m happy it hasn’t.

There’s a cute two-story house here, too. It’s white and wooden with a wrap-around porch and blue-shuttered windows. I take a seat on the bench beneath the porch, overlooking the meadow.

I’m sure there are guests staying inside, but out here is a free-for-all, I reckon. I begin to eat my sandwich, accompanied by cicadas and sunshine. The sun on my skin feels like summer and new beginnings.

I’m deep in thought when a shadow bounds past. Austin stops dead in his tracks in front of me, his tail starting to wag.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“Hey there, buddy.”

Austin pads closer and I rub his dark ears. Border Collies really are some of the best dogs. His head cocks to the side as he looks at the food in my hand.

“I can’t give you any of this, you know. I’m sure it has a bunch of stuff that’s not good for you.” I look down at my pastrami sandwich and back to his pleading puppy eyes. “I’ve never had a pet, so I don’t know. Can you digest sesame seeds? Blink once for yes, twice for no.”

Austin blinks zero times.

I sigh. “I’ll have to err on the safe side, buddy. Sorry.”

A deep voice rings out behind me. “Austin, get back here!”

The dog bounds off and I watch his movements as he runs past the bench, up onto the porch, and to the waiting side of… Oliver.

Not-wearing-a-shirt-Oliver.

Has-a-six-pack-Oliver.

I blink at him. There’s not a single rational thought in my head. My mind is occupied with the expanse of tan skin and the large, red scar that snakes down his side. His hair is wet and he’s holding a towel. Thank god he’s wearing pants, because the V that disappears down the waistband is distracting enough.

He looks as surprised as I feel. “Lucy?”

“Oliver?”

That’s when I see it-the open door behind him. The lack of a number on the house should have tipped me off, or the fact that there are no perfectly maintained hedges and flower boxes here.

“Oh my god. This is your house, right? Like, your house-house?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, or I wouldn’t have…” I grab my backpack and my water bottle. My half-eaten sandwich goes straight back into the bag. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“Are you having lunch?”

I nod. “Yes. Sorry.”

“I need to eat too.” He runs a hand through damp hair. It’s dark when it’s wet, so different from his normal blonde color. “I just need to pop on a shirt, and then I can join you.”

“Yes. Yeah, sure.”

“Stay there.”

I sink back onto the bench and watch as Austin flops down at my feet. He’s panting in the heat and I can relate more than I want to. Get a grip, Lucy.

Oliver returns with a big pitcher of ice tea, a sandwich of his own and a box of muffins. The scent of soap and man washes over me as he takes a seat next to me, putting the food between us. “Sarah bakes occasionally, and her muffins are pretty good.”

“Thank you.” I swallow my embarrassment. “I’m sorry, again. I wouldn’t have come here if I’d known.”

He waves my apology away. “Don’t worry about it. I know this place can be confusing at first.”

“It can. You must have gotten lost all the time as a child.”

His small smile is back, the one that tugs at the corner of his lip and hints at the existence of a dimple. “Well, I’ve always had a good sense of direction.”

I pull my legs back up underneath me and look at his strong profile. “Did you ever play hide-and-seek here with cousins and friends?”

He nods, and I shake my head. “You must have won a lot, with the home-field advantage.”

Unexpectedly, a triumphant smile spreads across his features. “Every time.”

I laugh, and his smile grows wider still. The sunlight casts shadows across his sharp, chiseled features. His damp hair curls just slightly at the temples and I force myself to re-focus on my lunch.

“How did your first treatment go?”

“Great! I think she really enjoyed it, but hopefully, she’ll fill out one of those customer review cards and we can see what I can improve on. It was so great to get back to massaging,” I say. “It’s been a couple of weeks.”

He nods and unwraps his own sandwich. “You really like it, don’t you?”

It’s not phrased like an accusation, but it’s not filled with understanding, either. “I do. But it’s more about the health aspect, the holistic part of it. So many people don’t take care of themselves and their bodies, or they abuse their muscles in positions they’re just not meant to be in. Taking an hour or two out of one’s day to work out, or to meditate, or to do yoga-that’s life-changing. I don’t want to sound preachy but I think a lot of people could be helped with more self-care.”

“You like taking care of people.”

“I like helping people take care of themselves. I know that might sound pretentious, but-”

“It doesn’t. It sounds very noble, actually.”

No one has ever used that word to describe what I do, and for a few moments, I have to look very intently at my sandwich to avoid getting misty-eyed. The comments I’d been getting over the past couple of weeks made me sound anything but noble, even though I knew I had done nothing wrong.

“You okay?”

I nod. “Yeah. Thank you. How about you? Do you like running this ranch?”

He takes another bite and looks out across the fields. I thought I’d asked an easy question-not the one I wanted to ask, about his scars and his past and how he must know everything about nobility-but he seems lost in thought.