A Beautiful Mess

Chapter 11

The water had been freezing and the soap had stung her cuts, which seemed to cover her from head to toe. She had asked Cole for the first-aid kit, and he had asked her if she had been hurt. She had assured him that it was only a few scratches and he had told her where to find it while telling her to keep her shower short because there was limited water available.

He had taken Timmy and was giving him a bath while she had her shower.

But there were two problems, she hadn't a change of clothes and she couldn't reach the scratches on her back. She looked at her clothes on the floor and wouldn't even consider putting them back on. Maybe she could make a toga style dress out of the oversized towel she currently had wrapped around her. She was in the middle of considering it when the door opened, and Cole walked into the trailer with the little dog cradled in his arms.

Sydney had been right. He was white and very shaggy.

Flora rose from her comfy spot on the couch and moved towards Cole and his new friend. Cole sat the small dog down, and they both watched as Flora sniffed and nudged her gently. Flora's gentle nudge was overpowering for the little dog who fell over, looking stunned.

"Flora, Timmy, Timmy, Flora," Cole introduced, and Flora laid down on her back, showing her belly and licking the little white dog who couldn't contain a tail wag.

"Flora will fill him in, I'm sure," Cole said as he turned his attention to Sydney.

He looked at her wrapped in his towel, and she watched as he started to grow angry. "I thought you said you only had a few scratches?"

Sydney remained silent, glad that he could only see her arms and her legs. If he saw her back, where she had hit the wall, or her chest and belly that the dog had scratched up, he would be even angrier.

"Why aren't you dressed yet?" he demanded as he pulled out a plastic bin from the corner.

"I don't have any other clothes, and the others are too dirty." Sydney pointed to the clothes in the corner.

Cole reached into the bin and pulled out a pair of shorts and a shirt. "They'll be too big, but you don't have to go far." He grabbed another set the went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Sydney held up the clothes and looked at them, too big was an understatement. She would be swimming in them. Timmy finally got up the courage to approach her, and she knelt in front of him petting his head. "You're going to be a handsome boy, aren't you Timmy?" She was rewarded with tail wag before he moved back across the office to the safety of his new buddy Flora.

Standing up with a sigh, she dropped her towel and reached for the shorts; they were twice the size of her even after she pulled the drawstring as tight as she could. Realizing they were a lost cause she took them off again and threw them towards the bin Cole had left in the corner as she reached for the shirt, she was just about to pull it over her head when the bathroom door opened.

"Dammit it, I gave you more than enough time!" he growled.

"The pants didn't fit," she shouted back, "anyway, it's not like you haven't seen it all before." Sydney bluffed as she held the shirt to her. They stood there staring at each other before Sydney finally turned her back to him to put on the shirt, which was a mistake.

"What happened to your back?" Cole demanded.

"It got a little scraped up is all," she muttered clutching the shirt to her.

"A little?" He shook his head, "What about your front?"

"It's fine." She insisted, but his look said he didn't believe her. "It's fine, the dog scratched me a little, but that's all. I promise."

He reached for the first aid ointment on the desk grumbling under his breath. "Have you had a tetanus shot?"

"Yes," she said as she watched him squeeze some of the ointment on his fingers.

"Are you lying about that too?" he asked as he grabbed her gently by the shoulder, spinning her around.

"I didn't lie!" she said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, you did. This is more than a few scrapes. You're going to be black and blue in the morning, why didn't you yell at us to stop?" he asked as he studied her scrapes.

Sydney shuddered as she thought about being down in the well again. She was probably going to have nightmares for weeks. "I didn't want you to stop," she softly said just before she hissed in pain as the ointment hit her back.

Cole was quick and gentle, and he turned his back when he finished so she could put on his shirt, which swallowed her. When he turned back around to look at Sydney she swore she saw his lip twitch.

"Don't you dare laugh," she warned. It was her fault she was in this predicament.

"Wouldn't dream of it. Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Sydney asked, looking down at herself.

"Dinner?"

"Not dressed like this."

"Sure, we'll eat in the truck, then I'll drop you off at the hotel." He was putting away the first aid kit as he spoke.

"I have to take care of the dogs; I'll need my car to get back out here," Sydney reminded him.

"Not tonight, I'll pick you up in the morning and bring you out here, it'll give me a chance to have Aunt Viola's car serviced, that way you won't break down." His statement was all business.

"Fine," she agreed. She was tired and didn't want to fight him anymore, so she reached for her backpack and moved to the door.

"What about your shoes?"

Sydney looked down at her bare feet with a sigh for her lost shoes; they had been cute shoes. "They're at the bottom of the well. I sank up to my ankles in the mud." She looked up at him with a grin. "Maybe some young Archeological student will dig them up in a thousand years, and they'll come up with all sorts of reason for the "S" on the side." The thought tickled her as she looked down at her bare toes.

When she looked up Cole was in front of her, he had moved so silently she hadn't heard him. He took her face in his hands and looked down at her.

"Why do you always look at me like that." It made her uncomfortable. It was as if he was trying to see into her soul.

"You're one giant mystery, Sydney Mitchell," his voice was soft and tender.

"No, not really. I'm just a goofy grad student who talks too much and has a sharp tongue," she deflected.

He ignored her comment. "Thank you for your help today. I know it was scary for you. You're claustrophobic, aren't you?"

Sydney nodded. "A little." She licked her lips wishing he would kiss her. That would make everything better.

Cole must have heard her wish because he leaned down and kissed her very gently. It wasn't like any other kiss he had given her before, and it made her want to cry, it was almost reverent, but the kiss quickly ended as he scooped her up in a fireman's hold. She couldn't help the yelp that escaped from the shock of it.

"I don't want to hurt your back," he said as he slammed the door behind them. It was a good thing that there was no one around to witness her humiliation as she tried to make sure that her shirt covered all of the critical bits.

"It's a good thing no one's around to witness this abuse!" she yelled as he dumped her in a surprisingly delicate manner into the front seat of his truck.

"I doubt if anyone would blame me," he said before he slammed the door on whatever she would have said in return.