Summer's Loss

Chapter 3

Abigail

The work truck that Brice drove was a single cab white Ford with green stripes and the Forest Service emblem across the side. Abigail wasn't sure what year it was but it seemed fairly new. She sat in the passenger seat while Brice drove.  The truck had leather  interior and light tan side panels and dashboard.  Soon, her wandering eyes fell on Brice.  When she first saw him standing by the door to his office, she had felt butterflies in her stomach, but the look he gave her in that office had instantly shot her down.  He looked at if he wanted nothing more then to go backhat he was doing and be left alone.

He had blond hair that was just long enough to show off his loose, wavy curls. His eyes were a sky blue that seemed to be traced with gold flakes that glowed in the sun. Abigail's eyes wandered down his sharp, angular jaw line to his broad shoulders. His arms were wide and muscular, and something about him seemed tense.

Brice slightly turned his head and looked at her.  She snapped her head back forward and felt her face getting red.  After a moment of awkward silence she looked back at Brice.  He had both hands on the steering wheel, wrapped tight enough to make his knuckles white.  Great she thought I don't even know this guy and he's already annoyed by me.

Out of the corner if her eye she saw a small picture taped to the center rearview mirror.  She looked closer at it.  It was of a woman with short blond hair.  She was pretty, Abigail noted.

"Is she your wife?" Abigail asked without thinking.

"Huh?" Brice looked at her as if he didn't hear her, "Oh, yeah that's Annie."

"Really? That's my moms name, too.  How long have you been married?"

Brice glanced at her for a moment, his eyes lingered slightly on her, then said, "A little over a year and a half."

"Oh."  Abigail felt awkward when it got quiet again.  "Where-" she was cut off by Brice who had also begun to say something.  "Sorry, you go." She had never felt more awkward in her life.

"No, you go ahead."  He said.

"Okay, so where are we going?"

"It's a place out by the McDrew Ranch.  They pay the forest service to let them range cattle. A fence broke.  We just gotta patch it back together, should be easy."

"Huh." Abigail couldn't think of anything else to talk about so she just let it remain quiet the rest of the drive.  It only took them ten more minutes to get to the place Brice had said.  It was a calm, wooded area with a creek running through it.  Along the creek aspens grew in thick clusters producing plenty of shade.  Their leaves tousled in the cool mid morning breeze.

Brice began unloading the things out of the truck.  He had two packs of T posts and a thick spool of barbed wire.  He passed her a pair of clippers and a small pair of work gloves than picked up one of the T post bundles and started to walk away.

Abigail looked down at the second bundle.  It contained twelve heavy T posts and didn't look light.  She slipped on her gloves and picked it up.  It must have weighed almost as much as she did, because as soon as she had picked it up, she dropped it.    It hurt her shoulder when she attempted to put the weight on it and it hurt her arms just to hold.  She dropped it twice more before Brice noticed.

"Crap."  after her third attempt, her nerves were getting short.

"Hang on."  Brice dropped his load by the fence and half jogged back to her.  He took the load from her arms.  "We're gonna have to put some muscles on those bones."  His mouth curled up into a half grin and he walked back to fence, Abigail followed.