CountryCore Series: The Ranch Hand (WLW)

Chapter Six

Hayley was beyond spent, past sore and more than ready to take her shower and get into bed. It was the first time she'd ever harvested beets, or anything really, and this was not the first day. After two days of hard labor, her entire body was on fire one second and felt like dead weight the next. Not to mention the fact that she'd been having a bit of trouble breathing all day long. It had started last night and only worsened the more work she did. Well, a bit was selling it short. Her chest felt like it may explode at any second and she just wanted to take in some of the steam from the shower.

She hadn't been able to get a new humidifier just yet. She'd just been too busy with work on the ranch and her one day off she had spent getting rest and at Humphrey's with the others. With Chris. Now more than ever, she wanted to prove her worth.

Chris said some truly horrendous things to her, but right after, with the way she apologized, kept her company...and with the way she let down one of her barriers, it was like she was finally getting the chance to know the real Chris. It was as if she'd actually managed to see the famous boss of whom the others spoke, yet still hadn't met till now. The Chris that went out of her way to help Eddie. She told Hayley that originally she hadn't planned on helping Eddie, but when he got onto his knees like he did, prostrating himself, her mind changed.

She and Chris had taken evening strolls the last two days. She hadn't spoken much unless Hayley asked her something about herself, but instead she'd listened more to everything she told her. It was like Chris had one goal during their chats: To find out more about Hayley.

She giggled to herself as she stepped into a shower stall, then she felt sad fairly quickly. It was something she couldn't ever seem to avoid. Every time she was happy and let herself enjoy life even just a bit, dark thoughts crept up from the shadows of her mind and stilled her heartbeat. It was like a looming cloud and she felt as though it was her brain's way of reminding her that even though she ran away from her problems, they were still there.

To be frank, Hayley had in fact run away from her problems.

Instead of trying to at least settle things a bit with her parents or if nothing else, hash things out, she had taken herself out of the equation and run like hell. Now...her brother wasn't picking up his phone. Was it true? Ben really wanted nothing to do with her?

Hayley absentmindedly turned the shower on after shedding her clothes. She turned around and set her dirty apparel outside of the stall on the bench that lined the wall, then made sure the stall's door was secure. Its lock wasn't the key turning kind and she always felt very conscious of that. Once back under the water, she took out her soap and began to lather it over her body. She'd always hated this soap. Not only did it have a scent she loathed, seaweed and cucumbers, but it also took several scrubs with it to actually get herself clean. Still, she knew it was the best soap for her asthma as certain antibiotic soaps could cause a flare up.

Back home it hadn't been a problem, but here with how dirty she got...

"Back home...?" She whispered.

It may have only been about a week and a half that she had been on Kilgore Ranch, but now home, Raleigh, somehow felt like a foreign place. Almost like it had never been her true home all along.

Hayley's uncle and aunt had never really been that involved in her life and her parents had tried to involve themselves a bit too much. Again, a bit was the understatement of the century. Her parents tried to rule every small aspect of her life, even down to who she would marry and how many kids would be the appropriate amount. Thinking back on it now and of the latest news in her life, she felt her chest tightening and her breath hastening to sharp gasps.