Commitment

Part 15

She was about to walk away, when Gray put his hand on her shoulder.

She turned around, "What?"

He removed his hand as if she had a disease! They both took a step away. "We will be short handed if Lore goes off to work." He told her as if that was obvious.

Looked like he had already agreed to let Loretta work in town. Regan beamed at him, while he narrowed his eyes at her. But his surliness did nothing to dampen her mood. Regan shrugged. "I'm sure we'll manage." She told him without having the faintest idea just how much would need to be done by whoever took on Loretta's workload.

"Really?" He snorted at that. His eyes once again openly hostile. "You mean you expect me to..."

"No." She said with a smile in her voice as if she had a plan. Not that she had any idea! She was just pleased she had got him to change his mind about Loretta working at the farm.

"Really." He folded his arms and quirked his eyebrows.

"Yes. I mean we will manage." It felt good, knowing that she'd helped someone start on their journey toward their dreams.

"You're going to hire someone?" At her frown, he snorted, and shook his head, "No, thought not." From where he stood the woman was a miser. She barely spent any money on her farm, was a miser when it came to stocking the farm, even when they went together to buy stock she practically vetoed his expectations. She bought the essential stock, basic stock. She was hardly likely to want to fork out more money, not when she had two people working for the price of one.

"We'll manage." Regan said quietly, sensing that the conversation was about to head back into finances. Finances, was not a good topic. They had different expectations. He thought she was a cash machine and she knew she had no money. She couldn't afford to pay another person. The current situation was a drain on her already depleted resources. She was just about managing to pay him.

She could see the disgust in his eyes, the derision in his words was what she was expecting. "You mean you are going to actually do something on this farm?" Gray doubted very much whether she would lift a finger. She wouldn't want to get those designer clothes dirty.

Regan shrugged as his idea filtered through her head. She could work, if she wasn't so tired. But again, she wouldn't mind, if someone showed her what to do. She was sure she could learn. She hadn't offered thus far because she didn't want to get underfoot and she was tired.. "If that's what it takes." She laughed when she saw the look of incredulity in his eyes. "Assuming I will not be in your way. You know, underfoot." She'd had a childhood lifetime of that. But things were different now. Now she was needed here. He needed help. Here was her chance, to really learn about running a farm. Her farm. A mixture of excitement and worries.

He watched her face. There was something going on in her head. She took everything so lightly. Nothing seemed to really matter to her. Life was just one long party. He'd see just how far she'd run to avoid getting her hands dirty. He unfolded his arms and jammed his fingers into his pockets, and looked at her, "Start now." He challenged. Her eyes went wide. While his eyes narrowed as they zeroed in on her.

"What?" Regan's eyes went wide. Her thoughts jumbled. Did he expect her to pitch in right now? Right now? She had a job to do. Well, in a few hours. But did he really expect her to work right now?

"You can start now." He kept his tone light as if this was normal practice. Hire the boss to do menials tasks.

"I can't ..."

"Thought so." He snorted. She wasn't cut out for hard work. He knew it. Had known it all along. "You are full of shit! You want to help just in your mind, but had no intention of helping at all. Work on your own farm, you would never consider that." He removed his hands from his pockets and reached for her hands. "Muddy your hands? " He flicked her hands away. "All bloody talk." He threw at her with more derision. So, as he'd expected, she was all talk. She had no intention of working this land.