Commitment

Part 68

Two days later, Gray drove to the farm. He wanted an opportunity to talk to her. To hear her side of the story, to confirm Mairie's, Lucy's and Jenny's view. What the sisters and Mairie had told him kept replaying in his head, and the way he had treated her, kept hammering at his heart.

Seeing her with David, also confirmed he needed to do something. He needed to talk to her. Not just not about his attitude to her, but their chemistry. So, he came up with a lame excuse and arrived at the farm.

It was fairly early in the morning, and by the looks of things she had just finished the morning milking and had escorted the cows back to the paddock. He watched as she made a big deal of closing the gate once the last cow had ambled past her and into the paddock. She was in jeans, large chunky jumper and waterproof jacket over that. On her feet were black wellington boots and on her hands were what appeared to be gloves. But that isn't what had him watching her while he shook his head. On her face she wore a mask. It covered her nose and mouth! Obviously the stench of a working farm did not suit her sensibilities he thought as he climbed out of the ute. She looked like she was about to lean against the metal gate but that was before she heard the slam of the ute door.

Puzzled as to who would come calling at this time of the morning, Regan turned toward the driveway and blinked in surprise. Gray walked toward her. She was tempted to check on the state of her hair and had even lifted a hand to manage any loose strands back into the confines of her hair band, when she gave her self a mental shake. What she looked like was immaterial. He took no notice of her in any case. Her eyes returned to the present, and tracked the approaching man whose presence was causes so many memories to resurface. Then she remembered she had the mask on, she slid it down, so that it dangled around her neck. What was he doing here?

She mentally rehearsed various opening lines, a strategy she had developed in her childhood. She knew, if you appeared confident, people thought you were confident. She did not walk toward him. She knew, all she had to do was stay compose and use the techniques she learnt in her childhood years.

There were two main reasons for that. One was that she was exhausted, and preserving what little energy she had was important, given what was bound to transpire. The second reason was that she had woken up feeling pretty poorly this morning. She'd made a dash for the loo, because she felt nauseous. Which is why she was wearing the face-mask. She didn't know enough about cattle to know whether they could contract any human infection. In any case despite feeling nauseous she found that all she was capable of was dry retching, probably because she hadn't eaten much. Toast seemed to be her staple.

That didn't help her mood or her reaction to her visitor. She hated the fact her palms went damp as she considered his appearance. As he approached her, she tried not to show the impact he was having on her. He hadn't shaved, she noted, and lodged it with the rest of the information about him. Just a shame his looks, as per normal, seemed to set her pulse racing. She noticed the twinkle in his eyes. Why was he smiling at her?

"Regan." Gray said her name, "Good morning." He looked very much at his ease.

There was a new air of confidence and arrogance about him, Regan thought before she said, "Morning." She leaned back against the gate. She needed the support. For having milked the 150 cattle this morning she was now running on empty. She still had the milking sheds to hose down. But that could wait. First she needed to deal with her unexpected visitor. He, as per usual looked amazing. She knew she looked a mess.

"Just in the area?" She asked serenely.

He wondered whether to wait until he got through the normal chit-chat, before he broached the real subject. He took another couple of steps closer. She didn't look too good, he thought as his eyes took note of the pallor of her skin and the perspiration that beaded her forehead. He doubted she'd appreciate being told she looked like death warmed up.

It was obvious that she was waiting for him to speak. He nearly smiled. He told her with boyish charm that he'd learnt over the years, "Yeah. Kind of." He narrowed his eyes. "You ok?"

She braced against the gate, "Yes." Her heart was already rattled. No point in telling him that her pulse was at full throttle and her thoughts were descending toward mush seeing him, and those two facts were not helped by the fact that she was exhausted. In any case, she knew if she kept to single words, a strategy that she'd learnt as a child, was the best option.

She glanced appreciatively at the herd who were now ambling over the paddock to the other side. No point missing an opportunity to do a bit of assessing here, Gray thought. So, while as she took stock of her herd he gave her a thorough head to toe appraisal. He rubbed his jaw, and wondered whether he should take the risk and re asked the question. She worried him. The pallor of her skin and her eyes, worried him. She seemed somewhat uneasy, not just anxious seeing him, something else.

"Anything else?" She asked him, her attention once again back on him. She didn't want to spend any more time with him. She had enough materials to keep his image fresh in her head. Given she couldn't not stop thinking about him, because she knew she let him get through her fence two days ago. She knew that when she walked away despite the fact she had the last word. In her mind, she thought she should just say bye, and head back to her house.

If he wasn't worried about her, he would have laughed at that question. "Yes." Opting for her strategy, he used one word, came closer placed his forearm along the fence railing. Gray tipped his head to the side and his eyes showed his inspection, "But before I get to that, you don't look good!"

"Thank you." She flicked at her sweater's cuff and hoped he would get the obvious message. She was not going to get into an argument with him, about her appearance. She was going to march to her house, just a shame that she did need support at the moment, so she remained propped against the gate. But she also knew he knew that her mind was working overtime trying to figure out how to leave without triggering a scene!

He tipped his head and challenged slickly "And you have lost weight." He noted her glance speculatively at her house. She was so transparent.

"Really." She snapped. She did her best not to shuffle under his scrutiny.

"Yeah." Another quick perusal. "Yeah, you have lost weight." He frowned.

She snorted. "In two days?" What happened to her strategy? One word answers, remember, her brain reminded.

"In two days? What do you mean?"

She looked him in the eye, and as their gazes met and held, "You saw me two days ago."

His tone was even keel, as he remembered the Jones' girls' advice, that he could not continue to goad Regan to get a response. But he was worried about her, and obviously asking about her health was not a good idea. "Really, I saw you, two days ago? When? Where? " He was pretty sure that Regan had not seen him and Caro at the beach.

"Lunch."

That was not possible, she was perched on the sand wall and she had not looked at anyone apart from that local rake. "Where?"

"Beach." She told him quietly.

"You saw me, two days ago, having lunch at the beach?"

"No." Great, she thought, at least she has returned to her strategy of one word response.

He looked straight at her. "Well, how do you I saw you two days ago?"

She pointed out, using her equivalent of his matter-of-tone, "Does it matter?" She was not about to cave to his demands for information. In any case, she was not going to tell Gray that she had tracked him and his girlfriend as they walked from the café to Gray's new car, two days ago.

It was David who pointed out Gray and Caro when they exited the café. And it was David who had started to tease her about her ex-manager's taste in woman but quickly changed the topic when he noticed the sadness in her eyes.

He challenged coolly, "A simple question. A secret?" He folded his arms and his eyes met hers with cool demand, "You can't reveal how you know?"

She said primly and did her best not to snap the words out. "Yes."

"Yes, a secret? Or, yes, you can't reveal how you know?"

She waited, and said nothing.

"Fine." He reigned in his sigh, no point getting cross, given he was here to re-ignited their relationship. "Yes, I saw you at the beach." He knew she was rattling him with the minimum of effort.