“So you called him?” I asked.
“Oh hell no! I let him keep comin’. Each week he’d do the same thing. He’d say, ‘Excuse me ma’am, can you show me to your best wines?’ and I would, and then he would leave the bottle for me with the same note. By the end of that summer, I had the finest taste for wine; I knew exactly which bottles to point out. One night he came in with the same routine except that he didn’t leave the bottle. It was my favorite and he knew it, too. Instead, he waited for me to finish my shift. When I walked out, he was leaning against his shiny white Camaro holding the bottle but he didn’t say nothin’ to me. I got in my car and pulled up next to him, rolled down the window, and said, ‘Hey, you want to share?’ He said, ‘Nope, I think I’ll keep this all for myself.’ ”
Ava started laughing. “I like your style, Jimmy,” she said.
That must be the key, letting her think she has control and then taking it back. Oh god, why am I obsessed with figuring this girl out?
Brenda went on. “So the next time I saw Jimmy in the Piggly Wiggly, I offered to make him dinner, wine included. He came over that night and never left.”
“Yep, true story,” Jimmy said. “I went from taking off her shirt to livin’ in her apartment within hours.”
“Ha! That is a . . . very nice . . . um, sweet story,” I said.
Ava looked peaceful and relaxed. I didn’t want to drag her out of the hot spring but it was getting late and I was afraid she would get cold on the way back.
“We should get going,” I said quietly to her.
Her head rested against the rocks and her eyes were barely open. “Hmm?”
“I’m worried you’ll get cold riding all the way back, sopping wet.”
“That’s nice of you to worry about me,” she said in a relaxed voice.
“So, should we say goodbye?”
“Okay.” She climbed out slowly. The sun had gone down but there was still enough light in the sky to see every inch of Ava in her white-colored, see-through camisole and panties. Jimmy scanned her from head to toe. I scowled at him and then climbed out and wrapped my arm around her.
“Goodbye,” I called back as we climbed up the tiny cliff.
“Goodbye, nice meeting you, Tom and Darlene,” Brenda called out.
When we got to the top, Ava slipped her dress over her head and shivered. “I’m freezing. I have a blanket if you want to ride with me. We can pony Tequila back.”
I wasn’t sure what she was asking. She handed me the rolled-up blanket and then climbed up into the saddle on Dancer’s back. I quickly put my jeans, shirt, and shoes on then looked up at her. She leaned down and tied Tequila’s reins to Dancer’s saddle. “Well, are you gonna get up here and keep me warm or what?”
“Oh.” I climbed up into the saddle behind her. She scooted forward for me to slide in and then sat back. Her tiny ass was right against my crotch. Oh fuck, don’t get hard. I wrapped the blanket around both of us and with one hand pulled her toward me so her back was flush against my chest. I reached around her waist and took the reins without argument from her.
Pulling the blanket tight around our shoulders, she leaned her head back to rest just below my chin. I made a clicking sound and Dancer started to move forward, towing Tequila behind us. I didn’t know if I should speak; if I brought Ava back to reality, maybe she would freak out. She was tucked against me so nicely inside our little blanket cocoon. Dancer walked slowly and I didn’t encourage her to go any faster.
“You’re getting the hang of this, cowboy,” she said in a lazy voice.
Doctor cowboy?
“Do you love it here?” I wondered if Ava ever wanted to leave.
“It’s hard to tell now but I know I loved it here before. Look around and take a deep breath. It’s beautiful. Why would anyone want to live anywhere else?”
“Do you plan to stay here forever?” Though I had only known her a couple of weeks, I wanted to take her away from it all back to L.A.
She didn’t answer; she just shrugged. After a few moments, she said, “Nate?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know that I don’t even have a high school diploma?”
Some distant memory surfaced of my mother reminding me that degrees were much easier to strip away than integrity. “That doesn’t matter, Ava. Have you thought about getting your GED?”
“What for?”
I couldn’t answer the question. There was a part of me that wanted to suggest that it would be helpful in the future, but honestly I couldn’t think of why unless she wanted to find a different kind of job.
Leaning down, I kissed her shoulder. She shivered but didn’t object or respond. “Ava, if you ever want to get your GED I can help you study, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks.” Her tone was inscrutable. “What was it like growing up in the city?”
“I didn’t really. You know how spread out L.A. is. We lived in a rural part of the county on a big piece of property for much of my childhood, so I grew up with land. I even did 4-H.”
“What did you have to do for 4-H?”
“I had to raise a pig. Worst experience of my life.” I felt her laughter vibrate against my chest.
“Why do you say that?”
“I loved that pig. Wonka. He happily followed me around the property and we used to take naps together—I’d sleep on his big belly. He was my buddy. And then there was the auction.”