A/N Hey there thanks for stopping by. This story is going to be short, sweet and designed to, hopefully, put a smile on your face. I appreciate you taking the time to read it and I hope you enjoy :) I started with a song prompt from FF friend LivingDeadGirl87. I couldn't follow the prompt exactly, but I think I captured the feeling of it.
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He had what they call an employment gap and that was something he couldn't afford. It wasn't like he was rolling in money. His reality was just the opposite of that. He'd barely been able to get by when he was at the academy.
Now he had a three month gap, three months between completing his training and starting his new job with the King County Sheriff's Department. A guy could starve in a lot less time than that.
He was feeling grateful to have been offered the deputy sheriff position in King County. Plenty of guys he'd been at the academy with were still hoping for work. The only problem he had was that three months, that wasn't going to work. He needed a job, just something temporary and he'd take about anything to get him by.
He'd done his training at the state facility in Forsyth near Warner-Robbins, just north of Macon. He decided he'd look for something close by. He'd work hard at saving every penny he could and hopefully have enough put back to rent a decent apartment when he moved up to King County, just north and west of Atlanta.
It was graduation day when his buddy told him about something that might work out. It was a temporary job on a farm just a few miles out of town. It paid wages and included room and board. He'd been summer help on farms ever since he was in middle school so he knew he could do the work. Just having a place to stay and food prepared for him were really all the incentive he needed to check it out.
He knew farmers started their day at the crack of dawn and so he arrived in the early morning. He pulled in the long drive and it was like a flashback to his grandpa's place. There was a big white house that could use a coat of paint, a big wide porch that looked inviting, and a huge barn. And there were those fairly standard farm features, a corral, a chicken coop, a well house, a couple of small storage sheds and what seemed like miles of fencing.
He'd no sooner pulled his old pickup in the drive than a white-haired gentleman with a prominent limp came out of the barn. He smiled to himself knowing you can hear a vehicle coming for miles out in the country.
He shut it down and hopped out of the rig, greeting the older fellow, "Hello sir my name's Rick Grimes. I heard you might have some work available for a reliable hand."
He could see the man was sizing him up as he answered, "I'm Hershel Greene, and yes I do. Do you know anything about farm work?"
"I've done quite a bit of it what with summer jobs and working harvests, that kind of thing."
"Well you should understand this is only a temporary job. My regular hand and his wife had to go over to Columbus and help care for her Mother. They'll be returning in two and a half months, I'll just need someone until then."
"That's perfect. I just graduated from the law enforcement academy and my new job doesn't start for three months. I need work until then."
"Alright, let me show you around the place." The older man might walk with a limp but it didn't seem to slow him down much. He showed Rick the barn first, it housed a couple of horses a milk cow and had a big hayloft and an impressive tack room.
Next to it was a small bunkhouse, that's where he'd be living. He could see it was set up for two men. It consisted of one room with two twin size beds with a night table between them, two small chests of drawers and a small kitchen table with two chairs. The bathroom was compact and basic, toilet, sink, shower. He really hoped he wouldn't be sharing, and he asked, "Will you be hiring another man?"
"No I can't afford to do that. My daughter graduates high school this Friday then she'll be working full time for me too. With you, and her and me all working that should get us through until my hired man Otis, and his wife are back."
"My wife will prepare your meals but mealtime is family time for us. Someone, either my wife, myself or my daughter will bring your plate to you for breakfast and supper, for dinner it's wherever you're working. You can eat here or outside, whatever suits you. Breakfast is at six a.m., dinner at noon, supper at six p.m. There's no drinking and no smoking allowed on the property, and don't bring any women around either. What you do on your own time and away from here is your business, but I won't have it here on my property."
He had a strong urge to laugh at the older man's gruff attitude, but he was good at checking himself and he kept a serious expression on his face. That didn't mean he wasn't thinking a woman and a bottle of booze was just what was needed to bring some life to the stark room.
Truth was he was relieved to hear he wouldn't have to eat with the family. He was sure they were nice enough folks, but he preferred not to eat three meals a day with the people he was going to be working with all day. Especially with as stringent as Hershel Greene seemed to be.
At least that was how he felt until he caught sight of the daughter. She was a beauty for sure. Even in bib overalls and a t-shirt she piqued his interest. He'd heard a million "farmer's daughter" jokes growing up and now he understood, if they all looked like her it was worth risking a butt full of buckshot to get up close and personal with one.
She came running toward them with a big friendly smile on her face, "Hi Daddy," then she looked at him and said, "Hi I'm Beth." And he couldn't help it, it was like her smile was contagious and he felt his face break into its own big grin.
Her father interrupted, and a little abruptly Rick felt, "Beth this is Rick Grimes, he's the temporary hired man. Not company." Uh oh he could see Daddy was keeping a close eye on this girl. Not that he blamed the man, if she was his daughter he'd be keeping an eye on her too. But she wasn't his daughter, thank God because he found her very appealing.
She somehow managed to be sweetly adorable while at the same time pretty darn hot and sexy. She had blond hair that she'd pulled back in a ponytail, but some of those curls apparently had a mind of their own. They were hanging loose and he was fighting an urge to help her out with that, maybe try his hand at taming them for her. She had that million dollar smile and great big bright blue eyes. Those eyes looked so innocent he wondered if this pretty girl knew just how tempting she was. He was hoping it would be her who brought his meals.
Otis was the only farmhand they'd ever had and he was like a member of the family. She thought of him as more of an Uncle than a hand. But the new hired man sure didn't look like Otis. He was handsome with his dark curls and those brilliant blue eyes but when he smiled that smile oh my, he made those butterflies in her tummy take flight. He was just about everything a girl could want all rolled up in a real nice lean and muscular package.
He filled out the paper his new boss wanted filled out, just a formality for the tax man or whatever, and quickly got the few things he owned moved into the small bunkhouse. Then it was right to work. The kind of work no one wants to do, mending fence. He loaded up what he needed in the small cargo trailer of the ancient four-wheeler, and just kept reminding himself this was all only temporary. Even in early summer the Georgia sun was hot, but at least he had some good tunes on his iPod.
He'd been working away for some time when all of the sudden he could swear he felt the ground vibrate just a bit. Sure enough when he looked up there was the pretty little farmer's daughter. She was riding toward him on a big chestnut bay with a smile on her lips, holding the reins in one hand and a picnic basket in the other. He pulled the ear buds out and set his tools down, resting his hands on his hips and smiling at the beautiful girl.
When she pulled back on the reins and the big horse stopped he reached up a hand and took the basket from her. He planned to set it down and then give her a hand down but she didn't need it, she slid down off the mare and she just kept smiling, "Hey Rick Grimes."
"Hey there Beth. Whatcha got here?"
"That's your noon meal and it's a pretty good one too. I know that because I packed it myself especially for you."
He didn't think he could smile any bigger but her words got to him. She'd just let him know in a pretty clear way that she was interested. Yeah well so was he, but he was also thinking about her stern old Daddy.
"Is that so, well then I'm sure it's delicious. I guess I didn't realize how late it was." He glanced at his watch, just 11:45.
"I had to come a little early, Daddy will expect me at the dinner table for our prayer. Of course we had to make sure you got properly cared for Deputy."
On that he looked down head nodding and laughed along with that smile, "News travels fast out on the rural route."
She laughed a little herself, "Maybe I'm curious about you so maybe I eavesdropped when Daddy was talking to Mama. You look young to be a sheriff's deputy, how old are ya?"
"22, I'll be 23 when I officially take my oath. And just how old are you Miss Beth?"
"I'm 18." He secretly breathed a big sigh of relief. He could feel it, he and the farmer's daughter had that special kind of tension between them. He wasn't complaining about it but he had to be careful, not just about this job but about the one he'd soon be starting. He sure couldn't be breaking the law.
What he was clearly seeing was this had the potential to be a far better summer than he'd ever thought it was going to be. He'd just have to be real, real careful is all. He still needed the job.
"I guess I'd better get back before Daddy comes looking. Just bring the basket to the kitchen door when you come in for the day. I'm going to try real hard to see to it that I'm the one bringing you your supper later."
It was then she caught him completely flatfooted. She put her hands on his shoulders, stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. She turned right back around and quick as a minute she was up on that horse smiling, waving and saying, "See you real soon Rick Grimes."
He stood there feeling like a dazed idiot for a couple of minutes, just watching that horse as it took her away at a fast trot.
When he finally came back to earth he decided rather than eat on the ground, he'd sit on the 4-wheelers' cargo trailer. He opened the basket to see she'd surprised him again. Oh sure there was the delicious looking and delicious smelling food, fried chicken, potato salad, fresh watermelon, pickles and a slice of peach pie, right along with a big jar of sweet tea. But it was the little note on pink paper that got his smile going again, she'd simply written the word "Enjoy," and drawn a little flower next to it. He folded it up and put it in his wallet for safekeeping. It wasn't every day a pretty girl gave him a note. In fact no girl ever had given him a note of any kind.
It was plain to see, and he was more than happy to be the guy seeing it, this girl wasn't holding back. She was sending him all the signals and he was reading her loud and clear. He was just a little concerned because there was that fly in the ointment. It wasn't just the job he had to worry about, it was her. He could feel it happening. He was moving away from the place of thinking she'd be fun to play around with, to the place where he was starting to feel like she was pretty damn special, and he was pretty damn lucky she was wanting to give him her attention.
He came in from the fence line just before 5:30 and went straight to the farmhouse, knocking on the kitchen door. The pleasant looking woman who answered was somewhere on the north end of her forties, "Hello, you must be Rick Grimes, I'm Annette Greene."
"Very nice to meet you Ma'am and thank you for lunch, it was delicious and really hit the spot."
"You're welcome young man. My daughter and I are just getting supper put together now and she'll be bringing it out to you soon."
"Thanks again Ma'am." She didn't need to tell him her daughter was helping, because while her Mama had been talking he'd been looking at that daughter, standing at the counter slicing tomatoes and smiling at him.
He was hot, sweaty and felt grubbier than he could remember feeling since his high school football days. He decided to take a quick shower before his supper.
The shower did the trick, he was feeling so much better and reenergized. He wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped back in his room; and there stood the pretty farmer's daughter setting a tray down on the kitchen table. She looked at him wide-eyed and if it wasn't so damn hot he'd swear she was frozen, "Oh shit, I mean shoot. I'm sorry I didn't know you were here. I thought I locked the door. Shit, I mean shoot. I'm sorry Beth."
She was embarrassed all right, but then there was the way he was moving his hands around like he didn't know where he should put them, he had those curls hanging loose from the wetness of his hair, and then there was his tightly muscled chest and those sexy bowed legs. All of those things were making her forget how embarrassed she was and all of it was making her smile grow.
She was also feeling just a little breathless. She laughed as she told him, "Please don't apologize. I'm enjoying the scenery; you're kind of cute when you're embarrassed." She thought she was pretty darn grownup and clever, until she felt the blush come to her cheeks.
"You think it's funny? You think I'm embarrassed?" He asked it in a threatening tone, but then he started laughing and said, "Well you're right it is pretty damn funny and I can't remember ever being more embarrassed. You'd better go now, if your Daddy walked in he'd kill me for sure." And then he thought he was being pretty clever himself, "Unless you'd want to give me a real kiss first."
He was only teasing her, and he winked when he said it. She'd been so flirtatious with him he thought he was just doing his part, but he could swear he saw her blush again. Had he called her bluff? Was the Farmer's Daughter not quite the adventurous young woman she'd been leading him to believe? He was more intrigued than ever.
She quickly recovered and got her sassy back, "I'd better get back for supper. You bring the tray to the kitchen when you're done. I hope I'll be bringing your breakfast so I can see you bright and early tomorrow. You might want to put some pants on before I get here, or maybe not."
He didn't know how it was that her smile managed to look a little nervous, a little innocent and very sexy all at once. She looked so tempting and he just couldn't help himself. It was his turn. He hurried over to her, lightly grasping the tops of her arms as he bent down and softly kissed her lips. "Thanks for supper Beth."
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A/N Well now, we seem to have some pretty serious flirtation between the hired hand and the farmer's daughter. I hope you enjoyed chapter one and that you'll be kind enough to leave a review / comment. Thank you to LivingDeadGirl87 for the prompt which will be revealed when the story completes. You can find the chapter photo on my tumblr blogs, gneebee or bethylmethbrick. Chapter two will post next Friday, until then remember, I love ya large! xo gneebee
