Ranger Rising

Part 13.2: Surprises (Cont.)

"So..." Andrew's voice carried through the otherwise quiet air. I swear it made a blood vessel burst in the back of my head. "I guess we'd better get to work then. Looks like we have a lot to push through before the midday break."

He stood, casually resting his hands behind his head with a slick smile on his lips. For a moment, I swear his eyes roamed up and down me.

"You're standing on top of a barley shoot," I hissed at him before dropping back down to my knees and burying my fingers in the dirt before I ended up hauling off and hitting him.

If Andrew had half of any sense, he'd have left that open space between us. And if he'd had any sense at all, he'd have kept his mouth shut. Unfortunately he did not.

"It's been a long time since I've gotten soil underneath my fingernails," he said as he plopped right down next to me and proceeded to stick his hands in my space. "Not as long as it's been since we've been alone together though."

"That was a handful of days ago..." I bit back the 'stupid' I oh-so-desperately wanted to call him. That was not the reaction he was obviously hoping for. Andrew pulled back. I took the opportunity to edge myself further away from him.

"Well..." he floundered, blinking at me. "That's not exactly what I meant. I was referring to our time back in school. You sat in front of me, don't you remember."

The back of my head twinge at the phantom braid pull. "Oh how could I ever forget... You sat behind me until Katherine Miller asked Father Donovan to sit in my seat instead."

Andrew had spent the rest of that year staring across the classroom at me, surly because Katherine had stood up in the middle of class and screamed at him the first time he'd tried pulling on her braid. Both of them had had to put their noses on the chalkboard but Katherine had a smug smirk on her face through the entire hour whenever she glanced over at Andrew. He missed my quiet endurance of his antics.

He kept talking without really even noticing that I had little interest to listen to him yammer on. "You know, Father was really upset that you didn't stick around long enough to have tea or midday meal with us the other day."

"I'm sorry for any unhappiness I might have caused him," I grumbled under my breath.

Andrew inched his way closer to me. His hands nearly brushed over mine a couple of times. Gods! He was so deliberate that it wasn't even comical. Not even ten minutes after Father left us alone, and Andrew was practically throwing himself at me. And people said I had no self respect!

"When Merrik came by afterwards to offer me this job, Father suggested that maybe you could come over for supper."

"I'm busy."

"I haven't even given you a specific night?"

"Doesn't matter," I told him. "I'm not interested and never will be. Please send your father my apologies."

Andrew rocked back on to his heels. His eyebrow shot up as he looked at me with utter confusion. "Don't you think you should be a little more agreeable with me since I'm going to be here for the rest of the season."

"Father said that I had to show you how to do your duties and welcoming you to our home. He said nothing about suffering your presence any later than that," I snapped.

"I'm not feeling very welcome at the moment." He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. I took the opportunity to move away again and put some distance between us.

"Good," I told him simply.

"You do realize that your father needs my help." Andrew's voice slid into a snide tone that made my skin crawl. "I know the pair of you are aiming for three thousand gold pieces this harvest. Word around town is that it'll be the largest harvest you've had since your mother died."