“Are you still out of work?” she asked.
“Si. Most places have let their seasonal helpers go and there’s not much to choose from…but that’s not why I’m here.” He straightened his spine and met their eyes directly. “I wanted to offer my help on the farm.”
Addie frowned, unsure if she had enough to pay Cade let alone another worker. She glanced at Cade, who smiled as if to say, “Sounds good to me.”
Jorje must have seen her doubt because he hurried on, “You won’t have to pay me. I’ll be looking for other work, but I wanted to make up for my part in everything that’s happened, too.”
“You can’t work for free,” Addie said, an idea already forming in her head.
“I’ve already been paid for more than I was able to finish,” Jorje said.
Addie smiled. “Well, I have a counter offer.” She turned to Cade. “If you’re okay with him helping out?”
“I don’t mind, but it’s your place. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Addie smiled and turned back to their guest. “I’ll allow you to help out for one month without pay, but,” she said, raising one finger as if to keep him from interrupting, “after that, if you still want to work here and if it’s at all possible, I’ll find a way to pay you. It won’t be much, but until then, you’ll take your meals with us as my thank you for helping Cade. Does that sound all right?”
Jorje’s smile had been wide and instantaneous as he nodded his agreement. “Sí, eso es muy bueno. That would be wonderful.”
“What would be wonderful?” Zack had asked as he stepped into the room.
Addie hadn’t heard him enter the house, though she wasn’t surprised to see him. It was nearly dinnertime.
“You’re going to have some help while I’m laid up,” Cade had told him.
“Oh, really?” Zack said with a teasing grin that Addie had come to know over the last few days. “That’ll be great… Addie’s a real slave driver, I’m telling you.” He shook his head and Addie chuckled.
“Sure, sure,” she replied. “A good thing too, with all the food you eat.”
“Hey,” he said with a hand pressed to his chest and an exaggeratedly wounded look, “I can’t help it if you’re a good cook.”
Addie had laughed with the rest of them. Leave it to Zack to lighten the mood.
Lying in bed now, thinking back on that conversation from yesterday, another grin pulled at her lips. Feeding all three of those men today and cleaning up, on top of taking care of Cade all day while still getting two stories outlined and a rough draft finished, had exhausted her. But she couldn’t sleep.
She closed her eyes again and tried to relax, concentrating on her breathing. After a while, she felt as if she were floating, slowly drifting into unconsciousness.
Bang!
Addie eyes snapped open. She lay motionless, listening. She’d been hearing odd noises ever since they’d gotten back from the hospital. Strange sounds that were out of place on her normally quiet farm. She’d looked out the window and even stepped outside more than once, but she never found anything. That heavy thump against the wall near her window was new, though.
Every muscle inside her tensed as she laid there, stretching her hearing for any sound from outside. When she heard nothing after minutes had ticked by, her lids slid closed. As tired as she was, she wasn’t about to go on another wild goose chase. Whatever it was would be gone by now and she could relax.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, only that she had started to float slowly into unconsciousness, when another loud bang dragged her back. She bolted upright and wiped at her eyes. Looking around the empty room, she cocked her head to listen. Something scraped against the house near her window, then tapped lightly against the glass.
“What the hell is that?” she whispered to the empty room.
The sound suddenly stopped and her breath caught when she saw what looked like a man’s shadow pass by her window. It was too dark to tell exactly what moved, but something definitely did.
Rolling out of bed, Addie slipped on some jeans over her night shorts and tossed one of Cade’s heavy flannels over the baggy T-shirt she wore. Whatever was making that noise, it was still there, and it had to go. She thought about waking Zack, but he’d been working since before sunup and he was leaving early in the morning to head back home. He needed his rest. The last thing she wanted was for Cade to lose someone else he cared for in a senseless accident because she thought she saw a shadow. Besides, it’s her home and her responsibility.
Stuffing her bare feet into her muck boots in the mudroom, Addie grabbed a flashlight off the shelf by the door before she hurried to the sliding glass door and slipped out into the cold, quiet night.
The overcast sky allowed for little natural light as she made her way around the whole house. At any minute, she expected to run into a man or animal, or whatever it was that had made those sounds, but she found nothing. The only unusual thing was that the light Cade had installed over her garage didn’t turn on when she stepped in front of it. Making a note to check on it in the morning, Addie turned and swept her flashlight over the dooryard and then, even though it barely illuminated them, the other buildings. Nothing seemed out of place.
Slowly, she crossed to the barn and machine shed to check the doors. Both were still locked, but something didn’t feel right.
Pulling the quilted flannel more tightly around her, she looked up. It was then she realized neither of the motion lights over the barn or machine shed had turned on when she approached. She’d been so used to having no light in the yard that she hadn’t noticed at first.
That’s not right, she thought.
