Free Rescued by the Farmer by Mia Ross Page B

but she’d always be grateful for the odd circumstances that had brought her to Oaks Crossing.
    * * *
    One night as he was driving home from the farm, Drew noticed lights on in the clinic. It was long past closing time, and the only car in the parking lot was Bekah’s sad-looking hatchback with its ruined windshield. He’d be amazed if the engine even started after sitting idle for so long. Accustomed to being on the go every day, he couldn’t imagine being stranded in one place that way.
    Bekah seemed content to spend all her time on the farm, either at the clinic or with the family. Drew had gotten the feeling that her reluctance to mingle with anyone else was a clue about her very hazy background, but she hadn’t offered any more details about herself lately. Her personal history must be so painful that she didn’t want to think about it. The idea of her struggling through that kind of trouble on her own still made him angry, and as he got out of his pickup, he resolved to unravel the mystery of her someday. No matter how long it took.
    When he tried the handle on the front door, he was pleased to find it locked. Bekah was scowling at the old laptop on the counter, and when she heard the rattle, her head whipped up to reveal a look of all-out panic on her pretty face. More than startled, she looked terrified.
    Feeling bad for scaring her, he forced a reassuring smile and waved at her. She seemed rooted in place, and they stood there for several moments, staring at each other. It was the epitome of how their new friendship had been going, he realized: he trying to get in, she shutting him out.
    Finally, she seemed to decide it was okay to let him into the lobby and came over to twist open the sturdy lock.
    “You took ten years off my life,” she scolded, fastening the bolt behind him. “What are you doing here this time of night?”
    “Sorry to scare you, but I was on my way home and saw the lights on. Is everything okay?”
    “The animals are fine, but our system—” she flung a frustrated hand toward the computer “—is the sickest thing in the building.”
    Drew noticed she called it “our system,” and he liked knowing that she included herself as one of the full-time staff. Even if there were currently only two of them. “Anything I can do?”
    “Can you fix a computer?”
    “Well, no, but I could distract you for a while. Maybe if you give it a rest and focus on something else, the solution will come to you.”
    “So you’ve come to save the damsel in distress from the electronic dragon?”
    She’d struck him as being a very somber person, so the unexpected fairy-tale reference made him grin. “More or less.”
    “My hero. What did you have in mind?”
    “I’m starving. How ’bout dinner? I hear the Oaks Café just put in a whole new menu I haven’t tried yet.”
    “Is that the place that’s been doing renovations?” she asked.
    “Yeah. Why?”
    Suddenly, she looked very uncertain. Casting a look toward the back of the building, she nibbled her lower lip as if she was considering something that impacted the fate of her world. When she came back to him, some of the worry had left her features, but too much was left behind for his taste. He couldn’t imagine what was bothering her, but his gut told him that if he pushed, she’d clam up and refuse to tell him anything.
    So he waited.
    After several more seconds, she finally confided, “Sierra mentioned they have a new Laundromat attached to the restaurant.”
    “Cool idea, huh?”
    “Is it finished?”
    “I think so.” Then it hit him why she was more interested in the laundry facilities than in having dinner with him. “I’m guessing you’re out of clean clothes.”
    “Tomorrow is it. I was going to do them here, but Sierra nixed that idea.”
    “Aw, man,” he groaned. “That’d be gross. Why didn’t you just ask Mom?”
    “I really hate to impose any more than I already have. I mean, it was bad enough to take over