“Jesus. Anything else, lady? You want the moon, too?”
“Sure. And you have to tell me your real name so I can stop calling you Franklin, and you have to stop wearing that dumb mask. I don’t know why you’re trying to hide behind it. You’re effing hot.”
At the last sentence, his eyes went from annoyed to shocked. They went wide and he stood there frozen, staring at her. “What?”
“You. Are. Hot. Take the damn mask off. Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret. You aren’t hideous or scarred, blah blah. Who am I going to tell? My new pet chicken? I choose that one.” She pointed to the brown chicken that had pecked her. “I’ve named her Willamena.”
The man knelt down, cocked his head to the side, and studied her. Gwen was still kneeling in the hay with the cooler hugged to her chest. “I’m not even supposed to be talking to you.”
“Why not?”
The man pursed his lips. “I have rules on how I’m allowed to interact with people.”
Gwen scrunched up her face. Maybe he was a murderer just let out of prison. “Rules set by the court?”
“No. Out here, the rules are just different than you’re used to. I have a job. You put it at risk.”
“What’s your job?”
“A little of this, and a little of that,” he said, avoiding the question. After a few moments of silence, the man lowered his mask and said, “My name is Aux. You can stop calling me Franklin now. And your chicken’s name is Cookie, but you can call her whatever you want until you leave. Which will be very soon. As soon as the snow stops accumulating, I’m going to get to work on that tree blocking the road. You shouldn’t be here.”
She didn’t know why that last part stung like it did. He was right. She had injuries and a totaled car out on the road collecting inches of snow. She had a missed appointment at a dude ranch she’d spent her savings on, and had probably missed calls from Tabby. She had a life, and this was very different from anything that felt familiar.
“I like your name,” she said softly. “I’m Gwen.”
“I know. You told me before you passed out. Not much scares me. When you told me how to track down your people…” Aux nodded. “That scared me. It’s been a while since I felt…anything. You sounded like you were saying goodbye. I panicked when I saw the road was blocked and brought you here.”
“Thank you for…well…you know.” She gestured to the bandage on her forehead. “You’re seeing me at my worst.”
Aux shrugged one broad shoulder up. “Meeting someone at their worst is the best way to meet someone.”
Huh.
“You really want to learn about chickens?” he asked.
“Yes. I want to learn about everything. My ex…” She swallowed hard. This is the part she didn’t want to talk about, because everyone in her life had judged her. This man was a stranger though, and there was no harm in making admissions to strangers. They didn’t have any eggs in the basket, so to speak. He didn’t care about where she came from, so maybe he wouldn’t judge. “My ex said I’m useless. It sticks with me. I’ve had the same boring job at a travel agency for the last ten years. I can’t cook. I’ve tried, but I just don’t have that talent. I’ve killed every pet plant I’ve ever owned. I do the same thing every day, and celebrate every holiday exactly the same each year. I was with him for so long that I just kind of started believing him when he would say those things. I’m useless.” She lifted her chin higher. “Last week I found out he was with another girl and I left him. Do you want to know the saddest part?”
“Not really.”
Gwen narrowed her eyes. “We need to work on your manners.”
“If you tell me the ways he made you sad, Gwen, I’ll want to kill him.”
That drew her back. He said that with such conviction, with a steady tone to his voice while he looked her dead in the eyes.
“Tell me,” he said gruffly.
“The saddest part was, she wasn’t the first girl I found out about, but I had stayed. Against the wishes of all of my friends and family, I had stayed. I was convinced I didn’t deserve any better, and that it was somehow my fault because I wasn’t good enough. So I focused on being exactly what he needed, and I lost myself along the way. I got sad, I got quiet…and I got useless, just like he said.” Gwen forced a smile. “I’m getting back to my happy, positive self because I choose to. I choose me.”
Aux nodded, and the barest hint of the very first smile she’d seen on his lips appeared. It transformed his entire face into something that stole her breath away. It was sharp canines and dancing silver eyes and raw sex appeal that scared her a little, but awed her more.
Aux was becoming more and more interesting.
He gestured to the cooler. “What did you make?”
“Just about the only thing I know how to. Grilled cheeses. And I heated up some soup like a boss.”
He chuckled and the deep, gritty timbre of his voice filled her head. Hell, it filled the whole chicken coop. The whole barn. Maybe the woods outside, too. He had the best laugh she’d ever heard.
Aux gestured to a hay bale. “I just brought that in. There isn’t chicken shit on it yet, so you can eat there.”
“Where will you eat?” she asked.
He twitched his head toward the opposite wall. “As far away from you as possible.”
“Right. Cooties, and all.” She rolled her eyes, but he could keep his weirdness. Gwen opened the cooler and handed him two wrapped grilled cheeses and the thermos of tomato soup.
He took the soup and poured part of it into the lid, which had a little handle and was shaped sort of like a squared-off teacup. He handed that part back to her. It was still steaming.
He took his food and retreated to the opposite wall where he knelt in the hay and ate his first sandwich hunched over like an animal, eyes never leaving her. It wasn’t until after he was done with the last bite of that first sandwich that he said, “You don’t suck at cooking. This was the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had in my life.” His voice sounded grumpy, like he wanted to choke on the compliment, but he’d offered it anyway, so it counted. He tipped his thermos back and took a swallow of warm soup. “And you can heat up soup. So…not useless.”
“I was going to go to a dude ranch and learn all this cool shit, and take a bunch of pictures of me having the time of my life and post them for my ex to see.”
“Mmm. To prove to him that you’re all right without him?” he asked.
She nodded and took another bite of grilled cheese. “He posted a picture of him kissing his new lady the day after we broke up. I guess I wanted to show he hadn’t hurt me like he thought he did.”
“You know what would be cooler?”
“Hmm?” she asked around a bite.
“If you live your life for yourself and only post pictures for you. The ones that make you happy, without a thought for anyone else’s opinions. If you live a full life quietly and just enjoy the moments, unposed, no thought behind it, no scrambling to find your camera…just…live. That’s a better revenge. He can post empty pictures and sit there hoping you see it.” Aux jammed a finger at Gwen. “You post pictures only for you, and see who lives a fuller life.”