Passion In James County IX: Indiscretions
Chapter two
"I think we've got things pretty well under control for now, Mitch," Melissa Singleton told Mitch Hathaway, the man her husband, Tom, hired after their teenage son and Donna, a girl who also worked on the farm, left to go to college.
Mitch was a rugged, handsome, friendly man of about thirty, with a head full of curly brown hair. He was also a hard worker. Melissa's husband was away, delivering a horse, and Melissa and Mitch had been left to take care of things on the farm until Tom got back the next day.
Mitch looked at his employer's wife. Melissa Singleton was a damn good-looking woman. She was about ten years older than he was, but didn't look it. She was tall, had a wild mass of curly light-brown hair, and looked like she was in excellent physical condition. She had on a sweatshirt and snug-fitting jeans. Since they'd been working hard, Melissa was sweating and her sweatshirt was clinging to her upper body in interesting ways.
"If you want to take off, you can, Mitch," Melissa said. "I'm beat, I'm going to try to watch TV, but I'll probably fall asleep."
"You sure you don't want me to hang around?" Mitch asked. "What with Mr. Singleton being gone and all, I wouldn't mind. I could sleep in the bunk room in the barn."
"It's sweet of you to offer, Mitch," Melissa said, "but you don't have to. Jennifer and Alex are staying in the big house tonight. They're leaving for Europe in the morning."
Jennifer was Jennifer McIntyre Martin, who owned the farm. Alex was her husband, head of the detective division of the Jamestown Police Department.
"Must be nice," Mitch said. "I'd love to go to Europe and see what it's like."
"I suppose it is," Melissa said.
"Well, if you're sure you'll be OK," Mitch said, "I'm gonna take off."
"See you tomorrow, Mitch," Melissa said. She turned and started for the manager's house.
Mitch watched her walk away from him for a while, then he sighed, climbed into his truck, and headed for town.
"Why the hell do I get myself all hot and bothered thinking about Melissa?" Mitch thought as he drove along, listening to the sounds of country music coming from his pickup's radio. "She's as happily married as a person can get. I ought to find someone who isn't!" He laughed. "Isn't married or isn't happy, doesn't really matter, does it?"
By the time he got to town, he was hungry, so he stopped at a little diner he often visited. The diner's prices were reasonable and the food was excellent. He parked in the parking lot, went inside, and took a seat on one of the stools at the counter. It was late afternoon, between the lunch and dinner rush hours, so the diner was almost empty.
"What would you like?" the lady behind the counter asked.
Mitch studied her. She was about his age and fairly attractive. She was short, but had a very good shape, a fact not hidden by the snug jeans she was wearing. Her frosted brown hair was cut very short.
"I'll have a cheeseburger with bacon, fries, and a cola," Mitch said.
"Coming right up," the woman replied. She got a hamburger patty out of a cooler, put it on the grille, and dropped some fries into the deep fryer.
"Traveling through?" she asked Mitch while the food cooked.
"Actually, no, I just moved to town a few weeks ago," he replied. "I'm surprised I haven't seen you here before. I eat here a lot. Food here's really good."
"Thank you for saying so," the woman said. "My husband and I run this place. I've been away for a few weeks. My sister was sick and I went to take care of her. Do you work around here?"
"I'm a farm hand and horse wrangler on the McIntyre Farm," Mitch said.
"No kidding?" the woman said. She turned and flipped the hamburger, put a slice of cheese on it, and lifted the fry basket out of the fat and hung it on a rack to drain. Then she put the hamburger roll on the grille to toast. She turned back to Mitch. "We, my husband and I, we have a place outside of town," she said. "I've been thinking about getting a horse or two. I'm just not sure what we'd need to do to our place if we got some horses."
"You have a farm?" Mitch asked.
"Not really," she replied, flushing a little. "We have a lot of property, though, so we could build a barn, I guess."
"If you need some advice, maybe I could help," Mitch said. He noticed the rosy color on her face and wondered. "I've worked with horses all my life. I could probably tell you what you need, and probably where to get it. Any time you want, just give me a call."
"Ah...well," the woman hesitated, then she turned quickly to the grille. She picked up a spatula, put his burger on the bun, put the sandwich on a plate, and then dumped the fries next to it. She turned and set the plate on the counter in front of Mitch. After that, she walked down behind the counter, drew his cola, and placed that in front of him, too.
"I...I wouldn't want to impose on you, you know," she said.
"It wouldn't be an imposition," Mitch said. "I think it would kind of be fun to design a place from scratch."
"Uh...well, ah, my husband, you know, ah, he comes in about six and takes over until we close at midnight," she said. "If you, you know, wanted to come out say, oh, maybe six-thirty or so today, if you're sure I wouldn't be imposing on..."
