The Predator Ch 12

Jennifer had been visiting another farm to discuss the sale of some horses and, on impulse she decided to take the long way home. Her route took her down a dirt road she occasionally traveled that led from the main highway to her farm . It was a very scenic drive, and she didn't mind taking it because she had plenty of time and did enjoy wandering the back roads whenever she got a chance.

Alongside the road ahead of her, she saw a man cutting up a fallen tree with a chainsaw. As she drove closer, she realized the woodcutter was Alex Martin, the man Selena had introduced her to at the Cartwright fund-raiser.

Jennifer braked her car to a stop next to where Alex was working. She was confused; her chest felt funny and her heart seemed to be pounding. "What on earth is wrong with me?" she mused as she rolled down her window.

Alex saw the car approaching, realized it was stopping, and shut off his chainsaw. He was surprised, but delighted, to discover the driver was Jennifer McIntyre. He set his saw down and walked over to the car.

"Mrs. McIntyre, hello," he said, "It's nice to see you again. What brings you down my lonely road?"

Jennifer felt herself blushing and wasn't sure why. "I-I was just taking the long way home," she said. "I saw you working and then I realized who you were, so I though I'd stop and say hello."

Alex smiled. "I'm glad you did, Mrs. McIntyre," he said.

"Please, I'd like it if you called me Jennifer," Jennifer replied.

Alex smiled. "I'll do that if you call me Alex," he said.

Jennifer looked over Alex's shoulder. Atop the hill behind him sat a large log home. "Is that your house?" she asked.

Alex nodded. "All mine," he said. He had purchased it with some of his lottery winnings and owned it outright

"It's lovely," Jennifer said. "And the setting you have is incredible!" She looked around. "The way your house sits, you must have a wonderful view of Mount Arbor. I wish I did from my place. I think it's one of the prettiest mountains I've ever seen."

"I do, too," Alex said. "The view of Mt. Arbor, especially in fall, is the reason I bought this particular piece of property. Do you have time to come up to the house for a cup of coffee? You can see just how beautiful my view is much better from up at the house."

"Sure," Jennifer said, smiling. "I'd love to."

"Why don't you drive on up to the house?" Alex said, "I'll meet you up there. I can't leave my chain saw down here by the road. Even out here in the country, things have a way of disappearing."

Alex was surprised to find himself feeling a little nervous as he watched Jennifer started up his driveway. He bent down picked up the chainsaw and gas can and followed her.

Jennifer was standing next to her car when Alex got to his house. He set down the saw and gas can down on the back porch steps.

"Come in," he said. "I'm glad you showed up. I needed to take a break anyhow." He started up the steps onto the back porch.

"Cutting up trees like you were doing is hard work," Jennifer observed. "I've helped do it on our place."

"Cutting wood isn't the easiest job in the world," Alex agreed, "but I can use the exercise. Plus it gets my mind off the hassles I have at the department. I use the wood to keep my heating bill reasonable."

Jennifer followed Alex up the steps, onto his back porch. She looked around and was surprised by how neat the place was. There were well-tended flowerbeds around the house and yard, and everything looked very well tended. A neatly stacked woodpile sat near the back porch.

Alex held the door open and she walked into the house. The inside of the house was surprising, too. It was neat as a pin and very cozy.

"I saw the woodpile outside. Do you heat with wood?" Jennifer asked. She couldn't get over how the house looked. It was comfortable, pleasant, and homey; the kind of house that ought to contain lots of kids and dogs.

"Most of the time," Alex replied. "Although on days I'm feeling particularly lazy I do let the oil burner do the work."

She looked through a doorway into the living room. The furnishings Alex had looked like the kind that invited you to settle in and watch TV, read a book, or take a nap.

Unconsciously, she compared this cozy log home to her house. The home she'd inherited from her parents was gorgeous and would have looked good in a magazine, but it wasn't really comfortable. Jennifer had never once thought of going into the living room, taking her shoes off, and flopping down on the sofa. Alex's house almost encouraged you to do that.

"There's something really warm about your house, Alex," she remarked. "I can't describe it, it just feels comfortable, somehow."

"Thanks," Alex said, pleased by her compliment. "I tried to fix it up so it would be livable."

"I think you accomplished that very well," she said.

"How do you take your coffee?" Alex asked.

"Black," Jennifer replied.

"Me, too," Alex said. "I'm surprised. I always thought that liking black coffee was a cop thing."

Jennifer shrugged and smiled. "My dad taught me to drink it that way," she said. "He used to say milk and sugar kept you from tasting the coffee."

"Personally, I think he was right," Alex said.

Jennifer went with him as he walked across the kitchen and set two cups of coffee on the large round kitchen table, which was covered with a red and white checked tablecloth.

The kitchen surprised Jennifer as much as the rest of the house did. It was a huge room, with finely crafted, highly polished cabinets and the latest in appliances. The table sat in one corner, and along a wall near it sat a huge cast-iron cook stove. White lace curtains hung over the window above the sink and the windows that looked out into the barnyard. Everything was neat and clean.

"Have a seat," Alex said, gesturing toward the table.

Jennifer sat down.

Alex sat down across the table from her and sipped some of his coffee then he smiled at her. "I'm glad you stopped by, Jennifer," he said. "I've been thinking about calling you, to see if I might stop by your place and see your horses."

"I'd love to have you come by," Jennifer replied, taking a sip of her coffee. It was delicious. "You're welcome any time you want to stop by." She smiled. "You know, your house really surprises me."

"Oh?" Alex said. "Why?"

Jennifer shrugged. "I'm not sure," she said. "I guess I expected a single man's house to look different, more masculine or something."

"Or maybe slovenly, right?" Alex asked, grinning. "Are you disappointed?"

Jennifer shook her head. "Not at all," she said. "This house is lovely. It feels comfortable, like a home."

Alex blushed. "It isn't by design," he said. "I just fixed it up so it felt right to me."

Jennifer looked around the kitchen. "Your cabinets are incredible," she said. "Did you have them custom-made?"

Alex got even redder and nodded. "Ah...sort of," he said. "I made them myself."

"You did?" Jennifer said. She gazed at him with interest. He was nothing like she would have expected a police officer to be like. "It looks like you're very talented."

"Ah...I-I'm not sure I'd say that," Alex mumbled. He was flustered. He hadn't felt this way in a long time. "I picked up some pointers on woodworking from my father. He was a cabinetmaker and carpenter, a real craftsman. He let me work with him when I was younger. If you think these cabinets are something, you should have seen the ones he built."

"It looks to me like he taught you well," Jennifer said. "My father had custom-made cabinets installed in our kitchen the last time it was re-done. They cost a fortune, but they look cheap and shoddy next to yours."

Alex took another sip of his coffee. "Would you like to see the rest of the house?" he asked.

Jennifer smiled and said, "I'd love to."

They got up and Alex led her into the living room. Along one wall was a large fieldstone fireplace. He pointed at it. "That's where most of that big maple I was cutting up today will wind up once it's had a year or so to season," he said. "I like to have a roaring fire to sit in front of on a cold night; sometimes even when it's not that cold. A wood fire always makes the house smell nice."

"I've always thought so, too," Jennifer said.

He walked through a doorway into another room and Jennifer followed. This room wasn't as big as the living room, but it was still good-sized. Unlike the rest of the house, this room was very masculine. The walls were lined with shelves filled with books. Against one wall was a huge, ornately carved, wooden desk. A computer sat on the desk, looking out of place, and next to the desk were several file cabinets made of wood that matched the desk.

"This is my office," Alex explained.

"You have a lot of books!" Jennifer exclaimed, "Have you read all of them?"

"Most of them," he admitted. "But I only read a little at a time. My lips get tired." He smiled at her. "Seriously, I love to read, and I hate throwing books out. It was a major bone of contention with my ex-wife. Of course the house we had wasn't as big as this one, so it wasn't as easy for me to store my collection."

Jennifer shook her head. Alex was a very unusual man. Her father read voraciously, too, and had a huge collection of first editions. "My father used to read a lot," she said. "You'll have to see his library some time. He had a lot of rare first editions."

Alex smiled. "I'd like that," he said.

They continued the tour. There were four bedrooms on the second floor, each neat and comfortable. Jennifer expected the master bedroom to be masculine, like the library, but it wasn't. The centerpiece of it was a king-sized four-poster canopy bed.

"That bed is incredible!" Jennifer exclaimed. "Where did you ever find something like that?"

Alex, blushing furiously, admitted he'd made it.

"Where do you do all your woodworking?" Jennifer asked. "Do you have a shop?"

Alex nodded. "I partitioned off part of the barn for a woodworking shop," he said. "Would you like to see it?"

"I'd love to," Jennifer said.

They went back downstairs and out to the barn. Alex, looking proud, opened the door and escorted Jennifer into his shop.

Jennifer knew very little about woodworking, but judging from the large number of tools and machines in the shop, she had a feeling it was very complete. "Do you know how to use all these things?" she asked.

"Most of them," Alex said. "I find that it's easier to do things when you have the right tools. So when I put the shop in, I got every machine I thought I'd ever need."

"Isn't setting up a shop like this expensive?" Jennifer asked. "How can you afford it on a police officer's salary?"

While they walked back to the house, Alex explained about winning the lottery, and what he'd done afterward with the money. He told her about moving to this area, and a little about his job with the Jamestown Police Department, too. It was almost as if he couldn't stop talking once he started, and that surprised him. Usually, he didn't talk much at all.

Jennifer liked being with Alex, but wasn't sure she should be tying him up. "I'm afraid I'm keeping you from your work," she said after a while. "I really ought to go."

"Is there somewhere you have to go?" Alex asked. He didn't want her to leave.

"Well, no," Jennifer admitted. She saw the disappointment in his eyes when she mentioned leaving and found herself happy to see it there. "But you were cutting up that tree and all and..."

"I was just about done," Alex said. "I was just about to have Dick help me bring the chunks up here so I can split them when I have time."

"Dick?" Jennifer said. "Is that your hired hand?"

Alex smiled and nodded. "Actually, Dick's a lot more than that. I guess you could say he's my helper and my friend," he said, "Come on, I'll introduce you." He walked out the door onto the back porch.

Jennifer followed Alex out to the barn.

Alex walked toward a fence and whistled. Almost immediately, a medium-sized reddish horse came galloping and extended its head over the fence, nuzzling Alex's shoulder fondly.

Alex turned to Jennifer and smiled. "This is Dick," he said. The horse nuzzled him again and Alex took a sugar cube out of his pocket and gave it to him. "He helps me do chores around the place," Alex explained. "And he's someone I can talk to when I need that. The nice thing about Dick is he very seldom argues with me."

"He's beautiful!" Jennifer said. The horse had an intelligent look in his eyes and seemed very friendly. The horse nudged her shoulder and she petted him.

"He's a Lippet Morgan," Alex said. "Old timers in Vermont I've talked to claim they're the only real Morgans. Most folks think Morgans are those fancy show horses. Dick's no pampered show horse. He works for a living."

"Not many people use horses to do farm work any more," Jennifer said. "Wasn't it hard to train him?"

"You probably won't believe this, but I didn't have to train him," Alex said. "Dick just seemed to pick up what needed to be done. He's a lot better helper than a tractor. Tractors don't have a personality." He opened the gate and the horse trotted over to the barn.

Alex and Jennifer followed. She watched as Alex put a harness on the horse. Once the harness was in place, the horse moved to a small wagon and stood in front of it.

"You know many tractors that would do that?" Alex asked as he finished hitching the horse to the wagon.

"I'm surprised. He's not very big, is he?" Jennifer commented.

"That's the nice thing about Morgans," Alex said. "Pound for pound, they're as tough a horse as you're going to find. Lippets, anyhow." He started down the driveway and the horse followed.

"I like to think Dick's a little smarter than most horses, though, even most Morgans," Alex said as they walked along behind the wagon. "Not only is he a good worker, he's a good saddle horse, too. As they used to say in the old west, he's got bottom. He'll go all day and all night if need be."

They got to the place where Alex had been working when Jennifer arrived. A pile of wood, cut up into neat blocks, lay there.

Dick stopped and began cropping grass. Alex began throwing blocks of wood into the wagon.

Jennifer watched, noticing the way his muscles moved under his shirt as he did. "Want some help with that?" she asked.

"Ah, sure," Alex replied. "There are a couple of pairs of work gloves in the box under the wagon seat," he said. "Better wear them, they'll keep you from getting splinters and blisters."

Jennifer went to the wagon, got out the gloves, slipped them on, and began picking up smaller blocks of wood and throwing them into the wagon.

Alex kept glancing at Jennifer while he worked. She was very attractive, although it didn't seem to him she was aware how attractive she really was. Working had put a flush on her features, which enhanced the beauty that already was there.

Finally, the wagon was full. "Take it to the woodshed, Dick," Alex said. The horse looked back over his shoulder, shook his head, then started off.

"My horse, Bosco, responds to some voice commands," Jennifer said, "And I always thought he was pretty intelligent. But Dick makes him look retarded."

"How about joining me for lunch once the wagon's unloaded?" Alex asked. He wasn't sure why he was doing all he could to keep Jennifer there. Why, suddenly, was he acting like a kid with his first crush on a girl?

"I-I...sure, why not?" Jennifer said. She found herself not wanting to leave, and wasn't sure why.

They unloaded the wood next to the gasoline powered wood splitter. Then Alex unhitched Dick, who walked over and stood by the gate to the pasture.

"I can't believe the things your horse does without commands," Jennifer said as she and Alex walked to the gate.

"I know, sometimes he does things that surprise me, too," Alex said, "but I really have never spent a minute training him. He just seems to pick up what I want him to do on his own. I'll give him some grain, then we can put the feed bag on, too."

He put grain out for the horse then they went back into the house.

"I think I have something in the freezer I can microwave," Alex said, "unless you don't like things microwaved."

"I don't mind," Jennifer said, "Whatever you have will be fine. I'm so hungry I could eat a..." She paused and smiled. "An ox."

Alex smiled back at her, got a package out of the freezer, unwrapped it and put it on a plate, then put he put the plate in the microwave. While the food was heating, he got out some dishes and set the table. When the timer on the microwave beeped, he took out the dish and carried it on the table.

Jennifer looked at the plate in front of her and was surprised. "Is that quiche?" she asked.

Alex nodded and his face reddened. "Bacon and cheddar," he said. "I made it last week, only ate two pieces, so I froze the rest. It microwaves pretty well."

They ate. Jennifer found the quiche excellent and said so.

"I always thought bachelors survived on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and TV dinners," she said.

"Some do, I guess," Alex told her, "but I get tired of that, so I experiment from time to time. I've learned that it's easy enough to cook if you can read a cookbook and follow directions."

Jennifer was impressed. Alex was incredible. He cooked, kept an extremely neat house, was an excellent carpenter, had a way with animals, read all manner of books, and on top of that, he was an extremely personable man who was fun to be with. She got up and began picking up the dishes.

"Just leave them," Alex said. "I'll put them in the dishwasher later."

"Are you sure?" Jennifer asked. "I don't mind helping."

"I'm positive," Alex said.

Jennifer knew she should get going, but found herself not wanting to. She'd had a lot of fun in the few hours she'd spent with Alex.

"I-I've really enjoyed today, Alex," she said. "It's been fun."

"Sounds like you're planning to leave," Alex said, looking and feeling more than a little disappointed.

"I-I really do have to get going," she said. "There are things back at my farm that I have to do."

"OK," he said. "Look, I need to split all that wood, so if you want to stop by again, you'll be welcome. Splitting goes faster if there's somebody to help me stack."

Jennifer smiled at him. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind," she said.

Alex walked her to her car. He really didn't want her to go.

Jennifer got in her car and sat there, looking up at him. "Ah...I really did have a wonderful time," she said softly. "Thank you, Alex."

"Hey, any time," Alex said.

Jennifer started the car, backed around, and drove out of the driveway.

Alex watched her go then he walked over to the pasture fence. Dick came over and nuzzled him, looking for more sugar. Alex gave the horse some. "That's quite a lady, Dick, don't you think?" he said.

The horse nudged him.

"Yeah, I know, I shouldn't be thinking things like that, should I?" Alex said. "She's way out of my league."

Dick gave a soft whinny and shook his head from side to side.

"You don't think so, is that it?" Alex asked.

Dick's head moved up and down.

"Well, old buddy, I sure would like it if you were right," Alex said. He patted Dick's muzzle, then went back into the house. After putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, he plopped down on the sofa, and turned on the TV. As he sat there, watching a news program, he looked around. Why, all of a sudden, did the house feel so darned empty?