Stabled (The Stables Trilogy #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

again.
     
    Only that morning she’d been drinking coffee in her mother’s kitchen. Now she was feeling desperately overwhelmed. The situation was too easy. This was something that happened to nice girls. Nice girls got jobs at ranches. Nice girls had bosses who trusted and cute, genuine coworkers. It was hard to accept this might be it for her. But if she was going to make it work, she’d have to start here, with an introduction.
     
    “Maple. I’m Maple Parsons.”
     
    His nose scrunched. “Maple? That’s a weird name.”
     
    “So’s Raúl. You sound like a movie villain.”
     
    He laughed. “Or just Hispanic. Because, you know.” His hands waved up and down his body as if to say look at me . Duh, she knew. “Besides, I think it is more a lover’s name than a villain’s.” The boy had the audacity to wink at her.
     
    Unsure of how to respond to a wink, she turned to the other men. “And you?”
     
    “Tim, Miss.” One said. He was older. More of what she’d expected on the ranch. His face was wrinkled and weathered, looking like leather. Gaunt, with high cheekbones that were covered in salted stubble. “This here’s Jones.”
     
    Jones could have been Tim’s brother, but Maple had used up the last of her ability to be social. She knew she should ask more questions. Instead, her anxiety was winning the war. Despite having just showered, she was sweating again. Her mind was starting to speed up, her thoughts buzzing.
     
    Do they like me? What do I say? Will I be able to remember their names? Can I go to my room now? Would that be considered rude?
     
    Raúl didn’t give her a chance to consider retreat. “So, Maple, how do you like the job?”
     
    “I haven’t really done it yet. I just interviewed today. Sort of.”
     
    “Yeah, J.B. moves kind of quick,” Raúl nodded in sympathy. “He either likes you or he doesn’t.”
     
    There was a flutter at that. He likes me? But she shook it off with another big bite of beans and rice, hoping this was just first-day, new-girl crushing. Besides, J.B. had told her why she was hired: weak and trainable. Those weren’t exactly traits worth bragging over and they hardly were something anyone would find attractive. “I guess I passed, then.”
     
    “You’re so pretty, I don’t know how you couldn’t have!”
     
    Tim and Jones coughed, and Raúl blushed a little. It was reassuring that others found his bold nature forthcoming too. Her skin itched a little at his compliment, his closeness. Maple needed distance, her anxious thoughts becoming insects under her skin.
     
    “It’s been a long day,” she said as she stood. “It was nice to meet y’all, but I’m going to turn in.” Tim and Jones nodded. Raúl looked crestfallen. Maple couldn’t stand to disappoint people, even if she wasn’t sure she liked them, so she offered him a small smile. “See you tomorrow? I think you’re showing me how to muck Bane’s stable.”
     
    At this, Raúl flashed her his full set of teeth, grinning so hard it was comical. “Sure! We can talk then. You can tell me about yourself, okay?”
     
    She ran out, muttering something non-committally, needing escape before the day crashed into her.

 
    Chapter Four
     
    “Did you get the job?”
     
    “Yeah, Mom, I got it.”
     
    The relief her mother felt managed to travel silently through the phone. Maple rolled her eyes.
     
    “You’re unpacked, then?”
     
    “Yeah, Mom.”
     
    A pause. “Okay, Honey. Is there anything you need?”
     
    This was the part that always needled Maple. When she’d left for college she’d had almost this exact same stilted conversation. Her parents weren’t talkers. Never had been. They’d been even less affectionate. Affection came in the form of an extra biscuit on a plate if she’d done a hard day’s work, or a Bible and a necklace tucked into luggage to wish her good luck.
     
    Most of the time Maple was okay with that. Most of the time it was enough. Because if