Serendipity

When Haley arrived at her grandparents’ farm, it was around three in the morning. But she didn’t get out right away when she parked the car. Instead, she allowed herself a moment just to take everything in. It was strangely surreal to be there when she knew the rest of her life was going on without her back in Chicago. But she knew that she was needed more here than back there.

Stepping out of her car, Haley made sure to shut the door as quietly as possible so that she didn’t wake anyone or anything up with her noise. She didn’t dare try to go into the house. She was all too aware that her grandma slept with a loaded Remington shotgun next to the bed. So she decided to saunter over to the stables because she knew there was a couch in there that she could sleep on for the night.

Gravel crunched beneath her silver sequent flats as she walked across the gravel driveway towards the big red barn where all the horses were stalled. She hadn’t thought about changing when she made it back to the apartment from the club. She was much more concerned about making it to the farm to even spare it a thought. Haley shrugged to herself at the thought as she, quietly, opened the door and let herself in.

The barn was quiet with the exception of a few horses snorting at her when she walked by their stalls. The whole placed smelled of sweet feed and fresh alfalfa bringing back memories of her childhood when she would help her grandpa feed and work around the stable. Along with those memories came a pang of sadness as she realized that she would never get to do those things with him again. But she would always cherish those times that she had been able to spend with him to honor the man that had taught her to go after her dreams.

Eventually, Haley made it back to the tack room where the couch had been located and she thanked her lucky stars to find that the same couch still remained in the room after all those years. As she entered the room, a picture caught her eye. It was one of her as a little girl with a wide, toothless grin and freckles covering her cheeks as she sat on the back of their gigantic horses while her grandpa, who was also smiling for the camera, held onto the halter. To see him look so healthy and happy almost was enough to make her heart believe that he was still alive. But her brain never this was no longer the case as she plucked the picture from the wall and sat down on the couch unable to fight the tears any longer as she clutched the picture to her chest and broke down. Eventually, Haley cried herself to sleep still holding on tightly to the picture frame.

Later that morning just around ten, an old, blue pick up truck tore into the driveway like it had for the past five years. The young man behind the wheel frowned when he saw an unfamiliar little car parked in the middle of the gravel lot next to the house, but he continued to pull up to the barn figuring that whoever it was must be Elizabeth’s family due to the untimely death of her husband. Instead, he parked his truck before heading into the barn to begin his duties for the day. He would go in to talk with Elizabeth after he had finished feeding.

The man was tall, around six feet. He was lean, but he wasn’t overly scrawny. His muscles had been sculpted by many years of farm work and his skin tanned from spending countless hours toiling under the summer sun. His chest and shoulders were also broad, but not overly so. Atop his head laid short, chocolate brown hair that was tasseled in a rather stylish manner. His ocean blue eyes seemed to be sparkling with life as he regarded the horses as he headed towards the tack room. When he opened the door, he stopped dead in his tracks when he came to find that a young, redheaded woman was fast asleep on the couch. Taking a closer look, the man could see that she was clinging onto one of the pictures of Daniel Redding with one of his granddaughters.

“What the hell?” The startled man questioned, his voice waking the girl on the couch with jolt. She blinked at him for a moment or two while she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and her head tilted to the side in a questioning manner. The way the woman looked at him reminded him of another who used to look at him the same way whenever she was tired. At the moment, however, he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her from both shock and the sight of her beauty. Maybe it was because she was the way she was dressed as if she had just come from a party and the way her teal dress clung to her body like a glove. But there was something about the petite woman now sitting on the couch before him that just made his jaw drop and yet, there was also something about her that was oddly familiar and he couldn’t put his finger on it. Like she was a long lost friend who had been brought back into his life.

“Who are you?” The woman’s smooth voice inquired with an attitude, bringing him out of his thoughts like he had been snapped by a rubber band. Blinking, the man shook his head before throwing the same question back at her and adding, “Who are you and why are you on this property?”

The woman scoffed before rising from the couch and walking over to him with her hand stuck out. She smiled, shyly at him before she introduced herself, “I’m Haley Redding: Daniel and Elizabeth’s oldest granddaughter. I came back up here to help my grandma out with things.”

“Haley?” The man choked out her name in surprise as memories of a freckle faced teenage girl with wild red hair beamed, brightly down at him from her midnight black gelding. He couldn’t believe that the same awkwardly teenager had grown up into such a successful and beautiful woman. “You don’t remember me do you?”

Taking a step closer, Haley looked into the man’s deep blue, ocean eyes. She could tell that she knew him from somewhere but she couldn’t put her finger on where. It wasn’t until the man smiled down at her with a familiar crooked grin that she finally connected all the pieces and immediately, flung her arms around his neck. In reaction, the man smiled and wrapped his arms around her to return her embrace.

The pair stood like that for a few short moments before Haley asked him in such a soft voice, “Jared? Is that really you?”

“It’s me, Hal. It’s been a long time.” He pointed out as he grinned back down at her, his hand tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear so that he could see her face better.

“Yeah, I can’t believe- where did you go?” She pressed; suddenly as she thought back to the last time she had seen him. She had just finished middle school as she watched him drive away after his graduation party. He had been her first real crush and she remembered how much it had broken her heart to see him leave. She went through the next four years wondering if he would ever come back but he never did so she pushed him out her mind in order to heal her crushed heart. But now, he was here standing before her and the years had shaped him into a handsome man, but they had also worn on him. She could see how tired and lonely he was underneath his happy, carefree expression. She knew him much too well to be fooled by such a façade, but she choose not to say anything about it.

Jared sighed and looked down at his feet while he kicked at some hay that had pulled out of one of the bales next to them. He still couldn’t believe that little Haley Redding was standing there in the tack room right in front of him all grown up. It had been fourteen years since he had last seen her when he’d looked back in his review mirror as he drove away. If there was one thing that he would ever regret, it was leaving her behind and never coming back. But he knew he couldn’t stay, he had to leave in order to find himself and to let her blossom into the woman she was supposed to become. He would’ve held her back. He was certain of it. The one thing he hadn’t expected was for her to show up after all this time. But then again he had been working for her grandparents for the last five years now and he was surprised that they hadn’t told her he’d come back.

Haley watched him fiddled with some leftover hay while she waited for him to answer her question and the longer she waited the more she knew she wasn’t going to get an answer out of him. Despite that time had aged them, he was still the same old Jared who was always thought that he was too grown up for her and she was still the little Haley who just wanted to tag along. Shaking her head, she walked out of the tack room and away from him. She didn’t have time to sit around and wait for him anymore like she had back in high school and she would no longer wait for him. Behind her, she could hear him call out to her,

“Haley, wait!”

But she didn’t bother to turn around to acknowledge him instead she continued to march herself out of the barn and towards the house. She need to get her priorities straight, her grandma came way before some guy who had always pushed her away.

Back in the barn, Jared looked to one of the brood mares with a disappointed and confused face but she only snorted at him in annoyance, clearly ready to be fed. Shaking his head, he began to feed the horses all while knowing that he had just screwed up with Haley again. He had always felt like his attraction to her to be forbidden. She had been too young, too innocent, and too prefect for him and he couldn’t ruin her for the rest of the men in the world. He could only admire her from afar despite knowing her affection for him. He knew it hurt her, but it had been the only way for him to make it without doing something illegal. Now, she was back and clearly not the scrawny teenager she used to be. She was still short, but her once boyish figure had been replaced with killer curves in all the right places and she was very bit the woman he thought she would be. Maybe he had been given a chance to make things right.

Meanwhile, Haley entered the old, red brick farmhouse that her grandparents had built when they had first got married and despite its age, it was still in really good shape. Her grandpa had always maintained his home with pride and care because it had been his wedding gift to her grandmother and he wanted to keep it up for her. Sure, in more recent years, he hadn’t been able to take care of the place the way he once had but it’s aged look gave it a more rustic, homey feel and it comforted her in many ways that her upscale, modern apartment back in Chicago couldn’t begin to be able to. After all, she had practically been raised in this house and it had been a huge part of her childhood.

From threshold, Haley could hear her grandmother stirring about in the kitchen as the scent of country smoked ham and pancakes wafted into the room. Her grandmother had always been one to cook a large breakfast for all her guests and now she must be fixing breakfast for Jared seeing as he clearly worked for them. Making her way down the hall, her eyes caught a picture or two that took her back to a different place and time back when life wasn’t so complicated and her grandfather was still very much alive. Eventually, she made it to the entryway of the kitchen and she found that her grandmother was in fact preparing breakfast and the elderly woman was completely unaware that someone had entered her house. Hoping not to scare her grandmother, Haley knocked on the doorframe to announce herself as she greeted her grandmother,

“Grandma? I’m home.”

The old woman turned around her face in slight shock as dropped the wooden spoon that she had been stirring some more pancake batter with. Haley noticed that her grandmother looked older and much more tired than she had when she had seen her last Christmas. She was also using her a cane again which she hadn’t used since she had recovered from breaking her hip but none of those things were what worried Haley. What worried her was the look of complete surprise on her grandmother’s features.

“Haley, what on earth are you doing here?” Elizabeth Redding asked her oldest grandchild as if she hadn’t been expecting her to come up. “Shouldn’t you be in Chicago still?”

Stepping inside the kitchen, Haley walked over to her grandmother and picked up the wooden spoon off of the floor at her feet so that Elizabeth wouldn’t have to struggle bending down to pick it up. Handing the spoon back her, Haley reminded her, “You called me last night… about grandpa passing away. I offered to come help you.”

“Oh,” Elizabeth nodded but looked lost in thought as if she was having some difficulty remembering their conversation but Haley didn’t blame her. She knew that the last few days had been extremely difficult and trying for Elizabeth and that a lot had happened so she was surprised that her grief had clouded her memory.

“Yeah, and I’d like to stay for the summer, if that’s alright?” Haley asked, politely as she took the bowl of batter and another spoon before she began to stir it for her grandmother. Elizabeth smiled as she watched her granddaughter work before saying,

“That would be greatly appreciated.”

Elizabeth then went to the refrigerator, grabbing a carton of farm fresh eggs and a cup of milk before she went to the skillet to start preparing some scrambled eggs for them to eat.

The two women worked in silence as they both finished preparing breakfast. With Haley’s help, things were going much faster for Elizabeth than normal and it took a great burden off the older woman’s chest knowing that Haley would be here to help her out. Haley noticed her grandmother’s mood was lighter and she didn’t seem as dead to the world as she had before Haley reminded her about Haley staying for the summer to help. Despite busying herself with cooking, Haley’s thoughts kept turning back to Jared and why her grandparents had never told her that he’d come back.

“Why didn’t you say anything about him?” Haley inquired out of the blue as she began to set places at the table for the three of them to eat.

“Who, dear?” Elizabeth asked back as if completely unaware of whom Haley was referring to. It almost seemed as if she was stalling the conversation so that she didn’t have to answer her. But why would she do that. From what Haley could remember her grandmother had always loved having Jared around to help.

“Jared, grandma,” Haley informed her with a huff as she grabbed three glasses from the cupboard, “You never told me he came back.”

“Oh, I didn’t?” Elizabeth almost seemed surprised now when she was told that she hadn’t informed Haley of Jared’s return, “I could’ve sworn I’d told you that we hired him as our new herd manager.”

This caused Haley to almost smack her forehead as her brow furrowed in confusion. She couldn’t recall anytime her grandmother had ever talked to her about Jared coming back and never once did she say he was their new herd manager. “Grandma, you’d only said you’d hired a new herd manager and that was five years ago…. He’s been back for five years and you never once told me?”

“Haley, sweetheart, I was in good reason not to.” Elizabeth informed her, firmly pointing the spatula she held in her hand at Haley, “I saw how much he hurt you when he left and there was no way I was going to let it happen again. If you had quit your new job with the Blackhawks to go back to him I would’ve tanned your hide.”

“I wouldn’t have-“ Haley protested but Elizabeth knew otherwise,

“You would have. I saw the way you used to look at him. You have never once in your life looked another man the same way.”

Elizabeth had a point. Haley hadn’t ever thought of any other man the way she had thought about Jared. Sure, a few lucky men had been able to capture her attention but it never worked out because she was always comparing them to him. He had been her best friend, her world. She had practically worshiped the ground he walked on since she had fist met him when she was five years old. If she had known that he was back she would’ve done anything she could to see him again, even leaving her job. But that was all in the past. She had to focus on the present and right now the steps of his work boots could be heard as he made his way down the hall. When the man finally made his entrance into the room, there was nothing she could do but stare into those deep, blue eyes and think.
‘Well, at least he’s here now.’