Dark Solace by Tara Fox Hall

shoot him. Instead I
forced myself to breathe calmly, and take it slow. Reaching out
with the front-end loader, I dug the edge of the bucket into the
bank in front of me, then pulled back on the lever. The loader
shifted, pulling the tractor up as expected. But the front tires
were smooth. They couldn’t get any purchase, slipping in the mud
sideways. When I reached out with the bucket again, all four tires
slid back down into the ditch. Now I was partly sideways again, and
the front tires were almost completely buried in mud.
    “Shit!” I screamed.
    Lash began laughing again.
    Prick. I collected myself and tried again,
with the same result. This time, I overloaded the engine, and it
shut off. Tears welled in my eyes from frustration. Putting my head
in my hands, I let myself cry a little. Until I did, I was going to
be frantic and useless. I needed to get past this failure if I was
going to have any chance of finding success.
    “Sar, get off the tractor,” Lash said gently
from the bank. “Losing isn’t worth crying over.”
    I raised my head and glared at him proudly.
“I haven’t lost!” I said angrily, wiping away my tears. “Stand
back.” Determined, I cranked the key, and started the tractor
again. Letting it run, I dismounted and began grabbing some rocks
from the far side of the bank. I inserted two rough ones under the
front edge of the front wheels, then put two more in front of
those. After a few minutes of searching for more, I located two
final large rocks. After setting them in front of the back wheels,
I got back on the tractor.
    Again, I dug into the bank and levered up.
This time, all four tires moved out of the muck and onto the rocks.
Carefully releasing the loader from the bank, I extended the loader
as far as possible, then dug in again. Slowly, I pushed the
accelerator. With a roar, the tractor eased up and over the bank.
Suddenly one front tire slipped off the rock. I dug in and
accelerated slowly. The back tires found the front tire rocks then
and held. With another throaty roar, the tractor and I were clear
of the ditch.
    Ecstatic, I let out a cry of pure delight.
Proudly, I drove the tractor a good ten feet from the ditch and
parked it, shutting off the engine. The sound of clapping filled
the sudden silence.
    Lash came toward me, giving applause. I went
to take a bow in my triumph and smugness, and slipped in the mud. I
went down hard on my side, hitting my kneecap on a rock. I cursed
again, blinking back tears from the pain.
    Lash took my hand, and hauled me to my feet.
“You okay?” he hissed, grinning widely.
    I gave him a rueful smile back, rubbing my
smarting knee. “God was teaching me some humility, after helping
me,” I said, laughing. “I should have thanked Him for His help
straight off. I’m okay.”
    “Good,” Lash hissed gently. “Because I want
you to stay. I would be glad of your help, Sar.”
    The respect in his tone moved me. While Lash
had never treated me with disrespect—except the time he’d kissed me
out of turn—this was different. There is the respect a man shows a
woman because she’s a woman, and he thinks she needs his
protection, guidance, or help lifting something heavy. And then
there is the respect a man shows a friend or a coworker when he
actually values their capabilities, reasoning, or skills. It was
the second kind of respect I’d heard in Lash’s tone.
    He believed I had something to contribute.
That mattered to me a lot, maybe because it felt like years since
I’d last heard that kind of respect from any man in my life.
    “You sure you’re okay?” Lash hissed.
    I smiled quickly. “I’m fine. And I’d be glad
to help—”
    “Shit! She got it unstuck!” one of the bears
called incredulously as the lot of them walked up.
    “She did,” Lash said, looking at me intently.
“Just as she said she would.”
    And thank God it hadn’t taken longer. I’d
have been mortified to be crying in front of that crowd of hardened
men. “So