Camp Mansfield - Chapter Eight

"Do you want some more chicken?" asks Ted handing her the bucket of fried chicken "I like the dark the best, but there is plenty of both left.  Which one is your favorite?"

"I like the dark and  the original recipe" offers Faith taking another bite and enjoying the random conversation "However, they don't make their potato salad as good as my grandma did".

"What made your grandma's potato salad different?" asks Ted wondering what secret recipes might be handed down in her family.

"She put in boiled eggs, with sweet pickle relish, celery, green onion, and with both mustard and mayonnaise, and finally sprinkled with paprika on top.  It was the best!" remembers Faith licking her lips in response to the memory "I use to help her make it.  I'm not much of a cook, but I can make potato salad!"

"Sounds delicious! You'll have to make it for me sometime" offers Ted wishing that he could spend many hours having  a picnic with her especially like on a day like today in the fields of camp.

"This was a great idea!"  shares Faith leaning back on the blanket and looking up at the cloud formations above her.  "Even though I'm often outside, I don't spend much time looking up at the sky.  I always find it so relaxing.  I wish that I could remember to do this every day."

Enjoying the moment, Ted lies down next to her on his side with his hand propping up his face towards her.  "You make every day special, Faith."

Smiling back at him, "Sometimes" and then turning away from him and courageously speaking honestly "Just being with you makes my day special".

Next to her, Ted finds himself blushing at her comment and feels an overwhelming sense of happiness and comfort at the sound of her statement.

After a moment, Faith turns back towards him and finds that he has leaned even closer to her.  His eyes find  hers and there is unspoken conversation in the silence between them.  Ted slowly moves closer to her as Faith finds herself reaching out her hand to touch his face and moving towards him too.

"Hey!" yells a voice from behind them from over the hill snapping them apart in an instant, they can hear his spurs clanging while climbing the hill to reach them "Mr. Bartram is looking for you two!  He needs some help with the cattle.  Someone left wood over the cattle bridge for the cross country race and they've decided to take their own personal tour of the neighbor's ranch. Gladys and Ethel are leading the pack and you know they always get the rest of the herd into trouble."

"Thank you Logan. We'll be right there" apologizes Faith quickly standing up and gathering things to put away "I didn't realize they had gotten out of the gate".

They quickly load all of the picnic items into the crate on the back of the cart.  Ted doesn't say anything but seems focused on reaching the gate.  Faith grabs a hold of the bar near her head as Ted appears to be driving twice as fast as normal as the reluctant cart seems to fly over the hills and bumps among the fields.

The adventurous cows are quickly herded back to home with the help of the camp spotted border collie, Rascal who while barking commands seems to be the one in charge even though he only has four paws.  Behind him, Gladys and Ethel are mooing in obedience swaying while swatting flies with their tails wagging in a synchronized formation.  While chewing on some random grass, they eventually find their place at home in the meadow.

When Faith turns around, she notices that Ted while leaning against a shady tree has been staring in a way to appear to be analyzing her rather than seeing through her.  She waves and smiles back at him but he seems unfazed but is rather lost in his own thoughts.  Faith shrugs her shoulders and wonders to herself, "Why he is acting so weird now?  I hope it is not because I wanted to kiss him earlier.  What if he wasn't feeling the same way as me?  Did I really move towards him? Was I just reacting to how I felt?  Was he even responding to me?  Does he think that I'm a moron?".  She feels the heat rising her in cheeks and her heart begins to pound as if it is going to come out of her chest "What if I made a fool of myself?  What does he think of me now?"   

"Hey Faith" she hears a familiar voice behind her and moves her cowboy hat down over her face while responding without turning around.  She answers as calmly as she can "Yes?"

"I have some things to do today.  Would you mind catching a ride back with Logan?" requests Ted not making an effort to see her face either.

"No problem.  I'm sure there is room on his cart.  I've got some things that I need to do and catch up on as well at the Ranch house" blandly responds Faith not sure why Ted suddenly appears not to want to spend any more time with her.

"Great!" shortly replies Ted turning on his heel immediately getting onto the cart quickly heading in opposite direction.

While reflecting on the grass blowing in the wind surrounding her, Faith can feel all of her nerves unraveling,  "What if he doesn't like me?  What if he's appalled that I acted like I was interested in him?"

"Come on Faith!  We're going to be late.  Mr. Thomas will be looking for us and is probably wondering if we were able to get all the cattle back" suggests Logan about twenty feet away but lost in his own thoughts as well.

Climbing into the old green Chevy truck next to Logan at the driver's seat, Faith replies "I'm ready. Let's go."

When they reach the Ranch house, Mr. Thomas walks over to Faith as if he has something to tell her.  "Faith, a few minutes ago Ted sent me a text that he is going to out of town for a few days and asked if I would let you know."

"Oh thank you" surprised replies Faith wondering why Ted didn't text her directly. Mulling things over insider her head, she thinks "Ted is mad at me.  He's trying to avoid me now.  I have made a fool of myself and he's trying to create some distance.  How could I be such an idiot?  Now, I've ruined everything. How could I ever think that Ted would be interested in me?  He has so many other attractive women that fall over themselves trying to get to know him" and then adding to herself  while looking down at her scuffed boots "I'm only a plain ranch girl that's all I've ever been to him."

A couple of days later after work, Faith heads back to her small cottage.  Sampson greets her at the door wagging his tail and ready to play.  Weakly, Faith throws his ball a couple of times around the room but doesn't find much energy to do much else.  She changes into her big red heart pantsuit pjs leftover from the sale after valentine's day, with her green grouch fuzzy  slippers, and sits on the couch with her knees to her chest sipping on a cup of tea.   Her wet hair is in a messy  casual bun.  She's placed some bright pink blemish cream on a few pesky marks that have suddenly appeared across her face from the anxiety of the day and quietly sulks.  She contemplates why someone hasn't invented some type of home laser yet that will make things like pimples disappear forever.

Unexpectedly she hears a knock at the door, believing it to be Mrs. Bartram or the Shirley the Cook kindly bringing a shell of leftovers having missed with the others for the last few days, she opens the door and finds Ted standing in front of her.

The only thing Faith can hear is herself softly gasping  while her ears ring in fear and embarrassment.  She finds herself mumbling "I didn't know you were back."

Looking down at her, Ted smirks wondering how many dots did she add to her face. Was this a game or was she sick? "Are you feeling okay?" he asks concerned.

"What?  Yeah, I'm feeling okay. Why?" asks Faith forgetting about the cream but suddenly feeling nervous and subconsciously twitching and moving around awkwardly.

"You weren't at dinner and they said you hadn't been all week" explains Ted seriously wondering what is wrong with her.

Glancing sideways trying to come up with an excuse rather than the truth, she taps her fuzzy slipper in an attempt to help her to think but fails, clucking her cheek  with big eyes responds very slowly in a unusual tone hoping not to reveal her real motive  "I don't know."

"What?  Don't know what?" asks Ted a little confused about the answer for a question he didn't ask while wondering if she is on some medication that is making her act a little weird.

She rolls her eyes towards the ceiling hoping to find inspiration for a logical answer other than she's been moping the whole week for making a fool of herself, "I am allergic to green beans" is the only thing that will come out of her mouth.  Unfortunately, it is not true. She loves green beans and wonders why of all the things she could have said the only thing she can come up with is green beans.

For a few seconds, Ted stares at her.  "You ate a whole bunch at the picnic the other day.  Did it make you sick?  I'm really sorry for getting them , I didn't know.  Those spots look really bad!"

"Uh, no.  They were delicious" replies Faith not wanting him to feel bad especially about a lie. Wondering how she will never eat green beans in front of him and not knowing what to say adds "It just happens once in awhile when I'm in a mood."

"A mood causes an allergy?  How strange!  I've not heard of that before" sincerely replies Ted wondering if Faith needs to see a specialist.

"Yeah, actually the allergy is there all the time but a mood can make it flare up" offers Faith wondering just how stupid she can sound within a period of less than ten minutes. This must be a record.

"What are you taking for it?" asks Ted if it is the medication that is making her seem kind of strange.

Feeling frustrated, Faith rolls her arms in big circles to her side trying to gain momentum for a somewhat rational response and finds only nonsense winning the race.  She notices the saucer on the coffee table, "I'm drinking herbal tea.  They say it helps."

"Maybe I should try some" suggests Ted walking towards her kitchenette where the box of tea is still sitting on the counter.  "This is Earl Grey, is that the same as herbal tea?"

"Yes, it comes in different flavors.  Such a gray and charcoal ... metal ... steel" mumbling states Faith randomly trying to pick colors in the gray spectrum that makes sense only to her at the moment.

"I've heard of charcoal for stomach problems, but never metal tea.  It must be something new" offers Ted not exactly trendy in the tea department "Coffee is more my thing."

"Yes, we will have to talk about that more in the future" offers Faith wanting desperately to change the subject to something she can handle with some sort of ease and grace. "They have wonderful healing elements like iodine, mercury, and menthol".

For the first time, Ted looks directly at her and wonders if maybe she took too much Nyquil. "Maybe you need to rest so you can feel better."

"That sounds like a good idea.  Did you need to see me about something?" asks Faith catching a glimpse of her reflection in the microwave and realizing that all of the pink medication spots are still affectionately attached to her face.  She scrambles to cover her face nonchalantly but awkwardly with her hands as if she is a deep thinker with one covering her chin and check with the other on her sprawled across her forehead.

Watching, Ted sees her while looking down smiles to himself "Yes, I think that I'll show you tomorrow when you're feeling better.  I hope you have a restful night".  Without thinking, he gently kisses her on the forehead before turning to leave.

After the door closes, Ted laughs to himself "Metal tea?" all the way back to his house.

As the door closes behind him, Faith leans her back against the door and slowly sinks to the floor wondering if she is winning a competition for the biggest fool yet.