CHAPTER NINE
Hank
After breakfast, I headed back to my place and spent the morning checking off tags in my Watusi herd. Given their rarity, I was surprised the research facility renting my pasture hadn’t opted for weekly inspections rather than just a monthly tag and headcount. Even with Mac's cutting ability, it still took us several hours to get through the entire batch. By the time the afternoon rolled around, the last thing I wanted to do was figure out how to feed myself lunch.
I toyed with the idea of showing up at Jasper’s place because I could almost guarantee he’d have something in the kitchen. But I didn’t want to interfere with his plans to be a responsible, non-procrastinating adult. And if I showed up for lunch, I couldn’t guarantee I’d keep my hands off him. And if I didn’t keep my hands off him, I knew damn well where we’d spend the entire afternoon. Which sure as shit wouldn’t be in a barnyard chasing animals or in the main house scrubbing toilets.
So I stuffed away the urge and packed myself into the truck for lunch at DeeDee’s. While I was there, I ought to stop by the grocery store and the post office, but neither held much appeal. Jasper had become a serious distraction. When I should’ve been working, I’d spent my time staring off into space, thinking of excuses to be around him. I’d mooned less in high school than I was now.
“Hey, Selena, how’s it going?”
“It’s going good. How about yourself?”
“I can’t complain, and nobody would care even if I did.” Selena grinned and pulled her pad out of her apron. “True story. The usual?”
“If it wasn’t so good, I’d get something else once in a while.”
“Patty melt with crinkle fries, it is.” Selena paused and looked back at me. “Chess pie for dessert?”
“You know, I’m gonna live dangerously today. I’ll have the lemonade pie instead.”
“You feelin’ all right?”
“Trying new things is good for the soul or some shit.”
“Ha! So says the guy who’s ordered the same lunch for a decade. Do you, boo.”
“Boo? I’m gonna tell Sammy you’re flirtin’ with me.”
“He’d tell you to take the kids too,” she answered with a small laugh. All three of us had graduated from high school together, and she and Sammy had been dating since seventh grade. Sammy wasn’t worried about a damn thing.
Selena snapped the top of her pen, tapped her pad, and said, “Sit tight. I’ll get it put in.” She finished writing it up, slid it over to the cook’s window, and then grabbed silverware from under the counter to slide in front of me.
“I hear you’ve got a new friend.”
Shit.
Jasper and I had woken up early because he knew I needed to get out there and start feeding the animals, but then we got distracted. I didn’t end up pulling out of his driveway until close to nine a.m., which meant everybody and their goddamn brother saw my truck from the road—and it sure as shit was not in my driveway.
“Don’t try that crap with me. I was your first kiss, and I’ve been able to read you like a book since,” Selena said as she leaned down close.
“Does Sammy know?”
“We were on a break, and it’s none of his business.” Her arched brow went higher. “So…he’s cute?”
“Did it occur to anyone that maybe I went over this morning?”
“Nice try. Old Man Niemand saw your truck there last night.”
“Why the hell is everyone tracking my damn truck?”
“Because it’s never anywhere but your house.”
From the booth behind me, I heard Earl mutter to his wife, “Told you that was Hank’s truck at Sissy’s place.”
“Mm-hmm,” she said, like that settled a bet.
Dammit. This conversation would get back to Faust before I finished paying the bill. Right on cue, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
