Chapter 14
Rowe
“How are things going, honey?” Mom asks.
“Oh, pretty good.”I suppose,considering I’ve been accused of having the hots for the cockiest jerk ever.“How was the concert last night?”
“It was great,” she gushes. “There’s one more tonight, and then we’re heading north.”
“How’s Bill?”
She flashes the phone’s camera to Bill, who’s lying in a hammock he’s hooked up between the camper and a tree. He’s got an open book propped up on his legs.
He waves. “Morning, Rowe!”
“Morning!” I eagle-eye the colorful cover. It’s clearly a thriller, so I tease him with, “Is that the latest Abby Jimenez romance you’ve got there?”
“What?”
“Never mind. Hey, don’t let my mom boss you around too much.”
He chuckles. “Oh, I let her do it just enough so that it’s cute.”
I can’t fight the grin that takes over my face. “Well played, Bill. Well played.”
“Honey,” Mom says, “Clarice Sinclair called me this morning and said something about a man living at the house.”
Wow. She waited all of two minutes before starting in on the gossip.
A deep divot creases the space between her brows. “What’s going on?”
My stomach ties up in knots. How do I make this sound awesome and not insane?Here goes nothing.“Okay. So this is crazy, but bear with me.”
I tell her everything—about us being cut off from the feedstore, about Pane. Everything but the kiss, that is.
Oh,that kiss.
It can’t be pushed out of my mind fast enough, no matter how hard I try. I thought for sure he would bring it up in the truck, but he didn’t say one word.
Not one.
I’m scared. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
Bad, probably. He probably hated every second of it.
So why’d he break it off and thenlaunchhimself at me?
Instinct, obviously. When someone kisses you, of course you want to take it to the next level and tongue them.
Unless you’re smooching family members.
But Mom must not sense any emotional turmoil in me, because all she says is “Honey, that’s great! Is he nice? Do you think he can save us?”
“I don’t know. He’s talking to Coleman Barrier right now. But I’ll keep you posted.”
“Do we need to come home?”
In the background, Bill looks up from his thriller and frowns.
