“Wouldn’t miss it.” He stole one more kiss before we broke away from each other. “Go. Before I miss my nine o’clock appointment with Kristy Biggs and her sheep. They’re hauling her two ewes in for some fecal work to avoid a call visit fee.”
Right. Real-life work. “Okay, I’ll head home. Until tonight.”
He walked me to the farm truck, holding the door for Lady to leap up and stealing one more kiss before closing it after I climbed behind the wheel.
“I hope we can do this again sometime soon,” he said as the rattle of a truck and small trailer carrying bleating sheep interrupted our goodbye. With red cheeks, I gave the Biggs family a nod and backed out to make my way home. Mrs. Biggseyed me openly as I crept away. Probably news of our hookup would reach my family’s ears before I made it to the ranch.
***
As it turned out, Mrs. Biggs didn’t need to announce my all-nighter with Aiden.
Pulling up to the goat barn, I couldn’t have hidden my arrival if I had wanted to. The old truck backfired, which brought people rushing out from every building on the property. Baker from the horse barn, Dahn and Dodge from the goat barn, Linc and Bella from the dress shop, and Granny from the house.
“Glad to see you decided to join us,” Baker called as I slid from the truck and tossed him the keys.
“Now leave the man be,” Granny shouted at Baker from the porch, her recently dyed plum hair tied up with a yellow ribbon. “Ain’t like you never came tumbling in after an all-night party sporting love bites the size of my buttermilk biscuits on your neck, Studebaker Bastian!”
Lady made a beeline for the goats. Willy stood his ground on the other side of the fence as Dahn eyeballed my hickeys. Face hot as blacktop in August, I gathered up the dog and went inside the house, stepping gingerly around the pumpkins all lined up on the front steps.
“Don’t pay no mind to them turnips. Get yourself in here and have some breakfast,” Granny said before giving my brothers the two-finger I’m watching you motion. “Pretty sure all of us had a few suck marks on us at one time. Back in my days as a Vegas showgirl, I once spent the night with a famous musician who left me covered in smooching spots. One was right beside my hooter and—”
The front door swung open behind us, saving me from hearing more about the ’60s singer who kissed my grandmother’shooter. There were things that would haunt me forever. That dark night with Bella being the top with any graphic details of Granny’s wild sex days on the strip.
Bella appeared at my side, smelling like a spring garden, gold hair in twin plaits. She smiled up at me as her arm slid into mine.
“I will want to know everything,” she whispered as Granny went on about pompadours and skinny tie-wearing men. “And I meaneverything!”
“Okay,” I softly replied, easing into the mudroom to get Lady’s check cord. Bella waited in the doorway as I hooked the leash onto Lady’s new yellow collar. I’d be glad when the cone came off. Not as glad as Lady though, I was sure. Kneeling beside the dog, I glanced up at my friend. “He’s really nice. To me, you know? He says he likes my intensity.”
Her green eyes grew thoughtful. “Just go slow, honey, okay? He seems very nice, but he also has a reputation.” I made a face. “I’m not putting down what you two are doing.”
“Good, because we’re both just enjoying ourselves. I know we can’t get involved with anyone.”
“I’m sorry for making your life such a sewer.”
“My life is good. You’re the sister I never had. Stop being so hard on yourself. We had to leave.”
“Ihad to leave. You could have stayed.”
“No, I couldnothave stayed with you in danger. I go where you go. That’s what friends are supposed to do. I made a decision. He would have come looking for me first, you know that. He knew how close we were. Always hated me for that, I think.”
She fell silent for a minute. We’d hashed this out a hundred times since early spring. Nothing would change, nothing could change, and I was resigned to the choices I’d made.
“Friends aren’t supposed to keep each other from finding someone special.” I shook my head. This was a familiardiscussion between us. Her guilt was huge but totally unwarranted. “Right.” She drew in a shaky breath. “If things get good with you and Aiden, promise me you won’t stop seeing him because of what might happen.”
“I promise.” It was the fastest way to make her less pained. I hated seeing her hurt in any way. She bit down on her lower lip before leaving me to my thoughts. I sat down on the floor to breathe in the scent of fabric softener from the running dryer. My head was really itchy this morning. Too many conflicting things tumbling around in my skull. Just like the dryer. Wish it were as easy to sort things out in my head as it was after the buzzer sounded and the clothes were taken out to fold. Lady spread herself over my lap, knowing, as dogs always did, what their humans needed most.
A hug, a kiss on the hand, and a few loving strokes of soft fur helped way more than meds ever could.
***
War can break out over the smallest thing.
Say, for instance, your older brother Lincoln trying to impress your friend Bella by poking fun at the youngest sibling.
“You don’t have to have a costume at all,” Linc said in that booming voice of his as we sat at the swayback picnic table cleaning out our pumpkins. The sky was bright blue, the trees stunning red and gold, and the wind had a firm bite to it. Winter was just a sneeze away. I looked up from my jack-o’-lantern, elbow deep, fingers filled with seeds and slimy pumpkin guts, to see him looking right at me. Dahn, Dodge, Baker, and Hanley were on one side of the table. Granny, Bella, Ollie, and I were on the other. Lady was napping in the sun on her check cord, her nose pointed at the goats who were lined up at the fence blatting for pumpkin. When we were done, they’d get the seeds and pulp,and in a few days, the shells. They were great treats, chock full of fiber, vitamins, and protein. The cows and horses would get some as well, just to be fair.
“What?” I asked and got a smirk from my bearded brother.
