Welcome To Hickville High (Hickville High Series Book 1) (8 page)

The rest of the tour of school lasted about ten minutes. Once they climbed back in the car, Kelsey let her thoughts drift to Drew, the gala, and getting a job. She promised herself she wasn’t going to obsess over his non-reply to the big question. And by obsess she meant resist talking about it to Zoe. But she knew she had to figure out a way to get there. First of all, it was the coolest fund-raising event at her school—bigger than prom. Second, she was going with Drew Montgomery. He was one of those guys who was not only extremely hot, he was nice. Every girl wanted to be with him, and he wanted to be with Kelsey. She got a queasy feeling in her stomach. She hoped she didn’t blow it by sending that text. She needed to see him again, she had to get to the gala, then everything would be okay.

The getting a job part was going to be a challenge. Not because she didn’t think the good people of Hillside, Texas, would be willing to hire her. But, because, although her parents agreed to let her get a job, she wasn’t feeling the commitment to allow her time to work at said job.

As her mom weaved through town from the school to home, Kelsey tried to scope out possible places of employment. Old lady boutiques, a hardware store, a junk/antique shop, a gift shop, a flower shop, and the café.

She had six weeks until the gala, three weeks until school started. Crap, three weeks! Once school started, her possible work hours would be severely limited. She didn’t care what Dad said, she needed to start looking like yesterday. But with Dad driving the truck and Mom the SUV, how was she going to sneak away to job hunt?

Her phone dinged a text. Her heart pounded. Was this the answer to the question?

Disappointment replaced the thudding in her chest. It was from Austin.

Austin: How was registering?

Austin. If he took her job hunting her parents wouldn’t have to know a thing—of course until she snagged employment. But she’d deal with that later.

*

A week of egg gathering and working in the feed store later, she hadn’t worked up the nerve to ask Austin to take her job hunting. And worse, Drew still hadn’t answered her question. It was as if it hadn’t been asked. She had to get to the gala.

She was unpacking like a crazy person. But finding places to put good-life stuff in a crap house was just depressing. Mom tried to hide it, but Kelsey saw tiny chin quivers just before she excused herself to the bathroom or to the porch. She wanted to hug her mom and cry with her. But Mom would have hated that. What was it she’d said? “Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the ones you love?” Mom’s sacrifice was going to be in silence. Her dad and sisters, on the other hand, had apparently embraced the simple life.

Dad seemed a whole lot less stressed out, and she probably saw him smile more in the past week than she had her entire life. Both sisters had given up wearing make up after the first day. Kelsey just couldn’t. Maintaining her hair and makeup was her tie to her old life. Mackenzie continued her early morning workout routine and then went to the store with Dad and Ryan. Ryan had a real knack for arranging and organizing things there, which left Kelsey with the farm chores.

Every morning she stepped out onto the porch to find Austin sitting in the wicker rocker sipping from a mug of coffee. He’d smile, set his cup on the coffee table and say, “Morning Kelsey, ready to work?”

She was never ready to work. She wanted to sit on the porch and drink several cups of coffee. But to do that she’d have to get up literally before the chickens, and that just wasn’t an option.

It is against the law to flirt or “mash” in Abilene, Texas.

Austin sat in the wicker rocker waiting for Kelsey. He supposed he could have gone ahead and started feeding the chickens, except the highlight of his day tended to be the moment she stepped onto the porch. In that instant, before she said hello, another side of her was revealed—a freer side. One that didn’t see every second on the farm as a prison sentence.

Not that she was bitchy to him or anything. She did her work and then retreated to the house. She was missing out on the beautiful aspect of farm life. Like the horses.

He couldn’t get her to go near them. He worked with them after the feeding and cleaning chores were done. By that time, she was in the house, probably texting her boyfriend, Dan or Don or Drew or whatever the hell his name was.

Austin had the stitches removed yesterday and now that he had full use of his hand, he hoped to change Kelsey’s view of life on the farm.

The front door opened and his muscles tensed with anticipation. She stepped across the threshold, smiled, closed her eyes for a split second, and took a deep breath.

There, that was it.

That was the moment he’d been waiting for. The instant she was experiencing the—the—splendor. Yeah, the splendor of the country. And the best part was, she was totally unaware of it. As soon as she let the fresh air out of her lungs, her smile faded and sadness returned to her eyes.

Austin wanted to grab that moment for her. He wanted to show her what she couldn’t see. In the week she’d been in Texas, he hadn’t even come close.

“Morning, Kelsey, ready to work?”

“No.” She sat across from him, like she did every morning, and drank her coffee.

“The chickens are hungry.” He handed her the pail of feed.

“They’ll live.” She set it next to her chair and propped her feet on the coffee table.

It was a silly game they played every morning. But this morning she seemed different. There was something beyond the sadness. “What’s up?”

“What do you mean?”

“I dunno. You just look different.” He tapped the toe of her tennis shoe with his boot. “You’re not all mad and ‘I hate Texas’ like usual.”

“Yeah, well I’ve resigned myself to this year long prison sentence.”

“So—you want to talk about it?”

“Nope.” She took a long sip of coffee.

Austin set his cup down and stood. “Well I got my stitches out and can pick up more of the cleaning load so—I guess I’m gonna get started.”

He grabbed for the pail, but before he could lift it, Kelsey laid her hand next to his on the handle. “I got it.”

He let go and took a step back. “Okay. I’d like to get started before it gets hot. It’s already eighty-eight.”

“I’m coming.” She sat her mug next to his and followed him to the chicken yard. She scattered the chicken scratch across the ground. “I got a video from Zoe yesterday.”

Austin cleaned and filled the chicken waterers and filled the feeders with lay crumble. “Yeah?”

“A bunch of my friends were at the park playing in the Crown Fountain. Ever hear of it?”

“No.”

“It’s pretty awesome. Here, look.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and Austin leaned over her shoulder to watch the video.

There was a ginormous video screen with a picture of a face on it. The face was spitting real water onto the people below. Then the water stopped, the face closed his eyes, the screen turned off, and a waterfall cascaded from the top. It looked like it was at least three stories tall.

“Whoa. Now that’s cool.”

Kelsey shoved her phone back into her pocket. “Yeah. They’re going to be doing stuff like that all summer and they don’t have a clue how lucky they are.”

“Nah, this is lucky. They’re missing out on rural America. Look at you. You’re a pro at feeding chickens and gathering eggs. Just think, while they’re playing in some e-coli infested urban fountain, you are shoveling one-hundred-percent natural horse shit.”

Kelsey shook her head. “When you put it like that…”

He slung his arm around her shoulder, careful to make sure it didn’t look like he was trying to come on to her. They walked to the coop and Austin placed eggs in the empty chicken scratch pail that Kelsey held. “I mean would Zoe have a clue how to pick up a warm fresh-from-the-chicken-ass egg?”

“Unlike me, she probably would have grabbed the egg and not a snake.”

“But then I wouldn’t have had to have stitches and watch you do all the work for a week.”

Kelsey spun away from Austin and pointed an accusing finger at him. “I knew it! It was your plan all along.” Her eyes were bright with mischief and she was smiling, on the edge of laughing.

Austin slapped his hand over his heart. “You got me. I planted the snake there. If I’d only known you were such a greenhorn that I would still have to show you every little thing…”

He was a little worried he might have pushed the teasing too much, but Kelsey gave him the fake pout that girls tend to do when they’re flirting and said, “Poor baby.”

Wait. Was she flirting with him? Really?

She held the pail of eggs up and continued. “I’ll just run these little ol’ chicken-shit-covered eggs to the house and you can start slopping Winifred.” She batted her eyes at him dramatically.

Yes. She was definitely flirting.

“A Texas boy can’t say no to a plea like that, even if it does come from a Yankee.” This was new territory for him and he felt like he was walking across those eggs with spurs on. For once, Kelsey seemed to let the anger she held at her situation go and she was having fun—they were having fun—and he didn’t want it to go away.

She grinned a big cheesy grin and headed to the house, bucket of eggs in hand.

He was finishing filling Winifred’s water trough when he saw Kelsey jogging down from the house. She was beautiful when she wasn’t acting all surly. He was glad the smile hadn’t left her face and couldn’t help calling out to her. “Hey! I thought you’d probably spend the next couple of hours washing the eggs.”

She stopped next to him. “Mom intercepted me. So I’m stuck with you a while longer.”

“Stuck with me? Never say that to a man with a water hose.” He turned and nailed her in the gut with a stream of water.

She screamed and fought for the hose. He was taller and stronger and figured he could keep it mostly away from her, but the girl was quick and managed to get enough control over it to flip the stream of water into his face.

“Oh, it’s on now, girl.” They giggled as they wrestled for the hose and eventually she was able to wrench it from his hands. They stood a couple of feet from each other, drenched, both a little out of breath. Austin dropped his hands to his side. “Okay, take your best shot.” He sucked in his gut and prepared for the blast of water.

She hesitated then dropped the hose in the grass and turned the water off. “Nah. I think I’ll save it for when you’re not expecting it.”

“Woo, I’m scared.”

Water dripped off her eyelashes and nose and little curls formed around her face. She smiled up at him and said, “You should be.”

Yeah, he should be. “These eyes are on you.” He took a step back, stripped off his shirt, and wrung it out. “Do you want to change before we clean stalls?”

“No. This is the first time I’ve been cool since I’ve been in Texas.”

He pulled the wet T-shirt over his head. “Maybe we need to add water fight to our daily routine.”

“What we need to do is get the pool clean enough to swim in.”

Kelsey headed toward the barn and Austin couldn’t help notice the way her damp tank top clung to her curves. His hands itched to explore those curves. He tried to think of something to erase the vision, like the chickens. But then he’d think of the way Kelsey’s face softened and the smile that tugged at her lips as she tossed the chicken feed, and his blood threatened to run south again.

He shook his head to clear his imagination and caught up with Kelsey. “Wait before you go into the barn.”

“Why?”

“I got here early and I have a surprise for you.”

Kelsey stopped at the door to the tack room. “What do you mean you have a surprise?”

“Now don’t go all deer in the headlights on me. It’s not bad. Go on, open the door.”

She hesitated. “What did you do—rig a snake to jump out at me?”

“Yeah, that’s it. No—it’s a good thing.” He pushed the door open and went in ahead of her.

She peeked inside the small area before entering. “So, give me a hint.”

“You didn’t notice?” He gave an over-exasperated sigh. “I swept and…” Austin opened the door leading to the stalls. He was afraid she’d balk when she saw what he’d done so he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the concrete tie-up area.

She stared at the horses like she was looking at Godzilla. She pulled her hand from his and backed against the wall just like Mackenzie had on their first day in Texas.

“What are they doing out of their stalls?”

“It’s okay, Kelsey. They’re really nice guys and they’d like to meet you.”

She wiggled her fingers at them and gave a weak, “Hi. Now that you’ve introduced us, you can put them away.”

“You do live on a farm now. And the horses live here too and if nothing else, you need to learn how to be safe around them.”

“Can’t I be safe with them in their stalls?”

He shook his head. “Not really. Come on. We’ll take it slow.” He tried to keep his voice soft and coaxing.

“I’m not real fond of animals that can squish me. Did you see Jurassic Park?”

“Those were dinosaurs. In case you haven’t noticed, these guys are smaller and domesticated.” He reached up to scratch Harry on the forehead. The horse closed its eyes.

“Maybe to you. To me, they might as well be ten feet tall.”

“Come on. I promise Harry and Buster will not squish you.” He took her hand. “Take a couple of steps closer to Harry. It’s okay. I’ve got you and they’re tied.”

He liked the way her hand felt in his and wanted to pull her to him, instead he positioned her next to Harry. The gelding flared his nostrils, sending Kelsey reeling back. Austin caught her before she retreated more than a couple of steps and led her back to the horse. “It’s okay. He’s just smelling you. Here, put your hand out.”

“Will he bite?”

“Not unless you put your fingers in his mouth.” He rubbed the flat of his fingers across the tip of Harry’s nose. “See? It’s okay. You try.”

Carefully, she touched his nose between the nostrils. “It’s so soft.”

He caught a flash of a twinkle in her eye when she touched the horse’s nose. She was on the brink of discovering a whole new world and if he played his cards right, it could be magical.

“Okay we’re going to stand at his shoulder.” Austin moved to Harry’s left side and guided Kelsey in front of him. “He won’t kick you. Remember, the closer you are to the horse the less impact he can have if he does kick. Scratch his neck, shoulders, belly—you’re establishing a relationship.”

Kelsey cocked her head toward Austin. “What if I don’t want a relationship?”

“Then you’d miss a whole lot of fun.” Austin reached around her and stroked Harry’s back. “See, it’s not so bad.”

“It’s okay.” She sounded nonchalant, but she continued to pet the horse.

Austin grabbed a brush out of a grooming bucket and handed it to her. “Here, brush his back and stomach to his rump. But brush in the direction of the hair.”

“Oh, now I see. This is a ploy to get me to do more work.”

“You got me. Like Tom Sawyer, I’m going to have you do all of my chores so I can sit back and watch.” He was joking when he said it, but that’s exactly what he’d like to do. She was more than beautiful. She was graceful—poetry in motion. And he loved watching the micro expressions of pleasure play across her face. It was his little secret that the Quinn sister with an attitude hadn’t figured out that she was half country and that side of her was screaming to get out.

He spent the next half hour showing her how to move around the horse, where to stand, and how to pick up the feet. She did it all, too. But when he mentioned actually getting on the horse, she dug in her heels and said, “No.”

“Come on, Kelsey. I promise I won’t let go of the rope and you can just ride him around.”

“A lot of good that rope will do if he takes off.”

“First, he’s not going to take off, and second, we’ll be in the paddock so he can’t go far.”

“If he won’t run off, why did you need ‘second’?”

“Seriously? Okay, I said I wouldn’t push you. But, I will get you riding.”

“I will not ride a horse.” She stretched an arm across Harry’s back and leaned against him.

Austin had to resist laughing out loud. She was going to be a natural. She was already developing an unconscious connection. “Come on, Kelsey. Aren’t you a little interested?”

She reached up the horse’s neck and scratched under his mane. “Nope. I will not ride a horse. Not in a box. Not with a fox. I will not ride a horse, Sam I am.”

Austin released the laugh he’d been holding. “Do you remember how that book ends?”

“Yeah. But that was green eggs and ham—not giant four-legged animals.” She looked him in the eyes and the air suddenly seemed charged. Austin took a step back and tried to tuck away the sizzle he felt.

He crossed the aisle to the other horse. “I’m going to brush Buster. You wanna help?”

“Sure, as long as I don’t have to get on him.”

Austin watched the way her body stretched as she made long sweeping strokes across the horse’s back. He was mesmerized by the way she set her mouth when she was concentrating on getting every inch of horsehair brushed.

She finished and handed the brush to Austin. “So, did I pass?”

“Pass?”

“The way you were watching, I figured this had to be a test.”

Busted. Crap. “No, you just looked so—calm. I didn’t want to interfere.” Calm? Did he really say calm? She was sexy as hell brushing that horse, but figured he really ought to keep that to himself. “I’d better get these horses turned out and get the stalls cleaned.” He clipped a lead rope to Buster’s halter and released the tie-ups.

Kelsey stood with her back against the far wall. “Don’t get excited or anything, but I guess I should watch you do this, in case you can’t. You know, like if you get bit by a snake or something.”