Chapter 6
LUCY
“Earth to Lucy,” my mom chimes, waving her hands at me from across the kitchen. “Honey, I’ve been talking to you for the last five minutes, and you’ve hardly said a word. What’s got you so distracted this afternoon?”
“Oh, nothing,” I promise her, tucking my phone in my pocket and mentally kicking myself for zoning out the way I did. I love my mom with all my heart, but if she even gets the slightest clue that I’m developing a crush on this new man in town, I’ll never hear the end of it.
“Okay, well, come give me a hand with dessert. Can’t you see I’ve got my hands full over here?” she whines, before winking at me.
“Mama, I’ve been waiting for you to give me something to do for the last hour,” I remind her, and she laughs.
I’m about to ask her how she’s feeling when my brother Hayes walks in the door.
“Hey, Mama. Hey, Lucy Lu,” he says, his eyes widening when he sees the cast on her foot and the crutches under her arms. “What the hell happened here?”
“Oh, I’m fine, honey. Just had a little fall yesterday, but it’s nothing that these old crutches and some rest won’t fix,” Mom reassures him.
“And you didn’t think to call?” Hayes asks, the exasperation evident in his voice.
Ever since Dad died, my brother has become over protective of me and my mom.
I know he has good intentions, but sometimes he can be a little suffocating.
And I have no doubt that not knowing about our trip to the emergency room is going to send him into orbit.
“I knew you were busy riding last night, and I didn’t want you to have any distractions. But don’t worry, Lucy Lu has taken great care of me today, haven’t you, Sweetheart?”
I nod, and Hayes shoots me a look of disapproval. “So. can someone fill me in on what happened?” he asks, and I don’t miss the lack of patience in his tone.
“Daryl and Denise,” I mumble, preparing myself for a fight.
“How in the hell did the pigs break Mama’s ankle? Damn it, I can’t stand those fuckers,” my brother explodes, and I remind myself that fighting with him won’t help anything.
“Honey, it’s fine,” my mom reassures him. “The pigs managed to get out of their pen, and I fell when I was trying to get them back in. It’s not their fault. Plus, look at how cute they are.”
All three of us turn to see both of my pigs splashing in the mud puddle I filled for them earlier today.
“Yeah, see. How can you be mad at something that cute?” I ask, causing Hayes to roll his eyes.
“I don’t care how cute they are. How in the hell is Mama gonna get up and down all the stairs for the next couple months?” my brother asks accusingly.
“I’m staying with your Aunt Martha for a while. So it’ll just be you and Lucy for a while here at home,” Mom tells him, and he cringes. I can tell he’s out of questions to throw at me, but I still have a feeling this isn’t the last I’ll be hearing about this whole situation. Great.
“Actually, I was coming to talk to you about that. Colton is having some issues with the old place next door, and he needs a place to stay. He’d never ask for help, but it doesn’t seem right, letting him sleep in his truck until he gets everything settled.
Do you care if I offer him the guest room for a bit? ”
Wait, that’s so weird. Drake’s having to sleep in his truck too, I think before refocusing on Moms’s answer.
“Oh dear, I was worried that would be the case. The poor boy, sleeping in his truck! And in this heat? Absolutely not! I think that would be wonderful, as long as Lucy’s okay with it,” my mom says, and both she and my brother turn to look at me.
I cringe inwardly at the thought of living with someone I’ve never met for the next few weeks, but I know there’s not really a reason to say no. Hayes would never consider bringing someone into our house that he didn’t trust, so I just shrug.
“Fine. Can’t wait to spend the next month or two with not one, but two annoying old men,” I tease, and Mama laughs.
“Hey, I’m only thirty-one,” Hayes argues. “Now, Colton on the other hand…he’s an old man”
Mom and I giggle at Hayes’s joke, and I hold up my hands in surrender.
“Fine, fine. Y’all aren’t old. You know I have to give you shit, though,” I concede.
“But wait, how old is Colton?” I ask, my curiosity piqued.
I’ve never met my brother’s best friend, and all I really know about him is that he bought the place next door to us when his rodeo career ended suddenly a few months ago.
“Don’t I know it. And maybe thirty-six. I’m not sure, but I know he’s several years older than me.”
“What’s wrong with the house?” Mama asks, gesturing for me to pour the cake batter I just finished mixing into the pan in front of her.
I pour and lose myself momentarily in thoughts of last night while my brother rambles on about his best friend. But my attention is piqued when I hear the word “squirrels” come out of his mouth.
Wait. There’s no way in the world. Drake’s name is not Colton, and there’s no way the man I spent last night with was as old as my brother's best friend. Plus, not that age really matters, and I know it was dark most of the night, but I’d say he was closer to my age of twenty-seven than almost forty. It must just be a weird coincidence.
“Anyway, now that that’s settled, how’s everything here at Cedar Creek coming?”
“Ugh, we’re so behind schedule this year,” I groan, thinking about everything Amelia and I will need to take care of before the season starts at our pumpkin patch.
“The pumpkins are not growing quite as well as they have in the past, and we still have so much organizing to get done for the hay bale obstacle course fundraiser.”
“Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine. You and Amelia always manage to pull everything off just in time,” my brother reminds me.
“Yeah, but just once I’d love to be a little ahead of schedule,” I mumble, and Mom laughs.
“Baby girl, I hate to break it to you, but you’ve never been early for anything a day in your life.”
I roll my eyes, but silently acknowledge she’s right. I’m never actually late, but being chronically pressed for time is one of my most consistent personality traits.
“Fine, I guess you’re right,” I mumble as my black lab, Knox, runs into the room, barking like crazy.
“Oh, it looks like Colton’s here,” my mom points out, and I pause to look out the window as a gray truck rolls down the driveway.
I stare for a moment before I realize I know that truck. I’m almost certain I spent several minutes pressed against it last night, begging for the man inside it to fuck me.
Holy shit, this is gonna be a disaster.