He looks at me for a long second, trying to read me. I don't give him much to work with. He lets it go for the night.
The second time is in the barn. I'm working on Annabelle's foreleg, where she's been favoring it, and he comes in and leans against the stall door and watches me for a while and then says, "I didn’t watch out for you because Tyler asked me to, Falon."
I don't look up. "I know that too."
"Then why?—"
I didn’t say anything; I just let go of Annabelle’s foot, walked her back to her corral, and placed a scoop of oats in her bucket. I didn’t know what to tell Bo. I can’t decide whether I am angry and hurt because he and Tyler discussed whether it was okay for us to date, like I didn’t have a choice in the matter, or whether it is because he left me at the dance and didn’t include me in their little pow-wow.
He is quiet for a moment. "Fair enough," he says, walking back to the house when I don’t answer.
On Wednesday, four days after the Fourth, I am on my way to the chicken coop when I see Bo walking in the farmhouse. I collect the eggs, and when I come back, he's gone, and I stand on the porch in the last of the evening light, and for the first time since Bo got here, I feel alone. Like a part of me is missing.
At eleven-thirty in the evening, I finally finish my last chore of fixing the barn loft stairs. I walk in tired and grungy, wanting to introduce myself to my bed when I saw asink full of dishes. I could wait and do them tomorrow, but that would smell and drive me crazy all night. I drop my head and shuffle my way to the sink.
“Hey, there, Falon. Do you mind if we talk?”
I don’t say anything, I just wash the plate, but he speaks anyway.
“Look, I know I screwed up. I know I should have stayed with you, and I know that I never should have let Tyler influence my love for you. Oh, Falon. I have been in love with you since I was old enough to have a crush. You have always been my world, and when I thought I couldn’t have you, I left. It was easier to leave than to see you every day and know I couldn’t have you. And I tried to get over you. I dated everyone I could to get you out of my head, but every time I saw you and every time anyone else got close, I felt my heart tighten, and it felt like I was betraying the only one I truly loved. With every one of your boyfriends, I was so jealous that it was only a matter of time before me and them came to an agreement that if they hurt you, they’d have to answer to me.”
I think back to school and don’t know whether to be upset or tickled pink that Bo was the reason I was mostly dateless. Yeah, I went to prom my senior year, but the poor kid looked scared to death the whole night. I thought it was Tyler, and I didn’t question it, but it was Bo. Even back then, he was my knight in shining armor. I just wish I’d known it was him. I saw him with other girls and figured I wasn’t enough for him.
“Falon, it was always you, always has been. And when you are ready, I will be here. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve waited eight years for you, and I will wait eight more, if that is what you need.”
By this time, my hands have abandoned washing dishesaltogether and are just sitting in sudsy water. When he stops talking, I gather my courage to look at him and turn around, but he is gone. He’d come in and changed everything. He’d spoken his heart, not caring if I wanted to hear it. He was going to tell me, and he did.
I’d been so angry that I didn’t think about what he was going through. I feel awful. I need to find him.
This is the third time he’s just vanished. I walk back out to the guest house, but he isn’t there, nor is Rowdy.
That night, I go to bed thinking about what he’d said. I need to talk to him. I need to set this straight.
The next day, Frank is kind enough to allow me to sleep in until six-thirty. I am grateful for that. When I go outside, I pause at the door. Dispatch was finishing her breakfast, the chickens were out, and everyone was fed.
“Bo.” It had to be him. Thirty minutes later, I see him disappear into the farmhouse again. It was like a hunt and find game, and so far, he was winning.
I’d just left the kitchen when I could have sworn I saw movement through the kitchen window. Where did he come from? I was just in there.
I open the screen door and am about to walk in when I hear voices. Not just one, but a couple. Who did Bo have here? I pause at the door and listen.
“Stop, don’t push so hard,” I hear a voice whisper-yell.
“I’m not, you’re just being slow.”
“Hey, don’t tease the cripple.”
“The only cripple here is your speed.”
“Broken or not, I can still take you on.”
“Yeah, yeah, I heard that before, and yet, here I stand.”
It is Bo and Tyler. They have been bickering like that forever. What are they up to? I cringe when, just then, my phone buzzes in my pocket.
I step back outside.
“Hello.” It is Mom.
