AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Another stray thought flickered through me. I was glad to be here with her. I felt happy, and despite everything, there was a strange peace inside me. I was actually grateful the last week had gone the way it had, because it meant I ended up here in this car with her. There was honestly nowhere else in the world I’d rather be.
I relaxed back in my seat and grinned a smile of pure satisfaction.
That was, until Bailey simultaneously slammed her brake and horn, and then began cursing the truck who’d just pulled out in front of us before it decided to drive too slowly for her taste.
Heart pounding and muscles coiling with tension, I jerked upright, big-eyed as I glanced around to make sure we were still alive.
We were, thank God.
Okay, so maybe I was glad I was here with her, but it still would’ve been nice if I’d been in the driver’s seat.
* * *
You’ll never believe it, but we made it to Bailey’s family farm without wrecking Bailey’s car or running over anything or anyone in the process. Miracles did happen.
Waiting until she’d killed the engine, I unwrapped my fingers from the passenger side’s door handle that may or may not have permanent imprints of my fingerprints now, and I took in her childhood home.
“Well, this is it,” Bailey announced, heaving out a breath as she looked out the front window as well.
“Holy shit,” I murmured, my shock instant
Dusk had fallen but I could still see enough to know she hadn’t been lying when she’d said our two homesteads resembled each other. Both were two-story farm-style houses, but my parents’ was white, whereas her dad’s house was light blue. They both sat atop an incline and seemed to be surrounded by barren fields, laying fallow and waiting for a spring harvest. But Bailey’s family had built a heck of a lot more outbuildings than mine, plus they appeared to have more heavy equipment machinery and what looked like a horse barn to the right.
Next to me, Bailey read my mind. “Freaky, isn’t it?”
I nodded mutely.
When a yellow lab lazily trotted out to greet us, I blinked against the déjà vu. “Freaky’s certainly one way to put it.”
I pushed open the door so I could go meet her dog. He looked old and incapable of jumping any longer, so I knelt down before him and let him sniff my face as I rubbed his ears. “Hey there, big guy. Aren’t you a sweetheart? It’s Humphrey, right?” I asked, glancing toward Bailey when she stepped from the car and moved around to kneel next to us.
But I didn’t need to wait for her nod of confirmation. The lab’s tail began to thump heartily and his entire backend shook back and forth at the mention of his name. I laughed and moved my face away when he tried to lick his way into my mouth and nostrils.
Yeah, he was definitely Humphrey.
“Okay, quit hogging my damn dog,” Bailey finally said, moving right up against my shoulder as if she was going to ram me aside so she could shower her pet with attention. But then she only grinned and sent me a wink.
Finally noticing her, the lab swung his big head her way, slinging drool over the both of us so he could let her scratch him too.
Crying out our dismay, we both wiped the gross off our faces before we shared a grimace of disgust, only to burst out laughing as we compared who had the most drool dripping from our fingers.
“Is that you, brat?” a voice called from the front porch of the house before footsteps sounded on the steps.
Bailey groaned and pushed to her feet, scrubbing her palms clean on the hips of her jeans as she did. I was slower to rise, following the same procedure with my own hands.
The guy strolling toward us was lean and tall and seemed to be in his early to mid-twenties. His hair was dark, but his grin was pure Bailey.
“We didn’t know if you were going to make it in tonight or tomorrow morn…”
He slowed to a stop when he caught sight of me. For a second, he stared blankly before pointing. “Where the hell did you come from?” He glanced at Bailey. “Who is this guy? Did he come with you?”
I turned to her, my stomach sinking fast. I started to shake my head, denying it, but no, she wouldn’t bring me home to her family without warning them who I was, without even telling them she was brining anyone with her. Would she?
She glanced at me, shrugging. “Hell, no. He didn’t come with me. I thought he was one of your friends.”
My mouth fell open as the man I guessed was her brother spun to me more alertly.
For a good two seconds, I froze, not sure if I should run before this fellow tried to kick my ass for trespassing or if I should try to explain I really had gotten here via Bailey. It was kind of hard to decide which of the two would land me less dead.
