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Living here permanently.
Her housing was included here. She made as much as she did teaching. The hours were a bit different, and the work certainly was, but she enjoyed it.
She couldn’t imagine what her parents would say, and she supposed she’d find out soon enough. She was leaving tomorrow morning to go visit her folks for a couple of days. Her sisters had both gone back to their lives in other states, and Maddy wanted to make sure Mama hadn’t been driven into a ditch by Estelle Gardner. If she had, Maddy was sure she wouldn’t call.
Her heart sang a sad song as she finished with the chickens and went to take care of the goats. A brown and white one bleated at her as if June could feel her melancholy. For all Maddy knew, she could.
She ran her hand along the pygmy goat’s head and gave her a smile. “Need a drink, guys?” She bent and dumped out the water she’d given them last night, then picked up the three-foot-round tub and carried it out of their pasture.
A spigot rose from the ground a few feet away, and she scrubbed down the black plastic. She’d run a hose to it on the other side of the fence, as she wouldn’t be able to carry it full of water, and she liked how the tasks kept her mind free and her hands busy.
It could be a dangerous combination—especially if she let herself think too long on Kyle. She’d barely seen him, save for an hour or two in the evenings. Even then, he was so busy with the bands who came to the ranch for the summer concert series that they barely spent any time alone.
They’d danced under the bleachers a few times in the past week, and he’d stopped by her house for breakfast after she’d fed the chickens on Thursday. Otherwise, she didn’t even see him at meals.
“Hey,” a woman said, and Maddy glanced up. Her hands stung from the cold, but it actually felt good as the morning had already started to get hot.
“Hey, Hadley.” She smiled at her cabinmate. “What are you doing out here?”
“Looking for you.” She graced Maddy with her charming, winning smile. She’d been here for five days, and she’d already gone out with two different cowboys. Maddy could see why. The woman was tall and lithe, while still having curves in all the places men liked.
She never wore anything that wasn’t glued to her skin, and her red hair shone like fiery gold in the sunshine. She smiled constantly, and she could flirt better than Silas Money—and that was saying something.
Maddy worked with the man in the ice cream booth a few days a week, and he flirted with men, women, her, his boss, everyone. He flirted withhimself, for crying out loud. Maddy sure did like him, though. He was charming, but hardworking. Good-looking and kind. Cheerful and gracious.
She got the same feeling from him she’d been getting from Kyle this week. They were both hiding something. Maddy wouldn’t ask Silas what his secret was, but she had asked Kyle. He’d said, “Nothing,” both times, and Maddy didn’t know how to reach him.
“You found me,” she said to Hadley. “What’s up?” She turned off the water by cranking down the handle and took the clean bin over to the fence. As she slipped it through the slats, a couple of the nosier goats tried to get a drink of air.
“I want you to model for me today.”
Maddy spun back to Hadley. “Excuse me? Model for you?”
“Holly and Becks loved my idea for a ‘hot cowgirl summer,’ and I think you’d be the perfect model.” She spread her hands above her head as if miming a headline on “hot cowgirl summer.”
Maddy could only gape at her. “I’m not hot. You should be the model.”
Hadley laughed, but she didn’t deny her own attractiveness. For all Maddy knew, she’d be going out with another cowboy tonight. “Honey, we’re all hot standing out here in the sun.” She grinned at Maddy. “Besides, you’re going to be wearingCactus, and their clothes are stunning.”
Maddy had never heard of Cactus, unless Hadley was talking about the spiny plants—and she wasn’t. “This is for the new e-zine?” she asked.
“Yep.” Hadley leaned one of those curvaceous hips into the fence. “What do you say? I’ll do doing all the styling. Then directing the photographer.”
“Today?” Maddy had two afternoon art classes before dinner.
“Whenever,” Hadley said. “I’d love to shoot soon, so we can get the issue out in July. I’ve got a guy in Chestnut Springs who can come whenever I text.”
Maddy bet she did. Hadley pulled out her phone as if she’d do it now.
“I have two art classes that go until four-thirty,” she said. “I’m free after that.”
“Oh, an evening shoot, with the Cactus sunflower hat.” Hadley grinned at her device, her fingers flying across the screen. “I’m texting Stephon right now.”
“Stephon?”
“He’s amazing.” Hadley glanced up from her phone. “I’ll have to tell Monday Mack our dinner will either be rushed or late.” She looked like she was really trying to decide which. “Or I’ll reschedule.” She raised her eyebrows as if Maddy knew Monday Mack well enough to say which he’d prefer more.
“Another date?” Maddy asked.
