AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aubrey
“You’re back!Finally!”
Aggie Culberson, my best friend and assistant on the farm, stood up from where she was seated at the small, square kitchen table. She was dressed in light wash skinny jeans and a big, red sweater; a long braid of her sandy-brown hair draped over her shoulder.
She hurried over and gave me a quick up and down, as if to make sure that nothing was out of place.
“What the hell took you so long out there?” she asked, a tinge of worry to her voice. Between the two of us, Aggie was the more cautious one, always worried about how hard I pushed myself on a daily basis keeping the farm up and running. “Actually, never mind that right now, you look like you’re freezing. Go get changed into some dry clothes, and I’ll pour you some tea.”
I laughed, casually slipping off my snow-dusted coat. “Thanks, Mom.”
Aggie raised a thick, dark eyebrow. “Hey, you joke, but sometimes I wonder what kind of nonsense you’d get up to if I weren’t here to make sure you were taking care of yourself. They’d find you frozen stiff among the llamas.”
I shook my head. I was too taken with the scents of cooking food that hung heavy in the kitchen. I closed my eyes and took a big whiff.
“God, you really outdid yourself, Aggs,” I said.
“I think I did a pretty good job,” she replied, putting her hands on her hips and looking around at the spread on the kitchen counter. “But you’re not getting one bite without cleaning up first. Change into something warmer, OK?”
I pursed my lips, eager as hell to tell her about what had happened out there. Aggie, knowing me all too well, raised a finger.
“When you’re cleaned up.”
“Fine, fine.”
She took my coat, and I hurried out of the room, images of the men I’d just met still fresh in my mind. It seemed so surreal yet so exciting at the same time. I was already trying to figure out how I could see them again.
Mac and Adam. Their names repeated in my thoughts as I hurried up the narrow, wooden stairway to the second floor, rushing down the hallway decorated with photos of my family. Once I was in my bedroom I shut the door, a smile forming on my lips as I thought about them.
I tried to push them out of my head as best I could, slipping off my wet clothes and changing into a comfy pair of sweatpants and an oversized NYU sweatshirt. The snow was still coming down hard, making me glad I’d taken the time to put the animals in the barn.
When I was dressed, I stepped into some slippers and went back into the kitchen just in time to see Aggie pull her teal-colored Dutch oven out. The delicious scent of roast turkey blended with the smells of biscuits and stuffing and all the other dishes filled the air. I realized then that I’d been so wrapped up in the events of the early afternoon that I’d totally spaced on how hungry I was.
“Thanks for cooking,” I said, my eyes locked onto the Dutch oven. “But I’m going to have to ask you to get out of the way right now so I can dig in.”
“Patience, my dear,” Aggie said, lifting the Dutch oven lid and revealing the simmering food within. “We need, let’s say, ten more minutes to let the meat stew in its own juices. In the meantime, we drink tea, and youtell me about what happened out there that took you so long to get back.”
I grinned, sliding into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. Sure enough, a mug of hot tea appeared in front of me.
I leaned in and gave the tea a sniff, wrapping my hands around the big, ceramic mug.
“I swear, sometimes I think you and I ought to just get married. Not like I’m ever going to meet a man who knows me as well as you do.”
She laughed. “Don’t give up hope just yet, oh negative one. And besides, we’ve been over this before, you’re not my type. You know I like my women a little on the shorter and thicker side.”
That got a laugh out of me. I took a sip of my tea, letting the warmth run through me. Aggie prepared a mug of her own and came over to sit.
“Okay, I’m ready now. Spill.”
“Alright. So, it started when I heard this weird noise off in the distance when I was chasing George up Halbrook Trail…”
I told her about Henry, how I’d found him in the ravine. After that, I gave her the full scoop about Mac and Adam.
Her eyes lit up. “You’re serious? You finally met the guys from Thousand Acres?”
“Yep, turns out it’s a family operation, like here.”
“And? What’s the story with them?”
