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“Dad…”
“What? It does. And why is this thing here?” he repeats.
“Sheriff Smythe dropped him off, thinking he was one of ours. I’ll go take him over to Local Legend-Dairy.”
“Don’t waste your time. Just take it down to the road and let it wander home. Didn’t you say you had some big plans tonight?”
I do. Big, big plans. Ones that I don’t plan on telling him about. A girl has to have some secrets, right?
“Yes, I do. But it won’t take long to walk him over there. Besides, I’m almost done here.”
“If you say so. Don’t want you to be late for…what is it that you said you were doing again?”
Nice try, Dad…
I smile, knowing what he’s after. I’ve been very purposefully vague about said plans. I love my parents, and love working with them running the family farm. But at twenty-four, I need to have some things that are mine and mine alone. Like the knowledge of who I’m spending tonight with and just how good his arms feel around me.
Butterflies fill my tummy at the thought of time alone with the only man who has ever made me feel this way. Even just thinking about him makes my insides light up like a Christmas tree. Everything about him—from his smile, to his laugh, to the way he listens to me prattle on about fleece—makes me want more. And maybe someday I can have that. But for now, I’ll have to settle for sneaking away when we can.
“Just meeting a friend for dinner.”
It isn’t a lie. He is a friend. He’s just also more than a friend. Way, way more than a friend. Just like tonight is more than simply dinner. Tonight is a date. No, that isn’t quite right either. I don’t know what to call it. A date is what you call it when things are casual. This isn’t casual. It might be secret, but it isn’t casual. Two years of sneaking around is long past casual.
"You should get out more. You know, your mother tells me that Dylan Baker is single.”
“She tells me that too,” I reply, trying to limit the frustration in my voice. My mother, as well as several other people in town, have let me know on a number of occasions that Dylan, former captain of the football team and now local horse farrier, is single. Good for Dylan. I have nothing against him—he’s a nice guy. Always has been. But he wasn’t of interest to me in high school, and nothing has changed in the last ten years. “I should get Chris back to the Sharpes. I’m sure they miss him.”
“Don’t let that asshole give you a hard time. You’re doing him a favor. If he gives you any lip, you just let me know.”
“Dad, what is it between you two? Are you ever going to stop this ridiculousness?”
“Sure, when he apologizes.”
“For?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Of course. I want to scream. I’m dying to know what this feud, for lack of a better word, is all about. I’ve heard stories from my mother about how the men had been the best of friends right up until their early twenties, when everything changed. But no one has ever said what that something was.
“Alright then. I’ll be back.”
Grabbing the lead, I wave at Dad, walking down the drive with the llama. Excitement washes over me, trying to think of the perfect thing to say when I arrive. Glancing at my watch, I do some quick math, pretty sure that it would be Sixten who will greet me rather than his father. At least I hope so.
There might still be a few hours before we’re supposed to meet up, but every part of me is buzzing at the thought of seeing him early. A pre-date. A chance to see those muscles in action. A shudder rips through me, my body going just as wild as my mind.
Because there is nothing on this earth quite like Sixten Sharpe.
Chapter Two
SIXTEN
With the last of the cows securely back in their pasture after the day’s second milking, I lean against the split-rail fence, letting my mind wander. These days, my mind only wanders to one place.
Aimee Silver.
Just the thought of her makes me warm up inside, giving the bright summer sun a run for its money today. The smile she puts on my face also can’t be beat. Not since I know I am going to get to see her tonight. Get to hold her in my arms and pretend for a moment that we are just like any other guy and gal out there.
Local Legend-Dairy Farm backs right up to Knitty Gritty Fleece Farm. Both are a little over sixty acres and were started by our great-grandfathers, and have been handed down to the next generation ever since. In a town that is mostly crops, having the two major livestock farms right next to each other seemed convenient—and it probably was for many years. The Silvers and Sharpes had been good friends for decades, at least until Roy and Bob had their falling-out.
