Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 85453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“You wouldn’t dare.” Roddy’s voice is nowhere near as deep and demanding as it was only moments ago.
I realize where McKayla gets her gall from when she cocks her hip and says, “Wanna bet?”
They compete in an intense stare down for what feels like hours but is barely a minute before Roddy cracks under the pressure. “Look in the back of the fridge. I hid some pork chops behind the pitcher of milk. It should hold you over until Ma serves breakfast.” I stand a little taller when he peers at me over McKayla’s head. That’s how tall he is. He doesn’t need to peer around her. “And thanks for bringing a rake to the harvest. They always come in handy during cleanup.”
When he leaves, I lock my eyes with McKayla and ask, “Did he just call me a rake?” I’m tall, and during most of my primary school days was as skinny as a bean stalk, but I’ve bulked out a lot the past couple of years. Not as much as Roddy—clearly—but I have more of an athletic build than a slim one.
“He did.” After dumping the cold toast into the bin, McKayla heads for the refrigerator again. “But you should take it as a compliment.” She cranks her neck back to me, her smile unable to hide how kiss-swollen her lips are. “Unlike your Australian friends, a tool is a useful apparatus on any farm.” She doesn’t let my ego get too out of control. “And he could have kicked you out like he threatened numerous times after I grew into my boobs.”
“Please don’t mention your boobs,” I murmur on a groan. “At least not until the beanstalk has finished growing so I have a means to escape with the golden egg-laying hen.”
It takes McKayla as little to click on, but when she does, her smile is the biggest I’ve seen. “Fee! Fie! Fo! Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman.”
Chapter 27
McKayla
“That’s crazy. I’ve never considered how corn gets from the field onto a plate until now.” Cash peers out at the 200-acre field we just harvested. “Imagine how hard it was back in the day without machinery.”
“I don’t need to imagine. This whole part of the South is steeped with history.” I pivot to face one of the bunkhouses he pointed out yesterday. “There are camps like this stretched as far as the eye can see, but they weren’t always workers’ cabins. They were people’s homes. Their communities. Then the machines overtook.” After removing the gloves making my hands sweaty, I say, “That’s why we reared cattle for so long. Wrangling isn’t something that can be done with a machine. It just wasn’t profitable anymore.”
Hearing the passion in my voice I can’t hide, Cash asks, “Do you think you’ll ever go back to it?”
“I’m hoping… otherwise, my veterinary degree will be nothing but a framed piece of paper on a wall.”
“You want to farm?” I can’t tell if it is shock highlighting Cash’s tone or acknowledgment.
Hair slips from my bun when I nod. “This farm has been in my family for centuries. I don’t want to see it run by anyone else.”
“What about Roddy?”
“Roddy is great, but he can’t handle the business side of our industry. He just really enjoys driving tractors.”
When Cash murmurs, “And weightlifting them,” I laugh.
I run my hand down his arm to soothe his still-stinging ego before heading back to the ATV. Roddy and Cash undertook an arm wrestle competition yesterday after supper. It was close… until Roddy started playing for real. Then it was over.
For once, though, Cash wasn’t a sore loser. He took his defeat like a man, and it had my mother endearing to him even more.
He’s won the whole family over, and it’s had me remembering the terms we stated prior to him winning his game, which has me even more desperate to get back to school.
I love the farm, and it will forever be a part of my life, but only the past month have I realized how much it stole from me. I have so much left to experience, and I’m hoping like hell Cash will be a part of that.
When a deep rumble booms above my head, I lift my eyes to the dark and moody sky. “We should probably head back before the next storm surge hits.” We harvested so much corn and wheat the day following our arrival, there are only five paddocks to go. They’re on the far back corner of our property, and thanks to the hard work of men like Cash, they’re almost done. “Professor Ren was forwarding a mock exam this afternoon, so I want to download it early in case the satellite fritzes again.”
We were studying last night when a lightning strike hit the doppler on the roof. It wiped out our satellite internet and phones that hopefully Benji has fixed by now.