Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 117357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“I have an apple in my bag. Can she have it?”
He shrugs as if to say Why not? and I hurry around the side of the car to get it. My stomach protests me offering up my afternoon snack to someone else, but I have my lunch to tide me over.
“Here, take it,” I tell the horse, holding it up to the bars of the trailer. She doesn’t go for it at first. She clears her nostrils and bucks her head, trying to get me to leave her alone. “It’s not gonna hurt you. It’s just an apple. Here, look.”
I take a bite out of it then hold it back up to the horse so she can get a good long sniff. That does the trick. She takes it from my hand ever so gently and stays by the back of the trailer long enough to let me pat her nose while she munches on it.
“Dr. Tully’s the best in town,” I whisper to her. “He’ll fix you up good as new.”
I’m still patting her when a black SUV pulls off the highway and slows to a stop at the pump behind mine. I don’t know jack diddly about cars, but I know this one’s nice. All the little coordinating bells and whistles tell me it was likely custom made. What a silly thing to spend money on. Give me that same amount and I’ll feed every hungry mouth in this town ten times over.
My opinion of the car must be written on my face because when the driver of the fancy SUV opens his door and looks out at me, his brows furrow, mirroring my expression.
I smooth my features, but it’s too little too late.
He thinks I was judging him, and well…I was.
He slams his car door closed, and I finally register the full package he presents. If my nan were here, she’d whistle long and low, maybe even fan her face and tack on a Lord almighty for good measure, all just to let the world know how handsome she found this stranger. He’s definitely a looker, starting at his brown wavy hair, trimmed short on the sides and left slightly longer on top, down to his heavily lashed brown eyes and sharp jaw, covered in dark stubble. His tan skin makes it look like he’s just been on some wonderful summer holiday. I haven’t been on one of those, say, ever, but god, just looking at him is like taking a mini vacation.
He’s still frowning at me, but I’ve let go of my earlier annoyance. You can drive whatever ol’ car you want, stranger. Don’t let me stop you.
I’m not even hiding my obvious perusal of him, and why should I?
There’s nothing fun to look at in this town, nothing but farmland and boys I’ve known since I was in diapers. This man’s only stopping here on his way to someplace else, so there’s no harm in letting my attention linger.
Besides, I haven’t been staring all that long. His friend is only just now getting out of the passenger side of the SUV, making a big show of stretching out his back.
“Jesus, we’re in the middle of nowhere,” his friend says, turning in a circle. “Do you think we’re going the right way? I swear we should have turned left back there. My phone barely even has a signal out here.” He bangs his phone against his palm as if that might help. “We’ll have to get them to install a cell tower so we can actually connect to the civilized world.”
I’m back to scowling.
My town might not be New York City, but we’re civilized enough. Well…most of us.
The stranger doesn’t bother paying attention to his friend’s complaints, still looking at me. We’re right back to being angry at each other. It’s funny, really. What crawled up his butt, anyway? Why’s he looking at me like that? I know why I’m scowling, and I have a good reason—his friend just insulted my home.
A tongue licks my palm, and I realize with a start that I still have my hand on the gray horse. I step back, wiping my palm on my dress. Dr. Tully finishes up at the pump and heads toward his driver’s side door.
“Good luck fixing her.”
He nods and hops into his truck, peeling out of the gas station and leaving me with the two guys.
I keep my back to them as I walk back to my pump, but then out of my periphery, I see the stranger’s friend waving to get my attention.
“Hey miss, could you tell us where we are? My maps app isn’t working.”
This guy clearly knows you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. He’s flashing me a big friendly smile, and though he didn’t say please, his tone was friendly enough.