Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Her forehead crinkles in confusion. “Holler?” Fiona tilted her head. “You mean shout?”
I laughed with gusto. “It’s like you and I speak a different language,” I teased. “Nah, not that kind. A holler’s a little valley where folks live—kind of like a glen.”
“What’s another?” she asked, flopping onto her back beside me.
There were so many but I wanted to hear that laugh again. “If someone’s acting lazy, we say they’re ‘happier than a hog in slop.’”
That did the trick. She laughed fully, shaking her head. “That’s disgusting.”
I chuckled, rolling onto my side to face her. “Come on, say it.”
She wrinkled her nose but humored me and even mimicked my drawl. “I’m happier than a hog in slop right now.”
I laughed. “Perfect. Now say, ‘I reckon.’”
“I reckon,” she repeated, with a fairly realistic Kentucky drawl.
“Now say, ‘I reckon Tommy Blackburn is the most handsome fella I ever did see.’”
She snorted, shoving my shoulder. “I am not sayin’ that.”
I laughed, catching her hand before she could pull it away. Our eyes met, and just like that, the playful moment turned into something else entirely. My fingers curled around hers, my thumb brushing against the inside of her wrist.
“I reckon,” she murmured, her voice suddenly quieter, “that yer somethin’ special, Tommy.”
My throat went dry. “That so?”
“Aye.”
The breeze stirred between us, lifting strands of her hair, making the moment feel like something stolen from time. I lifted her hand to my lips, pressing a slow kiss to her knuckles. “You’re beyond special, Fi.”
I wanted to say more—wanted to tell her I couldn’t imagine walking away from this, that I didn’t want whatever this was to end when summer did. But I didn’t.
Not yet.
Instead, I pulled her closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead, lingering there for a moment before whispering, “We should probably head back before Rory starts wondering where you are.”
While he was more than happy to give me a bit of an extended lunch to go on a ride with Fiona, I have a bunch of work waiting for me at the training center.
She sighed, nodding reluctantly. “Aye. Don’t want them thinking we’re happier than hogs in slop.”
I laughed, swatting her playfully as I stood and offered her a hand. “C’mon, smart mouth.”
We packed up, mounted our horses, and started back toward Glenhaven.
CHAPTER 19
Fiona
I was flying high after my lunch with Tommy and my head was in the clouds as I rode my bike from the training center back to the house. I’d promised Siobhan we could give each other manicures this afternoon, which was something we sometimes did when we had nothing else better to do with our summer days. But truthfully, I knew she wanted to gossip about Tommy and was dying to hear about our lunch date. I was glad to have her at my side because it felt good to share the joy with someone about the way my heart was feeling.
Chuckling at Paddy’s bike carelessly tossed once again on the ground, I put my kickstand down and ensured it was stable. I traipsed into the side door, intent to nick a Coca-Cola from the icebox. I grabbed the small, contoured glass bottle that these little miracles of fizzy sweet drink came in and popped off the cap. I took a sip and it felt like America to me. My mother was addicted to them since she discovered the drinks at the grocer, and we always had them on hand.
I looked at the bottle with the white Coca-Cola logo and wondered if I would ever drink one of these while standing in America.
In Kentucky, to be precise, next to Tommy. Because wasn’t that what I should be aspiring to? If my feelings were true, and I believed they were, then my life was with him. And his life was back at Blackburn Farms.
Was I willing to leave my home, my country and my family for the man?
Even though I knew things were moving fast, and I was young at heart and in my mind, there was a deep pulling in my gut that told me we’d be together forever.
So yes… I’d sip a Coca-Cola in Kentucky one day, if the creek didn’t rise.
I had a smile on my face as I made my way from the kitchen to the staircase, assuming that Siobhan was in my room with polishes all laid out for us to try, but instantly, I felt something was wrong.
The air felt thick, charged, like the moments before a thunderstorm when everything goes eerily still. I glanced down the hall into the sitting room and noticed my mother in there, perched on the edge of the sofa, hands folded tightly in her lap. Her eyes lifted to mine, sharp with warning, and my skin prickled.
I barely had time to register the unease settling in my stomach before a voice rang out from within the sitting room, low and furious. “Fiona. Come here. Now.”