She’s tenacious, I’ll give her that. I turn and point down the road. “You drove past town on your way here. You’ll find everything on Main Street, including Trader Tim’s. It’s the local hardware store. That’s the place that sells hardware and farming clothes.”
“Perfect.” She grabs an apple off the counter and takes a bite.
“You’ll also find other clothes stores on Main, as well as a grocery store,” I say. “Do you have any food in the house?”
Her face lights up. “I had pie this morning, thanks to your mother. Tyler dropped off some fresh eggs; I just haven’t had a chance to cook them yet. I close up here in fifteen minutes, then I’ll finally have a chance to make a run into town to restock my cupboards and find some new clothes.”
“If you need anything, let us know.”
She nods, and I head outside to walk back to my place. I find Mom on the front deck, peeling carrots for supper. Her gaze lifts at the sound of my boots on the bottom step.
“How’s our new neighbor making out?” she asks, her expression blank, unreadable. That look means she’s got something on her mind.
“Doing fine.”
She drops a carrot into the pot and reaches for another. “She’s a pretty one.”
“Mom—”
“What?” she asks, without looking at me. “I’m not allowed to point out when a girl is pretty?”
I lean against the rail. “Not when you’re trying to set us up, no.”
“Foolishness, Jay.” She waves a dismissive hand. “She’s not your type anyway.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, come on. You and I both know she’s not cut out for this kind of work. She’ll be gone before we know it.”
I relax a bit, and a warm breeze washes over my face as I glance at the hill in the distance, where cherries are growing on the trees. “Yeah,” I say, my mind going to Juanita. The last I saw on social media, she was engaged to her former psychology professor. Now she’s his to analyze. Lord knows I couldn’t figure out what she wanted, and moving to the city was out of the question. Not only do I hate the city—I loathe the traffic and congestion and rude people—I couldn’t up and leave my family. I made a promise to my dad, and I’m going to follow through with it.
“I give her a month. What about you?” Mom says, pulling my thoughts back. I stiffen. Christ, word spreads fast here but I hope she didn’t hear about the bet. Then again, Charlie and I spoke the words in secret, a private bet between men. Other than Colin, no one knows about the wager.
“I was surprised to see her this morning.” This time, her gaze does lift and her eyes lock on mine.
“No reason for her to stay any longer, now is there?”
“No reason at all,” I agree. “I’m going to have a shower. I have to meet up with Colin and the guys in a few,” I say and head toward my cottage. I step inside. “Hey, Capone.”
“Jay’s an asshole.”
“Nice to see you, too.” I kick off my boots.
“Alyson’s hot stuff.”
I spin around and my fast movement ruffles Capone’s feathers. He jumps and struts around his cage like a peacock on display.
“What did you just say?” I ask.
“Alyson’s hot stuff.”
“Motherfucker,” I curse. “Tyler, I’m going to kill you.”
“Tyler’s tight,” Capone blurts out.
“Tyler’s dead,” I say. When the hell did he teach Capone that? He obviously has too much free time on his hands, and I’m about to fix that. I tug off my shirt and pants and stomp upstairs to the loft. I jump in the shower and stay under the spray for a long time, prolonging the inevitable—working on a ridiculous dance routine for Colin’s wedding.
When I’m finally done, I dry off and tug on my jeans. My gaze goes to my laptop. I stare at it for a second. Does Alyson have a social media profile? Is she on there taking selfies every chance she gets? I open my laptop and find her easily. I scroll through the pictures, many of them of her smiling and partying with her friends at trendy places in the Big Apple.
It won’t take long for her to miss that kind of action. I’m about to slip into my T-shirt when a god-awful high-pitched shriek rips through my farm.
“What the fuck?” I hurry downstairs and push open my door. I spot Alyson, running and flailing near