Heartland (True North #7) - Sarina Bowen Page 0,37

off.

“Sorry,” I say as a reflex. And then I immediately want to kick myself. Because I am so not sorry.

“No!” he stammers. “I…” He takes another step back. And another firework pops into the sky. “Shit. I’m sorry. That was—” He drops his hand and stares at me. “I thought Debbie was coming back here.” Even as those awful words fall out of his mouth, he flinches. “I’m really drunk right now. Really. A lot. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Okay,” I croak, my heart breaking. “Don’t worry about it. I came back here to tell you that Debbie wasn’t coming. She went home.”

“Really?” He reaches out a hand, finding the stone wall of the bunkhouse. He leans against it, as if propping himself up. “She punked me? I shoulda seen that coming.” Then he drops his heavy head and laughs. “Fuck me. I’m such a wreck.”

I would happily fuck you, I think as another firework explodes. Dylan looks up at the sky. “Hey, Dad! We’re lighting a bunch of shit on fire for you! How about that? I’m sorry I wasn’t in the goddamn tractor shed when I said I would be. But have some fireworks instead.”

“Dylan,” I gasp.

“What? I can’t tell the truth? On the day he died, he wanted my help taking a tire off the tractor. I didn’t show up. Then he died.”

“It’s just a tire,” I say. “He would have forgiven you.”

He leans heavily against the stone wall, his chin tilted up toward the night sky. “You know how much a tractor tire weighs? Four hundred pounds. He wrestled it off himself. Somehow he got it off and leaned it against the wall. And then he had a massive, fatal heart attack on the ground next to it.”

My next breath is a sob. “Dylan.” I try to say his name, but my voice cracks, and I swallow hard.

“I’m shit company tonight,” he grinds out. “Total shit. I’m sorry.”

And before I can think of what to say, he stomps past me and out into the night. The door wobbles on its hinges after him.

Another firework goes off over my head, and I blink tears from my eyes.

Fourteen

Freshman Composition

Section Four

Title: Heat and Patience

Author: Chastity Campbell

A friend and I have a small business together making goat's milk caramels. A very small business. He has a surplus of goat's milk to use up, and after doing a bit of research I decided that anyone can make caramels.

A few YouTube videos later, I had a recipe I was ready to try.

There’s very little to it. These are the ingredients: goat's milk, sugar, vanilla, heat, and patience. Also stirring. So much stirring.

Stirring constantly, you heat everything to an average temperature of 248 degrees. Then you pour it out onto a buttered pan and chill it overnight. You can add a topping—sea salt or finely chopped nuts. But that's optional.

The only thing you can’t mess up is the temperature. If you heat it to less than 248, your caramels will be too soft to cut into squares. If you heat it too hot, your caramel will cool into something so hard it will pull out your teeth.

But here’s the tricky part—you can’t tell by looking at the caramel if the temperature is right. Precision matters, but the thermometer is your only guide.

It only took us one batch to get it right. That makes us experts in the simple art of caramel making.

But here’s one complication I didn’t anticipate: I'm in love with my business partner. I can't tell him, because he doesn't date, and he says he doesn’t believe in love.

Except sometimes I think he does. I'll catch him looking at me with a funny smile on his face. And I wonder what love looks like if not like standing around in the kitchen on a Friday night, stirring caramel and making silly jokes.

But I don’t say a word. There’s no gauge for this. No rule of thumb. I have plenty of “heat,” and lord knows I have patience. But if I pour my heart out in front of him, it would probably come to nothing.

Fifteen

Dylan

On Sunday morning I wake up with a splitting headache and the knowledge that I’m a goddamn moron.

I can’t believe I kissed Chastity. I mean—it was an honest mistake at first. But then I just went for it. I was drunk and horny and very willing to make bad choices.

Not with her, though. Never with her. She deserves so much more than a wasted guy pushing her