Caisey Quinn - Storm Warning

“Watch your mouth,” his dad scolded, finally looking up. “It’s not summer camp. It’s your grandparents’ farm in Hope’s Grove, and they have some friends who could use a hand. The Masons’ son left for college early or something and is only helping out part time. I’m pretty sure Brad Mason is living here in Summit Bluffs with Valerie Darden. So it’s just a single mother and her daughter running a somewhat successful landscaping business. You could use a summer of hard work.”

Hayden gritted his teeth together and glared at his father. “Oh yeah, Dad? I thought I had been working hard? Or doesn’t what I’ve been doing count?”

His mother scrunched her brow and her imploring gaze swung from him to his father and back again.

Before she could ask any questions, his father stepped toward him. “Enough. Pack your bags. Your grandfather will pick you up first thing in the morning.”

AFTER he’d received the shitty news of being sent to Camp Townie Inbred for the summer, his girlfriend had come over. To add insult to injury, she’d announced she wanted to take a “break.” Normally he wouldn’t have cared. He had a few things going on the side. Cami was just the main course because his parents said so. But knowing he’d be stuck out in the middle of nowhere without even the hope of a conjugal visit since she’d be in St. Tropez with her mother, probably tag-teaming cabana boys, sucked hairy balls.

At least he’d gotten lucky one last time.

But he doubted that would hold him over all summer long. He was pretty sure none of the toothless townies were going to be his type.

The drive to Hope’s Grove wasn’t even an hour. But it might as well have been in another time zone. Summit Bluffs had a high-end mall, a movie theatre, and a high school home to the three-time state football and lacrosse champs. Hope’s Grove had…dirt. And corn. So far, that was all he’d seen.

“Well, here it is. Downtown,” his grandfather announced like they’d entered Times Square.

“Jesus.” Hayden barely kept himself from letting out a few words he knew might get him backhanded by the old man. Hope’s Grove was the town that time forgot. Time must have downright hated it. Everything was faded. Stop signs—the two they had—storefront displays, all of it. He counted a hardware store, a grocery store, a gas station, a church, a bar, and a video store. For God’s sakes, have these people never heard of Netflix?

“Used to be the Logans’ Dairy Farm,” Pops told him, pointing a bony finger at a huge empty field as they turned down a back road. “We went there a few times when you were younger. They went under last year.”

Great. Even the cows were smart enough to get the hell out of this godforsaken place.

How in the world was he supposed to entertain himself all summer? He glanced down at his phone only to see that he had zero service. No signal whatsoever. Big shocker. He’d bet the odds of his grandparents having Wi-Fi weren’t too great. And he knew plenty about betting.

One thing was for sure. This summer was going to be pure hell.

“IT’S not like I’m moving to the moon, EJ. Relax.” Lynlee Reed soothed her friend as she folded her last skimpy tank top and stuffed it into her suitcase. “There’s Facebook and Skype and Snapchat and a ton of other ways to keep in touch.”

Ella Jane Mason sat at the end of the bed with tears stinging the backs of her eyes. “You might as well be. California is a million miles from here. It’s practically on another planet.” She stared down at her hands. Everything was changing. She hated change.

First, her dad had moved out and her parents were in the middle of destroying each other in every way possible in the divorce. Her brother had received a full scholarship to OSU and had left for football camp last week. He’d be home on weekends but it wasn’t the same. Nothing would ever be the same. And now her best friend was moving to California because her dad’s job had closed the Oklahoma City office location and transferred him to Los Angeles.

Lynlee huffed out a sigh. “Don’t be so dramatic. I’ll come back as much as I can. Mom said we’d visit Gram and Gramps before the end of summer, so I’ll be back before you know it.”

Ella Jane forced a smile and nodded as she choked down the lump rising in her throat. The two girls lugged Lynlee’s suitcases down the stairs to where her parents were waiting. She tried to focus on each step through the moisture gathered in her eyes so she wouldn’t trip and break her neck.

After the bags were loaded in the car, Lynlee turned to her and rolled her eyes. “God, you’re such a sap. Toughen up, chick. We’re not five years old anymore.”

Ella Jane twisted a long strand of her blond hair between her fingers. “Y-yeah. I know. You’re right. It’s just…” Pulling in a lungful of air, she glanced at the now empty house where she’d spent summers learning to swim and gossiping about boys until all hours of the night. Where she’d finally confessed her lifelong crush on her brother’s best friend. “Lots of changes this summer.”

Lynlee gave her a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, some of those changes are good though. Like you’re finally in a C-cup and I’m off to hook up with hot California surfer dudes.”

“I’m still a 34-B, thank you very much,” Ella Jane whispered, feeling the blush creep up her neck to her face.

Lynlee had always been the daring one. The bold one who said whatever was on her mind. Ella Jane, not so much. She usually let her older brother Kyle or Lyn do the talking for her. Without them, she had no idea how she was going to survive the summer, much less her junior year of high school.

Hope’s Grove was small. Everyone knew about her parents, and she was already dreading facing them since the news of her dad’s affair had hit. But facing them without her brother and her best friend would be her worst nightmare.

After the girls had said their goodbyes and she’d watched her friend’s taillights fade down the drive, Ella Jane scuffed her boots along the winding dirt road that led her home.

She was about halfway there, watching the sun sink low in the evening sky, when the unmistakable rumble of a pickup truck came barreling down the road behind her. She stepped aside to let it pass without looking back. But it didn’t pass. It slowed practically to a stop right next to her.

She turned, wondering what the heck the driver’s deal was. There was more than enough room for him to go around. But the smiling face beneath the backwards trucker hat sent the words on the tip of her tongue swirling away with the dust the truck had riled up.

She bit her lip and grinned. Warm brown eyes gleamed in her direction. “Hey there, Ellie May. Need a ride?”

She rolled her eyes. Why Brantley Cooper couldn’t call her by her actual name was beyond her. But as long as he was talking to her, she really didn’t care much what he called her. He can call me ‘flower’ if he wants to.

He was a year older than her and a year younger than her older brother, Kyle. Smack in the middle of their ages and grades in school and usually smack in the middle of their arguments. Coop kept the peace. Balanced them out perfectly.

The three of them had met at the same time as kids but Coop and Kyle had become like brothers instantly. She’d always tagged along wherever they went. Kyle had whined about it when they were younger but Coop always made her feel welcome. He held doors open for her so she didn’t get left behind, made sure to invite her despite her brother’s protests, and lately he’d even stopped by and hung out even when Kyle wasn’t home. And this year, she’d be a junior and Coop would be a senior. With her big brother away at college, she couldn’t help but fantasize about what might happen if she and Coop spent time together alone.