Caisey Quinn - Storm Warning

“Oh and you have?” Coop asked, still suspicious. “Just last week you were trying to get Mackenzie Watson to go for a ride with you.”

“Things change. I may have found one I want to do more than take a ride with.”

Coop didn’t respond right away. Just opened another beer and stared at the water. “So tell me about your weekender? She worth the ninety-mile drive home? And here I thought you came all this way to spend time with me.” He faked a hurt look at his friend.

“She might be,” Kyle admitted.

Coop could see it all over his friend’s face that there was something different about this one. Because whatever was going on, Kyle was keeping it to himself.

“Don’t worry, buddy.” He reached over, patting Coop on the back. “You’ll find a girl like that someday.”

“Yeah, I’m not gonna hold my breath.” Coop snorted. His chest tightened at his own lie. He’d found one all right. He’d spent his entire life getting to know her. He just also knew he couldn’t have her.

He’d always been honest with his best friend. Well, except for last summer when Ella Jane accidentally hit her brother’s truck when he was teaching her how to drive. He’d taken the blame then, said it was his dumb ass not paying attention. And here he was, lying again.

“I’m just glad my sister isn’t dating,” Kyle confessed. “Not that I don’t want her to be happy or anything. There’s just a bunch of assholes out there, you know?”

“Yeah,” Coop agreed. “Like us, right?” He forced out an uncomfortable laugh.

“Hey, I know we screw around a lot and all that, but in all seriousness. I need to know something.” All traces of humor were gone from Kyle’s voice.

Cooper sat completely still and waited. This was it. He braced himself for the blow to his face.

“You’re going to look out for her, right? When I’m gone? I need to know that somebody is gonna be here to take care of her. And you’re the only person I actually trust.”

Normally, Coop would’ve made a joke. Rolled his eyes or told his friend he should consider applying for a drama scholarship. But he knew that Ella Jane was right. Things were changing. And he could feel the heavy waves of tension and worry rolling off of his friend and slamming into him.

And you’re the only person I actually trust. He knew what he had to do.

“Yeah, man. You know it. Always.”

Kyle’s expression smoothed, and Coop was glad to have taken that off of his friend’s shoulders. But now? Now it was on his. And he could feel every single bit of it.

“NICE to meet you, Mrs. Mason,” Hayden Prescott said as he shook the middle-aged woman’s hand. He grinned his meet-the-mom smile at his new employer. It was all a show for his granddad. Surely his parents would come to their senses soon enough and he wouldn’t actually be spending his entire summer in this godforsaken hellhole.

“Nice to meet you as well,” the woman responded, eyeing him as if she were making up her mind whether or not he was really nice to meet. “I’m not going to lie to you. We need a lot of help around here.” She paused to nod at the sprawling yard. “We’ve got a small crew handling clients, but it’s here that needs the most work.”

Hayden glanced around at the overgrown land surrounding the two-story Victorian home that doubled as a family business.

“Probably doesn’t say much for our work ethic that our own yard looks pretty terrible.” She smiled, but Hayden had seen his own mother faking enough polite smiles to know when someone was full of it.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m happy to help out wherever you need me.” And he was. She was pretty fine, actually, for someone in her forties. He wouldn’t mind having a Mrs. Robinson for the week or two he actually had to be here until his parents gave up the charade.

His grandfather clapped him on the back. “Right. Like I said, Millie, he’s able-bodied and needs a summer of hard work. Put his nose to the grindstone. I noticed the weeds around the barn are gettin’ pretty thick. Where’s that boy of yours?”

Mrs. Mason forced another smile. “He got a scholarship to State, Edwin. He has football camp and workouts this summer. He’s home on the weekends though. Takes care of some of the properties out in Summit Bluffs.”

“They grow up fast,” his grandfather said, jerking his head in his direction. “This one’s seventeen already. Seems like just yesterday he was knee-high to a grasshopper and actually enjoyed spending a summer with his poor ol’ granddad.”

Hayden had to fight to keep from snorting out loud. His granddad definitely wasn’t poor. Far from it. He owned half of the land in Oklahoma. Why he chose to live in the middle of nowhere when he could buy and sell Summit Bluffs ten times over, Hayden would never understand.

Mrs. Mason nodded. “Ella Jane’s sixteen. Can you believe that?”

Hayden’s grandfather whistled low under his breath. “I can still remember busting her catching lizards down by the train tracks when she was missing two front teeth.”

Dear Lord. What kind of name was Ella Jane? Hayden immediately pictured a toothless fatty in overalls and pigtail braids.

Mrs. Mason laughed. “Yep. Soon Kyle will be away at school and EJ will graduate and probably head off as well. Then it will just be…”

When she didn’t finish her sentence, Hayden returned his gaze to her. There were tears in the woman’s eyes. What the hell?

“Millie…” his granddad began, but she wiped her eyes and then rubbed her hands roughly on her khaki shorts.

“Ignore me.” She forced out a laugh that made Hayden wince. He had no idea what was going on, but something was up. For sure. “Listen, why don’t you show Hayden here around the property and I’ll see if I can round up EJ? You can check her pockets for lizards.”

“Yes, ma’am,” his granddad said with a grin and a nod. “Come on, son.”

As his obviously emotionally unstable boss made her way in the house, his grandfather gave him the grand tour. Dilapidated barn, moss-covered pond, storage shed for lawn care equipment, a dozen different types of trees and flowers growing around the house that had to be cared for. Blah, blah, blah. He half-listened as the man rambled on.

Hayden checked his phone when the old man’s back was turned. He actually had two bars of cell reception on the Mason property. Thank the freaking Lord. Well, at least this job would be good for something. Maybe he could at least get Cami to Snapchat him some photos of her sunbathing topless in St. Wherever the Hell.

After the tour wrapped up, they headed back to the truck. Just as they were about to leave, Mrs. Mason came jogging out of the house. “I almost forgot to give you this,” she said, handing Hayden a folded up square of paper. “Kyle went to get EJ but he’s not back yet. I was hoping you’d get to meet them. They could show you around town.”

Pretty sure I’ve seen all there is to see, lady. He nodded and tried to look disappointed. “That’s too bad. Maybe next time.”

“Kyle will head back up to school before you start work, but EJ will be here to help you learn the ropes on Monday,” she informed him.

Great. The hillbilly princess would probably show him the ropes with her man hands. “Can’t wait, ma’am.” He nodded and tucked the square of paper, which he assumed was a list of job duties he had no intentions of doing, into his pocket. “Looking forward to it. Pleasure meeting you.”

She smiled but gave him that same look, like she was still making up her mind about him. “See you bright and early Monday morning.”

When he got into the truck, his granddad was chuckling to himself.