Page 37 of If It's You

His lips pursed. “Oh for heaven’s sake, I said I was sorry.”

She bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling.

“Just help me.” His hand was still outstretched, and despite herself, she wanted to take it, regardless of the poop.

She grabbed his hand, and her pulse thrummed against his warm skin. That wouldn’t do. She pulled until he was nearly standing. Then released.

He fell back onto his butt with a splash and a yell. “I think I hate you.”

Maizie grinned, and her day seemed to grow a bit brighter. She leaned over ever so slightly, staying out of reach. “The feeling is mutual.”

Maizie straightened and returned to the herd. She didn’t see Christian again for the rest of the day.

Ten

“You’re not serious.” Christian looked over the barren stretch of field.

“As a heart attack.” Grandpa smiled.

Jayce looked about as excited about their new job as Christian was.

“So we just pick up rocks?” Christian still couldn’t quite understand.

“Yep. The big ones will prevent growth and break tractors, so we need to get them out of the field before we plant.”

“That’s going to take forever.” Christian stared out at the field that stretched as far as he could see. The other field already had stuff growing, but this one looked hopeless.

“Yep.” Grandpa continued. “But back when I was a little girl, I didn’t have a four-wheeler to haul them to the side of the field like you do.”

Christian looked at Jayce over Grandpa’s head.Is Grandpa losing it?

“Well, I’ll leave you boys to it.” Grandpa got back in his truck and took off on what looked like a nice, leisurely drive around the field.

“That’s just something Grandpa says,” Jayce said after Grandpa was gone. “When his daughters would cry, he’d say that to stop the crying or confuse them. Either way, it stuck and now it’s a family joke.”

“Huh.” This family was getting stranger by the day, this latest job only attesting to that.

“Picking rocks” meant driving through acres of dirt and loading up four-wheelers with big rocks to fill in the pivot tracks. After what was the longest four hours of his life, Christian looked up over the field to see what they’d accomplished. Absolutely nothing.

“So glad we did that,” Christian muttered when Jayce finally called it quits. Christian didn’t want to be the first to concede, but he’d been ready to leave four hours ago. It had been two weeks, and he had yet to find a job on the farm he actually enjoyed.

“Did you know there are tractors that can do the job we just did?” Christian said to Jayce after lunch, while browsing the selection on his phone.

Jayce scoffed. “You want to buy it or me?”

The options ranged from ten thousand to twelve thousand dollars.No wonder Eric used us to do that. We were much cheaper.

“Lindsay wants you to ask Maizie to a dance,” Jayce said out of the blue.

“What?” Christian must have misheard him because there’s no way he’d ever go to a dance with Maizie. Or as he now referred to her in his head, the devil. He’d gotten manure in his ear after her little stunt. He’d probably deserved it, but still. His ear! He wouldn’t forget her help in that.

“Apparently, she dumped her boyfriend, and now she doesn’t have a date. I guess the dance is a super-big deal, and everyone goes,” Jayce explained. He didn’t need to, because he’d never convince Christian to ask Maizie to a dance.

“Hmm, no thanks.” Christian checked his phone, but there was nothing to keep him interested.

“She says you have to do it, like, by tomorrow.”

“Just stop.” Christian dropped his head back against the couch. “I’m not taking her to a dance.”