Page 5

brYNN ROSE

I should have warned her about Choke the Chicken.

The thought crosses my mind just as Mom steps out of her air-conditioned sanctuary. Her gold bangles jingle as she surveys our work with the kind of critical eye she usually reserves for hotel housekeeping.

She's wearing white linen pants and a silk blouse that probably cost more than most people's car payments. It’s completely impractical for a ranch, but that's Mom. She’s always dressed like she's expecting photographers to materialize out of thin air.

"Hmm… This is better, bless your hearts. I can still see quite a few areas of opportunity?—"

And that's when Choke makes his entrance.

The rooster comes around the corner of the Bareback Haven Spa like a feathered missile.

His red comb stands at full attention. His wings are spread wide in full attack mode.

He's got his beady black eyes locked on Mom like she's personally offended his entire bloodline. The ironic part is, she probably has.

"What is this free range—" Mom starts to say, but Choke doesn't give her time to finish.

He launches himself at her with extended talons and a battle cry. My eyebrows shoot up in surprise. It’s clear he views her designer outfit as a direct challenge to his authority over this ranch.

"This is absurd. Y’all get control of your damn animals." Mom shrieks and stumbles backward as Choke lands on her shoulder.

Her pristine outfit is stained red in an instant and bits of clay cling to the fabric.

But Choke is relentless. He pecks at her perfectly styled hair.

She flails and flings her arms wildly in response.

It occurs to me that Choke might be the only one in this town with enough bravado to take on my mother.

It’s a horror show and I can’t look away. I know I should help. I should rush over there and rescue my mother from the wrath of an overly protective rooster. I will my feet to move, but something in me keeps them cemented to the red clay.

Mom’s eyes lock on me. They’re laced with pure panic. I watch the scene unfold and feel something bubble up from deep in my chest… Don’t laugh Brynn. Please, don’t laugh. I turn away from her and lock eyes with Geoffrey.

“Dammit, Choke.” His smile makes the corner of his eyes crinkle.

He has no such problem with being frozen. In a wildly athletic feat, Geoffrey leaps over a haybale. It’s not human. It’s like Colton’s fence jump from the Bachelor. Smooth, controlled, and such an overreaction.

“Wow,” I murmur. When Geoffrey passes me on his way to save the day, I lean in toward him and whisper, "Don’t be too upset with him. I think Choke can sense evil.”

“Hey, you said it,” he winks at me.

He hesitates for a moment and we take in the sight together. Geoffrey folds his arms across his chest. “She’s pretty agile, isn’t she? I mean for being a woman of a certain age.”

That does it. I completely lose it, doubling over with laughter as Mom flails around the car, her pristine outfit getting more disheveled by the second. Choke seems to be having the time of his life. It looks something like a rooster riding a muddy, wildly overdressed, mechanical bull.

"Don’t you dare laugh. This is from Talbots!" Mom wails and does some kind of interpretive dance as Choke chases her around the pen. "Do something!"

Mom screams, and that's when Geoffrey and I both spring into action. Unfortunately, we spring in the same direction.

I dart left just as Geoffrey lunges right. It’s instant karma when we collide in the middle like a couple of amateur football players. The impact sends us both stumbling. I find myself falling backward with Geoffrey trying to catch me.

His hands grab for whatever they can reach to steady me. And what they reach is... more than a handful.

"Oh!" I gasp as Geoffrey's hands land squarely on my chest.

His eyes go wide as he realizes exactly what he's grabbed onto. "I'm sorry.” He pulls his hand away then adds, “kind of.”

Before he can finish his non-apology we lose our balance completely.

Geoffrey tries to spin us around so he'll take the brunt of the fall. It’s sweet in theory, but disastrous in execution.

We go down in a tangle of limbs. I land on top of him and his hands somehow manage to migrate from my chest to my ass in the process.

"brYNN ROSE!" Mom's voice cuts through our chaotic tumble like a fire alarm.

I look up from where I'm sprawled across Geoffrey's chest to see her standing there with Choke still flapping at her side like the world's most aggressive handbag.

"What in the Lord's name is going on here?" Mom demands a response and gestures wildly at our compromising position.

Choke doesn’t love her talking to me like that.

Or maybe he’s triggered by the flailing.

Whatever the case, he digs his talons into her calf.

Mom’s chaos starts all over again. With Mom occupied, I turn my attention to the fact that Geoffrey's hands are still firmly planted on my backside. All of a sudden I can feel every finger like we’ve been hitched together.

He's looking up at me with an expression that's equal parts mortified and something else entirely.

"We were trying to help," I say weakly.

“Yes, by dry humping right here out in the open,” Geoffrey adds and his hand cups the curve of my cheek.

“What? No.” Laughter bubbles through me.

“Yes,” he raises his eyebrow with a flirty laugh.

"By groping each other?" Mom shrieks. "In broad daylight? On the ground like a couple of... of..."

"Animals?" Geoffrey suggests helpfully, which makes me snort with laughter despite the fact that I'm probably about to be disowned.

"This is exactly what I was afraid of!" Mom continues, her voice reaching pitches that are probably making bats uncomfortable. "I knew this whole ranch idea was a mistake! The influences here are clearly… OH GOD, IT'S IN MY HAIR!"

Choke has apparently decided that Mom's perfectly coiffed bob is the ideal place to build a nest, and he's going to town with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for home renovation shows.

"Okay, okay," Geoffrey says, his hand leaving my ass as he helps me sit up. "Let me handle this."

I get to my feet and he follows. Geofrey approaches Mom and her feathered tormentor with the kind of calm I definitely don't possess right now. My entire body is still tingling from where his hands were.

"Choke," Geoffrey says in that low, authoritative voice that makes my knees wobble. "Come here, buddy. Leave the fancy lady alone."

The rooster immediately perks up. It’s like he's been waiting for Geoffrey to join the chat. He hops down from Mom's head and struts over like he's done absolutely nothing wrong.

In one swift movement, Geoffrey scoops the rooster up and scratches under his chin. "You’re done here man, the party is over.”

Mom lets out the world's longest exhale. Even though I’m officially entering my twenty-eighth year of life, it still fills me with fear.

She smooths down her destroyed hair with shaking hands.

Her makeup is smudged. Her white outfit is now decorated with dirt, feathers, and what I really hope is just mud.

"That creature is a menace. And this whole situation is completely inappropriate. Brynn Rose, I cannot believe you would allow yourself to be... to be..."

"Tackled by a helpful cowboy?" I don’t know what comes over me when I blurt it out.

"Manhandled in public!" She finishes with a scandalized gasp.

Geoffrey clears his throat. "Ma'am, I apologize for the, uh, inappropriate contact. We were just trying to help, and things got a little tangled up."

"Tangled up," Mom repeats flatly. "Is that what we're calling it?"

"Mom, it was an accident," I say, though I'm pretty sure the heat in my cheeks is telling a different story. “We were trying to help and bumped into each other.”

“Yes, dry humping happens.” Geoffreys adds, and I choke on a laugh.

"It happens," she echoes, looking between Geoffrey and me like we're exhibits in a museum of moral decay. "Well, let me tell you what's going to happen. I'm going home to shower the poultry... off myself. When I'm done, we're having a serious discussion about boundaries and professional behavior."

I can’t help but roll my eyes. “Sure, if you want to.”

She stalks toward her Cadillac. I can’t believe she let me off that easily. But before she gets in the car, she turns back to us. "And Brynn Rose? We're also going to discuss why you thought it was appropriate to laugh while your mother was being attacked."

The car door slams with enough force to rattle windows three counties over. She goes full on Cruella with a sack of puppies in tow. Mom peels out of the driveway like she's fleeing a crime scene.

Geoffrey and I stand there in the settling dust. We watch her taillights in silence as they disappear down the road. Even Choke seems exhausted. He tucks his head under his shoulder as Geoffrey cradles him like a football.

"Well," Geoffrey says finally. "That was..."

"A nightmare.”

"I was going to say entertaining, but a nightmare works too." He grins at me, and despite everything that just happened, I feel that familiar flutter in my stomach. "Your mom's got quite the dramatic flair."

"She's had years of practice," I say, then immediately feel guilty for talking about her like that. Even if it's true.

The way he's looking at me makes my pulse skip, and I realize we're alone now. Really alone. No angry roosters, no horrified mothers, just us and the golden light of the setting sun.

""For what it's worth," Geoffrey says, his voice going softer, “Choke really does have excellent instincts about people. I hope she doesn’t always talk to you like that. You don’t deserve?—”

I put my hand on the center of his chest to stop him. “Who’s the therapist now?”

He lets out a chuckle. “Okay, got it.”

"I should probably go. You want to get on with your night and decompress. Thank you for being so patient today.” And kind and sexy and charming.

"Should you go?" Geoffrey asks, taking a step closer. "Because I was thinking you should come up to the barn with me instead. I’ve got top shelf liquor up there that’s just begging to be pulled down.”

Despite everything. My better judgment. My mother's warnings. My own carefully constructed walls. I find myself nodding… And so we go.