I shot him a look that said, “you’re hilarious,” and urged the butterflies flapping in my gut to chill. That crooked grin of his so wasn’t helping.
Clearing my throat, I scooted closer, lowering my voice as I said, “Word on the street is that you hook up with tons of girls—”
“Word on the street?” Justin’s smile grew, and I rolled my eyes. I would not be deterred!
“—But that Lauren Hays is your girlfriend?”
I leaned back, proud that I actually got that out, and of my wordsmith skills. Part statement, part question, I was ninety-two percent sure he couldn’t tell my very happiness depended on his answer. Even if he could, though, it wouldn’t matter. My obsession demanded answers.
“Definitely not.” Justin’s lip curled with disgust, and my belly did a flip. A bit prematurely, I discovered, when he added, “I don’t do the whole girlfriend thing.”
Ah. His eyes met mine, hammering the point home, and I strove to keep my face neutral. “Good,” I replied, light and breezy. See, no skin off my nose, la la la. “I don’t do the whole boyfriend thing, either.”
Easy to say when I’d never been given the chance, but whatever.
We fell silent after that declaration, Justin searching my eyes, looking to see if I was sincere, and me desperately trying to shield my emotions. Not the easiest thing to do when you’re straight up lying, or staring into the face of the boy of your dreams.
“What about you?” he finally asked. “What’s your story?”
I released a pent-up breath. “Is that your final question?”
He nodded, and I shrugged. I’d already decided against sharing details about my illness, but GBS was the only semi-interesting thing that ever happened to me. “Not much to tell.”
“Cop out.”
Justin’s patient, expectant look pinned me to the seat and I sighed in defeat. “Well, I was homeschooled up until this semester,” I said, playing with a loose thread on my skirt. “And before you ask, yes, I miraculously gained an acceptable level of social skills, and no, I didn’t just sit around and watch television all day.”
I’d lost count how many times I’d answered those questions over the years.
“My mom taught me, and we spent our days reading books and challenging ideas. I loved it,” I told him honestly. “But this year I was ready for a change.”
“Were your parents upset?”
Yes and no. “We’d always planned for me to go to Fairfield for high school,” I said instead, keeping it simple. “Besides, as you’ll see when we get to my house, we still spend plenty of time together. Life on a ranch provides lots of family bonding moments.”
…And there was the wide-eyed look I was used to.
“Ranch?”
“Yup. Five horses, a cow, and a dozen chickens,” I said proudly. “The Texas stereotype personified. We even teach horsemanship and riding classes, do birthday parties and scouting events, fun stuff like that.” Justin looked a bit shell-shocked, so I figured why not bring in the big guns? “Actually, the ranch is also kinda like a dog-version of Disney World.”
“Disney World,” he repeated, his forehead going all wrinkly. “For dogs?”
This was where I often lost people. “We run a grooming and boarding business on site, too. That’s actually where I’ve been working ever since—” My eyes widened as I realized what I was about to reveal. “Well, that’s where I’ve been helping the most lately.”
The expression on Justin’s face said he wanted to ask, that he knew I’d left something out from my story. Luckily, before he found the words, Rosalyn stopped at the callbox.
“Enter nine twenty-eight,” I told her, watching eagerly as she input the code. The gate swung open, she drove ahead, and I turned my attention back to Justin.
I loved seeing people’s reactions the first time they saw the ranch. Our life here was far from typical; while people seemed to believe all Texans ate hayseed and raised cattle, the truth was that most have never even stepped foot on a ranch, much less been on a horse. But this was all I’d ever known.
Our house sat on fifteen acres, a private oasis just a few miles from your standard cookie-cutter neighborhood. When I was younger, I used to visit friends for playdates and get jealous over how close their neighbors were. Mom had me in lessons and homeschool co-ops, and kids were always coming in and out of the ranch, but I never knew the ease of having someone to play with who lived just a few feet away.
On the flip side, they never knew what it was like to wake up and have horses a few feet away. They didn’t have acres and acres to run around on and hidden areas to create pretend kingdoms. They didn’t have trees to climb, land to explore, and animals to love and spoil. As soon as I was old enough to realize my friends were all jealous of me, I learned to appreciate this place that much more.
Rosalyn stopped at the top of the path, in front of the main house, and Cade turned to watch from the paddock.
Justin shook his head. “It’s like we just traveled back to the Old West.”
I laughed before elbowing him in the ribs. “Wanna meet Annie Oakley?”