Yet, something about him put a nervous, fluttery feeling deep in my stomach. A feeling that surprised me. This was the bad Luke Prescott, I reminded myself. The boy that had hurt Jenny and her mom by getting himself locked up. The kind of bad boy I thought of as trouble and overly admired by silly girls.
But then, I thought of that small scar just below his left eye. Had he gotten that in the accident when his dad died? Or had he gotten it in that place? And the way he looked at me. As if he could see the real me.
I sighed internally as a thousand questions popped into my mind.
Jenny frowned at me, making me pause until I remembered Luke was her brother. Oh, my god. Swallowing hard I smiled at her and slipped my arm into hers and pulled her towards the cafeteria.
“I’m hungry. Let’s hurry,” I said.
She looked at me strangely for a second then smiled and nodded. After we got our trays and settled into our normal seats, I studied her from beneath my brow.
She’s worried, I realized. Worried about her brother. That was the only thing that ever bothered her.
I smiled to myself. It had been a miracle the day we found each other. Two lonely lost girls. Her father had been killed in a car wreck a few years earlier. Her big brother had just been sent to juvenile detention and her friends had abandoned her.
Dad and I had just moved to town. Mom had left to live in a commune in northern California and moving had been Dad’s way of dealing with it. A new school. A new town. To say I had felt lost and abandoned was putting it mildly.
We were so different. Except for our mutual love of horses, we had very little in common. Jenny, the blond, blue-eyed farm girl. Me, the dark-haired shy girl whose father was a surgeon at the local hospital. Two different worlds.
Yet, we clicked right away. Would it all change now that her brother was back?
“Don’t worry,” I told her as she continued to frown. “He seems to be adjusting.”
She smiled back weakly and shrugged. The two of us sat there in silence for a moment, rare for us. Until Jenny looked up and blanched. I turned to follow her gaze. Luke had stepped into the cafeteria with his tray.
His eyes forward. Tall. All alone. My heart went out to him just a tiny bit. What must it be like for him? The outsider in his own hometown.
Every eye in the place followed him as he made his way through the tables. I noticed the guys were wary. Marking his passage as if keeping a wild animal in sight in case he chose to attack. The girls’ stares were totally different. Some of them held a sharp interest. As if he were a valuable prize they hoped to win.
Jenny’s frown deepened into a scowl when Luke ignored us and sat with Charles Huntington.
“Why doesn’t he sit with us?” she asked. Obviously hurt.
I shrugged. “Maybe it’s a big brother thing. You know, it’s uncool to sit with your little sister or something.”
“And it’s cool to sit with Charles Huntington?” she snapped as she continued to frown at her brother, then slammed her fork onto her tray and stood up.
“I lose him for two years and now he ignores me,” she said through gritted teeth as she grabbed her tray and marched over to plop down next to him.
I guess I didn’t factor into the equation. All I could do was roll my eyes and take my stuff and follow. It was a best friend thing. Besides, no way was I sitting all alone in the cafeteria. People would talk.
Setting my tray down next to Charles, I shot him a quick smile. His brow knitted in confusion as he gave me a quizzical look. Then, he glanced at Jenny next to Luke and the furrows softened.
Interesting, I thought. I was chopped liver. But Jenny was perfectly welcome.
“You guys know Chip,” Luke said with a smirk.
Jenny frowned, “I thought you preferred Charles?”
The poor boy could only shrug. Somehow his entire world had been tipped on its side.
Jenny turned away to address her brother. She gave him her best frown and asked, “Why didn’t you sit with us?”
Luke shrugged.
I wanted to reach over and hit his shoulder. How dare he dismiss his sister like that. The girl had suffered every day he was gone. She had stuck up for him. Had lost friendships and opportunities because she was the sister of a criminal.
The boy didn’t have any idea what she’d been through.
I took a deep breath, preparing to unload on him when he reached over and gave his sister a quick hug and kissed the top of her head.
“Sorry,” he said. “Old habits.”
Jenny sank into his embrace and smiled the smile of true happiness. I quickly looked around to see who was watching. Of course, half the place was fixated on us. Would it always be like this? I wondered. The center of everyone’s attention.
“Besides,” he continued as he looked over her head at me, “I thought Chip here could help with my lack of moral character.”
My gut clenched. I’d hit a sore point earlier.
The four of us continued to eat as a cone of tension settled over us. Luke was obviously uptight about being back. Jenny was tense because her big brother was tense. Charles was tense because Jenny was sitting across from him.
And I was tense because Luke kept giving me strange looks. Like he was trying to figure out what planet I came from.
“So,” Jenny said to her brother, breaking the bubble of tightness, “Do you like your classes?”
Luke shrugged as he continued to eat. I noticed that he ate hunched over, his free arm in front of his tray as if he was worried someone might try to take it.
What had that place been like? I wondered.
“I like mine,” Charles said, then blushed when he realized he hadn’t been asked.
Jenny shot him a frown, then returned to eating and once more the awkward feeling surrounded us.
It was like that for the rest of the lunch break. Four people eating in silence. I desperately tried to think of something to say but nothing came. What if I said the wrong thing. We were all thinking it. How was he adjusting to being back? But we couldn’t ask.
At least I know I couldn’t.
The bell rang and Luke shook his head. “Well, this was fun.”
I laughed, our eyes met and we shared a moment of mutual amusement at the stupidness of the situation.
“Come on, Chip,” Luke said as he stood up and gathered his empty tray. “You can show me where the cool kids hang out and we can make fun of them.”
Charles, or Chip, which was it now, laughed as he joined him and said, “You mean we aren’t the cool kids. I wish someone would have told me.”
He gave Jenny a quick look but she was staring off into space, obviously worried. Charles sighed a little and followed Luke to the trash cans.
Jenny frowned and shook her head.
“He’s doing fine,” I reassured her.
She glanced up and tried to smile.
“I think mom’s making a mistake leaving him alone this weekend.”
I frowned until I remembered that Jenny and her mom were going to be out of town for the weekend helping her grandmother move to their farm. I wondered if this was so her Mom could have an extra set of eyes on her son.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” I said. No need for her to hear my doubts.
Jenny continued to frown for a long second then said, “Can you exercise Bailey for me on Saturday? Mom and I are leaving Thursday night and won’t be back until Sunday night. You know Bailey, she gets upset if she goes too long without a good run.”
My face broke into a wide smile. “You want me to spend my Saturday afternoon riding your horse through the back trails behind your house? Are you crazy? I’d pay for the chance. Of course.”
Jenny smiled, obviously relieved. “Your dad will be okay with it?” she asked.
“No problem,” I told her, rather pleased to realize that it was actually true. My Dad trusted me.
“And maybe you could check on Luke for me. You know, make sure he’s okay.”
My stomach suddenly dropped. “Why isn’t he going with you guys. I would have thought all those muscles would come in handy with a move?”
Jenny swallowed as she looked down. “He needs to stay to take care of the animals.” She said with a deep frown, but I could tell there was something else. “Besides,” she continued, “He can’t leave the state. Not unless Mom fills out a ton of paperwork.”
My gut clenched at the realization of just how serious this was. Luke wasn’t some kid with a troubled past. He was a full-fledged participant in the criminal justice system.
But he was more, I realized. There was something about him that told me he could be so much more.
Chapter Three
Amy
That Saturday afternoon I pulled my windbreaker from my closet and ran down to the kitchen to grab an apple for Bailey and a Mountain Dew for me. My only real vice. I finished the soda and found my dad in his den, his feet up on his desk as he read one of those spy thrillers he loved so much. Soft jazz playing in the background.
“I’m headed out to Jenny’s,” I told him. “I’ll be home for dinner.”
He looked up over the top of his glasses and smiled. “You’ll be on your own. I took a shift for Dr. Richardson. I won’t be home until late tomorrow afternoon. Will you be okay for the night?
My father was a surgeon at the only hospital in town. But sometimes he helped out the other doctors in town by taking a shift in the ER.
I nodded. “Sure, I’ll grab something on the way home.”
He smiled again. “Text me when you get in,” he said as he returned to reading.
I shook my head as I left. It didn’t seem right to be so trusted at my age.
My father knew me so well. He was leaving his seventeen-year-old daughter alone in this big house on a Saturday night. And he had nothing to even worry about. Sometimes I almost wished I could be bad just to shock him a little.
As I turned onto the dirt road leading to Jenny’s house, my heart fluttered. Luke might be there. Who was I kidding? Of course he was there. Where else would he be?
I smiled to myself as her family’s old farmhouse came into view. Weathered gray, the house was over a hundred years old. Built by one of the first families to settle this valley. It had been added onto so many times that it was hard to discern where the original house started.
A big red barn and a white rail corral sat back behind the house.
The crisp autumn air was filled with the scent of pine, barn smells, and green pastures. The high blue skies reminded me to take advantage of these good days before the gray gloom descended on us for the next six months.
Turning into the yard by the barn, I noticed Luke in his jean jacket walking across the field with his dog, Nellie. The black and white border collie trotted at his heel, glancing up at him, waiting for a command.
Jenny had told me how Nellie had been his dog and how she’d been broken-hearted when Luke was sent away. One more thing to hold against him, I thought. Making dogs sad was never a good thing.
Luke glanced up, squinting as he tried to see who was here. Once he identified me, he turned back to doing what he had started.
Not even a wave. I thought as I shuddered. Jenny’s brother was so different. There was really no other way to say it. Not in that creepy weird way. More in the unusual, loner way. It wasn’t just the criminal aspect of things. It was that assuredness. That confidence in who he was.
I put my hand up to shield my eyes from the sun as I watched Luke walk across the field. Something about him pulled at me. Alone, yet confident. A guy secure in himself.
He whistled sharply and Nellie was off. Charging across the field to a group of cows in the corner.
Jenny’s mom had rented out their fields to a neighboring farmer.
What was he up to? Then, I remembered Jenny saying that Luke had gotten a part-time job with Mister Jacobson on the next farm. Mostly mucking out barns, fixing fences, and taking care of the steers being run on the Prescott place.
He’s moving them to another field, I realized.
I watched in admiration as Luke whistled short sharp bursts that directed Nellie back and forth working at their heels. Jumping back when one of the steers turned and rushed her. Neither Nellie nor Luke panicked. She just raced behind the big animal and quickly had it back with the group headed to where Luke held a gate open.
He was so good, I thought. It was as if he had never been away. The two of them working as a tight team. For just a second, I started to feel pulled towards him.
Out of bounds, I reminded myself.
Thankfully, a soft neigh from the corral called my attention. Bailey’s head stretched over the top rail, looking at me expectantly.
“Okay, okay,” I said to her as I reluctantly turned from observing Luke. When I got to the horse it sniffed at the pocket holding the apple.
“Yes,” I said as I gave it to him. “Jenny said I was to take you out for a ride. Is that okay? She thinks you get upset if you don’t get exercised.”
Bailey looked at me with a strange look. I swear he understood every word.
“Okay then. Let’s get you saddled and we can go. There’s a back trail I want to check out. That all right with you?”
I slipped his halter on and clipped the lead draped across the top rail and led him to the barn. After I had him fully saddled, I led him back out to the yard. I knew he didn’t like people getting up on him inside the barn. One of his many quirks.
As I stepped into the stirrup and then up into the saddle, I turned to look for Luke but he and Nellie had disappeared. He was probably off doing any of a thousand different things for his new job. Jenny had told me more than once that ever since he got back, he seemed to spend all of his time outside doing things.
As a 911 dispatcher, Mrs. Prescott spent half her time at the communication center. The farm hadn’t really been worked seriously since Jenny’s dad had died. They kept chickens and a huge garden. But that was about it. And Bailey of course.
I gave one last look, but when I came up empty, I turned Bailey towards the back trail. The Prescott farm butted up next to the State forest. Technically we weren’t supposed to be riding back here. But the place was huge and very empty. Nothing but trees and trails.
Ducking beneath a pine bow, I started Bailey down the trail. I couldn’t help but smile to myself. A beautiful day, riding a horse through the trees. Hair blowing in the wind. Free, young, life was good.
Jenny and I had spent every spare moment back here. Usually riding tandem bareback. This was my first time back here by myself. A tingle of excitement passed through me.
About a half mile in, I turned onto an old logging road and slowly worked Bailey up to a full trot. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. There was something so freeing about riding a horse. Just me and Bailey. The world’s problems disappeared.
We passed through a clear cut for over another two miles before I pulled back and slowed Bailey so I could turn off onto a side trail that led up through the mountains. The clear-cut forest had bothered me when I first came here. But Jenny had explained the whole harvesting and replanting thing and how it opened up areas for wildlife.
“Think of it as a crop,” she had said. “A crop that gets harvested every forty years or so.”
Eventually, I just accepted it as a part of life.
Jenny and I loved this way. It passed by a small stream where I could rest Bailey before we started home.
Would Luke be there? I wondered. What was it about him that occupied my thoughts so often?
My daydreams were interrupted when Bailey snorted and crow hopped to the side. My stomach clenched when he got too near the small bluff that fell off to the stream below.
“What are you doing you, idiot?” I teased as I nudged him forward.
Bailey snorted again but he started up like I wanted. We didn’t have far to go. A little beyond the next bend the trail dipped down next to the stream where I would let Bailey have a drink and w
e could turn for home.
I smiled to myself as I soaked in the forest. The peaceful gurgle of the stream, the wind whispering through the trees. The sharp pine scent, all of it combined to send a happy feeling to my soul.
As we started, around the turn in the trail, Bailey’s ears came up. My heart lurched when I saw it. There in the middle of the trail, a full-grown mountain lion crouching over a deer carcass.
The giant cat hissed as it bared its fangs at us. Protecting his kill. Wild, primal.
My breath caught as Bailey screamed and reared up while he twisted around. Horses and Mountain Lions do not get along. They never have and never will.
It was too much too soon. I wasn’t ready and went off the back end, ass over tea kettle.
Somewhere in mid-air, I realized that this was going to hurt. Sometimes I hate being right. The ground hit me like a sledgehammer then fell away as I tumbled over the bluff.
“Noooo.” I screamed as I tried to stop myself. Of course, I failed miserably. Instead, I heard something snap as my leg erupted in pain. Fortunately, I was saved from more agony when my head slammed into something hard and unforgiving.
My last thought was that I didn’t want to be eaten alive. Hopefully, I would die before the cat got to me.
Chapter Four
Luke
Nellie’s bark startled me. She rarely barked, it must be pretty bad. I turned to see Bailey racing through the trees, his eyes wide and frightened as if he had the hounds of hell on his tail.
“Whoa, boy,” I said calmly as I held up my arms to stop him from rushing into something and injuring himself. “Whoa,” I repeated.
Bailey slammed to halt in front of me then twisted to look behind him.
“What happened?” I asked as I took a hold of his halter and quickly scanned him for any injuries. “Where’s Amy?”
Jenny had told me to expect her to come out and exercise Bailey. I know in reality she was having her friend keep an eye on me. But hey, what should I expect?
The horse shied away, not listening to me.
My Best Friend's Brother (Hometown Heroes Book 3) Page 2
