“Sorry. I’m going to a party with Lindsay.” Maizie flipped her ponytail and went to check the tank, but she didn’t miss the way Jayce’s face lit up when she said Lindsay’s name. He’d had a crush on her since the first time he met her nearly six years ago. The feeling wasn’t mutual.
“Can we come?” Jayce followed after her.
She stopped walking. “You want to come to a party for high schoolers?”
“No. But I will for Lindsay.”
Maizie shook her head, he was hopelessly in love. It was kind of sweet but mostly sad.
“Maybe next time Romeo.”
“Don’t you have school tomorrow?”
“Nope.” Maizie slammed the milk tank lid down with a resounding bang and hid a smile when Christian flinched. “Three day weekend. How about you finish the clean-up, and I’ll let you tag along next time,” Maizie said.
“That’s a cold-hearted deal,” Jayce shook his head but didn’t argue as he picked up the scrub brush. The worst part of the entire milk shift was cleaning the barn afterward. “But I’m only agreeing because you were going to make me do it anyway.”
“You’re not half as dumb as you look,” She said with a laugh.
“You little—” he made a grab for her but she sprinted back into the milk room.
She only made it a few feet before a force of water hit her in the back. “Ahh!” She screamed and ran to hide around the corner, but her boots slid on the wet cement and she flew into a very hard and very unwelcoming body. Her momentum took them both to the floor and she landed on top of him.
He looked up at her, then down at his body that was now covered in manure, then back up at her, the horror evident in his eyes.
The nice thing to do would be to apologize. But this was the farm. Crap happened. The sooner this city boy learned that, the better. “This is what they call karma.”
She pushed off of him and then Jayce was there to help her up. He pulled her up and into his arms, and this time she gave him a real hug.
“I’ve missed you, cuz.” She said.
“You too, squirt.” He patted the top of her head and she smacked his hand away.
“Do that again and die.”
Jayce’s laugh echoed through the empty corridors in her heart. She’d missed fighting with him like she used to fight with her brother.
Three
This is what they call karma.
If Christian hadn’t been covered in crap, he might have laughed. He probably deserved it, but all he could think about was the nasty brown stuff all down his front.
“You okay?” Jayce asked as the door shut behind Maizie.
Christian stared at him, unblinking. “I’m covered in crap.”
“It’s just a little poop,” Jayce said, trying and failing to hide his grin.
“Do you not hear the problem with that statement?” Christian stepped around his best friend and grabbed the hose.
“Go ahead and spray down the rest of the barn while you’re at it.” Jayce said and picked up the scrub brush that had been abandoned on the floor. “Then scrub the poop off the walls with this.”
Christian dodged the brush. “I’m not touching that.”
Jayce sighed and leaned against it. “Dude, what did you think working on the farm was going to be like?”
That was a fair question. He clearly hadn’t thought this through. At all. His internship had fallen through one week ago. And the next thing he knew, his mom was packing his bag for him to come down here. All he had to do was get in the car.
