“I can do it,” Andy said as he rushedforward.
“I have it,” Daisy said. She snatched it from Greg’s hand and clicked on the light. “Where do you want me toshineit?”
“Wherever myhandsgo.”
He knew exactly where he’d like to put his hands right now and it wasn’t on car parts. Daisy was wearing a new yellow romper today. It had a thick ruffle around the neckline that swayed across her breasts as she moved. Her long legs ended in a pair of worn leather sandals that had seen better days. Sparkling pink nail polish glimmered onhertoes.
The image of her legs wrapped around him flashed through his mind. He quickly turned and leaned over into the engine compartment. He couldn’t look at Daisy without getting a raging hard-on. Heat flooded his cheeks. As long as he didn’t look at her, he’d be able to hide his uncontrollabledesire.
“How’s it looking?” Andy asked after several minutes hadpassed.
“I think I found the problem,”Gregsaid.
“Whatisit?”
“Your clutchisshot.”
“We’ve been having trouble with it for a while,”Riversaid.
“The disc is worn down. You’ve been slipping your clutch too much,” Greg said. “I’ll check the clutchcabletoo.”
He set the wrench down and circled to the side of the bus. After dropping down to the ground, he flipped onto his back and slid along the dirt under the bus. When he found the clutch cable, he sighed. It was frayed and rusted in several places. They were lucky it hadn’t snappedalready.
“I’ve got more bad news.” He inched out from under the car and climbed to his feet. He brushed at his jeans to get the dirt off his butt. “Your clutch cable needs to bereplaced.”
“What?” Andybarked.
“You’ve got rust and it’s about to break in at least two places. If you need a ride into town, I can helpyouout.”
“How much is that going to cost?” Daisy askedsoftly.
“You’re looking at a few hundred bucks at least,”Gregsaid.
“Oh, no.” Daisy shoved her nails back into her mouth andchewed.
“We don’t have that much money,”Andysaid.
“How much do you have?” heasked.
River pulled a woven orange wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. He pulled out a few dollars andcountedit.
“Thirty dollars and fifty two cents,”hesaid.
“That won’t cover it,”Gregsaid.
“We’re so screwed.” Meadow slumped down onto the ground and wrapped her arms around her knees. “We’restuckhere.”
He took one look at their forlorn faces and knew he had to do something. He couldn’t just leave them here. Since he didn’t have a job off of the farm, he didn’t have any money either. He couldn’t just ask his dad for a few hundred dollars without telling him why he needed the money. But maybe there wasanotherway.
With his brothers gone, they needed more help in the fields. Maybe he could convince his dad to hire them and in exchange for their help, they could pay for the car part. It was a long shot, but he couldn’t come up with any other viableoptions.
“I have an idea,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to work, but maybe I can talk tomydad.”
“Would he loan you the money?” Daisyasked.
“No. We don’t have that kind of money. But we might be able to work something out with Gunther. He owns the garage in town. We might be able to exchange food and supplies for the parts. I can do thelabor.”
“Do you think your dad would really be willing to help us?” Andy asked. “You said he hated trespassers andhippies.”
