Read Online Immortal Mine by Cindy C Bennett - Free Book Online Page A

hand a squeeze and releases
it.
    “Should we go back in and help with the
planning?” he asks.
    I look toward the door. I can hear voices
from within. Somehow, I doubt they’ll miss me.
    “No, I think I’m going to cut out for today.
I should go home, anyway, and—”
    “Feed the chickens?” he interrupts.
    “Something like that,” I smile.
    “Mind if I go with you?”
    “You want to feed my chickens?” I ask,
perplexed.
    He grins. “No, I want to work the horses.”
Oh, duh. “And I’d like to meet your unusual parents.”
    I shrug. “Okay, just remember you asked for
it.”
    We leave without telling anyone that we’re
going. I’m not sure of Sam’s reasons for this, but mine are clear.
I don’t want Stacy giving me that told-you-so look because this isn’t what she thinks. This is just deciding to be nice to
Sam, nothing more.
    “So, what transportation did you use to get
to school? Livestock or thumb throttle?”
    “Ha, ha,” I mock. “Except when it’s snowing,
my only transport is my feet.”
    “I live a little further, so I drove. Want
to ride with me back to your place?”
    “Uh…” His question stumps me. It shouldn’t.
I’ve caught rides with any number of people in town, and never
thought twice about it. But this whole being nice to Sam thing is
new, and instinct makes me want to say no. Thinking it feels a
little too friendly also makes me want to say no. Being in a
confined space so close to Sam makes me want to say no. Not wanting
to explain any of that to him makes me finally mumble, “Okay.”
    He looks at me oddly. “I’m a pretty good
driver. I promise to get you there in one piece.”
    “Oh, yeah, no… I know that. I mean, I don’t know that, but…”
    “But?”
    But I’m feeling flustered by you right now.
Why is that?
    “No but, just… okay.”
    He narrows his eyes in confusion, but
doesn’t press the issue. He leads me to his truck—the same one he
brought the horses to the stable in—and opens my door. Like that
doesn’t make me even more uncomfortable, as if we were on a date or
something. What can I do, though, but climb in and let him close
the door behind me.
    
    “I’m not rushing through my chores so
that I can get out to the pasture to watch Sam with the Irish. I’m
hurrying because… okay, maybe that’s the reason a little bit. It
has nothing to do with Sam. I just want to watch the horse.
He’s so beautiful. All six-foot-three, red-headed—” I gasp and
break off, glaring at Bob as if he caused me to say that. He’s
trying to be a good friend, sitting at my feet, glancing at me as
much as he possibly can while I ramble—not an easy task with the
chickens in front of him, egging him on just by existing.
    “I so did not mean that,” his head,
which had been inching back in the direction of the source of his
divided attention, jerks toward me at my harsh tone. I smack my
forehead with the palm of my hand—and grimace as I feel the grind
of the chicken feed, which is now rolling down my face. I angrily
brush the feed from my hand using the front of my jeans, then brush
it from my face, as Bob tries to catch the miniscule falling
pieces, pretty much just snapping air between his jaws—which makes
me laugh.
    I back out of the pen, calling Bob with me.
His head hangs dejectedly as a result of my cutting into his
chicken chasing time with my conversation, but once the gate closes
behind us, he perks up and bounds off. I walk into the horse barn,
peeking in on Sheila, my mare. She stands happily in her clean
stall, eating fresh hay next to her full water trough. I know I
should be happy my parents are back and that they’ve done some of
my more time consuming chores, like cleaning Sheila’s stall and
feeding and watering all the horses.
    I grunt and turn toward the sounds I can
hear coming from outside in the paddock. I give in to the urge and
follow the sounds out.
    Sam is working the Irish in the same manner
as the previous