Mac shivered. “It’s the way they walk—and their creepy feet.” She shook her head and sighed. “There are few people in the world I would do anything for, Sam, and you’re one of them. Getting dirty for you would be my pleasure.”
“Ha!” I handed her a curry comb to brush Benedict. “That just means you’re going to hold it over me later. Aren’t you?”
She smiled brightly. “Why yes, yes I will.” She began to comb his sorrel hair. “I brush in the direction the hair grows, right?”
“Yes.” My smile widened as the crease in her brown deepened with concentration. “You remembered, good job.”
Mac ran her hand down the sleek curve of Benedict’s back. “I hate teasing my own hair, and imagine it would feel the same.”
“Probably.” I’d never teased my own hair, so I couldn’t relate.
We brushed our horses in silence, Mac likely deep in concentration, and me, I was just happy to have some company on the ranch for the first time in a while, even with the impending conversation looming. Nick had been visiting off and on all summer, helping Papa with projects in exchange for summer cash. Even Reilly had been helping them sometimes, too, but having Mac around was completely different. She was there for me, and I didn’t feel so alone.
“So,” Mac started and picked up the hoof pick. She stared at it quizzically. “You’re doing this part, right?”
I nodded and took the pick, handing her the saddle blanket instead. “You remember how to put this one on, right?”
She scoffed. “I think I can manage.”
Lifting an eyebrow, I watched in anticipation. “Set it a bit further up on his withers and—”
“Scoot it down into place—I remember Sam.”
I smiled, imagining I sounded a lot like an overbearing stepmother. I glanced at the farmhouse before bending down to pick the muck from Benedict’s hoof.
“So . . . my payment,” Mac began with a bit of uncertainty. I braced myself. “I want you to come shopping with me next weekend, so I can find an outfit for the beach party.”
“The bonfire? That’s easy. Wear jeans and a sweatshirt.” Dropping Benedict’s last hoof, I moved over to Shasta.
Mac glared at me. “Come on, Sam. We’re going to be juniors next year, and you haven’t had a date at all—and Harlon doesn’t count. Neither does Reilly for saving our butts at the dance.”
“Way to rub salt in the wound, Mac.” It was true, I hadn’t been going out for pizza or to movies with guys like she did. I hadn’t been thinking about any other guys, other than Reilly. But she didn’t know that. “I really hate shopping, Mac.”
With a victorious laugh, Mac walked around Benedict and stopped beside me. “I know. And I hate getting dirty. See? These are the sacrifices best friends make for each other.”
I knew I had no choice and rolled my eyes. “Fine. It will be the highlight of my week.” The saddest part of that statement was that it might actually be true. I’d gone to the lake the night after my kiss with Reilly and he hadn’t been there. I’d been sick to my stomach since, obsessing about whether or not it was just a coincidence or that Reilly regretted it and had been avoiding me.
“Besides,” Mac continued, oblivious to my inner turmoil. She glanced toward the farmhouse. “God knows you could use another reason to get away from this place.” Mac knew all too well the hell I’d been living in since the marriage. The strange thing was, I used to like Alison. She was Nick’s cool, young aunt and she liked to play with my hair, something no one had done since Mama died. Then, something just . . . changed. She was always bitter and moody, always unhappy. She needed space or for Papa to take care of her. She’d become a black cloud in my life I couldn’t seem to escape.
“Smurf,” Papa said as he stepped around the stable. He smiled the instant he saw Mac. “Machaela—I was wondering whose car was in the driveway. I’m not sure I’ve seen you since you got your new car.”
“Hi, Mr. Miller.” Mac gave him a single wave and leaned against the hitching post. “I’m helping Sam out with chores today.”
“Well,” he said. “I won’t pretend that’s not surprising.” Papa chuckled. It was a nice sound, one I rarely heard anymore, and my heart hurt a little. “Smurf, Josh should be here in a bit to help me fix the chicken coop. Send him to the house when he gets here, would you? I have to take care of some things.”
I tried to keep my expression indifferent and my surprise locked up tight, but I’m sure everyone could hear my racing heart as much as I could. If they looked close enough, they could likely see it trying to beat out of my chest. Reilly would be here today? I wasn’t sure if that would turn into a good or a bad thing.
“Smurf?”
“Uh—yeah. Sure.” I cleared my throat and turned back to Shasta. I couldn’t even remember what I was doing, so I plucked the stickers and bits of hay from her mane.
“Thanks, sweetie. You two girls have fun.” My dad’s footsteps retreated toward the house and I prayed that Reilly wouldn’t be here until after Mac and I had taken off on our ride.
With more haste than before, I slung the saddle over Shasta’s back, wondering what exactly it would be like when I finally did see Reilly for the first time since—
“What, may I ask, was that?” Mac uttered under her breath. She stepped up beside me, and my hands stilled on Shasta’s saddle.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play coy with me, Samantha Miller. You just froze up and practically turned white. You might’ve even stopped breathing.” I could feel Mac’s gaze burning against my skin, but she waited patiently for me to answer.
I forced myself to look at her, knowing I had little choice. I knew Mac far too well to think she’d ever let anything like what she suspected she’d just seen go without an awkward confrontation.
“Has something happened with Reilly that you haven’t told me?”
As I opened my mouth, prepared to brush it off and make up some excuse, she shook her head and raised her palm to stop me from answering the question. “Let me rephrase that, what happened with Reilly that you’re not telling me?”
Although Reilly and I had lived next to each other all our lives—his father’s property connected to mine—he’d always just been Josh Reilly, Nick’s best friend, a member of our group, and MVP of the varsity baseball team. That is, until two nights ago.
“Come on,” Mac said, stepping out of my way as I hauled Benedict’s saddle over his back. He was taller than Shasta, and my arms burned as I lifted the heavy saddle higher than I was used to.
“I can’t believe you’ve been keeping something from me,” she muttered, her lilac scent wafting off of her in the breeze. Even amidst fly spray and a hint of manure, she still managed to smell amazing.
“I haven’t been keeping anything from you, Mac,” I bit back. “It just sort of happened.” I grunted as I tightened Benedict’s cinch.
Mac swatted at a fly, her face twisting and her ponytail swaying as she took a step back.
“God, you’re such a girl,” I muttered.
“Yeah, so are you. You should act like it more often.”
I glared at her.
“Sorry, low blow. Clearly your tomboyishness seems to be working for Reilly. Now, come on. No more stalling. Spill.”
It only took me a heartbeat to realize if I told her anything other than the full truth she’d not only resent me for holding back, but she would never let the conversation go. So, I grabbed Benedict’s bridle and decided a brief retelling would suffice.
“Well, a while back, I went down to the lake—you know, trying to get away from Dad and Alison—and Reilly was there.” Mac draped her arm over Benedict’s saddle, gaze fixed and intent on me. “I’d heard Reilly and his dad yelling at each other, so I can’t say I was all that surprised to run into him. The lake is about as far as he can run from his place, without being in another zip code.” The lake had always provided me with a comfort I couldn’t really explain, so I wasn’t surpri
sed that it did the same for Reilly. “The lake has a funny way of making you feel like you’re in a different world,” I explained.
“Okay, and . . .” Mac took Benedict’s reins from me.
“And I’ve seen him a couple times since. It’s not like we purposely meet down there—” I paused, considering how we went from never running into each other on the property, to it happening at least a few times a week. “Anyway, the other night was . . . different.”
Mac’s glittering green eyes widened, her expression hardened, and then she flicked me.
“Ouch!”
“I can’t believe you,” she chided. “You really have been holding out on me. Josh Reilly—cutest, nicest-guy-in-the-world—is having clandestine meetings with you at the lake? For weeks? Tell me. Everything.”
I couldn’t help but feel giddy as Mac tried and failed to contain her excitement. Reilly and I had always been friends, but it was never the sisterhood Mac and I shared, obviously, and it was never like the relationship I’d always had with Nick—he was like a big brother, though a cocky, annoying one at times.
Reilly was always the nice, quiet guy who wasn’t necessarily shy, but only spoke when he had something to say. He was the strong silent type, which is what made it so difficult to ignore how his father had been treating him, I think. He shrugged everything off and never complained, but the more I got to know him, the more miserable he seemed, just like me. It was nice to have that in common with him.
“Sup, girls!” Nick called, startling me. He made his way over from the hillside, the direction of Reilly’s. His cocky grin was in place and his thumbs hooked in his jean pockets like he owned the place. Typical. My attention quickly shifted to Reilly, though, walking beside him. All I could focus on was the way his dirty-blonde hair hung just over part of the darkening bruise on his temple, a result of an argument with his father. It angered me all over again, but the warm thrill that curled inside me from the kiss we shared was just as fresh in my mind, too—living, pulsing. It was a little confusing. I wanted to know what thoughts played behind those baby-blue eyes of his and that easy smile that comforted me somehow. And his lips . . .
With bated breath, the same nerves I had standing beside him on the dock that night hummed to life inside me again, unexpected and deep down somewhere in my soul I couldn’t fully distinguish. I wasn’t sure I needed to.
“Sam,” Reilly said quietly and nodded in greeting.
“You ladies look as stunning as ever,” Nick said over him. His voice boomed compared to Reilly’s, which was something I’d never noticed before.
“Why, thank you,” Mac chirped, but I was too busy trying to seem busy as I turned back to Benedict, checking his hooves again, then his cinch.
“We’re here to help your Pop with the chickens,” Nick explained. “He needed some extra muscle.”
Mac threw her head back. “Ha! Then why did he call you, exactly?”
“Whatever.” Nick grumbled and took a step closer. “Hey, are you two coming over tonight? My dad’s grilling. You don’t want to miss my dad’s barbecue.”
I wanted to see what Reilly was going to say, and when I glanced back at him, he was already staring at me.
“So, Sam,” Nick prompted. “My house, tonight?”
“Do we have a choice?” I teased, pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose.
Nick made a false effort to think about it. “Not really.”
“Mr. Miller’s in the house,” Mac interrupted and nodded inside. “He said you could find him in there.” That was my cue. Mac was growing impatient.
Taking Shasta’s reins in my hands, I climbed up into the saddle.
Nick moved to leave, then paused. “Aunt Alison wouldn’t by chance be cooking anything divine for lunch today, would she?”
I snorted. “Yeah, right.”
He furrowed his brow.
“Don’t your parents feed you, Nick?” Mac teased. “Let me rephrase that, I know your parents feed you. Don’t they feed you enough?”
“Come on, Reilly,” Nick said, ignoring her. “Let’s go find some food and get to work.”
I glanced at Reilly again, surprised to find his eyes on me and filled with something that looked a lot like the curiosity and uncertainty I had been feeling since our kiss. At least, I thought that’s what it was.
“Reilly!” Nick shouted as he ran up the porch steps. “Let’s go.”
Finally, Reilly tore his gaze away from mine, smiled at Mac, then ambled his way toward the house, much to Nick’s dismay.
“Dude, hurry up. Would you? I’m starving.”
“I’m coming.”
Once Mac mounted Benedict, we rode toward the hill. I’d never seen Mac so excited to ride a horse, but she waited to inundate me with questions until we were out of earshot.
“Okay, Sam,” she said when we reached the edge of the farm. “Now finish your story. I’m on pins and needles. What exactly happened the other night, because that interaction was almost painful to watch. You said it was different . . . different how?”
Remembering the mark on Reilly’s face, all levity vanished. “Did you see the bruise on his face?”
Mac’s face fell, and the brightness in her eyes dimmed. “I figured it was from practice or something. Nick gets banged up all the time . . . His dad did that?”
I didn’t have to respond, she’d already guessed the truth.
“I knew he was a mean bastard, but I didn’t realize it was that bad. I mean, I had an inkling, but only because of the way Nick is always trying to get him to stay the night and jokes about Reilly moving in with him. He really wants him out of that house.”
“Yep.”
“Poor Josh,” Mac rasped, and let the reins hang loosely in her hands. Benedict liked to follow Shasta, so they ambled beside one another companionably. “I really hate Mr. Reilly.”
I nodded. “Me too. When me and Reilly ran into each other, I begged him to leave his dad’s house, even though I know he won’t, and somehow we just, sort of . . . kissed.” My mind and heart lightened at the memory, and I almost closed my eyes as I replayed it for the seven-hundredth time. “It was pretty magical, actually.”
Mac grabbed onto her saddle horn with one hand then leaned over to flick me again. “You fucking kissed Josh Reilly, Sam. How are you not bursting at the seams? Wait,” she shook her head and straightened. “How did I not know any of this until now? It’s like you have this whole life I know nothing about it.”
I tilted my head with a haughty glare. “First of all, you know everything about my life, maybe except for this, so it’s not a big deal.”
She snorted. “Yeah right. You’re in love. I can’t believe—”
“I’m not in love with him. I’m just . . . confused, I think. Surprised.”
“No you’re in love, it’s obvious now that I know what happened.”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head.
“I’m serious, Sam. Mark my words—”
But before she could finish, I nudged Shasta into a canter and took off, up the hill. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for Mac’s meddling quite yet. Plus, if Mac was going to make me go shopping with her, she was going to have to work for it.
SUMMER
Six
Truth or Dare
Nick
Five Years Ago
The evening summer breeze was warm, and the sound of the crackling fire and song of the crickets was soothing. Even if I didn’t feel much like partying, it was nice to be out of Saratoga Falls for the weekend, sitting under the stars, away from my parents and life.
“So, how does it feel to be a high school graduate?” Sam asked with a smile. It was a forced one though. She’d been miserable since Reilly’s deployment a few weeks before, we all had been. Knowing he needed to get out of Saratoga Falls and away from his dad was one thing, him actually being gone was another. I hadn’t been prepared for how different things would be, I guess. None of us were.
“It feels the same,
right now at least,” I admitted. But in reality, everything had changed. “Maybe after this summer and when my classes at the U start up in the fall, being a high school graduate will feel more like a reality.” I poked at the embers in the campfire.
“Maybe.” Sam nestled further down in her seat, staring into the growing flames. “It won’t be the same without you, you know?”
“I know.” I flashed her a cocky grin. “Your junior year will be so lame without me.”
Sam smiled again, but like the last time, it didn’t reach her eyes. “How come you’re not crashing the baseball team’s campsite with Mac?” she asked, eyes finally leaving the flames.
“Why aren’t you?” I replied.
Sam ignored my question and continued. “Is it because Bethany is over there?”
“No.” It was a partial lie. Normally I didn’t mind being around Bethany, even if she did blow me off one too many times for us to ever be considered friends, but I didn’t like that she was dating Tompkins, one of the baseball team’s outfielders, either. He was a good guy and all, but I just—I didn’t like it. Even if I couldn’t explain why, exactly.
Everything about Bethany was an puzzle. She’d easily been the hottest chick in Sam and Mac’s class, but she was also a flirt, and from what I’d heard, she got around. She and Anna Marie were always going to parties and getting into trouble. Not to mention, I knew firsthand the games she played. I’d been a part of her schemes before, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was still a part of one. It felt like she gave me the cold shoulder half the time and it should’ve been the other way around. She was the one who ditched me at a party my junior year to make out with some other guy.
But, call me stupid, I felt like there was more to the whole situation than that. Maybe a part of me felt sorry for her because of what happened in middle school with social services and her brother almost getting taken away from her. Her parents were assholes then, and I doubted they’d changed all that much over the years. Or, maybe I was just an idiot and wanted to imagine the sad, lonely girl I’d seen all those years ago, even if she was no longer there.
Saratoga Falls: The Complete Love Story Series Page 99