City Boy

This was one of those instances.

Jake almost felt bad for Rory, although despite the look on his face, Rory didn't seem too sorrowful over what happened. Jake wondered if that was because he didn't care or just whether he didn't know enough to care.

"I now have a full tank with mastitis-infected milk! The plant will never accept this, and they'll have to dump the entire amount. Two hundred cattle's worth of milk, Rory!" yelled Paul.

"I'm sorry, okay! I told you I made a mistake."

"Your mistake cost me a whole day's worth of revenue," said Paul in a more restrained tone. "This farm is having a hard enough time already, and I can't afford this kind of mistake. Didn't you see how hard the teat was?"

Before Rory could respond, Neal stepped in between them. "The kid didn't realize it, Paul. There's no sense in ragging on him about it anymore."

Paul turned to Neal. "He still should know better. And if he didn't know it, then he should've asked before he did anything!"

Neal nodded. "I agree. I'll spend some extra time with him. Help make sure he knows the difference. This doesn't have to happen again."

"It can't happen again," Paul stressed.

"You're absolutely right," said Neal. "We'll spend time working on it, won't we, Rory?"

Rory didn't respond, only nodding his head in acknowledgment. For the first time, Jake looked past the three men to find Carly on the other side of her father. She seemed to be alternating between watching her father and watching him. Even though she wasn't smiling at him like she was yesterday, at least she wasn't scowling.

It was good enough for Paul, who soon put his hat back on. "All right, fine."

"Come on, Rory, we have hay to do," said Neal, as he patted the other man on the shoulder and turned around.

"Hay? Who's going to do the tank? That's a lot of milk that needs dumped!" said Paul.

Before anyone could answer, Carly stepped forward. "I'll clean it, Dad. I can take care of it."

"You and who else? It's a two person job, Carly, you know that."

Carly looked right past everyone else and directly at Jake. "Jake can give me a hand with it."

Paul looked between them both before he finally nodded. "Oh, all right. That's fine by me, I suppose." He wasn't long for their attention anyway, and as Jake walked away, he couldn't help but see Mike Cooper pull into the driveway of the farm again. He could already see the frustration building on Paul's face, and he figured it was good that he was getting away now.

Jake couldn't help but give Carly a questioning look as she nodded for him to follow her. Soon enough it was just the two of them, and they entered the milk house where the main tank was. While there was a drain in the milk room, it wasn't meant to handle all the milk for two hundred cattle, so it required them to run a few hoses out to a drainage ditch some distance from milk house.

"So why'd you volunteer me?" asked Jake, as they began to grab the hoses.

Carly shrugged. "It didn't seem like you had anything better to do."

"You could've grabbed Rory. After all, it was his mess."

"No, thanks," said Carly quickly. "If I'm going to be spending an hour emptying the tank, I'd rather not do it with a sulking Rory."

"But you'd rather do it with me?"

Carly stopped to look at him. "Is that a problem?"

Jake cracked a smile. "Not at all. But I have to ask you something?"

"What's that?"

"What's going to be our game today? Who can empty the tank the quickest?"

Carly actually laughed. "No need to make a game out of it. We both already know I'd win."

Jake made a dismissive noise. "Yeah, right. I'd probably whup you in that too."

Carly took her hat off, letting her strawberry blonde hair free. She whipped it at his arm playfully. "Just grab the hose, goofball."

They spent the next ten minutes dragging the hoses out to the ditch and positioning them for the valve release. Once it was secured, they went back to the milk room.

Jake was the first one to grab the normal release valve that drained into the room. "You sure you don't want this one on too? We just might get this emptied sooner."

Carly shook her head. "No, that one just spits out right here. We'd be foot deep in milk in a few minutes and there'd be nowhere for it to go." She went to the other side of the tank and grabbed another lever. "This is the one we need."

The lever made a squeak as she pulled it in place, and soon they could see the volume of milk rushing into the hose.

"Come on, let's make sure it's still getting into the ditch," she called.

Sure enough, several hundred gallons of milk was flowing freely into the ditch on the other side. They both stopped to watch it for a few moments before Carly dramatically sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"That," she said, pointing to the milk. "A whole day wasted. Things are tight enough around here without this added onto too."

Jake nodded but otherwise stayed silent, letting her talk.

"It just seems to be one thing after another these days," she continued. "I don't know how much more my dad can take. He already wants to move on from the farm, and on days like these, I don't blame him. I know how he feels when stuff like this happens, and it just makes me feel so helpless."

"It sounds like it was just a mistake though, Carly. I don't think Rory did it on purpose."

Carly turned her eyes to his. "Does it though? Rory makes a lot of mistakes. Sometimes I think we'd be better off letting him go, but then who would replace him? Not many people in this town that want to work at a farm anymore."

"He'll get better though. Neal said he'd train him himself," said Jake.

Carly chuckled. "Neal always says that, and he does it, but it never gets any better. Sometimes I think this bad luck cloud that seems to hover over the farm is never going away."

"Maybe in enough time it will," he said quietly.

"I don't like to put a lot of hope in maybes," she replied. "I think I would feel better about it if dad could've just retired and passed the farm onto Logan, just like they originally intended. Logan seemed to be better cut out for all of this."

Jake nodded stiffly, finding himself tongue-tied for the right words. Eventually, he picked a safe path. "Logan would've been good at this. He would've enjoyed running the farm."

To his surprise, Carly smiled. "Yeah, yeah he would've. He was the only person I knew that could spend the whole day on the farm and still come home smilin'. He was born for that role."

Jake swallowed heavily. "I miss him. I really do."

"I do too, Jake," she said softly. "I know you two were close, but he was still my brother. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him."

Jake could only feel the lump in his throat grow. There were words on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't know if he had the courage to say them or what her reaction to them would be. He decided to risk it.

"Carly, I'm sorry about Logan. I really am. I still blame myself for that day, and I know I can't bring him back, but I'm so sorry."

She turned to look at him as her red eyes focused on his. He didn't know if she was about to cry or explode in anger. "What really happened that night, Jake? I know I've always blamed you for it, but I don't think I ever heard your side of the story."

Jake gulped. "I really hate to relive it."

"Don't relive it then. Just tell me what happened. Please?"

He turned away from her, walking a few feet away. When he turned to face her again, she was staring intently back at him, tears running down her cheeks. Even after everything that had transpired between them, all the anger and the rage, he still felt like he owed her.

"You know how much he liked to take those four-wheelers out," started Jake, walking the short distance back to her side. "Almost too much, but I guess that's part of being a teenage boy. We used to ride them all over the farm. We'd stay out late, find some deep mud tracks, and just let them rip loose."

"I remember," she said softly. "You two were always out on those in the evening. Sometimes I wish you'd wait up for me but you never did."

"That wasn't my influence," he added quickly. "Logan just didn't want his little sister around. You know how it is."

She nodded but otherwise remained silent.

"That night that it all happened, Logan came to me. He said he found a spot, a low-lying spot near the creek that had overflowed the banks because of all the rain. He said it was perfect for muddin' through, and I was game for it. Who wouldn't be?"

Carly shook her head. "I'll never understand the interest in muddin'. I think only men would enjoy seeing how dirty they can get."

Jake shrugged. "I don't see the appeal of it much anymore but when I was sixteen, I did. Anyway, we went down to that creek bank and had a blast. But then Logan noticed the hill."

"The steep hill?" added Carly, knowing this part of the story already.

Jake nodded. "It was almost near vertical, and it was really muddy at the bottom. Logan thought we could make it up the hill at full speed. I didn't think we could as it was just too steep, but he bet me that he could get to the top before me. Seeing as I was closest to it, I took off at a quick pace. The mud at the bottom of the hill gave me some trouble, and my front end left the ground as I neared the top, but I pushed against the handlebars, and I was able to make it up to the top of the hill."

"And what did Logan do?" she whispered.

Jake gulped. "He tried to do it right behind me but something went wrong. I don't know if he got caught in the mud more than I did, but he didn't have enough speed to go up the hill. His front end came off the ground like mine and he must've just lost control."

Carly turned away from him, facing the other way.

"It . . . fell back on him," said Jake quietly. He waited for her to look back. "The next thing I knew, he was back at the bottom of the hill, and it was . . . on top of him."

Carly started to cry, covering her face. The sight of her broken expression made him want to do everything possible to comfort her. He wanted to hug her to him, but he was still half-afraid she might turn on him.

He wasn't sure if this experience would harden her heart or make her their relationship better.

Finally, she wiped her nose. "I know it wasn't your fault. I think it was easier for me to blame you then to realize that Logan might've been responsible."

"I still feel like it was my fault though," he said. "Maybe it should've been me that fell, I don't know. But if I hadn't gone up the hill, he wouldn't have followed me. If I would've told him it was stupid, we wouldn't have done it."

Carly nodded. "Maybe. I don't know, Jake. I just wanted to know. You and I used to be such good friends and then it happened. I still think I idolized Logan as only a little sister could. It was just easier to blame you."

"I still haven't forgiven myself for it though," he whispered.

"Maybe you should," she said finally. "Would it help if I forgave you?"

"It would be a start."

To his surprise, Carly walked right over to him and wrapped her arms around him. Far from making the situation better, she started to cry against his chest. "Dad says that hard heads run in the family, and he's right. I've been very stubborn about this, and I knew it wasn't for the best of reasons. But then you had to go and . . . "

"And what?"

She looked up at him. "You had to go and be you."

His eyebrows raised in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

Carly swallowed heavily. "I had fun yesterday. At first, I hated it. I hated that I was having fun with you and that you were making me laugh. But then I just came to accept it because we used to have fun when we were younger. It just took me back to those days, and suddenly the present wasn't so bad anymore. I knew that blaming you was the easy way out, but I figured I'd never see you again. I never dreamed you'd come back to town. But once you were here, it started to hit me how silly it was to keep blaming you."

"I never thought I'd come back either," he said as his fingers slid through her hair. "It turns out the big city isn't really for me."

She actually cracked a smile. "That's because you're not a city boy at heart. You belong out here. Out on a farm with dirty boots and a suntanned neck."

"I think you mean redneck," he said with a chuckle.

"I don't think anyone here will be calling you a redneck any time soon," she teased.

"I bet they'll come around," he said playfully. "I bet even Tate will be the first one to do so."

Carly giggled. "Tate will be the last one to do so. He won't stop calling you City Boy."

They both laughed together before falling silent. Carly didn't seem to be in any hurry to let go, and if he was being honest, neither was he. She felt surprisingly good in his arms, and from this angle, he could see the deep blueness of her eyes.

"Do you think that maybe we could go back to normal?" she asked finally, locking her gaze on him. "Back to the way things used to be?"

Jake nodded. "I'd like that. I really would."

"Me too." Carly squeezed him one more time before she let go. She turned her attention back to the milk. "Oh, it's all done! When did that happen?"

"About fifteen minutes ago," he said before turning red. "I didn't want to disturb you."

Her face soon turned just as red as his.

*****

The next week at the farm saw almost a complete change in their relationship. Gone was the angry and frigid Carly, only to be replaced by a version that was much more friendly, to the point where Jake could swear he was receiving preferential treatment from her.

"Okay, let's switch out," she called one morning when they were stacking hay. "Jake, come down here and unload the wagon for a little bit. Give someone else a chance up there in the loft."

"You sure?" he called down. "I just started up here, and it's not that hot yet. I can do more time up here."

She waved him down anyway. "Yep, come on down."

Tate gave him a surprised look on the way down. "What did you do, City Boy? You buy Carly a fancy dinner or something? Why's she being nice to you?"

Jake played dumb. "Maybe she just finally stopped being angry with me?"

Tate snorted. "Her? No way, she holds a grudge forever."

He had to duck shortly after saying that, as she threw a clump of dirt in his direction. Tate recovered quickly and danced around the bottom loft. "You can't hit me, you can't hit me," he chanted.

Carly started to laugh as Jake came down. "You good?" she asked, touching his arm lightly.

"Never better," he replied as he jumped in the wagon.

They worked for the rest of the morning, and just after they finished the last wagon, Carly's mother came out with a fresh tray of iced teas.

"I thought all of you might be thirsty," she said, as she handed the tray off to Carly. "Drink up and enjoy!"

"Freshly-made iced tea, yes ma'am," said Tate as he made a beeline toward the tray.

Carly scoffed at him. "Wait your turn, will ya?" She then turned to Jake. "Jake, come here, get your glass."

He walked to the front of all of them as she personally deposited the tallest glass in his hands.

"Now he gets the tallest glass? What's happening here? You two datin' or something?" asked an outraged Tate, his hands crossed in front of him.

Carly turned red but not before rolling her eyes and passing out the rest of the drinks.

Tate couldn't help himself as he shook his head while walking away. "No one tells me anything!"

For the next couple days, Jake continued to see the thawed behavior from Carly. Thanks to Tate's comments, it wasn't as overt as it was the first day, but it soon took the form of prolonged stares, constant rotations during their work, but Jake's favorite thus far was her constant need to find an excuse to touch him.

At first, he found it a bit odd, never taking her for the touching type, but either she had become one in all the time he'd been away or there was something more that she was trying to convey to him nonverbally. Either way, he rather liked when she did it, but all it did was create more questions than it answered.

With Carly starting to treat him like normal again, he kept looking for excuses to return the favor. For Jake, that meant finding excuses to be around her. After all, when she wasn't yelling at him, she could really be quite pleasant and friendly, and that wasn't even mentioning that she was very easy on the eyes.

After enough time, one thing he noticed she did nearly every day was sit outside to eat her lunch. Not far from the house was a small picnic table, and she could normally be found there eating on sunny days. After one long morning that involved mowing around the farm, he grabbed his own lunch from his car and moved to join her.

"Hey, you," she said, watching him approach. "Ready to eat?"

"Yeah, I am. You mind if I sit with you?"

She shook her head quickly. "Not at all. Come sit." She gestured to the spot on the other side of the table.

Once he sat down with his bagged lunch, he took a quick appraisal of her own. "Look at you with the fancy lunch. What is that in there?" he asked, pointing to her tupperware container.

Carly smiled. "Just leftovers from dinner last night. It's really good chicken."

"And here I have this boring and ordinary sandwich," he joked, holding up his while still in the bag.

She giggled. "I have too much here. You want a bite of mine?"

"Sure, why not?"

Carly stabbed a piece of chicken and held her fork over to him. The fact that it was a movement usually reserved for couples didn't escape him. "Not bad! That is good chicken. Who cooked that? Your mom?"

Carly shook her head. "That's all me. Bet you didn't think I could cook, did ya?"

"I was willing to bet you could do a mean Hamburger Helper."

Carly stabbed another piece of chicken and flung it at him. Before it could strike home, he managed to dodge it and the piece landed in the grass behind him.

"Hey now! Don't waste it," he said with a laugh. "Gourmet meals like that shouldn't end up on the ground!"

She stuck her tongue out at him and kept eating.

"How long have you been cooking like that? I don't remember the Carly that I used to know being a world class chef."

She smiled. "In high school, I started to learn how. At first, my mom made me do it but then once I did it enough, I started to get good at it. When everyone started to like my cooking, then it became fun. I've been the full time cook for the last few years now because of it," she said proudly.

"Is that why Paul has been looking rather hefty lately?" he teased.

Carly almost snorted. "He does not!"

"He does too. He's eating too well, and it's all your fault."

Carly whipped back her fork, which already had another piece of chicken loaded. "Don't make me fling this!"

"Okay, okay, I beg for mercy. Let me throw myself down at you," he said while raising both hands. "Just please spare the chicken."

She made a couple mock throws at him before placing it triumphantly in her mouth. "Fine. I'll eat it!"

He wiped his brow playfully. "Thank god!"

They kept up the banter during the rest of the lunch. It wasn't until they were nearly finished that Carly started to break out in laughter as she dug through the remains in his lunch.

"Is this really a fruit snack? Jake Wittier, you're twenty-six years old and you still eat fruit snacks?"

He snatched it out of her hand and pulled it close. "Don't judge. You're just mad that your gourmet lunch didn't include a delicious fruit snack."

She rolled her eyes. "You haven't grown up one bit."

"Just wait until tomorrow when I pack a Lunchable."

Her hand smacked the side of her face. "Oh no, tell me you didn't."

He nodded with a grin. "I sure did."

She groaned out loud. "We're going to have to get you eating better soon."