City Girl Pt. 05

"Check." Randy said. A sly smile crossed his face.

"Alright," Chase said, finally removing his eyes from the cards on the table and shifting them to Randy, "hit me with your best shot." His facial expression twisted into a sly smile to match that of Randy's. The confidence in his voice and the look on his face sent another shiver down Sarah's spine. This time, it went straight to between her legs.

Randy laid his cards out. "Straight flush." He said calmly. "Queen, jack, ten, nine, eight."

Chase looked up at him and his smile widened. The sly look on Randy's face vanished, and was replaced by one of curiosity, then one of shock. "No way." He said. "No fucking way."

Chase chuckled. "See for yourself." He said as he flipped his cards over so Randy could see them. The ace of hearts and the king of hearts. "Royal flush."

Randy shook his head, clearly in disbelief. He looked up at Chase. "You lucky bastard." He said.

Chase laughed in response.

"What are the odds of getting a royal flush again?" Randy asked. "Like one in 650,000 or something like that?"

"Something close to that." Chase said.

Randy shook his head again. "That's one hell of a hand to end the night on."

"I'll say." Chase agreed. "Now I've gotta find a ride home."

"I can take you." Sarah said as she stood up from the table. She grabbed her plate and cup along with Chase's and headed to throw them away. As she did, she felt herself gradually come down from her arousal, but she knew that image and the thought of him kissing her was going to stick in her mind for a while.

"Well, there you go Chase." Randy said. He turned to Sarah. "Thanks Sarah." He said. "Now I can just go home and go to bed."

Sarah chuckled in response as she threw away their plates and threw their cups in the sink.

"Yeah." Stacy chimed in. "You've gotta rest up for your week off." She teased.

"Shut up." Randy retorted. He and Chase then got up from the table. Randy went to help Stacy clean up and Chase headed for the door. He picked up his boots and then sat down on a bench near the door.

"Do you want some help?" Sarah asked as she approached him.

He looked up at her and a slight smirk crossed his face. "Since you specifically asked if I wanted help," he said, "no." He then began to pull on his boots using his good arm.

Sarah just smiled and rolled her eyes as the irony from what had happened earlier became apparent to her. She opted to get her jacket and put her shoes on. As she knelt down and tied her own shoes, her eyes wandered to what Chase's hand was doing. He had already managed to get one of his boots laced and he was partway through tying it. She watched as he managed to use his fingers to pull the laces into a pair of loops and somehow, he managed to twist the loops into a bow.

Watching him use his fingers with such dexterity sent another shiver down to between her legs. "I can only imagine what else he could do with those..." she thought to herself. She realized she had been staring again and quickly returned her attention to tying her own shoes.

When she was done she stood up and grabbed her jacket. By the time she had put it on, Chase had finished tying his boots and had stood up in front of her. As she looked up at him, she felt a strong desire to just jump up and grab him. She refrained, both because she didn't want to hurt him and because she didn't want to put him on the spot in a semi-public place.

"You ready to go?" Chase asked, snapping her out of her daze.

"Yeah." Sarah said. She opened the door and headed outside to her car. Chase grabbed his jacket and followed behind her. When they reached her car, they both got in.

"So," Chase began as he fastened his seatbelt, "how'd you like your first night of poker?"

Sarah fastened her seatbelt as well and then started her car. "It was fun." She replied. "I can tell I've got some learning to do though."

"You did fine." Chase told her. "A big part of playing poker is learning to read the other guys' faces and actions, and that takes a lot of time to learn."

"Hmm." Sarah replied thoughtfully. She pulled out onto the road and began her drive home. "So how's your arm feeling?" She asked once she was on the road.

"It's fine so long as I don't try to move it." Chase answered. He fell silent and sighed heavily.

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked.

"Just wondering how I'm gonna get everything ready for spring." Chase replied.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"Well I have two tractors that at least need engine overhauls. I haven't even looked at my planter or drill yet. I also am more than likely going to end up selling my tillage equipment and buying a vertical-till. And that's just the stuff I'll need for spring planting, by the time summer and fall roll around, I'll need my baler, silage equipment, and combine all in working order. Hell, that's ignoring the fact that I have a bunch of old hay, silage, and straw to get rid of before I can get any cattle." Chase answered.

"Sound's like you've got your work cut out for you..." She said quietly, she couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"Yeah." Chase lamented. "And being stuck in this damned thing for two weeks is the last thing I need." He added sharply.

Sarah didn't respond at first. "Is there anything I can do to help you?" She asked after building up her courage a bit.

"You've done enough for me Sarah." Chase responded. "I'll be okay by myself, you don't need to worry about me."

"You don't need any help around the house or the farm or anything?" Sarah offered. She was mainly looking for an excuse to be around him. Besides, it beat just watching T.V. or movies when she wasn't busy.

"Well courtesy of being one arm short, I can't do much around the farm or in the shop." Chase replied. He thought for a moment before continuing. "Now that I think about it, once I'm in a regular sling and can at least move my arm I'll probably be able to clear out the hay mow."

"Clear out the what?" Sarah asked, interrupting him. She didn't recognize the last word.

"The hay mow?" Chase responded with a curious tone in his voice.

Sarah still didn't understand. "How do you spell that?" She asked.

"M-O-W?" Chase answered, still confused.

"Like mow?" Sarah responded, still trying to make sense of it. "As in 'mow the lawn?'"

"Not mow as in the verb." Chase answered. "Mow as in the noun."

"Are you pulling my leg?" Sarah asked. "I've never heard that word in my life."

Chase laughed. "I promise you it's real."

"I'm not convinced." Sarah replied playfully.

"I will look this up." Chase said stubbornly. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started typing away. "Here, I found it in a dictionary." He said after a few seconds. "Mow, noun. A piled up stack of hay or grain in a barn. Also, the part of a barn where hand and/or straw is stored."

"Fine you win." Sarah conceded, giggling a bit.

Chase laughed. "I told you it was a real word. It's just not one that gets used that much anymore."

Sarah shook her head. "Now I'm never going to be able to read the phrase 'mow the lawn' without thinking about this conversation. I hope you know that." She said giggling.

Chase laughed again. "See I'm not stupid." He said. "All the time..." He added after a pause.

Sarah giggled in response. "I figured that out when you somehow managed to make me curious about dirt last month."

"Oh yeah?" Chase asked, clearly intrigued.

"Yeah." Sarah replied. "I remember you mentioning that you competed in a soil judging contest. I'd never even heard of such a thing."

"It's not an immensely popular thing." Chase admitted. "But it's a useful skill to have when you're relying on soil to build on or raise crops on."

"Hmm." Sarah said thoughtfully. "So what exactly are you looking for when you're judging soil?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Well it's been a while since I've looked at a judging card, plus it depends on whether you're evaluating it for agricultural or urban use." Chase began. "But, you're usually looking at what landform it is, what the slope of the land is, the soil texture of both the topsoil and the subsoil, the structure of both the topsoil and the subsoil, the depth to bedrock, how well the soil is drained, how deep before you run into any restrictive features. If it's for agricultural use, you're going to look at the depth of the topsoil, the amount of root and pore space, and they usually give you a set of N-P-K test results and ask you what kinds of fertilizer you'd need to use for a given crop. I'm sure there's other things I'm missing, but those are the ones I remember."

"Geez." Sarah thought out loud. "How do you keep all of that straight?"

Chase chuckled. "It's usually all laid out for you on the judging card, you just have to remember how to fill it out."

"Ok. But, how do you evaluate all of those criteria?" Sarah asked, both because she liked listening to him talk about something he clearly cared about, and because she was genuinely curious.

"Well," Chase began, "figuring out the landform is just a matter of looking around. Slope can be measured with a slope gauge or, the method we used in school, a plumb bob and a slope card. They give you two slope stakes driven into the ground and you line a baseline up from the top of one stake to the other and look at where the plumb bob is and that gives you your reading." He explained.

"Hmm." Sarah said thoughtfully. "Go on."

Chase continued. "Soil texture is usually checked by getting the soil saturated with water and squishing it into a ribbon between two fingers. The finer the soil texture, the longer the ribbon will get. Soil structure is a little complicated to explain. They give you a list of choices and you have to remember what the choices mean and pick the one that matches the soil on the site."

"What kind of choices do they give you?" Sarah asked.

"Let me think for a second." Chase replied. "I think it's single grained, granular, blocky, massive, platy, and prismatic. I'm sure there's others but those are the main ones you're going to see."

"Ok so what do those mean?" Sarah asked him.

"Single grained soils are like sand." Chase explained. "The individual soil particles aren't bound together at all. Granular soils are really common, if you pulled up a shovel full of topsoil from your yard or a field, it'll probably be granular. The soil breaks apart into small aggregates that are usually under about a quarter of an inch. If the aggregates are bigger than that, over half an inch, the soil is considered blocky. Platy soil is typically formed when a soil layer is compacted over and over again, and it looks like little plates stacked on top of each other. Similarly, prismatic structures look like prisms that are stood up on end in the soil. Massive soils are the opposite of single grained, the soil particles are tightly bound together into a large single mass."

Sarah took a moment to process what all he had just explained. "How do you remember all of this?" She asked him.

Chase chuckled in response. "It's easy to remember information when you use it frequently."

"I guess that makes sense." Sarah responded. She giggled as a thought came to her. "I bet you could talk about this stuff all day couldn't you?" She asked playfully.

Chase laughed. "Not just this, I could talk about other things too." He replied.

"Oh could you now?" Sarah replied sarcastically.

Chase was silent for a moment and then a smile crossed his face. "Well... maybe..." He said jokingly.

The two of them laughed and before long Sarah was dropping Chase off at his house. "Well, here we are." She said as she stopped her car in his driveway.

"Thanks for the ride." Chase said.

"Thanks for the second lesson on dirt." Sarah replied as he got out of the car.

"Hey, you asked for it this time." He teased.

"I know, I know." Sarah replied. "Goodnight and make sure you take care of yourself."

"Right back at ya' and I told you, don't worry about me alright?" Chase replied as he closed the door and headed inside.

Sarah was silent for a moment. Something about that reply didn't sit right with her. She drove herself home and texted Stacy.

"You guys weren't kidding about Chase working himself too hard were you?" She said.

"Randy says he's almost always working on something. Why do you ask?"

"Well I told him to take care of himself and he responded saying not to worry about him..."

"Hmm..."

"Yeah... I hope he doesn't do anything stupid."

"I doubt he'll do anything too bad."

"But what if he does?"

"Lol. Sarah you're worrying too much. I'm sure he can take care of himself."

"Yeah I guess you're right... I just really don't want him to get hurt again."

"Lol. What are you gonna do? Stop him? He's probably got 9in and 100lbs on you."

"Lol. I can try dammit!"

"If you do, let me know how that works out."

"I don't think he'd hurt me or anything..."

"Oh I'm sure he wouldn't. But he could probably carry you on his back while working on something lol."

"Oh that would be nice..."

"Lmao. Wouldn't stop him from working though. If anything that'd make him more likely to hurt himself."

"I know. I just wish I could get to know him a little more than what he happens to be doing when I text him."

"What do you mean?"

"I've gotten him to talk about the things he's doing when I text him, I've actually learned a good bit from him. But, I really want to know some more personal details about him and I can't figure out how to work those kinds of questions into a conversation."

"I mean you could ask him if he wants to play 20 questions or something? Start off casual and gradually get more personal as the game progresses."

"That actually sounds like a really good idea. Do you think I could convince him to let me come over to talk in person? It'd feel more right talking about personal things face to face."

"I mean if he's ok with it and you don't think your nerves will get the best of you, I'd say go for it."

"Thanks Stacy. I'll see you tomorrow at work."

"Same to you. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Sarah plugged her phone in to charge and as she got ready for bed she couldn't help but wonder about what Chase was going to be up to the next day. She felt bad for him knowing how much he had to get done and how long he wasn't going to be able to work on anything. "Maybe he'll be glad for some kind of social interaction..." She thought to herself. Then again, he did seem like a bit of a loner. But, that was also when he could actually work on things, not when he was stuck in his house with nothing to do.

"Focus Sarah." She told herself. "You're never going to get to know this guy if you don't take a bit of a risk. You just need to ask him if he'll be okay with you coming over to get to know each other a bit."

As she laid down, she remembered something from earlier. Chase had mentioned that his grandfather had a point when he said Chase needed to find a girlfriend. He was apparently in at least some level of agreement that he needed a girlfriend. Maybe he would be more willing than she thought to open up to her.

"Yeah." She thought to herself. "I'm definitely going to see if I can go over tomorrow."