City Girl Pt. 08

A/N: Hey ya'll! I'm still not dead. This chapter took an embarrassingly long time for me to get to a point where I was happy with it. On top of that, harvest season has had me working over 50 hours a week for a while.

Funnily enough, the day I finished writing this chapter, I got a comment on the last chapter asking if I'd be uploading since harvest season is over. While, at the time of writing, we are not done yet, by the time I get this proofread and it gets posted, we may very well be done. Also, after Thanksgiving I will be between jobs so I *should* be able to devote more time to this. (I know I know, "I've said that before," life is funny like that.)

I appreciate your patience and hope you enjoy! Also, for those of you that celebrate it, happy Thanksgiving!

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Chase continued working away at sweeping out the larger of the calf pens in the barn. The process was taking him longer than it usually would have, largely due to the soreness in his right arm. He was able to move it a decent amount without issue but after a full morning of using the cobweb brush, the soreness was rearing its ugly head. Not that it was unbearable, but it was definitely slowing him down.

"It's gonna storm tonight," he reminded himself, "just keep it up for the next hour or so and you'll be stuck inside tomorrow anyway."

As he neared the halfway point of getting the pen swept, he heard something shut off and looked up reflexively. Then he realized that he had heard the generator shutting down. With that realization, he took a moment to scan his morning's work.

The night before, all of the floor joists and the beams for them had been covered in cobwebs, any horizontal surfaces had been covered in the best part of a decade's worth of dust, the floor was also covered in dust, the feedroom had been full of cobwebs, and the water bowls had filled with chaff, among other things. Now as he looked around, all the cobwebs he could reach had been swept away, the dust had all been swept away, the water bowls were cleaned, although none of them worked, and he was on the last thing he wanted to get done for the time being, namely, sweeping the old bedding and chaff out of the pens. His plan was to sweep everything from the smaller pens into the larger pen which he would then sweep out to his compost pile in the lean-to.

As he looked around, his eyes landed on the only other person in the barn. The same woman who he owed his arm, if not his life, to. Sarah had taken to exploring the barn at her own leisure and was in the main pen looking out through the windows into the lean-to. She was wearing the same jacket from the night before, he could tell by the dust marks on it, along with a toboggan and a pair of sweatpants. He assumed that she had to have another layer on under those, but there was a chance the cold didn't bother her.

As he looked her over, his eyes ended up wandering to her ass and legs, which he'd never really taken a decent look at before. Largely because every time he'd seen her, she'd been wearing sweats. He couldn't really see much but it did seem to be decently sized and have a pleasant shape to it. He could hardly see anything in terms of the rest of her lower body but, judging from her more athletic build, he was willing to bet that her legs were amazingly toned.

"I guess I should have paid attention when I first saw her this summer." He thought, smiling in spite of himself. He'd been so caught up in the fact that he'd just settled a deal for his farm that he'd neglected to pay her much attention. He pondered the fact that he had only started paying much attention to her after the day he'd injured himself. Now he found himself wishing he'd been paying attention earlier when she wasn't wearing winter clothes.

About then he realized that he had gotten a little tunnel-visioned, and then, as if she knew it had happened, she turned around and looked at him. Even though he had just been caught, he wasn't too concerned about it. After all, she'd caught him before.

"What are you looking at?" She asked, a bit of a knowing smile on her face.

He responded with a relaxed half-smile and a question of his own. "I was gonna ask you the same question."

"I was just looking at the pile of what we threw out there yesterday." She answered pointing to the lean-to.

"Hmm." He replied, hoping he might have dodged the question.

"Yeah. Now how about you?" She asked, the smile back on her face.

"What about me?" He replied, playing along with the little game she seemed to be playing.

"What were you looking at?" She repeated herself.

"Well, the most interesting thing I can see." He replied as matter-of-factly as he could. That line had gotten a decent response out of her before, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to use it again.

Her response was a smile and an eye roll. He smiled in return and went back to finishing up the pen he was sweeping. The brief break had allowed the pain in his arm to subside somewhat so the last half of the pen went significantly faster than the first had.

As he pushed the pile of old dust, chaff, and bedding across into the largest pen, he heard Sarah's voice. "Do you have another broom around here?" She asked.

"Umm," he thought out loud as he looked up towards her, "there's probably another one in the milkhouse."

"Ok." Was her only reply before she headed disappeared into the milkhouse. He then finished pushing the pile into the large pen and headed for the other of the smaller pens.

"Found one!" Sarah called from inside the milkhouse as he was walking into the next pen. He looked up and found her walking out with the broom she'd found.

"You wanna help huh?" He said sarcastically.

She just looked at him with an expression that seemed to say, "Seriously?"

He couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the reaction he'd managed to elicit from her. "If you insist, you can take that big pen and sweep everything towards the east end of the barn." He said, indicating both the pen and the direction he wanted it swept.

"Ok." Was her response and she set to work. At that point Chase returned to his work and before long he had gotten everything except for the large pen cleaned out. He pushed the pile of dust and chaff into the large pen on the north side of the barn. By that point Sarah had gotten about three quarters of the way across the pen and he joined her to finish the last little bit.

As they started pushing all of the material out to the pile in the lean-to, he was interrupted by an incoming call. He stepped out of Sarah's way as she finished up and answered the call.

"Hello?" He said as he put his phone to his ear.

"Hey Chase," came his grandpa's voice from the other end, "how are ya holding up down there?"

"Not too bad." He replied. "Out in the barn right this second."

"Aren't you supposed to be taking it easy?"

"Yeah."

His grandpa was silent for a second or so. Then he replied, "You stubborn son-of-a-gun."

Chase laughed, "Just like your sons and your father's son." He said.

"Yeah yeah, I know, Meier genes. Besides that, what are you doin' in the barn right now anyway?"

"Getting stuff cleaned out since I don't trust my arm enough to get back to wrenching."

"I guess if it keeps you busy. Anyway, I called to let you know that we just got put on a blizzard warning that's supposed to hit here this evening. They listed off just about every county north of Fort Dodge and said the storm's heading south to southeast, so you're probably gonna get buried down there too."

"Guess I'd better keep a radio by me."

"You'd better. They're saying that widespread power outages are likely so be prepared."

"Actually, this place has a generator and I checked to make sure it works and it has fuel, so I should be alright on that front."

"Well, that's good to know. You still should probably keep up on the weather."

"I will. Thanks."

"Alright Chase. Have fun in the barn and don't work too hard. Your uncle and I are gonna head out and make sure the barn's all closed up before that storm hits."

"Alright you two have fun with that."

"Oh we will. Talk to you later."

"Yep, bye."

Chase ended the call and returned his phone to his pocket.

"Who was that?" He heard Sarah ask.

"My grandpa," he answered, "he said they're under a blizzard warning up north and that the storm is headed this way."

"Oh..." She replied, her concern evident on her face.

"We've got a while yet," he explained, trying to calm her fear, "they usually give a few hours before the storm hits and they're up in Pocahontas County so they'll get hit before we do."

"Ok. Are we still going to Randy's?"

"Yeah we'll be fine." He assured her. "Besides, even if it starts snowing on us, I've got four wheel drive."

"As long as we make it back safe."

"Yeah we will."

At that point they returned to finishing up the last little bit of sweeping. At which point Chase pulled out his phone back out to see what time it was. The clock on his phone showed 12:15.

"Well." he thought out loud as he looked up at Sarah.

"Hmm?" She replied looking at him.

"You ready to go?" He asked.

"Is it 12:30 already?" She asked in response.

"Not quite," he replied, "but it won't be the end of the world if we get there ten minutes early. Plus it won't hurt to let my truck warm up for a few minutes."

"Ok then." Was her response.

"Alright," he said, "I'll go put the brooms back and then we can get going."

"Just put them back in there?" She asked, pointing to the milkhouse.

"Mhmm." He replied. At that point she held out her hand as if she was expecting something. "What?" He asked after a second or so.

"Hand me your broom," she said, "I'll put it back for you."

"Oh... Uhh... Thanks." He gave her the broom after managing to stumble his way to thanking her. Sarah then headed for the milkhouse and Chase went to the door of the barn and waited for her.

As she arrived he opened the door and was immediately greeted by a breeze from the south-southeast. Initially he was a little caught off guard, but he stepped out of the way and motioned for Sarah to go through ahead of him. As she did so, he turned off the lights in the barn and closed the door behind him. At that point he stood there for a moment making sure that the breeze really was coming from the south-southeast.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked. He looked down to find her looking at him with a curious look on her face. He noticed that he could see her breath drifting away in the breeze. Something that hadn't been the case earlier that morning.

Before he answered he let out a deep breath of his own and watched his breath drift away to the north. "There's definitely a cold front on the way." He said.

"Huh?" Sarah asked, sticking her hands in her pockets.

"A cold front's heading down from up north." He said. "That's what's bringing that blizzard our way."

"Oh?" Sarah replied, clearly curious.

"Yep." He replied as he started walking. Sarah fell in behind him as he headed for his garage.

"How did you figure that out?" She asked.

"The wind." He replied.

"Huh?" She asked, clearly confused.

"In this part of the world, a cold front is usually preceded by winds from the south or the east." He explained.

"Ok, but why?" Sarah asked.

"Well, on the leading edge of a cold front, warm air is forced up and moisture condenses out of it. As that happens, the air heats up a bit, rises, and more air gets pulled up with it. That causes the wind ahead of the front to blow towards the front, which is usually headed south or west." He explained.

"Oh, neat." Was Sarah's only response. After a few seconds, she spoke again. "You make a good windbreak." She quipped.

Chase let out a chuckle, "At least I'm still good for something." He joked.

"Oh stop." Sarah replied.

At that point he continued silently the rest of the way to his garage. Once inside, he walked around to the passenger's side door of his 2001 F-350 and opened it so that he could move some stuff he had been keeping in the passenger's seat. He used it to keep things he needed easy access to since he almost never had anyone travelling with him.

He smiled in spite of himself when he realized that this time he wasn't just carrying his grandpa, uncle, or one of his cousins, he was carrying a woman with him. "Man if only dad could see this..." He thought to himself. At that point, pain immediately worked its way into his face and his smile slowly faded. He used his good arm to support himself as he leaned against the door frame and his eyes dropped to nothing in particular as he let out a sigh. "If only I'd have stood my ground a little more that day, maybe he would be." He began to feel anger building up a bit inside him but he pushed it aside, now wasn't the time to worry about that.

As he allowed the anger to still a bit, the sadness took over again. After what couldn't have been a couple seconds, he felt a hand placed on his shoulder, followed by Sarah's voice.

"Are you ok?" She asked, her concern evident in her voice.

He looked over his shoulder at her and saw the concern even more starkly marked on her face. He returned his eyes to where they were and nodded. Sarah's hand remained where it was for a couple seconds before she slowly let it slide off of him. "She knows you're talking out your ass." He thought to himself. Regardless, he pulled himself together and stepped aside motioning for her to climb up into the passenger's seat. She did and he closed the door behind her before going around to the door to his house and opening the garage door.

He walked over to the driver's side of his truck and climbed in, leaving the door open. As he sat down, he took the gloves he'd been wearing in the barn off, turned the key to "run" and waited for the glowplugs to cycle. Then, he pushed the clutch pedal down and cranked the engine. It cranked for a couple seconds before sputtering and then returning to cranking. He stopped and turned the key off.

"Uhh-oh..." He heard Sarah mumble.

"It's fine. 7.3's are know for being a bear to start when its cold." He explained. "Plus," he added, "this one's sat for two weeks."

At that point he cycled the glowplugs again and attempted to start the engine again. The engine again sputtered but refused to start. As he returned the key to "run" he paused for a bit to let the starter cool off and to let the fuel pump catch up. After a couple seconds, the radio came on and almost immediately the song was interrupted by the unmistakable EAS header, followed by the high pitched tone that confirmed for him that it wasn't a test he was hearing, but an actual alert. He sat and listened as the message followed.

"Weather message for the following counties in Iowa;

Sac, Calhoun, Crawford, Carroll, and Greene.

The National Weather Service in Des Moines has issued a blizzard warning for the following counties in Iowa;

Sac County in west central Iowa,

Calhoun County in west central Iowa,

Crawford County in west central Iowa,

Carroll County in west central Iowa,

Greene County in west central Iowa,

Until 12:00 P.M. tomorrow.

At 12:00 A.M. this morning, a winter weather system was spotted north of Iowa's northern border heading south at a speed of about twenty miles per hour.

Source: Radar Indicated

Blizzard conditions are expected to develop between 7:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M. today for the alert area.

Expected hazards include:

Sustained winds of thirty-five miles per hour, with frequent gusts in excess of fifty-five miles per hour. Expect damage to trees and power lines.

Falling and windblown snow are expected to reduce visibility to below one-quarter mile for up to 12 hours. This will affect tonight's and tomorrow morning's commutes.

Temperatures are expect to drop to nine degrees below zero with a wind-chill of forty degrees below zero.

Recommended actions include:

Be prepared to remain indoors, potentially for several days, especially in rural areas. Limited visibility and wind noise can cause disorientation and lead to one getting stranded. If you must go outside, wear adequately insulated clothing as frostbite can occur in less than ten minutes.

Travel should be restricted to emergencies only. High winds and limited visibility will make driving extremely dangerous. If you must travel, keep a winter survival kit in your vehicle with you. If you get stranded, remain with your vehicle."

The message was followed by the tones signaling the end of the alert. After hearing which, Chase turned the key off, leaving them in complete silence to process what they'd just heard.

After a couple of seconds, Sarah shuddered in the seat next to him. "Those beeps always make my skin crawl." She commented.

"Yeah." Chase agreed. "I guess they're designed to get your attention and they do a good job of it."

"No kidding." Sarah agreed.

At that point Chase cycled the glowplugs in his truck again before cranking the engine. To his relief, the old diesel rumbled to life with a cloud of white smoke. He set the parking brake and got out to unplug the block heater. After doing so, he climbed back into his truck, released the parking brake, and backed it out into his driveway. He set the parking brake again and closed the garage door.

After a couple seconds, his truck switched to its high idle, still clearly misfiring, and he let it sit and warm up for a bit before taking off.

"What are you waiting on?" Sarah asked.

"I'm letting it warm up a bit before taking off since it's cold and this thing hasn't run in a couple weeks." He explained.

"Oh." Was the only response.

At that point the two of them sat in silence and Chase pulled out his phone to pretend to be occupied with something. He absentmindedly ended up scrolling through the text conversation that had conspired between them that morning. As he read through the messages, his eyes ended up wandering to the woman in the truck beside him. She also had taken to looking at her phone to seem occupied.

At that point his thoughts ended up returning to his dad. He'd spent most of his free time when he was younger either on the tractor or in the barn with his dad. Then, when he was fourteen, he had to go and fuck things up.

For the most part, he was able to deal with things. After the accident, he'd done his best to pick up the slack when and wherever he could. Not that doing so had stopped his uncle from hazing him whenever he got the chance. Once or twice he'd slipped up and done it in front of his grandpa, who was quick to shut him up. He'd assumed that it would get better as time went on, which the hazing did pretty quickly, but the guilt tripping never did fully stop.

At that point his thoughts were interrupted by a ringtone that he knew wasn't his. He looked up just in time to see Sarah answer he phone.

"Hello?"

"Trying to."

"It's fine, I'm not busy."

"Yeah I've heard."

"Really."

"Ok, thanks and I'll try."

"Ok, I'll keep my phone on me. Thanks and I'll see you when I see you."

"Yep. Bye bye."

Sarah then hung up her phone and Chase took the opportunity to start a conversation that had just been laid at his feet, he knew he needed to get his mind off of things.

"Who was that?" He asked.

"My boss." Was the answer. "She called to let me know that she's gonna keep the diner closed until the storm clears up and the roads are plowed."

"So basically, you don't need to worry about work for tomorrow." He said, realizing he was kind of telling her something she already knew.

"Pretty much." She replied.

"Where do you work anyway?" He asked, trying to keep the conversation going. Plus, it was a question he should have asked a long time ago but never really saw the chance too.

"Stacy and I are both waitresses at Carla's Diner out on the edge of town." Sarah answered.