Page 9 of One Last Summer

A part of me hopes so, but that would mean staying in this town when I intend to be by Ben’s side wherever he’s playing football once I’m finished school and my siblings are older.

Only one of those destinies can come true and I hope it’s the later.

Chapter Five

Ben

People trickle onto the ranch a couple hours after the parade in Willowbrook’s downtown is finished. At first, it’s mostly the older people in town and the families with small children, but later my brothers’ and my friends show up.

By the time the pig is done roasting, people are scattered everywhere all over the ranch. The little ones run rampant, some of them with smeared spiderman and rainbows painted on their faces. Teenagers are playing cornhole while the senior citizens are content to sit in a circle, beers in hand, relaying stories they’ve all told and heard a hundred times.

I’m stuck talking to Mr. Wilson who’s telling me all about the gout in his foot when my dad approaches. Thank God. I need someone to give me an excuse to stop talking to Mr. Wilson—everyone in town knows that he can somehow weave a tale about the most mundane thing and make it last an hour.

“Hey, John.” My dad nods in greeting and turns his attention to me. “You seen Emmett around?”

I shake my head. “Nah, haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Go find him. I promised some of the littles a trot on Meadow and Lark.”

They’re our two ponies that won’t scare the little kids too much.

“I’ll go see if I can track him down.”

I scan the area and Gillian is still chatting with some of her friends over by the food table, so I head off in search of Emmett. My dad could ask me to lead the ponies around while all the little kids take a turn riding them, but Emmett’s been a natural with them since they arrived.

At first, the ponies were skittish and nervous but as soon as Emmett went in the pen, they relaxed. Which is pretty weird given that my little brother doesn’t exude what one might call calming energy. He’s always busting at the seams with chaotic energy.

I search through everyone who’s lingering outside and socializing in different groups, then I look in the house and finally I end up circling the barn, but he’s nowhere to be found.

Where the hell could he have gone?

There’s no reason for him to be in the barn, but I decide to check in there since there isn’t anywhere left to check. He has an old dirt bike he fixed up that he sometimes rips around the property on and I want to make sure it’s still there. Though I doubt I would’ve missed the sound of his muffler, even with the crowd and the music.

I slide the old barn door open a sliver for me to slide through and the first thing I see is the dirt bike, so that theory is a bust. I’m about to leave when I hear something almost like a muffled giggle, so I investigate.

When I round the corner of hay bales, Emmett hands are up the shirt of the preacher’s daughter and his tongue down her throat. Neither of them notices me and their mouths keep tangling.

“Kimmie, your dad is looking for you.”

Her head snaps away from my brother’s and she stares at me with wide eyes. Without a word she pushes against Emmett’s chest, who staggers back a step, and rushes out of the barn.

I pin my brother with a stare. “Preacher Callaghan would have your balls if he saw what I just did.”

He laughs and adjusts his dick in his pants. “That wouldn’t be very godly of him.”

“Why do you insist on making the worst choices?” First the cliff earlier today where he almost killed himself and now the preacher’s daughter. There are a lot of girls who would have made out with him. He didn’t have to choose the off-limits one.

Something flashes over his face. It’s so quick that I almost miss it.

My eyes narrow. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Let’s go snatch some beers.” He pushes past me but I place a hand on his chest and nudge him back.

“Bullshit. What is it?”

He studies me for a beat, gaze roaming my face like he’s not sure whether he wants to admit whatever it is on his mind.

“Tell me.”

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