Page 52 of Take Me to the Wedding

“Crazy chicken,” Lilly said. “I think you’re thinking a little too deeply.”

“And I think you should go in and wash that off,” Caleb said.

“Great idea,” Lilly said as Caleb, not waiting for me, grabbed my elbow and started to haul me toward the door. “What’s that smell?” Lilly asked, sniffing daintily.

The smell of chicken poop was already in the air. But it suddenly seemed especially fresh.

I stopped and sniffed. Held on to a couple of stacked hay bales and hiked up my foot so that I could see my sole.Ugh, gross. I raised my uninjured hand to my forehead and groaned.

“There’s a hose over there,” Caleb pointed out. I walked over and grabbed it. There was a wire brush hanging near the hose and I grabbed that too.

Caleb took the hose from me and pulled it out into the grassy yard. “Here’s a good place.”

A quick glance over my shoulder showed me that Lilly was taking in the whole scene, thinking God knows what. I wished he’d just go with her and stop trying to help me, the do-gooder. “Caleb, please go in to breakfast,” I urged in a whisper. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

Instead, he held out the hose. “Just give me your hand,” he insisted. “You don’t want to get some kind of nasty infection.”

“Death by chicken peck,” I said as he blasted my wound with cold water. “How would I explain that to an ER doc?”

He took my hand, which was now freezing, and examined it from all sides. A bolt of warmth spread through me despite the discomfort.

“Cay, you coming?” Lilly was waiting at the end of the courtyard, past the chickens, her arms folded.

Oh no. Last night I’d thought Lilly was apathetic toward Caleb, but now she was… jealous?

I took the hose from Caleb. “I got it. Thanks.”

Still, he hesitated. He was eyeing the brush, as if he might help me with that too, but I drew the line.

I dropped my voice. “Don’t miss your chance,” I whispered, tilting my head toward Lilly. “I’m fine.”

Lilly had walked back over and looped her elbow through Caleb’s. “We’ll save you a seat,” she said.

It was a relief to carry on alone without an audience. Of course, on dousing my shoes, I got my socks wet. But I managed to blast and scrub every speck of chicken poop out of those grooves in my soles, which was all I cared about. That smell… it was… well, a little too farm-fresh for the likes of me.

Besides, by this point, I was so hangry I could hardly think.

Still, I was determined to show up with eggs. I wouldn’t suffer the humiliation of being the only one who didn’t. Also, I felt that I could eat a dozen by now.

Just then, the chicken—my chicken, that is, literally flew the coop. She was brown with white specks, and she completely ignored me. But she left behind two brown eggs.

“Thank you!” I cried, snatching them up and placing them in my basket.

Just as I turned around, I spotted Caleb standing in the doorway, a puzzled expression on his face.

“Hunger is a fantastic motivator,” I said, tilting the basket toward him so he could see.

He laughed. A nice laugh, deep and a little rumbly so that I felt it in my chest.

“Youaredetermined.”

“Totally,” I said as I walked toward him. “My middle name.” What was he doing back here? It was crystal clear to me that Lilly was unhappy that I’d diverted his attention. Heck, I was unhappy too. And nervous. I didnotwant Lilly getting the wrong idea.

He held up a small, rectangular piece of paper.

Except it wasn’t a piece of paper. It was a Band-Aid. “I’m a doctor,” he said as if that wasn’t obvious. “It’s against the Hippocratic Oath to leave people bleeding.”

I snagged the Band-Aid. “Thanks. But you didn’t have to do that.”

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