Page 46 of Steinbeck
“They are.There are competitions every day, and people—mostly kids—earn prizes for the best cows, and in other barns, sheep and goats and pigs and horses...We usually watch at least one judging.My mom loves the horse shows.”
“Really?”
He bent to pet the hide of a fat tawny-colored cow.“Yeah.Salt-of-the-earth people.”
Grover and Mama Em, holding hands, had stopped to talk to a farmer.
So that’s what happily ever after looked like.Emily, dressed in a pair of leggings and tennis shoes, wearing an oversized T-shirt with the King’s Inn emblem, her blonde hair tucked into a baseball cap.Grover, in jeans and a T-shirt, also in a ball cap.Sheesh,those two even matched.
They moved on to a milking demonstration.“I’ve never seen such a thing in real life,” she said, watching the milk run through the tubing into metal canisters.
“We’re just getting started,” Boo said.She grinned at Emberly as if...
As if Austenhadn’touted her last night.As if they still saw her as Emberly.Stein’sgirlfriend.
Apparently he did too, as he kept his hand around hers, tight.
No.Wait.He was most likely just trying to keep her from running away.
They visited the sheep barn, where she dug her fingers into the thick wool of a sheep, then went to the goats, and finally to the big-pig stall, where a huge boar named Gerald lay on its side.
“He’s eaten a lot of milkshakes,” said Conrad.
Emberly laughed.
They headed outside and stopped at—yes—a milkshake stand.Jack and Harper shared a strawberry shake; Stein grabbed a chocolate shake.
“Again, halfsies?”
“Trust me.”
They bought Scotch eggs and cinnamon rolls, and then they stopped at a minidonuts stand.
“I had these once, at a street fair in Bozeman.”
He reached into her bag and she let him.“I love minidonuts.”
“You’re going to roll out of here like Gerald.”
“The day is young.We have miles of walking ahead of us.I gotta keep up my strength.”He kept his hand on her shoulder as they wove along the street, working their way to something called Machinery Hill.
The men parked themselves in front of the combustion engines, Conrad and Jack and Stein listening to their father explain something about pistons.
“I’m going to sit with your sisters,” Emberly said to Stein, who glanced over at a picnic bench.
Only the slightest hint of worry flashed in his blue eyes.“Okay.”
“Declan’s exhibition doesn’t start until late this afternoon.I promise, I’m not going anywhere.”
He blinked at her, his mouth opened, and then, “I know.”
Oh,he was a wretched liar.
She didn’t know why the truth pinched as she walked over to the picnic table, sat on the bench.
“Every year,” said Mama Em.“They have to study every engine, as if he’s never seen them before.”
“You do thiseveryyear?”Emberly asked.
