Page 21 of The Forever Formula
9
HORSE PISS
Noah
When we got to the festival, I did my best to play it cool, but I couldn’t help looking every which way, hoping to spot Rachel. I took out my phone and typed a text to her, but I deleted it before sending.
Austen, meanwhile, gave me endless hell about it. “Just ask her where she is,” he said on a groan.
“I don’t want to seem desperate,” I told him, which was for once the truth.
“You promised me a beautiful friend,” he whined.
“I have no power to promise you women, you pig.”
Austen bumped my shoulder with his, and I maneuvered my beer to avoid spilling it.
“Watch it,” I snapped.
“What has been up with you lately? Do you even care about the business anymore?” he asked in a seething tone.
“Of course I care. I put in sixty hours this week, for fuck’s sake. Why isn’t that enough for you?”
Austen clenched his jaw in frustration. “This pre-approval is on my credit, bro. It expires in twenty-one days. I just want to get this deal done. If we wait too long, we’ll miss our chance to till the land before winter, which means we’d miss the planting season early spring, and then we carry a loan for a year with no chance at profits. It’s bad business, any way you look at it.”
I paused then as I processed his words.
I guessed I’d just assumed he was rushing because that’s what he’s known for ... being a little anxious and hotheaded.
But that wasn’t it. There was a strategic reason. Hearing it reminded me why I trusted him to run the business side of things in the first place.
“I guess I didn’t realize.”
“Well, you should listen to me more,” he said, his tone softer.
I nodded. “And you should explain things in more detail. Had I known ...”
“You’re right.”
We stood in silence for a few moments.
“Listen,” Austen said. “I have the papers drawn up. If you think I should go talk to her, I’ll do it.”
I shook my head quickly. “No. No. Put them on my desk. I’ll do it tomorrow.”
“Good. And, bro?”
“Yeah?”
He elbowed me. “Look who’s here.”
I looked over to where he had nodded, and sure enough, it was Rachel.
She looked incredible. Her outfit was simple, just a tight white T-shirt and a pair of dark jeans with holes in the knees. But to me, she might as well be a glowing angel on a runway. My heart thumped unevenly in my chest.
“That’s the friend?” Austen’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, bro. You undersold her.”
I shrugged. “Did I?”
