Page 33 of Silent Deception
Mom glanced over at him and smiled. “Hayden’s mom called just last night, honey.”
“But what if they, like, don’t really want me to come over? Maybe it’s just a big favor or something, and I’ll be in the way.”
“Valentina said you were more than welcome. She said Hayden’s looking forward to this, and if it works out, we’ll try to get you two together on a regular basis.”
He laced his fingers over his stomach. “My stomach feels weird.”
“Really.” Mom frowned but kept her eyes on the road. “For how long?”
“Uh...all morning. Since I got up.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “So that wasbeforethe three bowls of cereal and the hour you spent working on your fort in the barn? I sure heard a lot of pounding out there.”
“Yeah. Only now it’s worse. Maybe I’ll have to throw up or something.”
She gave him a pat on the leg. “Let’s see how this goes. You might feel a lot better once we get there.”
The road went up and down hills, past rocky crags and stands of live oaks, a big pond surrounded by pines, then finally the ranch house came into view. From this angle, it was a whole lot bigger and fancier than he’d realized. What was it like to have so much money that you practically owned the world?
He could see Hayden’s dad leading a horse into the barn and a couple of men over by a pen of cattle. Someone was riding a horse in the big outdoor arena. Everywhere he could see, there were neat, white pipe-fenced corrals and pastures filled with horses or cattle.
By the time they pulled to a stop in a parking lot in front of the barns, Hayden was standing there, tossing a football in the air.
Mom reached for her door handle, then hesitated. “I might just sit in here and read for a while,” she said. “Go on now—he’s waiting for you.”
Suddenly feeling shy, Cody slunk down in his seat.
Ryan came out of a nearby barn and sauntered up to Mom’s window. “Thanks for bringing your son over.”
“It’s so nice of you to invite him.”
Ryan shrugged. “It’ll be good for everyone. I just need to wrap up a few things in the office, and then I’ll be ready. The boys can hang out for a while. Knowing Hayden, he’s probably got a million things he’d like to show Cody.”
“The kittens, Mom,” Cody stage-whispered, hoping she hadn’t forgotten.
Ryan leaned down to peer through the window at Cody. “I’m sure we have plenty of those.” He looked at Mom. “Either Valentina or I can bring Cody home.”
“I don’t want to be any bother. I don’t mind waiting, really.”
“Valentina says she’d love to have you come over for coffee, in that case.” Ryan pointed to the road that led past the barns. “They’re just a couple miles farther.”
Cody climbed out of the truck and wandered over to Hayden. “You wanna practice while we wait for your uncle?”
Nodding, Hayden stepped back twenty paces and lobbed the ball at Cody. He caught it in a bear hug at his chest, then scrambled to send it back again. Out of the corner of his eye, Cody saw his mom’s truck pull away and the ball accidentally went wild, arcing way over Hayden’s head. “Sorry.”
Hayden ran after it and sent it flying back harder than the last time, and it stung Cody’s hand so much that he dropped it on contact. “Hey!”
They stared at each other for a long moment, then Hayden turned away in disgust.“Loser.”
They weren’t good friends at school. They were in the same classroom, though they sat across the room from each other, and there’d been a thread of competition between them in gym and at recess since the first day they met.
Now, that whispered word bit deep as Cody watched Hayden disappear into the barn. He stood alone in the empty parking lot, then wandered down the dark, cool aisle of the barn, wondering where Hayden had gone.The jerk.Who wanted to be friends with someone like him, anyway—just ’cause he had a rich grandpa and lived on a fancy ranch?
At the end of the aisle, he heard voices on the other side of a half-opened double door, so he kept going—then froze when he heard Hayden’s angry voice.
“I’m ’sposed to be nice to him, but I wanted to go to the horse sale with Dad today!”
A deeper male voice murmured something Cody couldn’t quite hear.
