Page 2 of Wild For You
“Why is that one looking at me like he wants to peck a hole in me?” I asked.
Rory Beckett, one of the Easterly siblings, replied, “They all look like they’re out for revenge.”
I met Aurora—or Rory, as her family called her—last fall when I came to help Owen Ramsey, a famous baseball player who was now engaged to Rory’s sister. It was happenstance that I lived an hour away and worked with the sports medicine team for the Nashville Bears.
I was introduced to Rory and her expansive family, and we clicked. The rest, as they say, is history. I spoke with her more than I spoke with my own family.
But that wasn’t saying much, since my mother liked to pretend I didn’t exist unless it suited her, and my father died in a car accident when I was in college. Without any siblings, I was alone for the most part.
Rory had quickly taken up that space though.
We didn’t see each other often, since she and her husband spent a lot of their time in Knoxville, and I lived in Nashville, but when we both had free time, we’d meet in her hometown of Ashfield. The idyllic town was an equal distance between both of our homes.
Together, we strolled toward the end of the pavilion set up for the Ashfield Fair, passing by owners who spoke with farmers, working to make a trade or sale.
“So, they do this rooster sale every year?” I asked in a hushed tone as we slipped by two men bartering a rooster for a goat.
Snickering, Rory replied, “Every five years. It’s quite a thing, isn’t it? People come from all over the state. Some of the cocks have their own social media following. It’s nuts.”
The noise inside the pavilion had been deafening, so once we stepped outside, the change was jarring. I squinted as the bright sun hit my eyes and immediately pulled down my sunglasses from atop my head.
“Can’t say I expected my Saturday to be spent looking at cocks, Rory,” I joked as we approached the farmers market, where her family had a stand set up toward the back of the gravel lot. She explained that they sold produce from their garden, and whatever didn’t sell, they took to the local church.
“Come on. You know you love it. So, any plans withlover boythis weekend?”
Rory was the only one who knew I was seeing someone, but I hadn’t even shared with her who it was. Caleb and I agreed to keep it quiet until I could find another job, since he was a player on the team I worked for… except sports medicine jobs specializing in physical therapy were few and far between. The Bears were also one of the best teams in the league, which madeleaving even harder. But Caleb signed a five-year contract worth millions of dollars, so I’d have to be the one to make the switch.
I winced as I lied to her, “Um, I think we may go out to a movie or something tonight.”
I hadn’t heard from Caleb in three days, but he’d been participating in a charity tournament on the West Coast earlier in the week. I chalked it up to him being exhausted. Fortunately, his baseball season had come to a close, so we’d have more free time during the fall and winter months.
“That sounds fun. When do I get to meet this elusive boyfriend? Someone needs to interrogate him,” she said with a snarky laugh.
I’d heard about her eldest brother’s interrogations whenever he met one of his sister’s boyfriends. The man was brutal. But Rory and her sisters had nothing but love for the man. I’d have to come to my own conclusions about him though, since I’d yet to meet him. We either never crossed paths, or he was always busy.
“Oh no,” Rory moaned as she gripped my forearm.
“What?” I asked as I tried to shake her off, but her short-clipped nails dug into my skin.
“Mrs. Hensen is at it again. Come on. We need to go save Colton.”
Colton was an extremely well-known hockey player that married Rory’s oldest sister, Autumn. Since then, he retired and hosted various cooking shows on a popular channel. I’m not ashamed to admit I had the biggest crush on the man when I was younger, just like the majority of the female population, but once I met him in person and saw him with his wife, that all faded away. He was genuinely one of the nicest people I knew,and whenever I was in town, I stayed in the bed-and-breakfast he and Autumn owned.
Rory finally loosened her grip as she jogged toward the booth where a crowd was forming. I heard stories about Mrs. Hensen, but I’d never experienced one in person. I was secretly looking forward to it.
As we got closer, we noticed she not only cornered Colton, but she had Nate and Owen pressed against a red vintage truck behind the booth.
“Hi, Mrs. Hensen. What can we help you with today?” Rory asked calmly, harnessing her years as a teacher to speak to the elderly widow.
The woman turned around, and her smile widened as she noticed my friend.
“Oh, perfect. You can help me,” she said as she held out a large eggplant for Rory to take.
An obscenelylargeeggplant.
In her own hand, she held a zucchini. “I’m trying to get a good measurement, dear. Oh, you brought your friend!” she exclaimed as her eyes landed on me. “Here, sweetie, you take a squash from over there.”
She pointed, and I grabbed it without a second thought. That was my first mistake.
