Page 117 of The Auction
“I do. And you have my address at school to send me care packages I can’t rely on my parents to send me.”
She meant booze. Legally, I could buy and send her booze, and I was pretty sure her parents wouldn’t do that for her.
“Are you excited or nervous?” I asked her, taking a sip of my fancy drink through the thin straw Jackson added, trying not to make a face. Wow, that was tart!
“Both. But more excited than nervous. Have you given any more thought to what I said about checking out some courses online?”
Enrolling in college wasn’t a serious option. I still needed to take care of the farm and the animals. Technically, other than having access to Creed’s money, nothing was mine to sell. Not that I was going to anyway, until I found out about Creed one way or the other.
But the second I found out that motherfucker was alive, I was out of here. At least, that’s what I told April when I showed her the letter.
So she thought taking some classes online might help me decide if college was something I even wanted to do.
“I have to get my GED first. So I sent in an application for that. Assuming I pass, I can think about taking some online classes in the spring.”
“That’s awesome. See? You’re not wallowing in heartbreak. You’re making plans. You’re moving forward. Whenhe gets home, he’s going to have to beg you to forgive him and take him back.”
When.
I loved that April always said when. Never if. It was stupid because I was barely older than her, but in some ways I felt so much older.
She hadn’t seen Creed choke out a man. She hadn’t seen him operate like a badass when he was still completely asleep.
Whatever he was doing, where ever he was doing it, it was dangerous.
Like Navy Seal dangerous.
He’d gotten out for a reason, but because of me, he’d felt the need to take another job.
No, I told myself. It wasn’t about me. Or my farm. Or the crop failing.
If we’d had a conversation and I’d said,hey, I think you should take this job for a shit ton of money and that would save us from the failed season, then it would be about me.
But there had been no conversation. It had been his decision, and his alone.
Which, when I thought about it, probably made me the most mad. Because I thought we’d become partners.
I gulped down my drink and asked Jackson for another one.
I could tell he had opinions, but I didn’t think I cared.
Tonight, I was getting drunk for the first time.
Okay,getting drunk sucked.
The first big problem was that I couldn’t drive.
Jackson drove me and April back to the Talleyresidence, because he said it would be easier to take me back to get my truck in the morning.
That’s how I ended up sleeping on the Talleys’ couch.
“I’m so sssorrry, Mrss. Talley,” I slurred.
She sat on the edge of the couch and handed me a glass of water, which I gulped down.
April and Jackson had already gone to bed upstairs after Jackson had tried to explain to his mother he’d only served me three drinks.
He thought I was a lightweight, but what he hadn’t realized was that a bunch of cowboys had also been buying April beers which she kept handing off to me.
