Page 34 of Falls County

Getting out of the pickup I fueled up the combine before starting the end rows on a new field. When I opened a land on the field, the belt on the combine broke. Just fucking great. One of the last fields I have left to pick and this shit happens. Of course they didn’t have one and no one was around meaning it was a Sunday.

I headed to the shop and pulled the old combine out. It had been serviced last year but needed it again. Making sure everything was good I was able to get back to the field a few hours later. I was caked head to toe in grease and oil.

I was fucking exhausted, it was late, and I had had way too much to drink. I did something I shouldn’t have, fuck. I added Kaci back on Snapchat. Stupid fucking stupid. She obviously didn’t want to talk to me or she would have responded to my text by now. Besides the ball was supposed to be in her court.

My phone dinged a minute later with a picture of her face. Shit. She sent me a picture. Even with her nose scrunched up and her eyes closed she was still perfect. On the screen it read hey. I responded to her with a picture of me holding up my beer saying cheers.

We bantered back and forth for the next hour not talking about anything really. How was your day, shit like that. She told me when she was leaving work and when she got home. I let her know when I was parking and when I was leaving the field.

The day had seemed to drag on forever until we started talking. With our wet bins full I had to stop picking until the morning. It was earlier than I liked but too much corn and no where to take it. The grain station in town was taking high moisture but it was closed on Sunday’s. An early night off was nice. Especially tonight when I had high hopes of talking to Kaci all night.

I was about half fucked up when I got home. I re-filled my water jug for the next day, put the coffee timer on, and emptied out my lunch box. If Kaci were here she would be doing all of that for me. She would even have a hot meal on the table waiting. Trying to shake that from my mind I grabbed a slice of pizza out of the fridge and made my way to the bathroom. I seriously needed a shower.

Stripping out of my clothes I turned the shower on. Steam filled the bathroom while I ate my super. My phone dinged. It was Kaci. She was in bed covers piled high on top of her, it read goodnight. I responded back with a picture of me in the mirror pizza hanging out of my mouth. Right as I took the marker thing to cover my junk I thought this is a bad idea. I continued to color and typed wish you were here. This was not a good idea. I should delete it and restart. Nah.

I wanted her to see what she was missing. Remind her of what she left behind.

Fuck it.

Send.

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