Guthrie and I didn't have a whole lot to say to each other the rest of the

evening.

I was coming out of the bathroom after my shower, and Guthrie was waiting

to take his turn. He gave me a slow smile. "Hey. Did we have an argument earlier?"

I rubbed my wet hair with my towel. "I think so," I said, smiling back at him.

"G'night, hyena," he said, going on into the bathroom.

"Goodnight, elephant ears," I said, and went smiling into my room.

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At breakfast one morning later in the week, Adam asked me, and then Guthrie,

if we had anything after school to do that would make us late getting home.

"I don't," I said.

Guthrie shook his head. "Not that I know of."

"I'm going with Hannah to Modesto to the doctor, and Doc G's coming

to vaccinate the calves," Adam said. "If you two are here with Brian and Crane, it'll help out."

"Okay," Guthrie said, and I nodded my agreement.

After school, even though I hurried, Guthrie beat me to the truck. He was already in, and had the

engine running, and the radio playing.

"Hey, Speedy Gonzalez," I teased him, thru his open window.

That was when I saw her. HER. Evil personified. Sitting in my seat in the truck.

I just stood there, stunned, and Guthrie said, "Come on, let's go."

I went around to my side and opened the door. I held it open and stepped elaborately out

of the way, so Megan would get the hint, and get going.

"Bye, Megan," I said pointedly.

"We're givin' Megan a ride home," Guthrie said.

"WE?"

"I am," he clarified. "Let's go."

"We have calves to vaccinate, remember? Adam said to hurry home?"

"We'll make it," Guthrie said, in an unconcerned manner.

"Uh, Guthrie," I raised my eyebrow at him. " Seriously, Brian is going to

be really mad, and Adam-"

"Harlie," Guthrie said, giving me an irritated look, "it's FINE. Come on."

Well, what could I do, after all? I climbed in, but I could feel my temper

boiling.

Megan, who had been watching our entire conversation with a small smile,

gave me a sidelong triumphant smirk.

"It's so nice of y'all," she said.

I didn't trust myself to respond to that. I focused my attention out the

window, while Megan didn't shut up once, chattering on and on about

Oklahoma.

"Have you ever been there?" she asked Guthrie. When he said no, she

spent the rest of the time telling him how he absolutely had to find the

opportunity to get there.

"Maybe I will, sometime," Guthrie said, and I rolled my eyes heavenward.

"Holy crap," I muttered, in exasperation.

"Did you say something, Harlie?" Megan asked, her voice sugary.

"Me? Nope, I didn't say a word."

When we pulled up in front of Megan's house, it turned out to be one of the really

small houses in the south end of Murphys.

Guthrie got out, and Megan slid out gracefully after him. She made a show

of straightening her short skirt.

I heard her murmering her thank you's, and caught the word, 'lifesaver'.

When Guthrie was back in, and driving, we got to the railroad tracks

just as the arms went down.

Great, now we had to wait on a train!

I groaned.

"So we have to wait on a train," Guthrie said. "So what?"

I stared pointedly out the window, refusing to answer.

"So now you're pissed?" Guthrie asked, after a couple of minutes. "How come?"

"Because I don't want to get yelled at for being late! That's how come!"

"We're not gonna be all that late."

"Well, why do we have to be late at all? Why'd she have to have a ride home?"

"She just needed one, alright?"

I turned to look at Guthrie as the train arms raised.

"What's going on, Guthrie?"

Guthrie didn't pretend to misunderstand.

"I like her," he said.

"Okay, but Guth, she's a user!"

"No, she's not."

"Look how many guys she's dated just since she's been here!"

"That doesn't make her a bad person."

"None of the girls like her!"

"So? Maybe they're just jealous because she's so pretty."

I twisted in the seat until I was almost facing him.

"Forget the other girls then," I said. "I don't like her, Guth!"

"Maybe if you tried to get to know her better-"

"No," I interrupted him. "No, no, no. I know her as well as I want to know her."

For a long moment he didn't say anything, and when he did, I felt the first wave

of panic rise over me. It was like the feeling that I think a drowning person would have when they

went under the water for the first time.

"That's too bad," he said quietly. "Cause I'm going to keep on dating her."

"Keep dating her? You mean, you already are?"

"Yeah. The other night after supper when I went to the store for Hannah? I was

gone so long cause Megan and I went to Butch's Place, and we decided to start dating."

"You didn't decide anything," I corrected him. "She decided. Just like she decided about Trent, and Huck, and Darren. And Lonnie Johnston."

"It's not the same thing," Guthrie denied.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know, alright? I know."

I looked at him, feeling helpless.

"It's my choice, Harlie."

"It sure is," I said, and again we finished the ride home in silence.

7=love

Brian was not happy about us being late. He started hollaring the

second we got out of the truck. He motioned us over to the pen set up

in the corral.

"Where have you two been?" he demanded.

"Got held up by a train," Guthrie said.

Crane wiped the back of his hand across his forehead, and joined Brian in

studying us.

"Between here and school?" he asked, quizzically, knowing there

was no railroad crossing between our house and school.

"Had to give somebody a ride," Guthrie said, and when Brian started huffing

and puffing, Guthrie shrugged. "Sorry, Bri," he said lightly. "Where do you

want me at?"

Brian told Guthrie to help hold the struggling calves, and told me to help

Crane give the range cubes to the mama cows, distraught at their bawling babies

being separated from them.

I climbed up in the Jeep and stood up, holding onto the roll bar,

as Crane pulled out into the pasture. Midway into the pasture, Crane pulled

to a stop, and I ripped open one of the sacks.

Crane reached over and picked it up, and shook some of the cubes into

three feeders. He came back, patting the cows swarming around him, and

handed me the empty sack.

He drove out further, more cows following us, and we distributed more

cubes.

After the last stop, Crane motioned to the seat beside him, and I slipped

under the roll bar, and crawled into my seat.

As we rode back to the house, Crane reached over and jiggled my

knee. "You alright?" he asked.

I looked at Crane and shrugged. "I'm okay. I didn't want to be late getting home, and

get into trouble."

"You're not in any trouble."

"Okay."

Crane was parking the Jeep, and Doc G was pulling into the driveway. Guthrie

and I looked at one another, and then away.

"Dumbass," I muttered.

Crane followed my line of sight, and said, "You want to tell me why Guthrie's

a dumbass?"

"No," I said, shaking my head.

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We had leftovers for supper that night, because we were all tired from

working the calves, and Hannah was tired after her doctor appointment.

Evan and Clare got home about the same time, and the house settled down for

the night.

7

The next afternoon was more of the same. When Guthrie met me at the truck where

I was waiting after school, he opened our conversation by announcing he was

going to wait for Megan and give her a ride home again.

"Is this going to be an everyday thing?" I asked, giving Guthrie a scathing glance.

"I don't know," Guthrie said carelessly. "Maybe."

"That's just great," I complained.

"It's my truck," Guthrie reminded me, unnecessarily.

"No kidding?" I said sarcastically. "It is? I didn't know that."

"You know what I mean. I can give her a ride if I want to."

"I never said you couldn't, did I? I know you can do whatever you want. But

I don't have to like it."

"Nope. You sure don't."

Megan was fast approaching us, and I took the opportunity to say something that

had been nagging at me since the afternoon before.

"And, just for your information, Guthrie James McFadden, I'm not jealous

of Megan for being beautiful."

I climbed haughtily into the truck and slammed the door, immersing myself

in my book, and trying to tune out their conversation, on the way home.

When Guthrie parked in front of Megan's house, he walked her to the

front door, where they exchanged a nauseatingly long kiss.

I groaned, and tried to return to my book again. After what seemed

like a really long time, I took another look, and they were still going at it.

"Just shoot me now," I muttered to myself.

After a few more minutes, I put down my book, and sat up straight, good

and aggravated.

I reached over and pushed on the horn, let off, and pushed it again.

"Knock it off!" Guthrie yelled at me.

He looked so mad that I didn't honk anymore. I figured I'd made my

point, anyway.

Guthrie came stomping over to the truck and got in, slamming the

door, and glaring at me.

"That was uncalled for!" he said.

"I thought it was called for."

"What is your problem, Harlie? You've never acted so jerky before."

"You've never acted so stupid before!"

"I wouldn't call you stupid if you were crazy about somebody like I am about Megan."

"The heck you wouldn't! You'd tell me exactly what you thought!"

Guthrie started driving then, and he turned up the radio, so neither one of us said anything else

until we drove in at home.

When Guthrie parked beside the Jeep and shut off the truck, we both just sat there for a few seconds

without saying anything.

"How come you hate Megan so much?" he asked.

"I don't hate her. I just think she's a user, always looking for the next guy who can do the most for her."

Guthrie turned to face me, running his thumb back and forth across the steering wheel.

"Why would she want to date me, then?" he pointed out. "What in the heck can I do for her?"

Truthfully, I had to admit I didn't know the answer to that. It's not like Guthrie has a lot of money, or comes

from a wealthy family or anything.

"Well, she's probably dating you because you're nice looking," I said.

Guthrie just stared at me, not answering.

"She'll move on to someone else soon, though, Guth. And then you'll be hurt."

"You don't know that she'll do that," he said.

"Remember when Daniel got mixed up with that Callie girl? And Brian tried to help so he wouldn't get hurt?"

"What in hell does that have to do with me?! And you have no business comparing Megan to Callie, anyway!

Or comparing me to Daniel! I'm my own person, Harlie!"

"I know, I just meant that I don't want to see you hurt!"

Guthrie opened the door and put one foot on the ground, then stared straight ahead, and said,

"If I get hurt, I get hurt. It's my business."

He turned to give me a long look. "You need to stop hassling me about it, Har, and stay out of my business.

I'm not kidding."

I felt like crying suddenly. "We always talk about stuff, and tell each other what we think, Guthrie!"

"Not about this. Not anymore." His voice was really quiet, but it was worse than if he'd been shouting at me.

I gathered up my books, and got out as fast as I was able to, walking to the house so he wouldn't see the tears

in my eyes.

Hannah was sitting on the couch, talking to Clare, and Evan and Crane were sitting there, too.

"We were beginning to wonder about you two," Hannah said.

"Where you been?" Crane asked.

I heard Guthrie's bootsteps behind me.

"Ask Guthrie," I said, and escaped up the stairs.

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