I set my alarm clock the next morning for 5, I wanted to be and ready to go whenever Tommy showed up. If he didn't show up by 7 I was going to call the house, if no one answered I would stop by at 10. I had it all planned so when my alarm went off at 5, I sprung into action, put on some flexible clothes I could ride in and started a pot of coffee. 6 rolled around and there was no sign of him, I lit a cigarette to calm my nerves but then I saw him pass by the side window at 6:30.

"Tommy," I jumped out the door, startling him. "Sorry," I apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay, Ms. Caroline," he looked to his feet.

"Hey, I want to go for the ride today. Can we?"

Tommy was silent," Well, I have to do the chores first."

"Oh course, yeah I can help. Sure thing," I put the cigarette out. "Done twice as fast," I followed him out back, fed the chickens and goats while he got the horses ready.

"Blossom's saddled up and ready," he told me, grabbing her reins and guiding her out of the stall. Tommy peered around the side of the horse," Have you ever got on a horse before?"

"Uh, no," I admitted.

"Blossom's easy," he came around to my side. "Just put your foot here," he demonstrated," then one motion, swing on top." Tommy got up so easily, sliding into the saddle like hot butter on toast. "Getting down's the same," he jumped off the horse.

"You make it looks so easy," I approached Blossom.

"Practice," Tommy nodded.

I gripped the saddle and put my foot up and jumped onto her back, I felt like a flopping fish. I had to slide over her saddle on my stomach until I could reach my other leg across. I sat up and felt like I was already slipping, so I pulled the reins on accident, making Blossom jittery and do some sort of mini jump.

"Woah! Woah," Tommy, took the reins from me and stroked Blossom's neck. "Woah, girl," he calmed her down. "You okay?," he asked me.

"Yeah... I'm good," I admitted bashfully. I have a lot to learn.

"Let me grab Peppermint," he went over and lead Peppermint from her stall and hopped onto her back. "Ready?"

"Yeah, but how do I ride? I don't know anything."

"Blossom will do most of it for you," he joked. "Give'r a little click with your heels and she'll start."

Tommy tapped his feel against Peppermint and she started her trot. I can do that, I gently hit me heel on Blossom's side, I didn't want to startle her too much and she followed Peppermint. I did it, I gleamed happily. Thomas lead us to the back of the property towards and old gate that opened up to a worn down trail. I guess I've never really explored the whole farm, I put it at the end of my to do list.

Tommy was a natural rider, he and Peppermint seemed to be as one as she trotted up the dirt path. Lucky for me, Blossom was a good leader and she did most of the work, like Tommy had predicted.

"Del and I used to ride a lot," Tommy told me.

"I never even knew it was here," I looked around the sparse trees and dense bushes.

"Lot to learn 'bout the farm," Tommy told me.

There it was, a different voice. A deeper one, not like his normal, but richer and more pronounced.

"So you guys would just ride together? that's nice," I called up to him.

"Gives the horses time to move, let's us relax," Tommy replied, his goofy lisp had returned.

"It is really beautiful out here," I smiled at the nature.

"Del and I had a special spot," he told me. "I can take you."

"Oh, sounds great."

"Your house... it's lookin nice."

"Thanks Tommy," my smile brightened. "I admit it is slower than what I would like. Still a lot left I want to do."

"What about the vanity?"

"The vanity?," I repeated.

Tommy looked over his shoulder," The one out back, next to the shed."

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about it. Yeah, I... I've been meaning to repaint it. Kind of restore it to it's former glory... I only have it half striped" I mumbled the last bit to myself.

"Like the house."

"Exactly."

I looked to my left and saw another path branching off this one, it was much smaller and almost barely visible. rush and grass were growing over it, and soon it would not longer be a trail anyone could see.

"What's that way?," I asked Tommy.

Tommy looked back again," Nothing. We don't use that trail."

"Oh... okay."

I would say we went maybe another two miles or so before we pulled off the dirt and into a grassy patch, Tommy slid off Peppermint's back and guided her to the horse post.

"Did you and Del make that?," I asked and he nodded.

"We used to come here a lot," he told me as he guided Blossom to the post as well. There was water for them to drink and space for them to move if they wanted to.

I took a quick breath and tried to swing my leg around so I could slip off Blossom, just as Tommy had done but my foot caught on the saddle. I gripped the reins and screeched as I felt myself flop to the right side. I didn't hit the ground, I was caught in a pair of arms.

"Shhh, woah, girl. It's alright," Tommy tried to calm Blossom down.

My world was upside down, I craned my neck back and saw Tommy, he had been the one who caught me. He was holding me in place while one hand was working to free my foot from where it was caught. And somehow he still was paying attention to Blossom and talking softly to her so she wouldn't get agitated.

"Let go," he told me, I realized I was still tugging on her reins. I did as commanded and felt myself slip further, my leg was no free and Tommy help pull me away from the horse.

I was hyped on adrenaline, I could feel my heart pounding into my chest as I sit on the ground looking up at the two horses.

"Are you okay?," Tommy asked, still supporting me from falling over.

"Yea, yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I told him absently and then looked over my shoulder. "Thank you."

Tommy swallowed," Yeah."

I had calmed myself, it wasn't like I practically fell to my death of a cliff, I just almost fell off a horse. People survived way worse. I leaned forwards and took another deep breath before standing up, Tommy stood up with me, I looked to face him.

"Wow, that was great by the way."

"Oh... thanks," he shuffled awkwardly.

"No, Tommy, I mean it. You were great! you knew exactly what to do!"

"It happens a lot," he shrugged.

I stared at this boy in front of me in wonder, everyone thought he was so dumb and forgetful, but he wasn't. He knew exactly what to do when the time came, when it was important. Tommy looked to the ground and then glanced back up to me.

"Ms. Caroline, are you sure you're okay?"

"What? Oh yes," I shook my head. I was just staring at him."Tommy, you don't have to call me 'Ms.', it can be just Caroline."

"Momma says I need manners," he said biting his nails.

"Well, we're friends Tommy. You've practically ran the farm since I got here and you just saved me from getting my head smashed by a horse. I would say you've earned the right to just call me Caroline."

Tommy nodded but spoke of it no further, he turned and wandered into the tall grass. It went up to his knees and almost up to my hips.

"So what's out here?," I asked him, running my hands over the soft blades of grass.

"Nothin'," Tommy told me. "Del liked it cause it was nothin'."

"Sounds like a nice break from the chaos of Baxter," I chuckled, mostly joking.

"It is," Tommy agreed, pulling at blade of grass.

"Tommy," I stopped walking. "Would you... tell me more about Del? I mean, if it's okay with you... I just don't know much about her."

Tommy looked me over for a second," Del was nice. Really nice to me. She let me come and play with Peppermint. She liked tea brewed in the sun, I thought it tasted bad but she always was drinking it."

"Sun tea? Really? She doesn't strike me as the type."

"She wasn't," Tommy almost smiled. "She'd just say it was sun tea."

Oh... I realized what he meant. All the whiskey bottles in her room started making sense.

I laughed," She sounds like a character."

"Momma said she was good people. One year for Christmas she gave me a scarf," he giggled. "It was itchy."

"Sounds like she was really great," I sighed. Too bad she never wanted to meet me.

Tommy walked into a small clearing where the grass was now shorter and sat down, I sat a few feet away. He was playing with the grass in his hand, rolling it over and smoothing it out. He kept his head down when he talked to me.

"So we're friends?"

I turned my attention to him from the beauty of the swaying grass," Yes, Tommy. We're friends," I smiled.

He was silent for a moment," I don't have friends, not since Del died."

It broke my heart to hear him say that, no doubt it was entirely true. He was bullied for being different and in a small town like this different makes you a big target. I just didn't understand why no one took the time to get to know him, he was actually funny and he knew what he was talking about, he wasn't dumb.

"Well, we are friends," I confirmed. "In fact, I think you're the only friend I have in Baxter."

"Really?," he looked up to me from under his curly hair.

"Really," I said and there was a truth to it. No one here really seemed to care about me, not really. Savannah was dealing with her own stuff and Kurtis was not shy about his dislike for me. Bryce never said more than two words to me and everyone else in town are only interested in me because of the possible gossip I could provide.

"Since we're friends," Tommy drew out the sentence. "We have to tell each other the truth. Tell secrets?"

Secrets. My heart flooded with fear and face did not hide it at all. He means about Del, the other day. I knew I should have just told him it was a joke or something, made it all up. Ignoring it didn't work! I wished he would just forget it, I thought he had.

"I-I thought y-you kept secrets," I tried to avoid the question.

"I do," he opened his hands and the blade of grass fell to the ground. "I keep all kinds of secrets."

"Well if you tell them, they won't be secrets anymore," I told him, drawing my knees to my chest.

"I have a secret... I don't wanna keep secret no more."

Immediately I was intrigued, of course I was. I knew Tommy was observant, he never missed anything, who knows what he over heard from this town and all the people who only saw him as a fly on the wall.

"If you want to Tommy, you can tell me," I wanted to know, but I also wanted to be there for him if he needed to let something off his chest. We were friends after all.

He let out a soft sigh and stretched his legs out, he turned to look at the grass surrounding us, I saw his profile. Tommy was exceptionally gorgeous, even with him being autistic I was surprised no girl had claimed him as her own. His sharp jawline and sparkling brown eyes balanced nicely with his tan skin and dark hair. Tommy then turned to me and my breath caught, he looked stunning and his face was serious.

"I don't like being called Tommy," he admitted in his second voice, the deep and mysterious one.

"You don't like being called Tommy?," I repeated.

"No," he shook his head, now he had a small smile on his face. "I've always hated it."

"Why haven't you told anyone?"

He shrugged," No one would care. I'll always be 'little Tommy Sicelle'."

"That's not true," I scooched closer to him. "I care."

"Only because we're friends," he joked softly.

"We are friends," I agreed. "So I won't call you Tommy anymore. What do you want to be called?"

"Thomas," he stared at the dancing grass. "I like being called Thomas."

"Thomas it is," I nodded.

"What about you Ms. Caroline?," he looked back to me then corrected himself with a pure smile," I mean, Caroline."

"What about me?"

Thomas' eyes were piercing, like even if I did chose to lie, he would see right through it. It was a glimpse of the confident boy I had seen before, the mysterious extra persona he carried around and hid from others.

"Are you going to admit to me that Del was your aunt?"

I sucked in a breath and looked away from him, Shit! Shit shit shit! What do I say to that!?

"If you don't want to, you don't have to," Thomas told me.

"I... I just... I'm not supposed to even talk about it," I stared straight ahead to avoid his eyes, even though I could feel him looking at me.

"Why not?"

"It's complicated."

"Most families are."

I sighed, he already knows...

"I didn't know Del was my aunt until a few years ago, I was adopted," I told him, leaning back onto my elbows. "I tried to talk to her, but she never responded to my letters. Then when she dies, I was named her beneficiary... she gave me her farm. I still don't understand why."

"But Del never talked about having any sisters of brothers...," Thomas thought out loud.

"Exactly the issue. Kurtis and Bryce think I'm trying to trick them or something."

"Maybe Del was adopted too."

"What?," I looked over to him.

Thomas looked down to me," Maybe she was adopted, she might not have known about any sister or brothers."

"Hmm.. I hadn't even thought of that," I laughed then looked back to him. "Tommy-, I mean Thomas, you can't tell anyone about this. This is a secret you can't share. Not with anyone! Savannah and Kurtis don't want anyone to know yet."

"I promise," Thomas said sincerely. "Besides, no one would believe me anyway."

He had a point, I assumed people still treated him like a child and disregarded everything he said.

"Thank you Thomas."

He smiled brightly at me," Anytime Caroline."

"Hey, that kind of rhymes," I laughed.

"Oh yeah it does, maybe I should write poetry."

"If you do, I want to read it," I sat up.

We stayed there for awhile, Thomas told me next time he would show the small creek the runs down from the mountains that was just past this patch. He helped me get back on Blossom and we rode back down to the farm, I felt a sense of relief as we rode. To finally tell someone about Del and everything was like a breath of fresh air and Thomas was really understanding about it all. My friends back home were still intrigued byt the mysterious new family I had and that my parent had adopted me but they didn't have the extra incite that Thomas had.

Back at the farm, Thomas said he would take care of the horses and I went inside and started on some lunch for us. Looking at the clock it was almost noon and my stomach was growling. Thomas and I ate, making pleasant conversation before going to the spare bedroom. The green I had chosen for the color was not what I had imagined it to be, I wanted something bright and fun but the color turned dark and not to my liking. Thomas saw the scrunched look on my face as I surveyed the room.

"Don't like it?," he asked.

"Not really," I admitted. "But... it's okay, I guess. Just the spare room."

"So you want to put the carpet down?"

"Yes," I nodded and we got to work.

I was really lucky that Thomas had this carpenter knowledge,it was extremely useful even thought I was starting to get the hang of it (of course on the last room). We finished a little after 5 and Thomas stood up to leave. I grabbed my purse and took out the money I promised to give him, he hesitated again, but I forced it into his hands. He left and I sat at my kitchen table, lighting a cigarette and contemplating the day.

Thomas knows my secret... and I know one of his. Still no job callbacks, not that I really had the time for a new job. The house took all of my attention, I can always reapply to places at the end of summer. I have enough money for now.