The next day I was out stripping paint off the house while Thomas was shaving the goats. Their fur was getting so matted and gross that I was worried, but Thomas said it happens maybe 3 times a year and they need to be trimmed. It was another sunny day in Baxter, Tennessee and being outside for a majority of it really made me understand why Thomas was always so sweaty. I had the back of the house fully done and I was working on the side, but watching Thomas in action with the animals was truly amazing. Most days I came out and helped but had to run back inside to get the house done, but when I stayed outside I saw how gentle he was with all of them.

I stopped stripping and watched him place a small goat in his lap, I think it was Debra. He rubbed her ears and whispered to her softly to help her be calm as he pulls out the razor and started to shave her. I chose to take a break and visit the horses, Blossom greeted me with a friendly nudge but Peppermint didn't come to the door when I called her.

I wonder if she'll always be grumpy or if she'll come around eventually, I wondered as I brushed Blossom.

"Did you want to ride them again today?," Thomas walked into view.

"Mhmm...," I thought about it for a moment. "Maybe tomorrow? I have to run into town and get some groceries, I'm starting to run low."

"While you're out, we're out of clipper oil."

"Clipper oil?" I felt my face scrunch up.

"Yeah, I used the last of it and the horses could use some some more feed."

"Uh... where do I get that?"

"Del normally goes to Cookeville, there's a good store there that has it all."

"I don't know what to get."

"I can make you a list."

"Uhhh... Thomas?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you come with me?"

"I... I don't think I should," he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Please, I just don't know any of this stuff. I don't want to get anything wrong."

Thomas sighed," I won't be much help."

I rolled my eyes," Of course you would, you know what you're doing."

"The store associates could help you better than me."

"Thomas... please."

He sighed deeply again," Go into town and buy your food, then I'll go with you to Cookeville."

"Okay," I nodded. He's meeting me halfway, I can understand that. "I just need to drop off Andy's stuff and then I'll get some things from the store, I'll back within an hour."

"Alright, I'll finish with the goats and wait for you."

I jogged back into the house to grab my keys and the bag I put Andy's tools in. I drove into Baxter and parked at the police station, opening the door to a smiling woman behind a desk.

"Hello there, can I help you?," she asked sweetly.

"Hi, yes, I just have to return these to Andy."

"Oh, sure thing sugar. I can take them," she extended her hand for the sack and I passed it over.

"Thank you," I waved and turned to leave.

"Not even a hello this time," I heard Andy chuckle. "Southern ways sure are wasted on you."

"Oh, no... I jut didn't want to intrude."

"Well thanks for dropping them off, I was wondering if I would have to come up there and get them myself," he gave me his signature crooked smile.

"Oh no, did you need them? I'm sorry."

He chuckled," No, I'm just joking."

I smiled, "Good. Well, have a great day."

"Wait," Andy stepped closer. "Uh... Sherry's been meaning to reach out, I know she was plannin' a night out and was gonna invite you."

"Me? Really?," I was initially surprised.

"Yeah, she and Savannah were going to the Dock's."

"Dock's?"

"A bar just down the road. It's got pool and games and stuff."

"Oh, sounds fun."

"Yeah, I'll let her know you'd be willin' to go."

"Oh sure, just tell me when."

He smiled," Sounds great," he looked over his shoulder to the woman at the desk, she was still watching us closely. He cleared his throat and turned back to me," Have a nice day... ma'am," he added with a wink and went back into the station.

I walked out of the door with a cloud of confusion, Why does Sherry want me to come? I'm surprise she'd even ask. If anything it seems like she hates me... Should I go? I want to get to know Savannah better, she's a great way to get to know Kurtis and Bryce without actually talking to them. But a bar? I don't even know what I'd wear.

I thought about it all as I picked out my food for the next 2 weeks and drove back to the farm. I put everything int he cupboard and fridge, now I had a fully restocked kitchen. I made my out back to see Thomas working in the side of the house, the faded paint was coming off easily.

"Ready?"

He climbed off his ladder with a silent nod, Thomas gave me direction on how to get to Cookeville since I'd never been.

"Do you drive at all Thomas?"

"No, mama said I'd never need to learn."

"But you're 21, shouldn't you drive?"

"I'm 19," he corrected. "20 in August."

"Right," I looked to the road. "Sometimes I forget how young you are."

"You aren't that much older."

I laughed," I'm 28, we're almost 10 years difference."

"No," Thomas shook his head. "I'll turn 20 soon and you turned 28 in April, we're only about 8 years and a few months."

I nodded," Yeah, you're right."

"Mr. Verades used to let me drive the tractor, I bet it's fairly similar."

I shrugged," I've never driven a tractor. One day I can show you how to drive, if you'd like."

"Really?," Thomas sounded interested.

"Sure, it's not very difficult. I'm sure you could do it, especially with all your tractor experience."

Thomas laughed," I might take you up on that."

"Anytime," I smiled and pulled into the parking lot.

Thomas looked out the window and I saw his jaw clench tightly while his fist balled up on his pants.

"Thomas?," I called out to him and he turned to me now relaxed.

"I'm fine," he told me and got out of the car.

I followed him inside and he lead me where we needed to be, I had a cart and started to put things in I thought looked cute or thought we might need. Thomas almost laughed when he saw some of things in my cart. He picked up the vitamins I had in the cart and finally let himself laugh.

"What's so funny? I thought they looked good for Peppermint and Blossom."

Thomas laughed for a few more seconds then cleared his throat," This is testosterone," he put it back on the shelf. "It's for stallions only," he smiled.

"Oh," I felt a blush rise to my face. "Right. Do we need anything else or are we good."

"Just some more feed, it's in the back I think," Thomas pushed the cart.

As we were checking out, the cashier, an older man recognized Thomas and started to talk to him. I was just happy that Thomas had a good experience in town and that no one seemed to be staring or whispering about him. Back at home, we unloaded and Thomas went back to stripping the house and I helped. We finished the side and made it to the front before he left for the night.

"Have a nice night Caroline," he told me heading for the door.

"Bye Thomas."

"Oh," he stopped and turned to me."I've been reading the book you gave me."

"And? You like it," I grinned.

"Yes, in fact I read a poem in it that reminded me of you."

"Really," I smiled brightly and went to the door to stand closer to him. "Well I'd love to read it sometime."

"I have a friend whose hair is like time-dark, deranged coils lit by a lamp when she bends her head to laugh. A unique event, such as the crucifixion of Christ, was not subject to repetition, thought St, Augustine and therefore time is linear."

"Thomas," my mouth popped open. "You memorized it?"

He shrugged," I liked it."

"I really is beautiful, thank you. That's so sweet. Who's the author?"

"Thomas Lux."

"I'll have to look him up. It's very unique word play, I like it."

He stared at me for a moment, I could see his face searching me but I didn't know what he could be looking for. He then gave a small nod before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Thomas Lux, I should right that down, I went to find a pen.


Th next day I was finishing the front on the house when I heard the phone ring, I went inside to answer.

"Hello? Caroline?"

"Yes."

"Hey, it's Savannah," she sounded busy. "uhm Friday night, Sherry and I were thinking about going out. We'd love for you to come. Jordan, put that down!"

I smiled," Friday? Sure."

"Oh great. We'll come 'round and pick you up at 7 or so. See you then," she hung up the phone right after.

Friday... okay. I can do this. Friday night, girls night, it'll be fun! Maybe I can use this, try to get Sherry to stop glaring at me and get closer with Savannah It'll be great. It'll be fun.

I told myself this as I went back outside and continued to strip the paint, there was only one side of the house left and then I could repaint it. The lawn was looking better, I could see some of the brown spots were sprouting small green buds. New grass, good.

"Caroline, I got the horses all hooked up," Thomas came around the corner of the house.

"Great," I smiled and jumped right back off the ladder. "I've been dying to head back up there, something about that place is kind of addictive."

Thomas laughed," Don't I know it."

This time I had no issue getting on Blossom, I beamed proudly as I swung my leg over and hoisted myself up in one try. I still let Thomas lead and while we trotted up the mountain, he started to point out plants to me. He'd tell me their name and how they grew, if you could eat it and if it was poisonous. It took us nearly three times as long to get there, but I didn't mind, it was fun to learn about this stuff. We got to the meadow, saddled the horses and wandered into the grass.

"I just can't believe you and Delilah were able to find this place."

"She was the one who knew about it. She brought me here."

"Well lucky for us, we both get to enjoy," I let my hand glide over the grass. "Oh wait," I ran back to Blossom and pulled two books I had hidden when we started the ride.

"Books?," Thomas cocked his head. "you should have told me, I would have brought along my new poetry compilation."

"Yes, books! I think this has to be the perfect reading spot. Fresh air, nice lighting, silent breeze."

"What did you bring?," Thomas asked.

"I brought an old classic for me: Pride and Prejudice."

"Does that mean you brought a book for me too?," Thomas asked in his rich full voice.

"Of course I did," I batted my eyelashes. " I brought this great new book, I don't know if you've read it yet," I handed it over.

"The Giver?," he read the title and gave me a not so impressed look.

"No, trust me. It's really good. I read it all in one setting, I could barely put it down!"

"If you say so," he gave a sly smile but his tone was still not convinced.

We settled onto the grass and I opened my book to page one, I never got tired of reading about Elizabeth Bennett and her honest discoveries of humanity in the olden days. Time passed, I went to pay on my stomach and read while Thomas leaned over his book cradled in his lap. It wasn;t until I realized I was squinting that I noticed how fast the sun had set.

"What time is it?," I looked to my watch. "Oh my gosh, it's nearly 6."

"Already?," Thomas sounded surprised as well.

"I told you it was good right?"

"I might have misjudged it," he admitted.

"How far are you now?"

"I'm nearly done, only like 50 pages left," I could see his was desperate to get to the end.

"Let's finish at the house. I don't want us to get stuck up here and not have a way to get home."

"Good point," Thomas popped up. "Let's hurry though, I need to finish this," he exaggerated his tone which made me giggle.

We made it down the path much faster than we did on the way up, I could see Thomas was driven by his motivation of finishing the remaining pages. As we passed, I saw the faint trail to the right of the path, my curiosity spiking again. I should go down there one day.

We got back to the house, Thomas gave me a very brief tutorial on how to take off the saddles and brush their hair before running into the house to sit on the couch. He cracked the spin of the book and opened to where he left off, completely zoning out the world and being pulled into the fantasy. I made a quick courtesy call to Mary explaining Thomas might be late, she told me not to worry and send him home when he's done. She knew exactly how he was with a new book, she even remembered a time she had to drag him from the library crying.

Now that it was dark outside, I focused my attention on sorting gardening equipment and even broke out my book on gardening. I was deeply intrigues by the soil difference when I heard Thomas slam his book, I looked up and saw his mouth was open.

"Amazing, right?," I smiled.

"It was incredible," he said in disbelief, shaking his head. "The ending... it was so good!"

"I know. I thought you'd like it."

"Like it, it has to be somewhere in my top 10 books now," he set the book on the table.

"Really? I need to see that list."

"Deal, only if you show me yours."

"Done," I smiled and stretched.

"I should go," Thomas stood up.

"Are you okay to get home? It's dark now."

Thomas gave me a smile like I was a goofball," It's not even a mile, I'll be okay."

"As long as you're sure."

"Positive," he said headed for the door.

"See you tomorrow," I waved and went back to sorting.


I dreamed that night, I was back in Vermont eating at my favorite restaurant.

I took a big bite of my Pomelo and pickled ginger salmon when I saw my parents walk past the outside patio. I called to them but I they didn't even turn to look at me, I jumped from my chair to chase them. I ran as fast as I could, but I couldn't catch up to them, I yelled for them but they never turned around. I followed them all the way to the water's edge, where they seamlessly dissolved into the ocean. I stared after them but they were gone.

"It's alright," I turned to see Thomas now standing on the rocks with me.

"Thomas," I cried and fell into his arms. He held me tightly while I cried.

"Shhh, you're my family now," he whispered.


I just want to say thank you to those who are READING THIS STORY! IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME! (3