AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Who?” Lucas asked, and Bash was stuck telling them the story.
“Well, it’s a good thing you were there,” Three said. “People ought to be given an intelligence test before they buy a car. If you can’t do the basics, then you’re not fit to own it.” Bash agreed, but his definition of the basics included more than here’s where the gas goes and here’s where to add the wiper fluid.
“Bash, what are you doing after the season?” Barbara asked, sticking him in the conversational hot seat.
“I’m not sure, but hopefully I have plenty of time to figure it out.”
“If the team keeps playing like you have been and it stays relatively injury-free”—Four pointed at Lucas—“you’ll have lots of time.” Lucas was battling repeated hand injuries, which were hard to hide, unlike Bash’s shoulder and hip issues. Luckily, it was his non-throwing arm, and the acupuncture treatments helped. Injuries were part of the job, but this was Bash’s first season where everything seemed to hurt all the time. Two more years of hurting like this, knowing he only had VV Pub to look forward to, was depressing as hell.
“I’m actually envious of Cal and Lucas knowing what they’re doing when the season ends.”
“You’re welcome to join them out here,” Three said.
“I have a few options open to me, but none of them are in Cascade City.”
“Well, if things fall through, Lucas can always use a shit-shoveling partner,” Three said. Lucas planned to help Cal at the ranch when Barbara and Three went on vacation, and then when they returned, he’d stay and help while Cal went to Scotland to visit family and learn more about making whiskey and running a distillery.
Four leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. “Excellent dinner, Maggie-girl. What’s for dessert?”
“Nothing until the table is cleared and the dishwasher’s running,” Barbara said, pushing back from the table. Bash stood with her, but she motioned him to sit, saying, “Not you or Lucas. You’re guests. Stay put and stay out of the way.” She winked as everyone stood but him, Cal, and Three.
“Lucas and I need to check on something outside,” Maggie said, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the door.
“Five dollars says she comes back with hay in her hair,” Elspeth said and Four cringed like an overprotective father.
“Only a fool would take that bet,” Harper said as she stacked the empty plates on her side of the table. Penny took his plate.
“Silverware?” he asked, holding up his fork. At home, they would have cleared them, but he didn’t know what farm protocol was.
“Your choice.” They hadn’t spoken during the meal, but Bash had felt her withdraw each time he’d opened his mouth. He placed his dirty silverware on top of his plate as she took his and then her grandfather’s plate. Bash felt like he’d failed some sort of test as he stared at Three’s reserved silverware.
Cal poured them each a small glass of whiskey, and Bash listened as they evaluated his latest batch. Cal used the same still his great-great-grandfather had brought with him from Scotland. Bash knew little about whiskey, but it sounded like the Buchanans did, and they all had an opinion on what Cal needed to do differently with his next batch.
Bash watched Penny as she cleared the table. Her movements were economical and efficient and she was hot as hell in her snug jeans and coral-colored sweater. Even when she was unrightfully mad at him, he second-guessed his celibacy rule. It wouldn’t take much for him to break it with her, and it irritated him. His reaction to her was unfounded. Penny wasn’t the smartest, funniest, or prettiest woman he’d ever hung out with, but she was the kindest, at least to everyone else.
She was patient with customers, listening to them and never rushing them, even when they weren’t talking about books but yabbering away about inconsequential stuff. She accepted and then delivered packages for the other businesses in Marketplace if they were closed. Penny volunteered at the animal rescue shelter, walking the dogs and cleaning out the pens once a week. She mended books at the library once a month, which baffled him. They were her competitors.
But with him? She could be impatient, demanding, and doubtful. Her disbelief in him only made him want to prove her wrong. That he wasn’t the King of the Jackasses. It was maddening how much he cared about her opinion. They were from different worlds with different goals, and he shouldn’t have this powerful urge to erase the boundaries that separated them: her prejudice against his hometown; her desire to never leave Cascade City; her contentment in working for her aunt when she obviously had the skills to do something better.
Penny played it small and safe, but he needed someone by his side who played big and bold. Someone he could lean on. Penny could be that person if she wanted to. He needed her to be that person. When he was with her, his brain calmed. The ideas spinning in his head like an army of hamsters running in their wheels slowed. And when he touched her, they stopped. She’ll be the death of me.
“Try some.” Cal held his tumbler toward her when she came in from the kitchen. Penny tossed it back in one eye-watering swallow.
“It’s wet,” she said, grabbing the empty breadbasket and using it to gather the miscellaneous salt and pepper sets scattered around the table. “And strong, but if you pour me a little more, I promise to sip it during dessert.” She patted Cal’s shoulder as she passed.
Three held his tumbler toward Cal for a refill and looked at Bash. “You ever work on a tractor?”
“I’ve only seen one in pictures or at a distance,” he admitted.
“That’s a shame. We got an old one Five and I have been nursing along, but it’s about gone. It was Thistlestone’s first. You’re welcome to take a look and poke around anytime.”
“I might take you up on that.”
“Why is there a small dent in the bathroom ceiling?” Penny asked as she exited the bathroom tucked under the stairs.
“I forgot to duck,” Lucas said, hovering over the pies with Bash and Cal. He didn’t have any hay in his hair, but Maggie looked a little flush.
“Are you planning to cut your sad-looking pies soon, or should I take one of Maggie’s cupcakes?” Cal asked Bash. He frowned, holding the knife in his hand and staring at the pies. They weren’t the most attractive, but Penny had seen worse.
