Page 51 of When It Burns

I shake my head before responding, “No. Theo isn’t a true employee for the school system, so we’re good there. It’s not like we were trying to hide our relationship anyway. We’ll just have to be prepared for a few days of gossip.”

Hannah makes a noise in her throat before saying, “Bestie, I love you but I think you’re forgetting what this town is like. I would plan for the next year to be full of the older ladies asking when the wedding will be. And Mrs. Sally is going to have a field day. But don’t worry, we have your back.”

“Well, I never doubted that. Enough about me, let’s get these pumpkins!” I say before bending back over to grab the white one I’d been eyeing.

An hour later, our wagon is full of white, pink, green, and orange pumpkins, and we are all starving. We make our way to the entrance of the field where there is a small counter set up for us to check out along with a small mobile flower booth and a stand for iced pumpkin coffees. Mrs. Leah, the owner of the patch, checks us out and we all grab coffees and flowers before we head to the car to load our purchases.

As we get into the car, Hannah says, “I could really go for some tacos and a beer. Do y’all want to grab lunch at Maracas?” Margaret and I nod in agreement, and I take a sip of my coffee before I pull out of the parking lot heading that way. Hannah connects her phone to the Bluetooth, and I smile as “Hole in the Bottle” by Kelsea Ballerini blasts through the speakers.

We take turns singing loudly down the back country roads until I am turning onto Main Street and hear Margaret’s phone ping. She pulls it out and says, “Ladies, we may have a change of plans.”

“Is something wrong?” I ask quickly, my mind immediately going to Theo.

“No, I don’t think so. But Theo just texted and said the animals have arrived. I know he thinks he’s Superman, but I would feel better if he wasn’t alone. Would y’all want to pick up a chicken sandwich from the gas station and head over?”

“Sure,” Hannah and I both say, and I wheel into the Chevron station that houses Mama Roo’s inside.

“If you had told me this time last month I would be eating fried chicken from a gas station and heading to work on a farm, I would have told you that you were crazy,” Margaret says with a laugh.

“Don’t hate on Mamma Roo’s. Her chicken sandwich will put anyone else’s to shame,” Hannah says as we make our way inside the rustic station.

After ordering our sandwiches and sweet teas to go, we hop back in my car and we make the short drive over to Theo’s farm.

I didn’t know what to expect, but nothing could have prepared me for the chaos that greeted us when I pulled up to the farmhouse. Looking around with wide eyes, Hannah and I make eye contact before reaching quickly for our cell phones.

“Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do?” Margaret asks, taking in the array of animals running around us.

“Call in reinforcements,” Hannah and I say together.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

THEO

How hard could this whole farm thing be?

That had been my attitude this morning as I prepared for Mr. Willy to drop off my animals.

But after an hour with the animals, it turns out the answer to that question was pretty fucking hard.

Things had gone smoothly for the first few minutes while Willy and I had chatted and unloaded. But as soon as his truck had disappeared down the driveway it was like the animals decided to stage a revolt. The small donkey named Petunia, that Willy had convinced me I needed to help with coyote protection, kicked all of the gates open and led the horses and cows out of their fields.

I knew I’d hooked the chain on the gate before I turned my back to grab some water from inside, but it’s clear the chain was no match for a pissed off Petunia as she led the charge into my driveway.

I let out a small breath, trying to plan the best course of attack in order to get all of the animals back where they need to go when I see Caroline’s car pull up in my driveway.

I grab my hat off the porch and walk into the September sun yelling for the animals as the girls get out of the car and make their way toward me.

“What the heck happened, Theo?” my sister calls out, not taking her eyes off the nearest calf about a hundred feet from her.

“It looks like even the animals have heard about the whole asshole fire chief thing, and they don’t want to be around you either,” Hannah teases before letting out a loud laugh.

I roll my eyes at the joke as Caroline and Margaret giggle, before asking, “Are y’all here to laugh at me or do you plan on helping?”

Caroline holds out a wrinkled brown paper sack in my direction and says, “We come in peace, Theo, I promise. Here. Eat this sandwich from Mamma Roo’s while we look for some empty feed buckets. I’m sure there’s some around here somewhere.”

I nod at her before taking the bag and pulling out the sandwich. I point in the direction to the old barn about a half mile away where I had seen a pile of old farm stuff earlier in the week. “There’s a couple bags of feed on my tailgate. I’ll come help you.”

“Cowboy, someone has to stay here with the escape artists. If anyone is gonna have to go chasing after a jackass today, it’s you. Eat, and we’ll be right back,” Caroline says before leaning over and dropping a quick kiss on my mouth and leading the girls across the lot to my truck. “Oh, and we called in some help too. Will and Seth are on their way,” she says over her shoulder. “Looks like everyone doesn’t hate the Fire Chief as much as you thought.”

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