Page 22 of Apple of My Eye
‘Mom, I’m going to take Nick on a quick walk around the farm, OK?’
The conversation in the other room completely stills.
‘OK!’ she calls back. I can hear the smile in her voice. The low buzz of conversation quickly returns, and Betsy laughs, sharp and loud. Nick and I exchange a knowing glance as I hand him a beer. We duck outside into the dim light, stopping to hammer the caps off on the flat edge of a wooden post. We clink our bottles.
‘To farming,’ Nick says, an eager smile on his face.
Something about his simplicity, his eagerness to please, is extremely endearing. I return his smile. ‘To farming,’ I say.
We walk in silence along the dirt path to the closest barn. I steal glances at Nick, admiring the way his profile looks in the soft light. He glances back at me and our eyes meet.
‘It’s gorgeous out here,’ Nick says.
‘Yeah, it is,’ I agree. ‘I used to walk this path every night when I was little. My dad would take us through the farm to say goodnight to the animals. Goodnight geese, goodnight bees, goodnight chickens, goodnight JJ, goodnight birds.’
‘Damn.’ Nick shakes his head. ‘Sounds like you were literally living in a storybook.’ He pauses. ‘Wait—’ Nick stills. ‘Who’s JJ?’
‘My horse.’
‘That’s so cool,’ he says wistfully. ‘Sounds like the life. Why JJ?’
‘Um.’ I squirm. ‘I don’t know, some singer I liked.’
‘What singer is named JJ? Isn’t her name JoJo?’
‘Oh yeah, JoJo.’
Nick squints at me. ‘Really? Then why not call her JoJo.’
I sigh. ‘Because he’s a he,’ I admit.
‘And you named him JoJo?’ Nick is thoroughly confused now.
‘Ugh,’ I groan. ‘Fine. You caught me. I named my horse Joe Jonas,’ I mumble.
Nick bursts out laughing. It’s easy, generous, like it wouldn’t take much to bring him joy. ‘No you didn’t.’
‘In my defense,’ I say, crossing my arms, ‘I was ten.’
He holds up his hands. ‘That’s fair. Can’t say anyone has great taste at ten.’
I swallow back a smile. Nick is being generous. Many people have better taste at ten than to name their horse after Joe Jonas. ‘Did you have good taste at ten?’ I ask.
‘I was voted most likely to smile in middle school, so .?.?. yes? I mean, I guess? I was smiling at everything, so .?.?.’
‘Somehow I don’t think much has changed since now and then.’
Nick smiles, catches himself, tries to frown and then smiles even bigger.
I start laughing, so distracted that I almost trip on the trail I’ve been walking since I could remember.
He reaches out and grabs my forearm to steady me. ‘Thanks,’ I murmur. His touch on my arm is enough to make my heart beat faster, and for a moment I have to keep my gaze trained on the ground as I try to relax. He releases his hand from my elbow, but I can still feel the heat of his fingerprints. A thought explodes in my mind with the nuance of a firecracker—I haven’t felt like this in a long time. I decide it’s the beer, that’s what’s making me so light-headed.
Nick clears his throat.
‘So, what do you have planned while you’re here?’ I ask, breaking the silence. It’s as good a time as any to find out what he’s up to.
‘I’m really just here to help out the Parkers.’
