Page 12 of Spencer and the Younger Girl
Damien extricated himself from the girl. “Spence, this is Roman and Hadley.”
Hadley. The name stuck in his mind, repeating over and over. “Wait, Roman, you’re on Damien’s hockey team. I saw the game Friday.”
Roman’s face lit up. “Yeah?”
“Rome, this is my brother, Spencer.” Damien gestured to Spencer.
“Brother? I didn’t know you had a brother.”
Spencer bristled at that, but he guessed he deserved to be an after-thought to Damien, someone not worth telling his friends about. He remembered Roman Sullivan as a cocky freshman who seemed to forget his underclassman status the moment he made the hockey team. He’d always thought too much of himself.
Were these the kind of people Damien spent his time with now? The quiet farm boy hanging with arrogant rich kids.
Hadley glanced past him to where a few of the horses roamed the pen. “You have horses?” she squealed.
Spencer rolled his eyes. “You ever been on a ranch before, sweetheart?”
Her gaze hardened as she turned it on him. “I’m not your sweetheart.” She scanned him from head to toe, a look of disgust on her face, but she didn’t say another word before turning to Damien. “I will love you forever if you help us.”
“With what?” Damien didn’t get an answer to his question as their mom stepped outside.
“Damien,” she called. “Lunch is ready. Are your friends staying?”
Spencer didn’t miss how she failed to invite him. “I’ll catch you later.” He turned on his heel to head to the bunkhouse, but Damien ran after him.
“You’re coming to lunch.”
“It’s okay. I don’t want to upset her.”
“She’s been upset long enough. Come on, Spence.”
His brother’s voice was so desperate, so earnest, Spencer couldn’t deny him anything. With a sigh, he turned back to the house. “Fine, but if it’s awkward, I’m blaming you.”
“Rome, Hadley, you can tell us over lunch why you’d risk dirtying those expensive clothes of yours on a ranch.” Damien laughed.
The three of them went ahead, and Spencer paused on the threshold, gathering up the nerve he needed to follow them. Suppressing the urge to turn back around, he stepped into his old house for the first time in three years.
