Page 84 of Spencer and the Younger Girl
They spent another hour under the tree talking and… more than talking before Hadley finally convinced him they needed to get back to the barn and see what else was on the list to be done today.
For a girl who wasn’t getting paid and was forced to work at the ranch, she sure was a task master. They sped across open land on the four-wheeler, Hadley screaming the entire time as she flung her arms out behind her.
“Hold on to me,” he yelled back over his shoulder.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
This girl would be the death of him. Yet, he only wished he could see the joy on her face.
They parked the four-wheeler behind the barn and hopped off. Hadley shoved her helmet at him and ran off.
“Where are you going?” he called.
“I promised Stammer I’d come by.”
He set the helmet on the seat and took off after her. He’d lived on the ranch his entire life and never grown attached to the goats. They weren’t horses, and that was where his focus always was.
But as Hadley did a running leap to climb into the pen, he couldn’t help but smile. The goats congregated around her, probably because she usually had treats for them.
“I’m sorry, guys… and gals.” She looked down at a nanny. “Sorry, Bella. I totally know you’re not a dude. Your tiny little beard must be a hormone thing.” She bent down to scratch the nanny’s head and dropped her voice. “I have to pluck a few stray beard hairs too. It’s normal. I promise.”
“Has she named every one of our goats?”
Spencer whipped around at the sound of his mother’s voice, but his mom wasn’t looking at him. Instead, her eyes were focused on the disheveled Hadley—thanks to him—sitting in the middle of what amounted to a goat pile up as they tried to get close to her.
“I imagine she did.”
A small smile worked its way across his mom’s face. “She’s something, isn’t she?”
Spencer couldn’t take his eyes from the goat girl—his goat girl. “Yeah, Ma. She is.”
Hadley fell onto her back as a goat knocked her over, and a shrieking laugh filled the air.
“Goats aren’t supposed to act like that.”
He grinned at his mom’s assessment. Broken boys planning to get out of town weren’t supposed to fall for the younger girl either. But just like the goats, he couldn’t help himself. Her presence brought people—and animals—to life, energizing them.
“She also has quite the tongue.” His mom crossed her arms.
“It’s one of her better qualities.”
It surprised him to hear a laugh come from his mom. “Son, watch out. That’s the kind of girl who can steal even the coldest of hearts.”
What his mom didn’t get was—just like with taking the goats for the prank—Hadley didn’t have to steal anything. People gave their hearts to her willingly. And it was only a matter of time before he relinquished his death-grip on his own.
Because Hadley Gibson was a girl he could love.
A goat nibbled on her hair, and she pushed it away with a kind admonishment. When a dark billy walked from the small barn, her entire face lit up. “Stammer!” She crawled toward him, wrapping him in a hug. He stood stiffly, but didn’t back away from her.
Gabe followed Stammer out. He must have been in there cleaning the goat house. He shook his head when he saw her. “I keep telling you, Hadley, goats aren’t pets.”
She looked up at him, a stubborn glint in her eye Spencer recognized well. “They can be whatever they want to be. Maybe that’s why they like me better than you.”
“They don’t like you better, they just know you bring treats.”
“You just don’t understand them. Even goats want a little love and affection.”
A whistle came from the door of the larger barn, and Spencer left Hadley and Gabe to duke it out. His dad stood waiting for him. “You fix that fence that supposedly was broken… again.” He gave him the dad look he’d perfected over years of chastising Spencer and Victoria.
