Page 58 of The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells
“Tea? Tea?? I’m not taking damnteawith him,” Cora mutters, stuffing her feet into her boots. “That man isn’t getting a single cake from me either.” She slams the door, nose high in the air, before stomping down the lane. She cuts across his field, checking that the bull isn’t there before hurrying across.
Howard Price was a few years above her in school. She remembers him always bursting with movement and wit. Now that his dad has passed, he runs the family farm and his mum looks after the haberdashery shop in town. He’s grown into the kind of young man who’s quietly confident, unswayable, like the ancient trees of the mountains. Always smiling. Always polite and good and honest.
She dodges a cowpat as she checks again for the bull. She doesn’t fancy having to run to the stile and turn up all hot andbothered. She wants to turn up just as she is. Seething and imperious, her tongue sharpened and ready.
Cora hops the stile, mud spattering her legs when she lands on the other side, and heads for the yard at the back of the farmhouse. Howard, his back to her as she approaches, is feeding the chickens, talking to them, encouraging them. She stops for a moment to watch him as he bends to scatter more feed, emptying the bucket out as the chickens scratch and squark. He’s wearing what looks like a brown jacket. She hasn’t seen it before. Then he turns toward her, eyes squinting against the sunlight, and his constant smile turns into a full grin.
Her mouth puckers in response, and his shoulders lift in a lazy shrug as he ambles over to her. “What can I do for you today, Miss Morgan?”
“It’s Cora,” she says, drawing herself up to her full height. “And you know full well, Howard Price. You know full well what you’ve got of ours. Where have you hidden her? Hmm?”
“Is this about that pig of yours?”
Cora stifles a snort. “Would I be over here every blessed week if it was about anything else?”
“Would you like some lemonade? Mother made it this morning. It’s got a lovely tang—”
“The pig, if you would!”
Howard chuckles quietly as he moves to the gate, then closes it carefully behind him. “Right you are, Coraline.”
She trails after him as he walks past the farmhouse, over to another path set between the fields. He takes her through another gate, then points at a field that’s been dug and scattered with straw, which looks like it’s been wallowed in. In the middle is the pig house, several of their snouts nudging out before they race toward the gate. Howard leans against it, forearms resting on the top. “You have to go in there and get it. Don’t fancy the state of that dress afterward, though.”
Cora splutters, eyeing the pigs, then him. “You what?”
“Unless you want me to go in there and fetch it. Save your pretty dress?” He eyes her, a glint in his eye she hasn’t noticed before. A glint that says he’s playing with her. Her composure slips into fury.
“Howard Price, you fetch that damn pig, and you stop putting it in there with your others when it strays. You’re doing this on purpose, you—”
“A date.”
“What?”
“That’s the price.” He shrugs. “If you want me to go in there and get your pig, and no doubt drop it back at your place, I want you to come on a date with me, Coraline Morgan.”
She splutters again, saying nothing, eyeing the pig, then him. She understands the glint in his eye now. She’s turned down half a dozen boys with that same look. But Howard Price... She swallows. Maybe he’s different. She could see that, even in school. She crosses her arms, fixing him with a glare.
“A date of my choosing.”
“All right.”
“And only one, mind.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely no taking any liberties. I’m not going to the pictures with you ifthat’swhat you’re planning.”
He holds up his hands, that grin lighting up his face again. “I swear it.”
She looks at the pigs, all nosing up to the gate. Then she looks back at him. “I haven’t been to that fancy restaurant in town. And I do have other nice dresses.”
“I’ll make a reservation.”
“No catch? No... nothing?”
“Just a date, Cora,” he says, already climbing the gate to get Cora’s pig. “Just one date, that’s all I’ll need.”
Chapter 44
