Page 95 of The Last Second Chance
“Lie to my brother?” Jax gasped in feigned horror.
Joey eyed him over her book.
“You’re right. Good call. Lying to my brother,” he said, as he fired off a quick text.
She looked restlessly out the back window at the falling snow.
“What’s wrong?” Jax asked.
She shrugged her slim shoulders. “I just wish I could do one more check on the horses, but I really don’t feel like wading through a foot of snow between here and the stables.”
“Then allow me to direct your attention here…” Jax said, swiveling his laptop around to face her with a flourish. He opened a browser window and keyed in a URL and then handed the computer over to her.
“What’s this? Hey, that’s Lolly and Romeo!” Joey said, sitting up and peering at the screen in delight. “How did you do that?”
“I set up a couple of WIFI-enabled cameras around the stable and the barn. This way we can keep an eye on everything from the safety and warmth of your couch.”
“You’re a freaking genius.”
“Trust me. It was purely selfish. I knew you’d be dragging me up there in the dead of night and I thought this would be easier and warmer.”
“Look! You got the cows and Clementine in the barn.”
Clementine’s yellow eyes glowed on camera as she stared eerily at the camera.
“Does she ever blink?” Jax asked. “I mean seriously, even on camera she looks like a demon.”
“Leave poor Clementine alone,” Joey teased.
“Poor Clementine? Did I tell you how she tried to attack me through the door of her stall today? Waffles had to rescue me.”
“Poor baby,” Joey crooned.
“That goat has it in for me,” Jax muttered.
“Did you see how much weight those Jerseys have put on this week? Dr. Ames is going to be thrilled when she sees them next week.”
“If we dig out by then,” Jax teased.
“I wouldn’t say no to being snowed in for a few days. It’s nice to not have so many people around all the time,” Joey sighed.
“My pretty little introvert.”
“I thought I was just grumpy.”
“Maybe a little of that, too,” he said, tugging her ponytail.
Satisfied that her animals were safe and cozy despite the active blizzard, Joey turned her attention back to her hardback and Jax took out the folder of his father’s essays. With limited free time recently, he’d only read a handful of the stories so far, but tonight seemed like the perfect time to catch up.
Code Word: Livestock Auction by John Pierce
The title caughthis eye as Jax fondly remembered that every summer for years, he and his brothers would be shipped off to Aunt Rose and Uncle Melvin’s home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania for a long weekend when their parents traveled to the Tri-State Livestock Auction. When they were younger, they clamored to go along with their parents. When they were older, they clamored to be left home by themselves. But the answer was always no.
Every year, like clockwork, his parents packed up and off they went, sale papers and stock stats in hand. His parents never told them much about the auction, and they never seemed to buy anything, but they had always come home happier and more relaxed than when they left. He was curious what kind of experience his father would have that made him want to document the memory.
Even a man so firmly planted in the earth as a family farmer can experience the wistful beckon of wanderlust. It is particularly poignant when everyone around you prepares for beach vacations or lake getaways while you protect your harvest from Mother Nature morning ‘til night.
For Phoebe it was often worse. Managing our books and house, lending me a hand a dozen times a day, all while running herd on one, two, and then three boys meant just about every hour of every day was spoken for.
