"Who. . .was. . .that?" was the first thing Billie-Mae says to me once I was inside the house again. I laughed a little as moved past her to grab one of her bags and head up the stairs.
"That's Mr. and Mrs. Taylor's grandson, Chase Taylor." I answer her vaguely. I made my way up the stairs and turned into what used to be Mama and Daddy's room. A month after their funeral, I had talked to Billie-Mae about her moving in with me so she could help me with the farm. Knowing Daisy would have a fit if I changed her room into a guest room (even though she wasn't going to be visiting as often anymore), I reluctantly turned Mama and Daddy's room into Billie-Mae's room. As soon as I opened the door, the familiar smell of Mama's flowery perfume and Daddy's fresh leather scented after shave made my chest tighten up. The feeling soon washed over when Billie-Mae came up to my side, asking even more questions about Chase.
"When did he get here? How old is he? Where's he from? Why is he here? What does he do for a living?" She asked without stopping for air. I turned around smiled at her like she was crazy.
"He got here yesterday, he's twenty-one, I'm not sure where he's from, he's a Marine, and he's here because he's on leave after a very long and intense deployment in a top secret location." I answer her many questions as best as I could. I walk back out of the room to grab her last two bags and she continues to follow me.
"A Marine?! Cousin, you have great taste in men." she jokes and I chuckle in return. "And he's only been here one day and he's flirting with you like that? Where can I find me a military man?" she jokes again. I shake my head at my cousin's jokes and comments about Chase.
"So what's he like?" she asks. We plop down on the bed and Billie-Mae crossed her legs on the bed and faces me like we're sixth graders telling each other deep secrets.
"Well, he's nice, very helpful, well built, generous, and down right hot." I cave in to the childishness of the conversation. "I was in the middle of making dinner last night, when Mrs. Taylor called asking me to hurry on over like there was an emergency. So, I drop what I'm doing a run over there. She ends up being fine and I told to stop giving me attacks, and she makes me come in. She starts talking about how she thinks I could use a friend or someone to talk to since Daisy hasn't been any help in that department, and I thought she was trying to set me up with another random guy. But, she begs me to give him a chance so I agree and she's fixing me up like I'm going out or something, and she leads me into the living room, and there in front of me is the most gorgeous man I've ever seen in my life." I tell Billie-Mae about the first time I saw Chase. "He was in his green camies and he the sleeves rolled. His arms are so strong and his chest is just so broad." I let out a loud sigh as I fall back on to the bed.
"Sounds like you got a crush, Hayden." Billie-Mae says with a little laugh in her voice. I looked up at her and smiled.
"You got that right." I joke. Billie-Mae flops onto her stomach and rests on her elbows next to me.
"So, what were y'all doing before I got here, huh?" she asks, wiggling her eyebrows at me. I swing my arm up and hit her teasingly on her back while chuckling.
"Well, it was almost a kiss, then you rang the dam doorbell." I said, making it sound like I was angry at her.
"Forgive me. From now on, whenever he's around I will leave the two of you alone unless I am told otherwise." she informs me. We both laugh at our jokes about the conversation. We sit up and I start helping Billie-Mae unpack her bags and get settled in.
Billie-Mae and I have always been really close growing up. She was Mama's younger sister's daughter, and she looked just like her mama. She had the same wavy chocolate brown hair as her mama, and the fact that Billie-Mae had cut super short made her look even more like Auntie Jeanie. She had her mama's big, round green eyes and high cheekbones. Both of us were on the shorter side, we both got that from our mamas. Billie-Mae wore glasses her whole life, due to the fact her and her Daddy, Uncle Ray, were as blind as bats. Billie-Mae was very curious, and very intelligent. She worked really well with numbers and knew a lot about history. I always shared my secrets with her, and told her everything just like I used to do with Daisy. As of now, I feel like Billie-Mae is more of a sister to me than Daisy is.
In celebration of Billie-Mae's arrival, we ordered ordered pizza from Papa Joe's Pizza Shack, the local pizza joint in Jameson, and by far one of the best places to get pizza in the entire state of North Carolina. We ate our own pizzas and watched re-runs of The Golden Girls on TV. We laughed at all of Betty White and Bea Arthur's jokes and banter, told each other stories and eventually ended up falling asleep on the couch. I was woken up at midnight to the house phone ringing in the kitchen. I looked over to see Billie-Mae fast asleep on the couch, the TV still playing the re-runs. I carefully got up from the couch, in hopes not to wake Billie-Mae. I quickly made it to the kitchen to answer the phone before the ringing stopped. Whoever was calling at this time better have a good reason.
"Hello." I answer as quietly yet as audibly as I can. The kitchen was illuminated with the white light of the full moon that shone through the window. In the distance, I a faint light on in the living room window of the Taylor's house.
"Hey." said a familiar voice. My heart beat picks up slightly, and I feel a smile spread across my face. "I didn't wake you did I?" Chase asks.
"Uh, yeah, actually you did. Don't worry about it though, we fell asleep on the couch. I probably would've woken up on my own to move to my bed anyways." I try to assure him. "What's up?"
"I couldn't sleep. I figured maybe, if you were up, that if talked to someone for a little bit, it would help me fall asleep." he tells me. His voice sounded just as soothing and husky on the phone as it did in person.
"Why can't you sleep?" I ask, trying to make conversation. I jumped up on to the top of the island so that way I was facing his house and sitting in the moonlight.
"I'm still on military time. I'm not used to a regular sleep schedule yet." he chuckles quietly. I heard him moving around on the other end, so I assumed he was laying down on the bed. "So what are you up to?" he asks.
"Well, my cousin and I were watching re-runs of The Golden Girls before we passed out. Billie-Mae is still passed out actually. She sleeps like a rock." I said jokingly. Chase let out a chuckle as well.
"What's your favorite movie?" he asked. I was little caught off guard by the random question.
"Pardon?" I answer.
"I want to get to know you a little better. I don't just wanna be that guy that pissed you off the first day we met, and made amends by helping you move a damn hay bale." he jokes. I laughed, forgetting that my cousin was still asleep on the couch. I heard her stir around behind me, but I looked back to see her still asleep. I quickly and quietly walked out of the back door so that way I was sitting on the step of the back porch. It was nice enough outside that I could sit out in my tank-top and sweat pants without getting cold or hot.
"The Magnificent Seven." I answer.
"Pardon?" he asks again. I laugh a little.
"You asked me what my favorite movie was. It's The Magnificent Seven." he answer again.
"Ah, so you're an old Western fan?" he inquires.
"Yeah. I'm a sucker for the action, the classic American hero and whimsical romances of Old Western movies." I confess. "What about you?" He didn't take long to respond.
"My favorite is Good Fellas. I've always liked mafia movies." he tells me. "Favorite song?" he asks his second question.
"That's a hard one." I say with a chuckle. "I think that would have to be. . ." I took a moment to think about what my favorite song was. "Everybody Wants Happiness by Dolly Parton." I answer him again.
"You're just good other Southern girl, huh? You like cowboy movies, you like classic country music, you run the same farm you were raised on, you make everything from scratch. You're a true down home girl, huh?" he teased. I laughed a little at his joke.
"Well you're not wrong. What about you? Where are you from?" I asked. He sighs on the other head.
"Well, like you I was born in North Carolina and was raised here, but I grew up a small town about two hours away south from here called Mayville. It's a lot like Jameson, just a little bigger." he tells me.
We went on and on, asking each other questions over the phone. It wasn't until an hour later at one o'clock in the morning did I tell him it was time to go.
"Hey, I think I should go back inside and get some sleep." I admit to him.
"Leaving so soon?" he asks. I smile to myself at his comment.
"As much as I enjoyed this talk, I still have a farm to run in a few hours. You should try and get some sleep, too." I tell him.
"Yeah, you're probably right. Thank you for talking with me." he says to me. I could tell he was sleepy by the grogginess of his voice. It was even more comforting than his voice when he was awake.
"The pleasure was all mine." I say, using his own line on him.
"Good night, Hayden." he says.
"Good night, Chase." I respond. I hang up the phone, but I stay outside until I see the light in the house turn off. I make my way back inside and put the house phone back on it's stand. I walk back into the living room and turn off the TV, debating on if I felt like waking Billie-Mae up to go to her bed upstairs. I didn't need to contemplate it for long though, because she was already awake.
"So what was that phone about?" she asks me with a smirk on her face, her eyes still closed. I grabbed the pillow I was using on the couch and smacked her in the face with it. She let out a laugh as her face made contact with the soft material. I went to bed that night with a smile on my face. I let the curtains in my room stay open to let the moonlight in. There was something about talking to Chase that made me feel at ease. I don't know if it was the way he talked, the tone of his voice, or that he was just so easy to talk to, but whatever it was felt like magic. It was because of Chase, that for the first time in almost three months, I fell asleep missing someone other than my parents.
I woke up to my alarm clock going off. The sun was peeking through the horizon once again, and as I turn my alarm off, I couldn't help but notice the faint sound of music playing downstairs. I got up and opened my door, noticing Billie-Mae's bedroom door already open with her gone. I follow the music down stairs and find my cousin still in her pajamas with her laptop, four different notebooks, an assortment of pens, a calculator, and large mug of coffee on the kitchen island on a stool.
"Good morning, Billie-Mae." I greet her as I grab a bowl and spoon for some cereal. "You're up early."
"Good morning, Hayden. I've only been up for about thirty minutes, my music didn't wake you did it?" she asks nervously, turning down Reba MacEntire that was playing from her laptop. I assure her that it didn't allowing her to turn it back up a little.
"So, how come you're up so early?" I ask her.
"Well, we both know I've never really been built for physical labor, but we also know that I'm good with numbers. Besides, we agreed that you do the physical work and I do the legal work. I started sorting through the bills, tax forms, business forms, all that good stuff. Seems to me that they farm is financially secure. Nothing seems too bad, just a few minor things that are easy fixes. Might need to make a few runs to the post office and few shops today, but other than that, the farm is looking pretty good." she explains to me. Even though I wasn't worried about the farm's financial structure, I was relieved to know that it was one last thing I had to worry about.
"Thank you, Billie-Mae!" I say as I finish my last spoon full of cereal. "Alright, I'm gonna get ready and then I'm gonna get started outside." I say as smack the bun the top of head loose. She lets out a small protest as I make my way back upstairs. After a quick shower, I get dress in a pair of washed out blue jeans that had a few mud stains on them, and and navy blue Coca-Cola shirt on. I slipped on my N.C. hat and my boots and make my way downstairs.
It was another cloudless day, with the same intense June heat. I feed all the animals and checked the corn once again, with no sign of pests or rot. I made my way back over to the horses and decided their barn could use a clean out. I grabbed the wheel barrel and my shovel and gloves and got to work. Every now and then I would look up to see Tucker running around and neighing like crazy, which made me laugh. He probably wants to be rode. Last time any of the horses were road was right before the accident.
Just then, a deep voice said something right next to my ear, causing me to swing my right fist up and make contact with a jaw out of instinct. I turn around to see Chase holding his jaw in his hand laughing at me.
"Oh my god! Chase I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" I ask frantically. He looks at me and laughs a little more before answering.
"I'm fine, don't worry." he said through his laughing.
"Good." I say, punching him in the shoulder this time. "That was cruel, what you did. Jerk." I tease him. I tried not to show any amusement about the matter, in hopes to prove that I didn't mess around when it came to defending myself.
"I gotta say, that punch to the jaw was worth the reaction on your face." he said, letting out a few more laughs.
"Oh yeah? What about the one on your arm?" I ask.
"You punched my arm?" he asks. He tried to act serious but I knew immediately he was joking. I playfully slap his chest and he laughs even more at my reaction to his teasing. He eventually collected his emotions and calmed down. "So, what are you up to?" he asks, as if it wasn't obvious.
"I'm shoveling horse shit. What's it look like I'm doing?" I respond sarcastically. I finish up shoveling out the last stall when I noticed Chase staring into Lady's stall. I lean the shovel against the wall and put my gloves on the handle before walking over to him. I kept my arms cross to keep me from touching anything before I sanitized my hands.
"What are you looking at?" I ask as I approach him. Once I reach Lady's stable, I look in to see exactly what he was staring at: my barrel racing ribbons and trophies.
"What are all of these for?" he asks, walking into Lady's stall to get a closer look. I follow him to the wall that was decorated with ribbons of all sorts of colors, mostly blue, from my barrel racing career.
"Barrel racing." I say to him. He looks at me with a surprised look in his eyes.
"You barrel race?" he asks, sounding as though he was impressed. I looked back at my ribbons with a half smile before answering him.
"I used to. I stopped the year Daisy left for college. With her gone, there was one less helping hand on the farm, and Daddy's back was so bad he couldn't do that much by himself, so I stopped racing to pick up the work Daisy left behind when she left for New York." I tell him.
"What does each color mean?" he asked curiously. I've never seen someone so interested in something before. It was kind of neat, actually.
"Well, traditionally the blue ribbons are for First Place racers, red is Second Place, and green is Third Place. All the other colors are either for participation in show events or Best In a certain category." I explain to him. He nods his head in understanding the whole award system.
"Well what about Championships and Tournaments? There certificates here saying you won the Raleigh Barrel Racing Championship in 2011." he notices. He points to the certificates that were nails above all the ribbons. I giggle a little at his naive question.
"I've won more than just that one championship." I tell him.
"Well, don't you get a special ribbon for that?" he asks. I laugh again before correcting him.
"No, you don't get ribbons when you win championships. You get a certificate," I tap his shoulder with the back of my hand and point to the small wall space next to the stall door. "and you get a trophy." Chase turned and looked at the wall that was covered in golden trophies. Some were topped with the figure of a running horse, some were a rider on the running horse, and some just had the emblem of the championship I raced in. There was fifteen trophies that were stacked on the shelves Daddy had installed when I won my first one at the age of eight. I've been more and more since then.
"You're telling me, that you won all of these championships?" Chase asks. He was surprised and impressed at the same time. He smiled with his mouth slightly dropped. "And you have," he paused quickly to count the many ribbons tacked up behind us. "forty First Place ribbons! That's incredible!" he says. I keep the half smile on my face and feel my ears getting red again.
"I was referred to as fastest racer in all of Carolina. I would spend days riding and racing for no reason, and people would come out from all over the state to see me race. I was offered a chance to go pro the same year Daisy left for college. But, I turned it down for the sake of my family." I say.
"So which horse out there is yours?" Chase asks. I walk out of the stall with Chase following behind me. I stopped when we were a good ten feet into the pasture, and pointed out all four horses.
"You see that painted mare? The white and brown one? That's Lady. She's been with me since she was a colt." I tell Chase. He nods, then points to Tucker.
"What about that big red one?" he asks.
"That's Tucker. He was my daddy's horse. Daddy rode him just for fun. He rescued Tucker from an abusive owner when he was about three years old." I respond. Chase then points Mama's horse.
"How about that tan one?" he points.
"That's Sahara, the youngest of the four. She was my mama's horse. We were housing her a couple while they were on vacation, but when they didn't come back to picker her up, we ended up just keeping her. Found out her owners just left everything behind and moved to Texas." I tell him.
"That's crazy. And that last one?" He points to Daisy's horse off in the distance.
"That's Daisy's horse, Dixie. Daisy named her that because when we were little girls, we had this black lab named Dixie, and he ended up running away. It was pure luck that the owner of this horse was trying to find a new home for him because he didn't have enough room on his property for him, so he was given to us for free. Daisy saw his black hair and decided to name him after our dog Dixie." I say.
"They're all beautiful." Chase says, gazing out the horses in the pasture.
"Wanna go for a ride?" I ask. Chases head snaps towards me.
"Pardon?" he asks. I laugh a little.
"Have you ever even rode a horse before, Marine." I tease.
"Oh, I've rode a horse before. I just did it for fun rather than for sport." he says explaining himself.
"Then let's go for a ride." I suggest. He waits a moment before answering me, and finally caves in.
"Alright." he says turning back into the barn. "Let's go for a ride."