“Kind of like life, ain’t it?” Elijah opened the truck door for her. “It all depends on what way you’re lookin’—backward or forward.”

“That’s pretty philosophical,” she muttered as she watched him round the end of the old work truck and slide under the steering wheel.

“I’m a man of many talents.” He put the truck in gear.

“Are Novalene and Diana out in the fields, too?” she asked.

“They’re in the barn to supervise the girls who take in the loads and stack them,” he answered.

“I’ve pretty much got supper ready, and if it’s twenty minutes late, it’s no big deal. I’ll drive a truck and that will free up a set of hands.”

“I would never turn down help,” he agreed. “With you driving, we might get done early and supper won’t even be late.” He parked the truck in the middle of the field and the girls all came running that way for something to drink.

Jayden hurried around to the back of the truck and lowered the tailgate. Elijah opened a new sleeve of disposable cups and filled each one with ice. “We’ve got ice, a bottle of sweet tea for each of you, and water.”

“I’ll take enough ice to cover me up,” Violet said.

“Yes!” Ashlyn cheered. “What she said for me, too.”

Quinley took a cup and a bottle of tea, sat down on the ground, and leaned back against the truck tire. “I’d settle for a lukewarm shower and my own clothes.”

“You can have the shower tonight,” Jayden said, “and if you are really good and finish the eight weeks, you can have your own clothes back.”

“That’s at least something to look forward to. Scoot over and share the tire, Quinley,” Tiffany commented as she sank to the ground.

Once all eight girls had their drinks, Jayden propped a hip on the tailgate and pointed out into the field. “Why are you still making small bales instead of big round ones?”

“Girls can’t wrestle one of those big ones, and Henry didn’t want to invest in the machinery to make them,” he answered. “We don’t have a huge cattle operation, so the little ones work just fine for us. If you’ve hauled hay before, then your grandfather must have felt the same way.”

“He did.” She smiled at the memory of having this same conversation with him. “He said basically the same thing you just did. He only ran about twenty head of cattle on the farm. Just enough to bring in a little calf crop each year. Most of his income came from growing and selling soybeans.”

The clouds moving toward them from the southwest produced a semicool breeze that whipped the ponytails of the girls who still had one around like frayed flags as they finished their tea and then gulped down cups of water.

“I’ve never been this sweaty in my whole life, and we’re last in the showers tonight. If it really starts raining, I may go out in the yard and use the rainwater on me like I’m going through a car wash,” Tiffany declared as she finished her second cup of water and then tossed her cup into the plastic garbage bag beside the cooler.

“I dare you,” Quinley said.

Tiffany narrowed her eyes at her rival. “I will if you will.”

“You’re on,” Quinley declared.

“Elijah, you might want to stay in your cabin if it rains tonight,” Tiffany told him, “because I’m daring all these girls from Moonbeam and Sunshine to dance in the rain in their underwear.”

Keelan finished off her bottle of sweet tea, put the empty back into the bag, and gave Tiffany a brief nod. “I double-dog dare the Daydream girls right back at y’all.”

“Y’all ain’t got the nerve to do that,” Tiffany taunted them. “Us Daydream girls are so tough, we would do that and enjoy it.”

“Bullcrap,” Diana said.

“Just watch us. We’ll even sing while we dance,” Ashlyn said.

Elijah leaned over and whispered for Jayden’s ears only, “If I double-dog dare you, will you do the same?”

A slow burn traveled from her neck to her cheeks, turning them bright red. “Not even if we got an ice storm and a foot of snow right behind the rain right here in July.”

“All right, girls.” Elijah raised his voice. “It looks like the storm is getting serious down south of us. I can see a few streaks of lightning, so let’s do some double-dog hay hauling instead of daring each other to get out in the rain. We can probably get all this into the barn in one more trailer load if you hustle. And one more thing: if any of the counselors catch you out playing in the rain when it’s lightning, you will be racking up demerits. I don’t care if you go out when it’s only pouring down rain, but it’s dangerous to be out when it’s lightning.”

“Yes, sir,” Tiffany said and then dashed off toward the few bales of hay still on the ground.

The other girls followed her lead. Some of them hopped up on the trailer to stack the bales that the rest of the girls threw up to them.

“They’re going to be sore in the morning,” Jayden said. “I remember whining with aching muscles after my first day of hauling hay.”

Elijah leaned back on the fender of the old truck and crossed his arms over his broad chest. His biceps stretched the knit of his sweaty shirt, and his dark hair hung in wet ringlets at the back of his cap. Jayden’s pulse jacked up a notch or two just looking at him—she’d never dated or been in a relationship with a hardworking man before. Most of the men she’d known wore dress slacks to their jobs, not snug-fitting blue jeans, and she couldn’t imagine a single one of them hauling hay or doing the kind of manual labor that Elijah did.

“Since we never see the girls after they leave, and only a few of them even stayed in touch with Mary, I often wonder what they feel when they think back on these days,” he said.

“Probably relief to be gone, and hopefully a little bit of pride that they accomplished something like this.” She headed toward the driver’s side of the truck. “I like this old truck. Want to sell it? I could drive it back up to Dallas at the end of the month.”

“It’s not for sale.” Elijah followed her. “If you want to drive it, you have to stay and cook for me, and be my partner in this business.”

“Very funny. You realize I’ve got a truck similar to this, only older, at home,” she told him.

“Are you serious?” he asked. “I figured you’d drive something like a fancy sports car.”

“Then you don’t know me at all.” She laughed. “That’s Skyler’s choice of vehicle. My grandfather gave me his truck when I was sixteen and he came to live with us. It’s the only thing I’ve ever had or wanted.”

“What year and make?” Elijah asked.

“Nineteen fifty-eight GMC, painted green with black leather interior that’s worn so soft it’s like sitting in butter.” She sighed. “I miss her a lot.”

“Her? Does it have a name?” Elijah asked.

“Gramps named her Betsy the day he brought her home from the dealership.” Jayden pushed a strand of hair back up under her cap.

“I’m jealous,” he said. “If you were to stay here at Piney Wood, could I drive Betsy?”