“I’ve never let another soul drive her,” Jayden told him.

“Then I’d be real special if you let me get behind the wheel,” he teased.

“Anyone who even gets to ride in the passenger seat is special.” A picture popped into her head of him driving and her in the passenger seat. She shook the visual out of her mind and pointed out at the field. “Looks like they’ve got it all loaded and are ready to fill up the back of this one. Who drives the truck up to the barn?”

“Ashlyn.” He grinned. “I thought it would be good for her. If she ever decides to drink and drive again, maybe she’ll remember how hot and sweaty driving a hay truck is.”

“You think of everything, don’t you?” she asked.

“I try to,” he answered, “but mostly it just comes from past experiences with the same kind of girls. Have you ever thought about the fact that you can tell a lot about a person by the vehicle that they drive?”

“So, I’m old and green?” She cocked her head to one side.

“No, you are a little sentimental and practical,” he answered.

“You got that out of a truck?” She frowned.

“Yes, ma’am. You don’t need flashy things to make people like you. You appreciate and take care of Betsy because she reminds you of your gramps and you loved him. Practical, because you could trade it in for something new and more modern, but why should you, when it runs good and takes you from point A to point B?”

“Did you ever think about being a therapist?” She opened the truck door, stepped in a gopher hole, and was falling backward when his strong arms caught her.

“Whoa, darlin’,” he said. “I can’t have my cook breaking a leg.”

For just a few seconds the world narrowed, and they were the only two people in it.

Elijah’s eyes locked with hers. She licked her lips and her eyes started to flutter shut. Then he blinked and set her down on her feet. “Best look out for those gopher holes. They can be deadly.”

“Looks like it,” she muttered.

He kept an arm around her waist to steady her as he helped her into the truck and closed the door behind her. “I’ll gladly let you fall into my arms, and ride in my old work truck, too.”

“Thank you. If you’re ever up around Dallas, I just might let you ride in my truck, since you saved me from a broken leg.” On one hand, she was mildly embarrassed at her clumsiness. On the other, it felt really good to have Elijah’s arms around her.

“Don’t tease me, Jayden. I’ve wanted a truck like that ever since I saw one just like it on the television series Longmire. Henry Standing Bear, a character on the show, has a truck just like that.”

She held up a palm. “You don’t have to explain who Henry is or any of the other characters on that show. I could probably recite the dialogue. I watched every episode, and then I went out and bought all the seasons so I could binge-watch it again, so I know who you are talking about. My truck is a shade darker than his, and I don’t have blankets on the seats, but other than that, it’s pretty much the same.”

“Will you marry me?” Elijah teased.

“Are you proposing to me or my truck?” she asked.

“Busted!” He chuckled. “But what would the answer be?”

“Betsy says to tell you that you’re way too young for her,” Jayden said.

Jayden shifted the truck into gear and drove it out to the middle of the field where Tiffany, Quinley, and Keelan waited to load it.

By the time it was loaded as high as they could get it, all three girls piled into the cab with her to ride back to the barn. “What has this job taught y’all?”

“That it makes us stink.” Tiffany snarled her nose at Keelan.

“You all three smell like sweat and hay,” Jayden said. “I’m speaking from experience here—you are never going to enjoy a shower and getting to wash your hair more than you will tonight.”

“Amen.” Tiffany nodded.

The storm clouds continued to roll in the rest of the afternoon, but the first jagged streaks of lightning didn’t strike until they had both the trailer and the truck inside the barn to unload. Novalene and Diana had things under control there, so Jayden started back to the dining hall to finish supper. She had only taken a few steps when Carmella jogged over to her and leaned over to whisper in Jayden’s ear.

“Please take Tiffany with you. Say you need some help in the kitchen,” she said.

“Why?” Jayden asked.

Carmella’s eyes rolled up toward the roof. When Jayden followed her gaze, she saw two rats sitting up there on a rafter, their long, hairless tails dropping down almost close enough to touch Tiffany’s head as she caught bales that the other girls were tossing up to her.

“Please,” Carmella begged. “She killed spiders for me. I owe her, and if she falls or if the others know she’s afraid of mice and rats, they’ll never let her live it down.”

Jayden cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled, “Hey, Tiffany.”

The girl leaned forward and looked out from under the brim of her cap. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Come on down from there. I need someone to help me, and I’m choosing you,” Jayden said.

“Why does she get out of stacking?” Bailey whined.

“Because Jayden said so,” Elijah answered. “If you want supper to be ready when you get done, then she needs some help, so stop griping and use your energy to get this job finished.”

“Yes, sir,” Bailey grumbled and wiped sweat from her face with the back of her hand.

“Thank you,” Carmella whispered and ran back to the trailer to throw bales up to Ashlyn, who’d taken Tiffany’s place.

“Why’d you choose me?” Tiffany asked as she kept pace with Jayden on the way from the barn to the dining hall.

“You can thank Carmella for it later this evening,” Jayden answered. “I could have gotten supper ready all by myself, but Carmella remembered that rodents terrify you as much as spiders do her.”

Tiffany shivered in spite of the heat. “Was there a mouse in the barn?”

“No, there were two rats right up above your head. Their tails were so close that if you’d have swatted a fly close to your hat, you would have slapped one of them,” Jayden explained. “Carmella didn’t want you to fall off the top of that stack of hay or for the other girls to make fun of you if they found out about your fear. She was being a good friend.”

One tear made its way from Tiffany’s eye to her chin, leaving a long, clean streak on her otherwise dirty cheek. “I have never had anyone do something like that for me before.”

“That’s what teamwork is all about,” Jayden told her.

“I wish all three of us lived closer to each other.” Tiffany smeared the wet streak across her face. “My other so-called friends sure wouldn’t do anything like that for me. They’d be the ones laughing at me.”

“You’ll have your phones back when you all go back to your homes, so you and the other girls can call each other or FaceTime or even visit once in a while.” Jayden opened the dining room door just as the first raindrops fell from the dark clouds. “If I remember right, y’all were never going to be sisters or even friends when you first got here.”