Bridge rolled her eyes.
“Well, dinner’s right through here,” Ellie added cheerfully. She took Bridge’s arm and guided her down a wide hall, leaving Cricket and me alone.
I smiled idiotically because this girl sucked all the mojo out of me.
“I-uh-I...” Smooth.
Cricket’s eyes widened in disbelief, probably because I couldn’t string a sentence together. She walked the direction Ellie and Bridge had gone.
“Come, boy!” she said, snapping her fingers. I jumped at the order, scrambling to her side as quickly as possible. The large mixed German shepherd fell into stride next to her. She bit her full lower lip to keep from smiling. I nearly facepalmed myself but held back. Now you have restraint? Charming.
“August said you row?” she asked. Her voice spilled over me like warm syrup. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the drugging sensation, then realized she’d asked me a question.
“Yeah,” I answered belatedly. Good. A short answer, but it’s better than mouth diarrhea. “I row...a-uh-boat...with-uh-my teammates.” Superb! Just-uh-superb.
“Do you use an oar?” she teased, biting her lower lip again. I found myself fantasizing I was the one that bit that lower lip. Her mouth distracted me. Answer her!
“Yes, smart ass, I use an oar,” I flirted, grinning from ear to ear because I couldn’t help it.
She smiled back, making me want to worship at her feet. Stick a fork in me!
“This is Useless Eugene,” she said, patting the side of her dog’s neck. “But I just call him Eugie.”
“Where’d he get a name like that?”
“When he was puppy, he took a liking to me and would only follow me around. We couldn’t get him to work unless I was there, and I was in school then. They’d take him out into the field, but he’d just come running back to the house looking for me. My pa called him a Useless Eugene and it stuck.”
“How old is he?”
“Thirteen.”
I looked down at the old boy and noticed a little hitch in his step. I could tell his bones were aching.
We walked into a large dining area with a long wood table and long benches instead of chairs that could probably sit at least thirty. The ceiling was lower in this room, making it feel more intimate. Along the center of the table laid a banquet. Platters full of chicken fried steak, fried chicken, actual piles of grilled steak and biscuits. There were bowls full of mashed potatoes, creamed corn and green beans with bacon. These people’s cholesterol must be through the roof, I thought, but looked around at the few already seated. There wasn’t a single overweight person there.
“If you worked twelve hours a day, burned approximately three thousand calories in those twelve hours with the sheer labor involved, you’d need dinners like this,” Cricket said with a smirk.
That smirk I could tell was her signature trademark and I loved it already. God! She was feisty!
“I didn’t say anything,” I teased.
“You didn’t need to. Your eyes said it for you.”
“I’m just not accustomed to this. I eat differently is all,” I explained.
She snorted. “Okay, sushi boy, take a seat,” she jabbed, heading off toward what I assumed was the kitchen.
I watched her walk away and thoroughly enjoyed the view.
“Spence, over here!” I heard Bridge call over.
I joined her at the head of the table and sat to her left, on the edge of the bench.
“Oh my God, I’m so hungry,” she said, eyeing everything before her like she hadn’t just eaten a box of crackers in our trailer.
“Chill out, kemosabe,” I laughed.
She glared at me. “This thing in me is like a freaking bottomless pit. It’s always hungry.”
I smiled at her and she smiled back but rolled her eyes.
“Happy?” I asked.
“I have a feeling I will be,” she answered with a smile. She looked down at her hands in her lap then over at me. “Cricket seems nice.”
“Shut it,” I demanded, trying to hide my smile.
“And my God were you smooth,” she teased, furrowing her brows. “I mean, I’ve never seen someone so charming before.”
I laughed. “Was it that obvious?”
“No, coolio, you convinced everyone. The bug eyes were a nice touch.” She clicked her tongue and formed an okay with her hand.
I ran a hand down my face. “How humiliating.”
“I have to admit, I’ve never seen you trip over yourself like that, not even with Sophie Price did you lose your cool. This is a nice side of you or whatever.”
“Maybe I’m tired,” I offered by way of explanation. I don’t know who I was trying to convince—me or Bridge.