It was twilight, and I glanced around, uncertain. “What if someone comes up the drive and sees me here without a shirt?”
Sam frowned at me for a minute, and then he threw back his head and laughed, long and hard.
“What?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “It could happen.”
“No.” He shook his head, still chuckling. “I’m laughing because here you were with me on the side of the road, naked in the cab of my truck, and you weren’t worried about anyone catching us. But now you’re on the front porch in your bra, and you’re scared someone might see. Here, at our farm, out in the middle of nowhere.”
I shook my head at him. “I was a little distracted when we were in the truck on the side of the road.” I turned around. “But if you’re going to make fun of me, I can just go into my room ...”
Sam caught me by the arm. “Nope. Can’t do that.” He swung me close and tightened his arm around my lower back, pressing me against him so that I could feel his desire. “You need body heat to help dry you, and since I’m the one who made you wet, I need to provide the warmth.”
I traced a line down his cheek to the side of his mouth. “Yeah, you make me wet. Really, really wet.”
He nuzzled my neck. “My pleasure, Babe. Believe me ... it’s my pleasure.”
RAIN MOVED IN A few days later, making the days gray and damp. Our evenings on the porch felt even more intimate with the sound of the rain in the eves and the fall of it around us.
Sam came home the second night of the storm, shaking water off his hair. “What a mess.” He kissed me as he passed, almost absently. “I was going to run over to town and pick up the new blade for the tractor, but I ran out of time before dinner. Want to take a ride with me after we eat?”
I nearly dropped the plate of sliced tomatoes I was carrying. “Really? You want to take me with you? Aren’t you afraid ...” I slid my eyes to Bridget. “You know. That people will talk?”
He grinned at me. “Nope. Let them talk. Who cares, right? After all, once Reenie saw us, I figure that ship’s sailed.”
“I don’t think she’ll say anything.” I glanced at Ali. “She seems like the kind of person who’ll keep her word, and she told me she wouldn’t.”
“We’ll see.” Sam sat down. “Do you want to go or not?”
Of course I did. And so right after dinner, I was sitting next to him in the truck, bouncing down the road. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other around me, pulling me tight enough against him that I could lean my head on his shoulder. On the radio, a country singer was talking about checking some girl for ticks.
“I can’t believe you listen to this.” I watched him lean forward to turn up the volume. The windshield wipers competed with the radio as the rain picked up again.
“Of course I do. This is real music.” He rested his elbow on the door by the closed window. “It’s about real people, like me. What’s not to love?”
“Hmmm.” I linked my hand with his, as it hung by my neck. “But ticks? Really?”
Sam laughed. “Yeah, ticks. What, you don’t think it would be romantic for me to check you for ticks? I bet I can prove it to you.”
“I bet you could, too,” I mused. The song changed to something slower, dreamier ... two people, a man and a woman, singing about how her love just did something to him. Sam tightened his arm around me and kissed the side of my head, and I think right there, I fell a little bit in love with country music.
We pulled up in front of the hardware store, and I slid out Sam’s door behind him. He took my hand and led me inside through a door with a tinkling bell. The man behind the counter was leaning on a wall, shooting the breeze with an older guy in a one-piece coverall. When they caught sight of us, both men stared.
“Hey, Larry.” Sam grinned at him. “Billy. Y’all got that blade I called about?”
Larry regained his voice first. “Uh, yeah, sure, Sam. It’s just in the back.”
We all stood still for a minute, and then Sam cleared his throat. “You want me to get it myself?”
“No, no. I’ll get it.” His eyes lingered on me, darting down to our joined hands.
“You gonna introduce us to the lady, boy, or you gonna give your mama a bad name by not using the manners she beat into you?” The other man cuffed Sam on the arm.
Sam shook his head. “Wondered how long you could hold back your mouth. Meghan, this is Larry. He owns the store. Billy works down at the grange. Y’all, this is Meghan. She’s teaching art at the school this summer.”