Page 44 of Love at First Ride
‘Can’t. Gotta get back to Rapture or Echo’ll fire my ass.’
Rita rolls her eyes. ‘Echo Salinger will be the death of that township. And, yes, AJ, I am permitted to disagree with you and your mother, and the rest of them folks left to rot in that godforsaken town.’
‘You’d have us all living in condos?’
‘Nobody wants to see that, darlin’, but there were plenty of opportunities to negotiate. But Echo was always too stubborn for his own good. He’s a firebrand, and there are too many idiots listening to that mouthpiece.’
‘Yeah, well, I’m one of them idiots.’
Rita blows out her cheeks, shakes her head. ‘I have a gift for your mother. At least let Hollie see the house and the chicks before you head on home.’
There’s something appealing about the way Hollie Palmer squeals at a bunch of four-day-old chicks in an incubator.
‘Oh, look at them,’ she gushes as Rita reaches in and brings out a yellow fluffball, letting Hollie hold onto it. Hollie gasps, and for some reason, that sound does odd things to me. ‘Are you going to hold one?’ she asks me.
‘Nah, I’m good.’
She rolls her eyes at me. ‘Oh, that’s right, of course the biker boy is too cool for baby chicks,’ she says.
‘Biker boy?’ I repeat. ‘That just sounds dumb.’
‘Fine. The boy who rides a motorcycle is far too cool forickle fwuffy chicks.’
I look away. I’ve never been great with animals. ‘I just don’t wanna drop one. Have you chew me out for being a butterfingers. That would be way worse.’
Hollie cups her hands, imprisoning the jittery ball of fluff. She moves it closer to my face, and I can see the thing moving in her grasp. ‘Admit it, they’re adorable.’
‘All right, they’re kinda cute.’
Hollie brings her hands closer to her mouth, whispering to the chick. ‘Don’t listen to him,’ she says. ‘You’re way cuter than he is.’
I bristle, and question whether that means she thought I was cute in the first place, or maybe not at all. And I don’t even know why my brain is going there. I glance over at Noah, who is out in the field, hands in his pockets, his hair blowing in the breeze.
‘Rita, I promised Mom you’d try and keep him here,’ I say, thinking out loud.
Hollie is replacing her chick inside the incubator. She seems focused on that.
‘All I can offer him is a life here,’ Rita says. ‘It’s up to him whether he chooses that life, or whether he turns his back on it.’
She always was a straight talker. ‘Just… go easy on him. Least for the first couple weeks.’
‘I’ll have him learning the ropes in no time.’
‘That’s what I’m afraid of.’
‘Maybe if you didn’t have to leave so quick—’
One of the farm hands comes to tell Rita she has a phone call. She heads back to the house, leaving me alone with Hollie.
‘Would Echo not understand?’ Hollie asks. ‘If we stayed another night?’
‘No,’ I state. ‘He wouldn’t.’
I hear her sigh. ‘Yayto the next ten hours,’ she deadpans.
We’re silent for a moment, both watching Noah.
‘Could you do me a favor?’ I ask. ‘Would you talk to him? Try to get him to stay here, even when we’re gone and reality hits. He seems to listen to you.’
