Chapter 2
(THREE DAYS LATER)
"Mike, wake up...we are here, we finally made it." I said, slowly pullin up the dirt road to a large old farm house with a wrap around porch attached to it.
"Hmm... what?" she asked, stretchin and yawnin.
"We're here, we made it!" I loudly whispered.
"Great, now maybe I can go sleep in a real bed." she mumbled tiredly.
"Shh... be quiet, we don't want to wake anyone it's four in the mornin'." I said, bringin the car to a halt in front of the porch steps.
"Maybe we can sneak in..." my voice trailed off as I heard the squeaky knob on the front door turn.
"Hey you guys made it!" Grandmamma came runnin' down the steps to our car, throwin her arms around me.
"Grandmamma! We were jist goin' to sneak in." I said, kissin' her on the cheek.
"Nonsense, I stayed up all night because I knew you would arrive sometime today." she said, rushin to the other side of the car to hug my sister.
"And who is this?" she asked, takin' a good look at Mav, the dog, who was seated perfectly in the back seat wagging his tail excitedly.
"Oh, that's Maverick, or ˜Mave" as we all call him, he is my new puppy, mama finally let me git a new dog! He has come to join us for the summer." I told her. Mav then barked loudly, as to agree with what I was telling her.
"Shh...Mav, everyone is sleepin." I said, reachin back and rubbin his floppy ears. At that he jist barked more. We all laughed at him. "You know you are goin' to git us in trouble, you are goin' to wake up Grand poppa." I said, letting him out of the car to explore.
"What is all this racket, down here?" came another familiar voice from the front porch steps.
"Grand poppa! Hi! Sorry, my new puppy likes wakin everyone up." I told him, gittin' out of the car to give him a hug.
" oh, that's all right, I couldn't sleep anyway." he replied, kissin' my cheek.
"Well, should we jist lug everythin' up to the rooms, so we don't have to do it tomorrow?" I asked.
"Yeah, might as well." Grand poppa said, standin there in his bathrobe.
"Everythin' is in the trunk." Mike told him, openin it with the key.
"Wow, do you expect to stay for a year?" he asked, takin' a glance at all the luggage that was rammed into the tiny trunk of my cavalier.
"More or less." I said, with a smile. "Okay, let's make this quick, everyone grab two pieces of luggage with you and we will be set." I said, exhausted for sleep. After we were all quietly settled into our room with twin beds, I fell right to sleep, not wakin up until noon the next day.
I stirred from a great night's sleep, slowly openin my eyes to a beautiful day. The curtains by the bay window fluttered lightly by the summery breeze and let tiny rays of light shine into the room. I laid there for a little while listenin to the birds chirp out my window and then decided to take a shower and head outdoors to explore the amazin place that I would be stayin at until fall. After my shower, I dressed into jean overalls, a gray tee and sneakers and headed down stairs to find some form of life. It had been awfully quiet around there that mornin'. I walked down the creaky old steps into the livin room, no sign of anyone. I then went through the kitchen and out onto the back porch, still no sign of life. I strained my eyes lookin' out towards the never endin pastures. I spotted the horse barn and smiled to myself. I made my way down to it, not rememberin that I had been lookin' for someone to talk to. As I approached, I heard the horses in their stalls, stampin their feet to keep the bugs away. I quietly tip toed to the open door and peaked my head in. At once all the horses pricked their ears up, listenin' to me. I inched into the barn not wantin' to disturb them. As I looked around, I saw that there were eight horses. Four on each side of the barn. Their names were above the stall doors, I read, ˜Destiny", ˜Gabriel", ˜Rylie", ˜Taron", ˜Ace", ˜Brody", ˜Conan", and ˜Angelus." They were all large male stallions that were in beautiful condition. I slowly walked through the barn lookin' at them, while they ate. I walked up to ˜Angelus" who poked his head out to greet me. He was tan with a blonde coat and deep brown eyes. "Hi, boy." I whispered, pettin' his nose. he snorted happily. I slightly laughed at that. He was so soft and gentle. I was so engrossed in pettin' the beautiful creature that I did not see the figure that popped up from the next stall.
"Peek-a-boo." I heard the voice say. I whirled around with wide eyes and looked into eyes that were almost the very same color as mine.
"Hi y'all, who are you?" I asked, after I had gotten over my shock.
"I'm Jeff Hardy, I work here. So does my brother, Matt, he's out in the fields right now, plowing, you'll meet him later." Jeff said, all in one breath.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Jesse Galway, one of the Patrick's granddaughters. My sister is Mike, and I have no idea when you'll meet her, since I have no idea where she is, right now." I replied, with a smile.
"Mike, oh, I met her this mornin' at breakfast, she's really sweet." he replied, blushin' like crazy.
"Wow, you have, where did everyone go?" I asked, questioningly.
"Oh, they all went for a drive into town, they were goin' to give you both a grand tour of the place, but you were still asleep, so they decided to let you go, and jist take Mike." he said, knowingly.
"Oh, okay, do you need any help in here at all? I love horses." I said, pattin' Angelus's head once more.
"Sure you can brush all of them down for me." he said, with a smile.
Jeff Hardy was about 18 years old, one year younger than I. He was definitely a sight to see. He was tall, over six feet, I was sure. His body was lanky and muscular. As I said before, he had bright green eyes that illuminated his face. He had long, shoulder length blonde hair that was dyed purple and blue in streaks, all over his head. That day he had his hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Only two strands framed his face. His jaw was sort of squared and very masculine lookin'. His jaw was also set off by sideburns that came all to his chin and ended in points. Underneath his chin, the rest of his beard was shaved like zebra stripes, and was sculpted very nicely. He also had both of his ears pierced. His had a bunny nose and thin pouted lips. His eyebrows were dark brown and set off the rest of his face. That day he was dressed in a white v neck t shirt, baggy gray knit pants and sandals. He also had a black bandanna tied around his forehead to keep his hair and the sweat out of his way. He almost reminded me of a hippie.
"Okay, here's your brush, git to work." he said, with a smile.
"Yes sir, right away sir." I joked, salutin him like a general.
"I'll turn some music on so we don't git too bored doin' this monotonous work." he said, goin' to the back of the barn where the stereo was hooked up to speakers that were hangin' throughout the barn. "I hope you like Pearl Jam, that's all we listen to." he said, turning up the volume.
"Oh, yeah, pearl jam is great, I don't mind." I replied, hummin' along to the lyrics of ˜release." I then got to work brushin' the horses.
Jeff nodded and went back to muckin' out the stall that was across from me. "So, tell me about yourself, Jesse, you're kind of quiet over there." Jeff said, after awhile of silence.
I sighed, "well, what do you want to know?" I asked, puttin' down my horse brush, leanin' against a wooden beam, and wipin the sweat that was startin' to form on my forehead.
"Anythin' that you're willin' to tell." he replied, also puttin' down his pitch fork and wipin' away the sweat that wasn't bein' caught by his black bandana.
"Well, let's see, I am nineteen, I live with my sister, parents and dog in Savannah Georgia. I attend the College of William & Mary in Virginia where I am double majoring in in secondary education and creative writing. I love to write and draw and I am not athletically inclined.
Jeff nodded again, "cool...you want to be a teacher, you're pretty quiet?"
"I'd rather be a novelist, but becomin' a school teacher is more reasonable." I told him.
"Very true." he responded.
Another few moments of silence passed, "yep, so that's me, so how ˜bout you, let's hear about you." I said, tryin' to keep the conversation goin.
"Okay, I'm from Cameron North Carolina. I live with my dad and my brother Matt. My mom passed away when I was young, so it's jist been the three of us. I jist graduated from high school and my brother Matt who is twenty-three started college but then the two of us decided that we'd love to become professional rasslers. The two of us have been doin' it since we were young, so we're workin here this summer again, to help pay for the rest of our rasslin school and when we travel ˜round the country doin' the indy circuit." Jeff explained to me.
"Really? That's awesome. Do you guys practice out here at all?" I asked.
"Yeah, we have mats out here, under the bails of hay. We practice out here at night, when everyone else is asleep." Jeff said.
"Cool. Hey, if you guys are all the way from North Carolina, what are you doin' workin' all the way out here in Texas?" I asked.
"Well, Matt was goin' to college out here, last year when he aw an ad in the paper for the farm." he said.
"Well, it looks like the two of you have got in all figured out." I smiled, foldin' my arms over my chest.
"Yeah, Matt's got everythin' planned, he's very organized and goal oriented." Jeff said. I nodded. "I think you and my brother would get along well." Jeff continued with a sly smile.
"Oh really, what makes you say that?" I asked, raisin' an eyebrow towards him.
"I don't know, you jist seem like you would." he said, vaguely.
"Oh, well if you can say that, then I can say that I think you have a crush on my sister." I said with a smile.
"What makes you say that?" he turned away, blushin' like crazy.
"You're blushin." I said with a laugh.
"All right, all right, so I have a little crush on her...ya think she likes me back?" he asked.
"I have no clue, but somethin' tells me she would." I said.
"Yeah, I jist met her this mornin' and I already like her, she's a cutie." he said, blushin' again.
"Hehe, oh my." I laughed.
"She doesn't have a boyfriend does she?" he asked quickly.
"No, she's free." I smiled.
"Good. Do you have one?" he asked.
"Nope, jist me." I replied.
"Good."
"Oh, what is with you and my sister?!" I asked. Jeff shrugged his shoulders. "All right, Jeff what do ya say we get back to work?" I asked.
"Yeah, you're right." Jeff replied, sighin' and reachin' for his pitchfork.
~*~*~*~*~
"Well, that's the last of them, Jeff, I'm done brushin' all the horses, do you want me to help you muck out the stalls?" I asked.
"Sure, grab a pitch fork and dig in." he said, handin' me an extra pitch fork. "Oh, here, let me put this on you, it will help to keep the hair and sweat out of your eyes." Jeff said, comin' around me with a red bandanna, placin' it on my forehead, and tyin' it by the nape of my neck. "Do you have a hair tie?" he asked next.
"Yeah here." I said, handin' him the one I always kept on my wrist, in case of an emergency.
"Thanks." he replied, takin' the rest of my hair in his hands and puttin' it up in a messy ponytail.
"Wow, I've never met a guy that could do hair before." I replied, after Jeff was done with his masterpiece.
"Well, you learn how to do hair quickly when it's as long as mine." he said, steppin' back and takin' a look at what he created.
"Looks, good." he said, satisfied with himself.
"Okay, now back to work." I said, pickin up my pitch fork.
"Okay, okay, I know I try and put it off." he said. Two gruelin' hours later, Jeff and I collapsed in a heap of hay at the back of the barn, sweatin uncontrollably and covered in dirt.
"Wow, I'm glad that's over with, I'm exhausted." I replied, takin' a swig of water from the bottle that Jeff had handed me.
"Me too, but tomorrow we have to do it all over again. Thanks so much for your help, it would have taken me a lot longer if I would have done it myself." he replied, takin' a drink of his own water.
"Oh, no problem, and I'll be happy to help you again tomorrow." I said, breathin heavily.
"Thanks, you know you're all right, Jesse." Jeff said, smilin'.
"So are you. Man I have to take my shoes off, my feet are killin' me." I said, sittin' up and removin' my socks and shoes, also rolling up the pant legs to my overalls. "Ahh, much better." I said with a sigh of relief.
Jist then, as I was about to lean my head against the barn wall and close my eyes, a figure road up on a horse. I squinted to see who it was but could only see the silhouette against the brightness of the settin' sun. The figure swung off of his horse and strolled into the barn with his back to us.
"Hey Matt, how was the field today?" Jeff asked, from where he was seated beside me. I studied the figure that stood in front of me. He didn't answer Jeff right away, but carried on his business of un-hookin' all the gear from his horse. After he was done with that, he stood silently for a moment, tryin' to cool down. He then pried his white tee shirt from his sweated body, and threw it on the ground. Finally he bent over a pale of water and began splashin' water on his face and over his shoulders. The water beads cascaded over his bare skin, showin' the definition of his muscular body. I watched in awe of him.
"Ah, not too bad, we actually finished early." he then finally turned to face us. His deep brown eyes, skimmed over me, then came back with a questionin stare. Jeff saw us lookin' oddly at each other,.
"Matt, this is Jesse Galway, the Patrick's other granddaughter." Jeff said, with an approvin' smile.
"Hi, nice to meet you." he said, reachin' down to shake my hand.
"Hi, nice to meet you too." was all I could manage to squeak out. Matt looked to be in his early twenties with long black curly hair which he had tied back. He had large brown passion filled eyes that peaked out from under the black suede cowboy hat that he wore. He had thick dark expressive eyebrows and a ski jump nose. His cheek bones were set high and his lips were full and pouted. His jaw was masculine and set off by stubble from days without shavin'. His frame was tall and muscular. His skin was tanned from days of workin' out in the fields and glistened lightly from the water that he had jist cooled himself with. I then realized that I had been gawkin' at him and glanced away for a moment, then back at him, only to catch his gaze.
"Well, I'm goin' to go clean up for dinner." I said, tryin' to control my voice from shakin'. I stood up and gathered my socks and shoes and headed out of the barn, towards the house.
"Matt?" Jeff asked, after I had gone.
"Yes?" Matt asked, still followin' me with his eyes.
"Everthin' okay?" Jeff asked.
"Yeah, fine, why?" Matt asked.
"Never mind, c'mon, dinner is bein' served." Jeff said, motionin' for Matt to follow him to the house.
After I had left for the barn, I went straight to the bathroom to straighten up. I couldn't believe what I saw when I looked in the mirror, how could I have even looked at Matt lookin' like that? I thought to myself, as I washed my face, and tamed my hair. I looked in the mirror, ah, human again, I thought to myself. I then headed back down the steps into the kitchen where my grandmother was slicin' some carrots.
"Hi, Grand mamma." I said, happily.
"Wow, there you are, I haven't seen you all day, come here and give me a hug." she said, openin her arms.
"Yeah, I discovered that you left me here. But I had fun, I helped Jeff in the barn all day. he's cool." I said, huggin her.
"Did you meet Matt?" she asked, with a sly smile.
"Yeah, he's cool too." I put it as short and sweet as I could git it.
"Well, your sister swears that by the end of the summer you will end up with Matt." she said, smilin'.
"What is it with you guys! You, and Jeff and Mike! Why are all of you tryin' to fix me up with Matt?" I replied, takin' a swig of water from the glass that had been placed at my plate.
"Because we all know you, Jess. I'll bet you twenty dollars that you two hook up before the end of the summer." Mike shot at me
"Fine, I'll take that bet, but its not goin' a happen." I replied, hastily shakin' her hand. I finished my sentence jist as the back door flew open. Silence came over the three of us. The guys, didn't seem to notice, they jist sat down quietly at their appointed places. Grand poppa followed, carryin' the tray of grilled chicken, which he had cooked on the grill. He placed it on the table and sat down himself.
Chapter 3
Chapter 1