Welcome To Hickville High (Hickville High Series Book 1) (5 page)

Mom brushed her hair away from her face. “I know you do, right now. It was the right thing for him to refuse to make those investments.”

Kelsey sat up. “Really, Mom? Was that the real reason he was fired? Or was it because Ryan screwed his boss’s son?”

Mom sucked in a sharp breath. Kelsey knew her words hurt her, and she was glad. “What happened between Ryan and that boy had nothing to do with this.” Her mother spoke softly but there was no mistaking the anger in her voice.

Dad appeared in the doorway. Sweat trickled down his face as he took in the scene in front of him. Kelsey knew he wouldn’t ask questions. He wouldn’t want to know. “We finished feeding. I want to head to the feed store after lunch.”

“I’ll be down in a minute to fix you a sandwich.” Mom brushed a tear from her cheek.

Dad looked at Kelsey. “We’re all going to the store. You got that?”

“Yes. I got it.”

“Good, and you can leave the smart ass tone at home.”

She glared at him but kept her mouth shut.

“Go on Tom. Kelsey and I will be down.”

He hesitated, and for a second, she thought he might gripe at her. Instead, he turned and walked away.

Mom turned back to her. “We’re all having to make adjustments. This is not easy. But sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the people you love. Right now, Kelsey, I need your help. You’re the oldest and whether you realize it or not, Ryan and Kenzie look up to you. Are we clear?”

“Look, Mom. I’ll do my chores, go to the feed store—whatever. But this is a means to end. I’ll find a way to pay for college and by May, I’m out of here. And if you think I’m going to hold hands and skip across the yard with Ryan and Dad, you’re wrong. Are we clear?”

Mom stood and faced her. “You know I love you, Kelsey. But, sometimes, you act like a real bitch.”

Mom turned and walked out of the room.

Kelsey’s cheeks burned like she’d been slapped. Her mother just called her a bitch. What kind of mom did that? She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, easing the hurt. Great. How many weeks until the gala? She plopped in the seat in front of her vanity. Too many.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Mascara puddled at the corners of her eyes and beneath her lower lashes. She jerked a tissue from a half smashed box and dabbed at the black stains. No way was she going to let anybody know she’d cried, but the makeup was not cooperating.

Tossing the tissue aside, Kelsey padded across the hall to the bathroom and scrubbed her face clean. She held the bottle of foundation in her hand and regarded her reflection again. She’d never let Drew see her without the benefit of even skin tones and lightly dusted cheeks and eyes. It was a time consuming ritual. What about now, what about here? Who cared if she didn’t wear makeup?

She cared.

The last thing she wanted was to look like she belonged to this place and she’d bet her forty-dollar bottle of foundation the local girls didn’t know the first thing about creating the natural look.

She brushed foundation across her skin, covering the imperfections. By the time she constructed the perfect face, she felt better. She was still angry with her parents, but at least now she could get through the rest of the day feeling good about herself. She fluffed her hair and noticed curls had begun to sneak back into her über straight style. She shouldn’t have missed the flatiron step this morning. She shook her head and looked in the mirror again. She kind of liked the way her hair bounced with the curl.

“Kelsey! Come on, it’s time to load up for the feed store.” Dad yelled from downstairs.

She flicked the bathroom light off and moved toward the stairs. “Seriously, Dad—load up?” When she turned the corner of the landing she stopped.

Austin stood on the threshold of the front door staring up at her. The screen banged his back but he didn’t seem to notice.

She wanted to look aloof to the Texan hulking in the doorway, but a tiny smile forced itself to the surface anyway.

Dad said, “Can I help you, son?”

Austin closed his mouth and stepped the rest of the way into the house. “Oh, hey, Mr. Quinn. Travis has to go to work. I thought I’d drop him off at his truck and meet y’all at the store.”

Dad shook his head. “I’d feel better if you didn’t drive.”

“Yes, sir, but what about Kelsey?” He looked at her and gave a half shrug. “Do you think she could drive me?”

Dad looked up at her. “It will give you a chance to learn Hillside, Kel.”

“But I’ve never driven a truck.” Kelsey trotted down to the bottom step. Bad idea. Austin seemed to fill the space between the stairs and the front door and those deep blue eyes were focused on her again.

“It’s not much different from a car, just higher. You drive the SUV, right?”

“Yes.” Austin’s gaze made her feel uncomfortable, like he was seeing the freckles beneath the foundation. She ducked her head hoping he’d look away.

He pulled keys from his jeans pocket and dangled them in front of her. “No different.”

“Okay, so we’ll meet you at the store.” Dad said.

Kelsey shrugged. “I’ll get my purse.

In Texas, it is illegal to curse in front of or indecently expose a corpse.

Kelsey took the keys from Austin and followed him out the front door. A wall of heat hit her as she stepped on the porch. Austin didn’t seem to notice the fire in the air and jogged to his truck parked close to the barn. Kelsey wasn’t sure she could breathe, much less walk. Sweat trickled between her breasts and across her forehead and she hadn’t made it past the shade of the porch.

Ryan sat on the tailgate of the truck talking to Travis. She wore a white lace tank and denim shorts. Judging by the smile on her sister’s face, Kelsey figured the last thing on her mind was the heat, or at least of the atmospheric kind.

Travis laughed and bumped shoulders with Ryan. Kelsey felt slightly queasy. Didn’t Ryan care that she had been caught doing the nasty a few weeks ago? Didn’t she care that she had a reputation for pretty much hooking up with any guy? She was only sixteen! Kelsey was turning eighteen in a few months and hadn’t come close to “doing it.” Ryan gave a little flirty squeal-giggle and shoved Travis back.

Really?
Kelsey stopped halfway to the truck. The heat from the sun had nothing on the anger that boiled inside her. She could have been at Reed Barton’s lake party. But because Ryan couldn’t manage a freaking day without a testosterone fix, she’d lost that life. She called to her sister. “Ryan.”

Her sister popped off the tailgate and stalked toward her. “What?”

“I’m driving Travis to his truck. You’re supposed to go with Mom and Dad to the feed store.” Kelsey couldn’t keep the biting tone from her words.

“Okay. What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m not the one throwing myself at the guys around here.”

Ryan glanced over her shoulder at Travis. “God Kelsey, we were just talking.”

“For now.”

Ryan ducked her head and Kelsey knew her words had stung. An apology hovered somewhere in her brain, but the anger she felt was too deep to bring it to the surface.

Ryan shoved her hands in her back pockets and walked back to Travis. “I have to go. I’ll see you later.”

Travis jumped up. “Yeah, later.”

Kelsey climbed behind the wheel. Austin sat in the passenger seat and Travis plopped on the back seat behind him. She couldn’t believe she was going to drive a truck. Drew would say it was redneck. But so was everything else in Hickville.

This particular redneck vehicle was a faded blue. The front bumper hung a little lower on the left side than the right and the windshield had a crack resembling an evil grin. She put the key in the ignition and felt along the seat for the buttons to move it forward.

“It’s not electric.” Austin said.

He showed her how to adjust her seat. When she finished, she placed her hands at two and ten and said, “Anything else I need to do?”

“Yeah, turn the key. It runs better that way.”

“Ha. Ha.” Kelsey started the engine and put it in gear.

As they pulled onto the two-lane highway her phone dinged. She fished it out of her purse and saw a text from Drew. Her heart felt lighter. Of all the crap that had happened, this was the first bright spot in her day. She propped her hand on top of the steering wheel to read the message and Austin snatched it from her. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“I want to live.”

“I’m not going to wreck. Come on, it’s from my boyfriend.”

“You’re not texting while you’re driving my truck.” He looked at the screen of her iPhone. “It says, sorry I missed your call, Babe.” He looked at her. “Babe?”

“That’s private.” Kelsey reached across the cab for the phone, but Austin held it out of her reach. “Give it.”

“You’ll get it when we stop—unless you want me to answer for you.”

“No. But I probably only have a few minutes to talk to him. Come on, he’s in Italy.”

“Turn right at that water tower.”

Kelsey noted the huge hornet painted on the water tower beneath the words Hillside Hornets and turned onto a narrow two-lane road.

The phone dinged again. Austin looked at Kelsey. “Want me to see what it says?”

“Can’t you just hand it to me?” Frustration burned in her. She was going to miss the few minutes she had to text Drew because this guy was afraid she was going to wreck his hoopdie.

Travis leaned forward. “If you want it that bad, pull over and I’ll drive the rest of the way. “

Kelsey gripped the steering wheel. “What’s the big deal?”

Austin dropped her phone in his shirt pocket. “You’re gonna see a white pipe fence on the left. The driveway past the fence is ours.”

Kelsey followed Austin’s direction and turned onto a gravel drive leading to a rectangular trailer house with tires spread across the roof. “This is your house?”

“Yep. Pull next to Travis’s truck.”

She parked next to a maroon truck and Travis opened the door. “Thanks for the ride, Man. I’ll catch ya later.”

Kelsey watched him climb into his truck. It was clean, dent free, and although Kelsey didn’t know a thing about pickups, it was obvious Travis’s was a luxury model. As Travis backed out, she gave a little wave and then extended her hand toward Austin.

He dug the phone out of his pocket but hesitated before giving it to her. “You’re not leaving until you finish texting.”

“Okay, just let me see my messages.”

She snatched the phone and read the screen.

Drew: Sorry I missed you. Facetime later?

Her heart sunk. She’d missed him.

Kelsey: K, I miss you.

She tapped Send, set the phone in the cup holder, and started the engine. The phone dinged a message, but before she could read it, Austin snatched it again. “What is it with you? I’m not even moving yet.”

“I’m not kidding Kelsey, I put my phone on vibrate when I drive.” He held the phone so she could read the message.

Drew: Miss you too.

She slammed the truck in reverse. “Did you get a ticket or something?”

He looked at her and gave a slight nod—like he’d just made a decision. “I wanna show you something.”

She followed his directions to the east side of town, to the cemetery. It wasn’t fenced off like the ones back home. Instead, it abutted the city park. It was beautiful though. Every grave was adorned with fake flowers. Normally she’d hate the idea of plastic flowers, but here it was fitting—everlasting flowers for an eternal resting place.

There were large trees shading the older area of the cemetery, but there was no shade in the area Austin directed her to. The sun seemed to suck the energy from her as soon as she got out of the truck.

They walked to a tombstone with a large bouquet of plastic yellow roses. Next to the flowers a straw cowboy hat dangled from a metal cross someone had stuck in the ground. A white plastic cross stood in front of the metal one. A weathered pair of drumsticks lay on the ledge of the monument next to a University of Texas keychain, a tarnished select soccer trophy, and a battered pink cell phone. Kelsey read the name on the pink granite.

Lindsey Barnes.

“Who was she?” Whoever she was, she was seventeen and her life had ended two years ago.

“Travis’s older sister.” He pointed to a grave a few rows away. “See the one with the red roses? That’s Abigail Yates and that one––the one three to the left—-that’s Chelsea Hays. No alcohol. They were coming home from school. Chelsea was driving and texting…” His voice trailed off. He looked across the stone field and drew a deep breath. “Me.”

It was one word, barely perceptible but it carried the emotion of tragedy, guilt, and despair all rolled up into two letters. Kelsey raised her hand to touch his shoulder to tell him that she understood. But she didn’t understand. She couldn’t imagine losing a friend—much less three.

He coughed, blinked a couple of times like he was trying to gain control over his emotions. “They were supposed to meet us at The Grind downtown. Somehow when we heard the sirens we knew it was them.” He shook his head. “Man, we never thought they’d be dead. She ran a stoplight and was T-boned by a cement truck.”

“I’m sorry.” Crap, what should she say? What
could
she say?

She followed him to the grave with the red roses. Like Lindsey, there were drum sticks and a cell phone on the ledge of her tombstone along with a small brass cross lying on its side. Austin propped the cross upright and moved toward Chelsea’s grave. A bouquet of fresh white daisies filled the granite urn on the side of the stone.

A picture of a smiling brown-eyed girl was set in the center of the granite. Kelsey stared at the picture. “She was beautiful.”

“They all were.”

“She doesn’t have trinkets on her gravestone.”

“Her mom comes every day and makes sure it’s clean. I guess it’s all she can do for her now.” Austin walked to his truck. Kelsey followed. He hesitated before opening the door and looked at her. “We all signed a contract that we wouldn’t text and drive. It could have been any of us, Kelsey.”

She nodded slowly. “I get your point.”

As Austin climbed onto the seat, Kelsey noticed he held his bandaged hand pressed against his chest. “You hurting?”

“Nothing I can’t handle. So tell me about Drew.” He said his name like it tasted bad. She hated when her sister did that but it was kind of funny the way Austin said it.

“He’s amazing. He’s applied to Harvard. I’m sure he’ll get in.”

“Did you say he’s biking through Italy?”

“Yeah, which is why I don’t get to talk to him much. There’s like a seven-hour time difference. We Facetime when he can find free wifi.”

“Must be nice to be able to take the summer off for a bike ride.” He leaned his head against the seat.

“It beats farm work.” She thought of the way the chickens stood when she reached for their egg. It was like they were saying,
Here you go. I was just keeping it warm for you.
She didn’t mean to smile but a small one found its way to her lips anyway.

“Hey, this is an exciting life. I bet he hasn’t done any snake wrangling in Italy.” The sincerity mixed with the sarcasm in his voice made her smile grin.

“Whatever. Come on, tell me how to get to the feed store before I get into trouble.”

Kelsey followed Austin’s directions but when she pulled into the parking lot she briefly hoped he’d directed her to the wrong place. The parking lot was full of potholes and loose gravel. But that was nothing compared to the store. The place was a dump. It was a dilapidated metal barn-looking building with a beat up aluminum awning hanging above a plate glass window.

“This is it?” Kelsey asked.

“Yep.”

She knew the Infinity parked in front was her dad’s, but she had to ask anyway. “Are you sure?”

“It’s the only feed store in town.”

“So––are there a lot of people in need of feed?” Surely if they were the only game in town they could afford to fix the awning or at least the holes in the parking lot.

“Well, yeah.”

Kelsey parked next to the SUV. Noting the absence of cars in the parking lot she gave Austin a sideways glance. “It doesn’t look like we’re doing a booming business.”

He opened the door. “That’s ‘cuz it’s the afternoon. Most of the business is early in the morning.” He stepped from the truck. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

She followed him up narrow concrete steps and through a dirty screen door. The smell hit her as soon as she crossed the threshold. It was kind of a chemical barnyard stink. She caught a faint sweet scent mixed up with the other odors but it was gone before she could appreciate it. Probably snuffed out by stronger smells.

Sacks of feed were stacked on wooden pallets lining the walls. There was a section for each of the farm animals. Shelves lined up in rows perpendicular to the feed sacks. Kelsey and Austin walked down the aisle separating the shelves from the feed. It was surreal to look at all the animal stuff and realize that it was a part of her life now.

Austin smiled and said, “You look a little dazed.”

“It’s like I’m in
Wonder-Oz-wartz.
I’m Dorothy, Alice, and Harry all rolled up in one. I’ve been plucked from one world and tossed in another.” She stopped in front of a display of ropes and chains. On another shelf were tags and giant jars of medicine. “I don’t know what any of this stuff is.” She picked up a nylon harness. “I mean, I know these are probably some kind of animal containment devices…”

“Animal containment devices?” He took the thing from her. “This is a halter. And this particular one is for a horse.”

“How do you know it’s for a horse?”

He cupped one of the straps in his hand and let the rest of the halter dangle. “It’s shaped like a horse’s head. But if you’re not sure, read the tag.”

Kelsey shook her head. “I can’t believe Dad knows all this stuff.”

“It’s not that hard. You’ll get it in no time.”

She picked up a fluorescent tag from a hook. “What are these?”

“Ear tags. We use them on cows and such.”

Kelsey gave a shudder. “You poke them in their ears?”

Austin shook his head. “It’s not that bad. You wear dangle earrings, right? What’s the dif?”

“But I knew what was I was doing.”

“Crazy, isn’t it? You purposely put a hole in your ears.”

Kelsey hung the tag back on the peg. “But I had a choice.”

The screen door squeaked and Kelsey turned to see her mom coming through carrying a push broom. Now there was a sight her friends would never believe. Maggie Quinn, former president of the Junior League, working in a feed store. Normally her mom wore her hair parted on the side, straight, just below the jaw—just like every other mom at St. Monica’s. Today, she had it tucked under a Hill Feed ball cap. J. Crew sweaters and pearls were her mom’s style, but she was wearing an old T-shirt and faded jeans. Still, she had a way of looking sophisticated no matter what she wore.

Mom leaned the broom against the counter. “Hi, Kelsey, Austin. We we’re just finishing up in the back room. We’re going to Uncle Jack’s for dinner. Austin, you’re welcome to come.”

He held his bandaged hand close to his chest. “Thank you, Mrs. Quinn, but I’d better pass. My mom will be expecting me.” He glanced around the store. “Is Jack in the back?’