“Whose car is it then?” She raised her eyebrow.
“Her niece’s. Let’s go. Mrs. P is waiting for you, and you’re already late. ”
I gently took her by the arm to lead her in, but then she jerked away from me. I looked at her, and her face was white as a ghost.
“Please don’t touch me like that—ever again. ”
She smoothed out her pants and shirt and walked past me up to the porch. She stopped for a brief second and took a deep breath before walking up the steps and ringing the doorbell.
I stepped up to her and leaned down. “I’m sorry, CG. I don’t have some weird kind of country disease or anything. I’ll make sure I never touch you again. ”
She snapped her head up and was about to say something when the front door opened.
“Well, looky here, if it ain’t my handsome Layton! Son, you have to come over more often! Mr. Pierceson is down at the barn, doing God knows what, if you want to say hello. ”
Mrs. Pierceson turned and started to walk into the house, and I gestured for Whitley to go in first. When we walked into the foyer, Mrs. P turned around and smiled at Whitley.
Whitley grinned back and put out her hand.
She’s in for a surprise.
“Oh, pishposh, girl. Come in for a hug!” Mrs. P grabbed Whitley and pulled her into an embrace.
Whitley let out a gasp and then giggled. “I’m so very sorry I’m late, Mrs. Pierceson. My car broke down, and…well, Mr. Morris here came to my rescue, sort of. ”
I smiled and winked before I started heading toward the kitchen to go out to the barn. “Your knight in shining armor, I believe you said I was, CG. ”
I turned to see her mouth hanging open while Mrs. P was smiling from ear to ear.
“CG? What does that stand for, my dear? Is that what you prefer to be called?”
Right as I opened the back door, I heard Whitley say, “No! God, no. Please just call me Whitley. ”
As I made my way down to the barn, I could hear Mr. P singing away to some old George Jones’s song. I smiled to myself, thinking about how Mike used to come and talk to Mr. P for hours. I never knew what all they had talked about, but I was pretty sure Mr. and Mrs. Pierceson had known how we had lived. They had always left food at the gate but never bothered to come down to the house. My guess was they’d paid a visit when we weren’t home one day, and they probably never really knew how to talk to us about it.
Just as I was about to walk into the barn, I heard someone call out my name.
“Layton?”
The sound of her voice rang through my whole body. I hadn’t talked to Olivia since the night she’d told me she was leaving me.
I just stopped. I didn’t move. I was frozen.
After I took a deep breath, I started to walk into the barn.
“Layton, wait, please. Talk to me for just a second. ”
I felt her hand on my arm, and I fought against wanting to take her into my arms. I slowly turned around and looked into those beautiful blue eyes. My heart began pounding.
I cleared my throat. “Hey, Olivia. I’m just heading to say hi to your uncle. If you’ll excuse me…”
“Please. I just want to know how you’re doing. I’ve heard, um…I’ve heard things have been tough for you, baby. ”
I looked her up and down. Fuck, she looks good.
She was wearing tight-ass riding pants and a white T-shirt. I could see her nipples through the shirt, and I was starting to get a hard-on from just looking at her.
“I’m doing fine, Olivia. Things have been great. No worries on my end. Just one big party. ”