“No, definitely not becoming a priest. I met someone, actually.”
“Ah.” She lay her head back down on her forearms. “That figures. So, it must be serious, then?”
“Well, we haven’t known each other that long.” An image of Chloe appeared in my mind and I smiled.
“Listen to you!” Francesca giggled. “I can hear how much you like her. That’s sweet. I’m happy for you, Graham. Disappointed for myself, naturally, but happy for you. You’ll have to introduce me.”
“Sure,” I said.
“Actually, no, don’t—I’ll just be jealous.”
“You’re the worst,” I said, shaking my head. I got back to work. Before I’d met Chloe, I would’ve been all over the chance to sleep with Francesca. And now, here she was, basically offering herself to me and I just wasn’t interested. “You know,” I said, “if you’re looking for a little fun, I could pass my buddy’s number along to you. I think you might’ve met him here at the shop before, his name’s Todd ....”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chloe
Parker surprised me, because instead of saying he wanted to go to some fancy restaurant or take his father’s boat out, he suggested we go to the county fair.
“It’s only in town for another two days,” he said. “I’ve got a hankering for some fried dough. And it’s a great time to mingle with the locals.” He grinned and winked at me.
I didn’t tell him I’d never been to the county fair, nor had I ever had fried dough. If anything, this whole summer was only making me realize how I basically had never done anything.
The fair was packed. We parked in a grassy field and walked the short distance to the entrance. Parker paid for our entry and we stepped through the turnstile. There were people everywhere; families pushing strollers and holding the hands of young children, groups of rowdy teenagers, kids my age, and then plenty of adults, too, everyone with big smiles on their faces.
The animal exhibits were just shutting down. “Oh, that’s too bad,” I said. “I wanted to see some of the animals.”
“I should’ve gotten you here sooner,” Parker said. “Come on, let’s check it out; I’m sure they’ll let us see something.” We walked over, the smell of livestock pungent in the air.
“I’m not so much into the animal aspect of the fair,” Parker said, wrinkling his nose. “But those guys are cute.” He nodded toward a group of Shetland ponies who were ignoring us and eating from a pile of hay. “They’re kind of like big, shaggy dogs.”
There were rabbits of all sizes in hutches, and chicks and roosters and chickens. “I think it’d be kind of fun to live on a farm,” I said, imagining what it would be like to get to see animals like this every single day.
“It’d be a lot of work,” Parker said, stifling a yawn. “Every single day. Multiple times a day. My dad’s younger sister has a horse farm and she’s like, married to that shit. She has horses instead of children, basically.”
We hung around the animal exhibit a little longer and then made our way to where all the rides, games, and food vendors were. The aroma changed from farm animals to greasy, fried food. The sky had just started to get dark. In the distance, I could hear shrieks of delight from one of the rides, a contraption made up of steel cages people sat in that flipped them through the air. Past that, the Ferris wheel was lit up, and moving at a more agreeable pace.
As we walked, I couldn’t help but notice the way basically every single girl we walked by checked Parker out, and then seemed to throw a disdainful look at me, as though they couldn’t believe he was choosing to be here with me.
I looked at him and smiled, right as he let out a huge yawn. “Sorry,” he said, almost bashfully. “I’ve been more tired than usual. I blame my hectic training schedule.”
“What are you training for?”
“I race bikes.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I’ve actually got a race coming up this weekend, not too far from here. It’s on a farm. Well, part of it is. Hey, you should come with me, if you want. There’s a ton of animals there, too, and we’d be there early enough for you to actually be able to see them.”
“That sounds pretty cool,” I said.
“Great,” he said. “It’s on Sunday. We’ll need to get an early start, but it’ll be a nice drive. I’ll come pick you up at 8.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Graham
I got a text from Todd around 6 in the morning, saying he’d gotten food poisoning and had spent the entire night in the bathroom, in front of the toilet. There was no way in hell he’d be able to ride today. Also: was this Francesca person who just texted him THE Francesca? And if so, why was the universe punishing him by giving him the runs the very night a hot chick gets in touch and wants to meet up?