Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
“Meet the new neighbors yet?” Ryan asked with a smirk.
“Nope. I guess they’re real farmers or something.” I did think it was strange that I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of them yet. “Or vampires, possibly ghosts.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Pippa was right, you are going crazy.”
“Maybe the ghost farmers are just good at hiding from the misogynistic rock star,” Roman mused and pointed to a figure off in the distance.
I followed the direction of his finger and let out a small gasp, because it was an actual person. “Unbelievable.” I guess I had started to believe the place might be empty. Carson Creek specialized in gossip, but they didn’t always get it right.
“Let’s go introduce ourselves,” Roman said and started towards the fence before anyone else had agreed. Typical youngest kid, always did whatever the hell he wanted.
“I guess we’re going to meet the neighbors,” Ryan said with a knowing smile that normally would have set me on edge, but nothing in my life was normal right now and it was all because of social media.
No, it was my fault. Plain and simple.
By the time we got to the fence Roman had already introduced himself, though it probably wasn’t necessary because the kid already knew him.
“Oh wow. I love The Gregory Brothers, but your new album is incredible. Been listening to it on a loop since it came out,” the teenager with black floppy hair had an awestruck grin.
Roman stood a little taller at the compliment. “I would offer a signed CD, but I wouldn’t even know where in the hell, um heck, to get a CD anymore. But I’ll definitely get something to you.”
The kid laughed and shrugged. “You don’t have to do that.”
“You kidding? Without fans I wouldn’t be shit, I mean hell,” he sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “You know what I mean right kid?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I do. The name is Everest, by the way.” He finally noticed me and then Ryan with wide gray eyes. “Holy shit, do you guys live next door?”
“I do,” I told him and stepped forward with a handshake. “I’m Derek, and I just bought the place. Haven’t seen anyone next door at all.”
Everest nodded and glanced at the property with a critical eye. “What are you planning to do with the land?”
“My first plan is to get the land cleaned up so I can see what my options are, but I’m going to turn one of the buildings into a recording studio.”
“Cool,” he nodded and looked around. “I can help clear the land if you want.”
“Yeah?” I didn’t know, given the current state of things, if that was such a good idea. “Why?”
He shrugged. “My aunt keeps talking about going into town and making friends. If I have something else to do, especially a job, she might lay off awhile longer.”
I frowned. “You don’t want to make friends?” What kind of teenager didn’t want friends, especially a good looking kid like him that could easily be very popular?
“I just got here, and things have been rough. My mom passed away, and I’m just taking it easy for a while.” He scanned the grounds once again and turned to me with those gray eyes that looked as if they’d seen too much. “I spotted some peach trees on the south end of your property, if you’re interested in tending them, they look to be bearing fruit.” The way the kid breezed over the dead mom information called to me, I’d done the same when we lost our mother.
I smiled at his mature way of speaking. “You grew up on a farm?”
“Nah, but my aunt did, and she knows all kinds of stuff.”
“So why aren’t you helping her?” Roman shoved his hands in his pockets and leveled Everest with a look.
“She only lets me feed the animals and clean their living areas because she wants to make sure she can handle the workload when I become the most popular kid in town.” He snorted his opinion at that aspiration. “Anyway, you know where I’ll be if you decide you want some help. It’s a big job.”
We all smirked at how easy the kid was with us. “Everest, why did you guys choose Carson Creek?” There were bigger towns and bigger farms throughout the state.
He shrugged at first, and then lifted his eyes to the blue sky and blinding sun. “She grew up here. Said she didn’t much like it here back then, but that it was a great place for us both to start over, so here we are. Oh and this is her family’s farm.”
No. it couldn’t be. The universe couldn’t be so cruel to me, not now when I was exiled to my hometown. The universe would not trap me beside my biggest regret, would it?
There were five York kids, and three of them were girls. It could just as easily be Andora or Amara, but my gut knew that it wasn’t. It was the svelte York sister, the one with the bottomless brown eyes that always seemed to be on the verge of tears that never fell. Those eyes had called upon all of my protective instincts, which was too much responsibility for a high school boy. I hadn’t wanted or needed that kind of responsibility, so I had rebelled against those instincts and did the opposite of protecting her, I had bullied her. Badly.