Page 6 of Buckin' Around

She chuckles, swiping her wavy auburn hair from her face. “You’re my invite. My parents always have a weekly dinner, the food is?—”

“I don’t wanna intrude, though?”

Brows lowering, she tilts her head. “Absolutely not. Besides, I want someone other than my older brother to talk to. Maybewith you there, my parents won’t start picking our lives apart. Well, Spencer’s, at least.”

“Ah, I see. So, I’m the decoy.”

But now I’m interested.

She sighs. “I promise the food will be great, and we could use a night off campus, right?”

“You said weekly, but you were with me last Thursday night.”

We move up the line and Stacey grabs two trays, handing me one. “I was. I didn’t have the energy for Dad’s Spanish Inquisition. Guess Spence got the brunt of that one. I would feel guilty, but part of me wishes he’d get his shit together, you know?”

“What do you mean?” I’m genuinely curious now.

She huffs a laugh. “We are like chalk and cheese. He’s the manager at Silver Elite Stables, but only because if Dad didn’t make him do that, he’d just do... nothing.”

“He must have something he likes, or some kind of motivation.”

I’m being generous. To a guy I’ve never met.

Stacey’s critical analysis of her only sibling is getting my hackles up a tiny bit. My own five brothers and sister annoy the living bejesus out of me, but that’s sibling stuff that only extends between us. If anyone else talked about them that way, or we spoke about each other that way to others, I’d beat the living daylight?—

“. . . iley?”

The line has moved up. Stacey is at least six paces ahead, and the guy behind me groans before huffing, “Hurry up, some of us have stuff to get done.”

“Hold ya horses, yeah?” I toss him the side-eye from hell and move up. Flames engulf my cheeks as Stacey gives me a soft smile. “Eejit. Like we don’t all have shite to get done,” I mumble.

“You alright? You kinda zoned out on me there.” Stacey turns her attention to the buffet and pulls a dish onto her tray.

“Yeah, fine. Sorry, my schedule and all that is kind of intense.”

“Sure. If you have to study tonight, I’ll understand, babe.”

Babe.

Gosh, friendship seems to ooze outta this one. Like it’s part of her personality. My standoffish tendencies ruin most friendships after a few weeks. The fact that I prefer animals over humans doesn’t help.

I’m going to have to work on that if I want to be boss someday.

No, not someday. In five years exactly.

A plan is a plan. And I have one I’ve been fine-tuning since my first day of veterinary school.

Being the eldest of six children and a farmer’s daughter, I am used to managing multiple people. Keeping all the balls in the air.

Apparently, the international time zone screwed with that. I’m barely a term in, and every skill I thought I ever possessed is nowhere to be found.

“Riley, you eating?” Stacey touches my forearm, nodding to the server waiting behind the counter.

“Aye, just the soup please.”

The lady slides a huge bowl of soup onto my tray with a half smile and a nod.

“Thanks, yeah.”