Page 21 of Bales and Brawn

‘I’m fine,” Zane replies through gritted teeth, but he continues on the same. I try again.

“I see the rod is firmly wedged back up your ass again.” Maybe not the smartest move, but I need to get some sort of reaction.

He whips his head round so fast his horse sidesteps, but of course it doesn’t unseat him like it would me.

“Is that what you think of me?” he asks, and I shrug.

“A little.”

He walks a few more paces and then lets out a big sigh. Which is good, I think.

“I’m worried,” he says eventually. “I thought my dad and Nova would be fine, but I’m not so sure. My dad’s worse than last year, and the feed store is a big responsibility.”

This makes sense, and I’m kinda glad I’m not the cause.

“Arlene is there for your dad, and Nova’s a grown man. He’s more than capable of looking after the feed store.”

“Yes, I know. But I still worry,” he sighs.

“Well, of course you do. It shows you care.”

“Thank you,” he says, looking slightly more relaxed than he has all morning.

“There’s nothing you can do now, so you might as well enjoy this trip.”

He nods but he doesn’t look that convinced.

“And if anything happens, they can call you.” I try to reassure him.

“There’s no cell coverage out here,” he says.

“What?”

“You can’t use your phone out here. The coverage stops around the end of the hay fields.”

“No phones at all?”

“Nope.”

“I told my family where I’m going, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t be contactable for a few days.”

“Will they worry?” he asks, and I think it through. I normally chat with my brothers every day in our message group. But they do know about the trip, so they’ll probably figure it out and not worry too much.

“I don’t think they’ll get the local police to come knocking on your door to see if you’ve abducted me,” I reply, and he huffs a little laugh, which is a pleasing sound after the tension of the morning.

“So I guess I’ll just have to not worry and enjoy myself as well,” I say, and I nearly get a smile. It’s a start.

The landscape gradually changes, as the flat plains give way to more broken ground. It becomes more rugged, rockier and wilder. We also start climbing higher out of the valley Foggy Basin sits in. The mountain range, which is just a smudge in the distance when viewed from the farm, starts to take shape as we get closer. I hear the sound of a bird and look up to see a huge eagle above us. It’s beautiful in a wild way.

“You have such big skies over here. It’s one of the reasons I left England,” I say.

“Don’t you have sky over there, then?” I look over at Zane’s slight smirk. He needs to work on his jokes, but he probably doesn’t get much practice. I’ll take them if he looks like that, though.

“Of course we do,” I scoff, and his lips stretch properly into a smile. One that lifts his whole face.

“But apart from in a few isolated places, there are too many things to break up the eyeline. Towns and houses and hills. It feels claustrophobic. But out here in the US . . . I can fill my lungs and breathe.”

“I feel the same way when I’m out in the field cutting the hay. Just me and the mower for hours.”