Summerfield Read Online Free Page B

kind of shipped me away."

"Yeah, your dad told me that you lost your mom recently. I'm uh,
really sorry. I don't really remember her, but your dad talks about her all the
time and-“

"My dad talks about her?" I questioned, my tone accusing.

"Yeah. Quite a bit, actually."

I looked to the ground and away from the boy in front of me. My dad?
Mr. Closed off talked to him rather than his own daughter? He hadn't
even talked to me about my mom after she died. I couldn't say I wasn't
hurt or angry.

"You okay?" He asked, noticing my distress.

"Yeah, fine." I waved away the feeling of betrayal with a wave of my
hand. "So, what's wrong with Clucky here?" I questioned. In other
words I was changing the subject so it didn't lead to me bringing up
the baggage of the last two years with my father.

Ben shrugged. "Beats me. Your dad just told me to make sure he had
this shot, but this sucker is nuts."

I couldn't help but smile at how cute he was, struggling to keep the
poor chicken calm and in still long enough to give it the shot. "Well,
that could be because I raised it. My bad."

He chuckled. "Nah, he's just tainted." Once he had finally given
Clucky his shot, he carefully opened the door to the gate and set him
back in.

We sat in silence for a minute or so as he dusted the dirt off
himself. I had always had issues with awkward silence so I quickly
decided to break it. "So, who's your family? My Aunt told me that my
dad was friends with them."

"My dad's Joe Stanley."

My jaw dropped. "Joe Stanley? Your dad is Joe Stanley?"

He seemed amused by my surprise. "Yes, why?"

I couldn't help but laugh a bit. This was just too funny to me.
"You're Ben Stanley." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah. Do I get let in on the joke at any time?" He asked, sitting
himself on the log across from me.

I tried not to focus on the fact that our knees were near touching.
"Didn't you guys move away for a while? Then just move back?" He
nodded, dumbfounded. I giggled. "I know you. When we were little kids
I remember playing with you."

He seemed a bit amused by this too, thinking back. Something seemed to
click in his mind as he snapped his fingers together in remembrance.
"Belle? Wow." He laughed. "I had forgotten about that."

"Yeah. I only remember though because you once tore the head off my doll."

"You're not holding a grudge are you? You're not going to like, come
up behind me and hit me over the head with a hammer are you?"

"Nah. I'm not that cold hearted. Besides, why sink to your level?"

"Hey, the Barbie thing was a long time ago. I was a dumb little child."

I shrugged. "That's okay. I believe I ended up flushing some of your
baseball cards after that." He stared at me disbelievingly. "What? I
was a dumb little child." I mocked.

"Well, what you did was worse. Baseball cards are worth something.
Barbie is just a toy."

"It was my favorite Barbie!" I yelled, throwing my head back like a
true little kid. We instantly both began laughing at how silly our
conversation was. "Okay, that really wasn't cool. I shouldn't do that
anymore."

He chuckled, standing up and clearing off the work bench he had just
been working on. "So you really don't know how to drive?" He
questioned, glancing back at me from over his shoulder.

"Nope."

"Well, since your dads busy I could teach you."

"Seriously?" I asked in surprise. I figured he was really nice, but wow.

"Yeah. I can't right now because I still have some chores but tomorrow
maybe." He offered, turning around again and looking directly to me.

Damn those eyes. "Um, yeah, sounds great." I stuttered. Someday I was
going to have to learn to get a hold of myself when only looking into
his eyes. No matter how blue, deep, and-

"Cool. Well, I actually have to go check up on the horses now, but
I'll see you around tomorrow and we can go for a drive and I can show
you some things."

I quickly regained my composure, what little I had anyways, and