Free Distraction by Tess Oliver

like
and angry child.”
    “Would you two like to let us in on your odd
conversation,” Samuel said.
    “Poppy went out to put the chickens in the coop, and
I warned her that she should take the broom in case she needed to
give that mannerless rooster a couple of whacks. She insisted on
going out there unarmed.”
    “Back home, our rooster was more devious than the
foxes circling the coop at night. I found there was nothing he
hated more than being ignored.” Every detail— the up and down
motion of her small chin, the movement of her throat as she spoke,
the way her lips formed the words— all of it drew me in and I
couldn’t drag my gaze away.
    Libby sat down. “Roosters do tend to have an
arrogance problem.”
    Poppy placed a napkin in her lap and looked across
the table at me with those dark brown eyes and for a moment
everything and everyone else in the room vanished.
    “Speaking of arrogant,” Charlotte’s harsh tone
snapped me back to reality, “that Jane Crosston is certainly full
of herself. Her mother had a pile of newspapers to give me, and
that girl bragged on and on about the new wardrobe her parents
ordered her from New York.”
    Samuel grabbed another piece of chicken. “I don’t
know why you go over there, Charlotte. You always come back with
your petticoat in a twist after you’ve seen her.”
    Charlotte shifted angrily on her chair. “Well,
Samuel, some of us like to keep abreast of what’s happening in the
world, and Mabel Crosston always has the most recent
newspapers.”
    “So tell us, Charlotte,” Libby stepped in to keep
them from their usual supper table argument, “what is
happening?”
    Like a spoiled child, Charlotte shot a self-satisfied
smirk at Samuel. “Apparently, some vile cotton eating insect has
come over from Mexico, and the Texas cotton growers are worried
about it.” She glared over at Samuel. “It seems like that should be
of interest to you and Cade.”
    I broke off a piece of roll and chewed it as I looked
at Charlotte. “Does this insect eat cattle?”
    “What a silly question, Cade. Of course not,”
Charlotte answered.
    “Then it doesn’t interest me.” I shoved the remainder
of the roll in my mouth. Samuel laughed and then seemed to think
better of it.
    Our blunt reaction didn’t deter Charlotte from
continuing. “And in New York, they’ve opened a grand music hall,
Carnegie or something like that. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they
had something like that here? Then we could all go dancing.”
    Now that Libby had opened the spout on the kettle,
Charlotte would drone on until she sucked all of the air from the
room. Our guest seemed intrigued with Charlotte’s string of new
announcements. I, on the other hand, was intrigued with the small
indentation beneath the girl’s full bottom lip. The small dimple in
her chin had my complete and undivided attention until a strand of
her white gold hair swept across her shoulder as she reached for a
piece of chicken. It curled up neatly atop the small curve of her
breast. I watched that strand of silky hair dance on her bare skin
with every breath she took until the tip of Jackson’s boot kicked
my shin.
    Jackson leaned his shoulder closer to me. “Christ,
Cade, stop gawking,” he said from the side of his mouth. “You’re
about as subtle as a two-bit whore.”
    “If President Harrison keeps pushing those tariffs on
us then I think we’ll have Cleveland back in the white house next
term,” Libby said. Apparently the world event conversation had gone
on uninterrupted while I’d drifted off to catalogue every inch and
curve of the girl sitting across from me.
    Poppy put down her fork. “Is this president
important?” she asked, and the room fell silent. Her long lashes
shadowed her cheeks as she stared down at her plate, obviously
embarrassed by her question.
    “You really do live in a remote area, Honey,” Libby
said with a laugh. Poppy lifted her eyes. “The president runs the
country. He signs the