Free Small Town Girl by Ann H. Gabhart Page A

going on here, Carl?” her father asked. At the sight of his frown, the friends who had been egging Carl on began muttering about needing to get home as they started back around the house. All the boys knew Victor Merritt was nobody to mess with when it came to his girls.
    “Carl’s lost his mind. That’s what.” Kate gave Carl a hard look.
    “He was bothering Kate, Mr. Merritt. I wasn’t about to lethim mess with my girl.” Carl kept his fists up like a fighter ready to go another round. He was acting like he thought Kate’s father might grab his arm, raise it up, and declare him the winner.
    Kate’s father looked from Carl to Jay picking himself up off the ground.
    “Sorry about this, sir,” Jay said with an apologetic shrug. “I wasn’t meaning to cause trouble. Kate and I were talking about the wedding. That’s all.”
    “That’s all, like heck,” Carl shouted, his smile fading as Kate’s father looked back at him. “You had your hands on her. I saw you.”
    Kate could feel the blood rising in her face. She hadn’t been even close to this angry since she’d caught one of the neighborhood kids making fun of Lorena’s name. And that was different. Just a silly little boy. Carl wasn’t a little boy. He was simply acting like one. Like a kid on the playground claiming more than he had.
    How could he think she was his girl? Sure, she went to the movies with him, but she never let him kiss her. They didn’t even hold hands. She was going to have to tell him straight out how things were, but not here. Even as angry as she was, she didn’t want to humiliate him in front of Jay Tanner and her father. They’d been friends too long for that.
    She stepped in front of Carl and stared him right in the face. She kept her voice tightly controlled. “Go home, Carl. I can’t talk to you right now.”
    “You could talk to him.” Carl’s words were harsh, accusing.
    “I can talk to anybody I want to, but right now, I don’t want to talk to you.”
    “But you’re my girl, Kate. I had to take up for you.” He reached out to grab her arm, but she stepped away from him. He held his hand up in the air a moment before he dropped it to his side.
    “I’m not your girl, Carl.” For a minute she almost felt sorry for him as his shoulders drooped and he got a whipped dog look. But then he brushed her words aside as though they didn’t mean a thing.
    “Aw, Kate, everybody knows we’re getting married. That it’s just a matter of time.”
    Kate shut her eyes and blew out a long breath. Without looking, she knew Jay would be watching them with that same grin, like he’d found the sideshow at the Rosey Corner circus. She was glad when her father stepped up to put his arm around Carl’s shoulders.
    “Kate’s right, Carl. You better go on home. The two of you can talk this out after tempers settle down a little.” He had a sympathetic look on his face as he turned Carl away from Kate. Like he was feeling his disappointment instead of thinking the man was a complete idiot the way Kate did.
    “But Mr. Merritt, you know it’s true. She’s been my girl forever.” Carl peeked over his shoulder toward Kate.
    Kate’s father kept walking him toward the front yard. He sounded almost sad when he said, “Later, Carl. Now’s not the time or the place.”
    They moved on around the house, her father’s voice calm and Carl’s voice taking on a whiny sound. That left her and Jay Tanner alone again. She waited for him to say something, but he was silent. The voices of the women in the kitchen drifted out to them. No words, just the easy sound of family.
    Aunt Hattie laughed, and Kate wished she was inside with them instead of standing out in the middle of the backyard, wondering what to say to Jay Tanner. Because Carl was right. He had been holding her hand, and she hadn’t minded at all. She hadn’t even minded when he asked to kiss her.
    How could her world get so totally turned upside down in one short day? And