Free Applewild by Heather Lin

will.” He grinned, overconfident but feeling well within his right.
    She tried to hide a smile and went back to mucking out stalls. “Maybe.”
    “Tell me what to do.”
    “Grab a pitchfork. Cecil’s stall needs to be mucked out.”
    Alton found the tool by the feed room door and started working in the stall next to Monroe. He didn’t mind, really. Hard labor was yet another welcome distraction from his woes. And he was doing it with his distraction of choice.
    It didn’t take long for them to fill the wheelbarrow again. Monroe disappeared briefly to dump it. He helped her pitch fresh straw into the stalls and watched her water the horses. Then she wiped her brow and sat on a bench just outside the barn doors with a bottle of water. He leaned on the door frame farthest from her and lit a cigarette.
    “What’s next?” he asked.
    “I’ll round up the horses and give them dinner in a few hours. I’m too damn tired to exercise them today.”
    “Why do you need to?” Alton asked as he rolled his cigarette out and sat next to her. “Don’t they just run around out there?”
    “They eat out there.” Monroe brought the water to her lips again. “This time of year the apples are starting to fall off the trees by the back pasture. The horses just hang out there and get fat.”
    “They’ve got it pretty good.”
    “They do. So do I.”
    Monroe stood and stretched. Her button-down shirt rode up slightly, giving Alton the quickest glimpse of her fair flesh. She seemed to realize he was looking and tugged down on the hem of her shirt.
    “What’s with the modesty?” he teased.
    Monroe’s eyes flitted away from his, confusing him. Once again, he felt like he’d said the wrong thing. But she smiled at him, reassuring him without satisfying his curiosity.
    “I’m going to take a nap,” she said. “Finally. Thanks for your help.”
    “I want to see you tonight.”
    Monroe turned, fidgeting with the water bottle. Her fingers were gloved again—work gloves, so he couldn’t even see her slender fingers. “Okay.”
    “Do you want to go out somewhere?”
    “Do you?”
    “Not really.”
    “So what do you want to do?”
    “Can we get pizza out here?”
    “We have to pick it up at the front gate, but yeah.”
    “Then we’ll do that.”
    “Okay. Goodnight.” She waved as she turned back to the barn and then disappeared. He heard her footsteps on the stairs and saw a light turn on briefly through curtains in the loft window.
    Alton shoved his hands in his pockets and lingered. If he went back to the house, he’d drink. He wasn’t keen on watching TV. He didn’t want to chat with family or friends. He didn’t want to go out again. In the end, he found himself going for a long walk around the back of the property.
    The air was cool, but the sun warmed his skin. He followed a dirt trail flanked by sweet-smelling, overgrown grass around the expansive fence of the back pasture. Birds chirped in the treetops and bugs buzzed unseen in the underbrush. Sure enough, he came across the horses tugging apples off of low-hanging branches. He wasn’t sure of the farm’s acreage, but by the time he looped the enclosure, he was short of breath. He realized and ignored the irony as he paused to light a cigarette.
    He leaned against the fence and puffed, resting his eyes on the barn. He saw a light on in Monroe’s room, and her shadow moved behind the lace curtain. She hadn’t taken much of a nap—maybe an hour at most. Desire flared. He didn’t want to wait. She had time now.
    Before he could make a move, his phone rang. It was Madison.
    “Hello?” he answered, smoke escaping with his words.
    “Hi, Alton.”
    He could already tell she had bad news, but he headed her off. “I already know, Mads.”
    “You do? How?”
    “They had a TV on in the bar last night.”
    “It already leaked?”
    “Yeah. Anyone could have seen it coming, really. Desperate, drama-driven girls can rarely stand to be single for long. I