Free The Certainty of Deception by Jeanne McDonald Page B

liked each other.  Some people might say that they had a love/hate relationship.  They loved to hate each other. 
    I turned on my heel, rolling my luggage behind me, as Jared and Gavin followed.  From behind, I could hear Jared mumble something to Gavin.  Whatever he said returned Gavin’s spirited laughter.  “What’s so funny,” I asked, as I pushed open the glass door, stepping outside of the rental facility only to stop dead in my tracks.
    Gavin and Jared walked out behind me.  “Jared just gave me a mental image of Olivia as a du - Oh my God!  What the hell is that smell?” Gavin gagged.
    My hand flew up over my mouth and nose, desperate to eliminate the odor.  “I don’t know, but I think someone took a massive shit on Amarillo.”
    “Welcome to America’s toilet,” Jared jested, trudging forward, seemingly unfazed by the putrid odor.
    “No shit!” Gavin bellowed.
    “Shit,” came Jared’s straight-faced retort.
    “Is it always like this?”  I pinched my nose, and marched behind Jared and Gavin to the world’s most disastrous rental.  At first I thought the clerk was joking when he informed me that the largest vehicle they had on the lot was a Buick La Crosse.  This was Texas after all.  Where were the gas guzzling monster trucks?  When I realized he was actually serious, I reluctantly accepted the car.
    “I don’t think so.  If I recall correctly, McKenzie once told me it was Hereford rolling in.” 
    Gavin tilted his face to Jared, his brows furrowed in confusion and his nose scrunched in a horrific snarl.  “What the hell is a Hereford?” 
    Jared shook his head.  “Not a Hereford.  Hereford; as in a city just south of Amarillo. I told you we were heading into cattle country.” Sarcasm dripped from Jared’s tongue.  “What’d you think it’d smell like?  Flowers?” 
    “No, but I didn’t expect it to smell like horse shit either!” Gavin protested.
    “That’s cow shit,” Jared corrected, “and according to these people, that’s the smell of money.”
    “I know what money smells like, and it doesn’t smell like bull shit!” I argued.
    Jared looked over his shoulder at me.  A simple smile played over his face.  “Now you’re getting it.”
    Even after everything that happened on Monday, I still sort of disliked Jared, but he was quite amusing.  It would be hard for me to really trust him as long as I knew he was still in love with McKenzie.  He might be noble, but even noble men stumble and fall.
    A heavy gust of wind swirled up around us, creating a vortex of dry heat and sickening cattle stench.  The hot June sun beat down from the cloudless sky, bigger than any sun I’d ever seen before.  It seemed to be the only celestial being in the pale, blue sky.  Beads of sweat formed over my skin.  I rubbed the back of my hand over my brow to remove the fresh wave of sweat before it reached my eyes.  The three of us rushed to the car, fighting the wind that seemed determined to knock us to the ground.
    “Just when I thought the smell couldn’t get worse,” I grumbled, fumbling with the key fob.
    The trunk popped open.  Gavin sprinted to the back of the sedan, chunking his luggage in the back without paying attention to where it landed.  He raced around to the passenger side, yelling like a teenager, “I call shotgun!”
    Jared and I rolled our eyes, laughing at my brother.  “Actually,” Jared started, placing his luggage in the trunk, “this is tame compared to the last time I was here.  The winds get brutal in this area.”
    I placed my bags in the back and closed the trunk.  Walking around to the driver’s side, I stopped and looked out toward the highway.  The wind continued to blow wildly and the smell of cattle clouded the air, yet I couldn’t help but be enamored by this unusual place.  This was McKenzie’s home.  This was where she grew up.  Secrets lay in this flat, brown land that were waiting for me to uncover.  There was