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"I guess"

A s "Hey, bud, can you run find Rory and tell hiot a visitor? He’s out in the barn" The boy jets toward the back of the house and Willa jockey’s license," Will says I grin and walk into the kitchen, where he’sa sandwich "Want one?"

"No, thanks"

"Dessert?"

"Now you’re talking"

He rue of Chips Ahoy across the island tohere?" I ask "Rory said you’re in law school in Atlanta?"

"My wedding’s next week My fiancé’s at her final wedding dress fitting with my mom and her mom And I was forced to act as chauffeur"

I sether "What does her dress look like?"

"I haven’t seen it That’s bad luck, Savannah"

"Well, what do you hope it looks like?"

"You’re just as bad as the rin He adds tomato and lettuce to his hales

They’re getting married next weekend at Whitfield Far to Rory, Mrs Goodwin has been going nuts discussing wedding decor with Mrs Whitfield The bride’s family doesn’t have much money and the Whitfields have had several bad seasons so they haven’t taken estions, but I’ pawing atI discover a red puppy at my feet "A" I lift the puppy intonuts, so Will reaches across the table to take hi i yawn

"The dog hatessoftly

Will takes another bite of his sandwich and talks through a les the puppy up and down on his knee

"This remindswith hi with him He can’t help it It’s just like with people Sometimes we like certain people more than others and it’s just the way it is"

I like Jack A lot And I wish I could stop liking him but my heart doesn’t want that

"So do you really think the Goodwins are gonna let you be their jockey at Kentucky Downs next week?" Will asks

"I hope so"

"Da "If that weren’t the day of irl jockey"

I pause to eat a chocolate chip cookie "What o to law school?"

He feeds the puppy a s e Because of rades, you know?"

No teachers have ever been like that without of their way to tell me what to do with uy I fooled around with in West Virginia, worked in the kitchens at the Best Value Inn next door to the casino, and he often said I could use him as a reference if I wanted to apply for a clerk position at the front desk

"…and I’ corporations that are buying up far us small farms out of business"

"Do you ever wish you had stayed here to work on the far to law school will be better forrun"

I raisean invest a jockey

That’s when Rory coh the back door with the small boy at his heels "Cheerio is--" He stops to catch his breath "Cheerio is about to drop her calf Can you come help me and Bo?" Rory asks Will "Dad is still down at the co-op"

Will nods, stuffing the rest of his sandwich into hispuppy to ht? With Rory?" Will asks, pointing at irls to even the party out We don’t have a single girl cousin but we have about eight thousand guy cousins!"

I laugh "Oh yeah?"

Rory puffs his chest out "I’s," I say

"No bet," Will replies

"Hey!" Rory says, grinning "By the way, I called it I knew you’d hook up with Jack Goodwin" He rubs his fingers together, asking for the twenty bucks I owe hiroan, and Rory tellsto birth the calf

Instead of taking the road back to Cedar Hill, I decide to walk through Whitfield Fareese I love theether for life It’s so sweet how they can barely stand being two feet apart One tiether: four boys and three girls I asked Dad where the fourth girl was, and he said she’d probably died or got lost