Leave Tomorrow Behind (Stella Crown Series) (14 page)

“You mean—”

“Nose, lips, hair, boobs. As far as I could tell without touching her—” I shuddered “—it’s all been altered.”

“Is that legal?”

“If your mother condones it, I guess. And if you know the right people.”

“Or the wrong ones.”

“Exactly. Summer thought Nick was pretty special. Gave him his very own pretty-please invitation to come to the pageant.”

“And how did you respond to this invitation, Nick?”

Nick looked very pointedly at the calves in the ring. “Not participating in this conversation.”

“Why not?”

“It’s creepy.”

The judge began reorganizing the calves, until he had them in the order he preferred. Zach and Barnabas stood at what looked like a respectable fifth place, Laura at ninth, and Randy further down the line. Too bad, but that’s the way it went when you took charge of a calf at birth and had no idea what to expect. Good care and loving can only go so far.

The only two places the judge seemed unsure of were the ones on the top end of the line. Austin’s Halladay, and Melody Gregg’s calf. At this point, Melody’s calf stood in the Grand Champion slot, with Austin’s in Reserve. Austin stood straight, his shoulders high, eyes following the judge as he moved. Melody watched the judge, too, but with a more casual air, as if she already knew she had it won. Made me want to smack some sense into her. Or feed her some lemons. Obviously, I wouldn’t do either. But it was fun to fantasize about.

The judge was taking his time, walking around the calves, leaning over for better angles, holding out his hands as a primitive measuring tool. He stood in front of the calves, hand on his chin, head swiveling back and forth.

“Come on,” Taylor said. “Come on, come on, come on…”

Finally, the judge stepped back and nodded, gesturing to the officials that he had the order the way he wanted it. Crap.

Austin’s shoulders remained high, but now his chin thrust out, and I could see his eyes blazing even from that distance. Reserve Champion was amazing, but not when you lost Grand Champion to a girl who hadn’t touched her calf more than a few times, and then, only when she had to. And when her dad had bought her the win.

The older Gregg girls were already up and moving away, followed by the guy who’d been sitting next to them. Mrs. Gregg was smiling and clapping, obviously glad their money paid off. Gregg himself looked smug, and just as smackable as his daughter. Only difference was, with him I could see myself actually following through with the daydream.

Chapter Twenty-three

Taylor skipped ahead as we made our way back to the barn, and was already waiting at Zach’s stall when we arrived. He and Barnabas showed up several minutes later, brandishing their pink ribbon.

“Ooh, Zachy! Fifth place!” Taylor hugged him, and he hugged her back, careful not to squish his prize.

“Yes, Zachy,” I said. “Great job.”

He smiled and bumped my fist. “It’s your ribbon, too.”

“Nah. I mean, thanks, but you did all the work.”

“Yeah, I know, but I wanted to make you feel included.”

“Great job, Zach.” Nick shook Zach’s hand, before Taylor could claim him again.

“Come on, boy.” Zach led Barnabas forward, and the calf good-naturedly entered his stall and nosed around for the water bucket.

Miranda stepped back, closer to Austin’s stall, and tried to avoid contact with Zach or his calf. She glanced at her watch, and I wondered why she had even come back to the fair if she hated it so much. “Quality time” was only worth it if you made it that way.

“Way to go, Barnabas.” I patted his back after the gate shut. “You’re a good boy.”

He shook his head and snuffled.

“So,” I said to Zach, “you displaying the ribbon? Or keeping it safe somewhere?”

“Putting it up, for sure.” He scootched past Barnabas and attached the ribbon to the boards. “Looks good, doesn’t it?”

Taylor clapped. “It’s great!”

Nick grinned. “The pink matches Mallory’s poster.”

Zach shook his head. “You’re killing me, man.”

“Speak of the devil,” Miranda said.

Mallory and Brady pushed through the crowd of returning calves and exhibitors. “Hey, bro, good job.”

“Thanks, Mal.”

“Where were you guys?” I asked. “I didn’t see you over there.”

“We were in the back, behind some epically nasty girl. I swear nothing about her was real.”

I glanced at Nick. “Was she, um…”

“Disgusting?” Mallory said. “Yes.”

“What did you think, Brady?”

His ears went pink. “She was, uh, interesting.”

Nick coughed, “Leave it,” into his hand, and I figured I’d save Brady any further embarrassment. “Randy okay?” I asked Zach.

He shrugged. “He’s fine. I don’t think he really expected much. He did all right. At least he wasn’t last.”

Austin arrived at his stall, and led Halladay inside. He didn’t bring an entourage with him. Just his calf and his light purple banner, which I knew would say Reserve Champion.

“What about that boy who lost out on Grand Champion?” Miranda said. Her back was to Austin, and, not surprisingly, she didn’t recognize our wide eyes, or even the finger I slashed across my throat. “Isn’t he a friend of yours, Zach?” she yammered on. “That had to suck, losing to that girl.”

“It did.”

Miranda spun around at the sound of Austin’s voice. “Oh. Sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too, Austin,” Mallory said. She knew him from school, where they were in the same grade. “You should’ve won. Your calf is awesome.”

“Thanks, Mal.” He rolled up his banner and stuck it in the footlocker he kept at the end of the stall. I didn’t blame him for not hanging it up. He’d been hoping for the dark purple one, and it had to bite to lose to a girl he knew didn’t deserve it. Maybe later in the week he’d feel more like displaying what was, in reality, quite an achievement.

“You still have the showmanship event, right?” Taylor said. “Isn’t that what you told me?”

“Yeah, but this is the one I really wanted.”

No response to that.

Taylor’s phone broke the awkward silence with a cheerful bird tweet. She checked it, and made a sad face. “I gotta go. Rehearsal for tomorrow night. You are all coming, right?”

Everyone made the appropriate noises, except for me. I wasn’t yet so taken with the girl I was willing to sit through that kind of torture. Especially if it meant I had to see more of Summer. Literally. Wasn’t there a swimsuit segment with pageants? I didn’t think I could take it. Taylor left after extracting a promise from Zach that he’d still be around when she was done for the day.

Mallory was next to go. “Brady and I are heading over to watch that dog show they’re putting on in the domestic pets building. Anybody want to come?”

Nobody did, so the two of them took off. Bobby and Claire came by then, to offer their congratulations to Zach, and their consolation to Austin. Claire hung back, as usual, checking out the crowd. Probably looking for Taylor, poor kid. When it was clear her competition was absent, she moved closer to Zach. “You did really great.”

He smiled at her. “Thanks. Barnabas was awesome.”

“Yeah.” She reached in and petted the calf, who gazed up at her with adoring eyes. “You were good, too, though. You’ll do great in the showmanship competition on Thursday.”

“Thanks. Barnabas makes it easy.”

“Stupid Greggs,” Bobby said. “Too bad that lemon didn’t get into the calf’s food later in the day, huh, Austin?”

Austin’s head snapped up. “What?”

“You know. The lemon, the one that made him drool all over. Too bad whoever did it didn’t wait till later today. Then he might not have been in the judging at all.”

“Then none of the calves might have been in it,” I reminded him. “The whole barn could have been quarantined.”

“Oh. Right. Well, anyway, our judging’s tomorrow. We’ll try to kick the Gregg girls’ butts for you.”

Austin turned away. “Yeah, you do that.” Not like he cared. It wouldn’t change anything for his results. And Bobby didn’t really have the cow to back up his words. Claire, however, had a chance. It was big of her not to mention it just then.

“Hey,” I said. “Were any of you in here last night late?”

“Like how late?” Bobby said.

“I don’t know. Eleven-thirty. Midnight.”

“We were out on the rides. We saw you, remember? We were on the Ferris wheel.”

“Right. How about you, Austin?”

He didn’t answer, his head down as he scooped some droppings from Halladay’s wood chips.

“Why are you wondering?” Claire said.

Bobby rolled his eyes. “Duh. That’s when Rikki Raines was getting dumped in our manure trailer.”

Zach winced. “Geez, Bobby.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean…whatever.”

Claire frowned. “You think we had something to do with it?”

“No.” I gave a little laugh. “I do not think you did anything to Rikki Raines. I just thought, if you were here, maybe you saw something. Or someone.”

“But there are always people around here. How would we know if something was different?”

“I heard it was pretty quiet right around then, actually.”

“Says who?”

“Laura,” Zach said. “She—”

“—was taking care of Bunny,” I said, cutting him off. “She said it was so quiet she fell asleep.”

Zach gave me a funny look, and I shook my head.

“Well, like we said, we weren’t here.” Claire glanced at her phone. “And now I have to go get in line for milking.”

“It’s not near time,” Bobby said.

“It is if you don’t want to wait a year.” She hesitated, then walked off without him. “It’s your time you’ll be wasting.”

“Oh, for—Hang on, I’m coming! See ya, Zach.” He trotted off after his sister.

“Not the brightest bulb, is he?” Miranda said.

“He’s a nice kid.”

“You would say that.”

“Yes, I would, because it’s true. Weren’t you going home?”

Nick slid his hand along the inside of my elbow. “Weren’t you?”

“I was planning on it.”

“Um,” said Zach, “do you need me for anything?”

All three of us looked at him.

“Like what?” I said.

“I dunno. I’m just hungry, is all.”

“So go eat.”

“All right. Uh, thanks.”

“See ya. And congrats again.”

“So,” Miranda said when he was gone. “Can we please go now?”

“You know, you could have stayed home.”

“I wanted to spend time with my brother. Is that so wrong?”

I really was going to strangle the woman one of these days. If Nick wasn’t such a hottie—and a huge piece of my heart—I would be glad to send her packing, never to be seen again.

Nick tilted his head toward the door. “So, you ready then?”

“You two go on ahead, and I’ll be right there. Wait for me outside?”

His curiosity was plain, but he just said, “All right. Come on, Miranda.”

She made a face. “We have to wait for her again?”

“I’m sure she has a good reason.”

I did, but it wasn’t one I liked. It was one of suspicion. And I hoped to God I was wrong.

She huffed, and strode toward the door.

“I’ll just be a minute,” I told Nick.

As he left, I stepped over to Austin’s stall. “Tough competition today.”

He kept cleaning.

“Austin.”

Finally, he stopped, and leaned on his pitchfork. “What?”

“You were here last night by yourself, weren’t you?”

“No.”

“During the concert. Everybody else was gone. You stayed behind.”

“I told you I was there. I just stood in the back.”

“That’s right. What song was she singing when you got there?”

He frowned. “What is this? Why are you asking?”

“Austin, what song?”

“I don’t remember. “Rainestorm,” maybe.”

Okay, so he’d gotten there only a few minutes late. But then, what I was considering wouldn’t take long. “How long did you stay?”

“Till the end.”

“You heard all the songs? The encore?”

He went back to his work.

“Austin?”

He threw a cow plop into the corner. “What?”

“What was the encore?”

“Oh, for—” He stabbed his pitchfork into the straw. “‘Forever Your Country Girl.’ Okay? Are we done now?”

“And after the concert?”

“What do you mean?”

“Were you out here again?”

“Of course I was. I checked in on Halladay.”

“Were you alone?”

He froze, his eyes darting everywhere but my face, and my heart rose into my throat. Was his guilt even worse than I thought? Had he done something even more terrible?

“Austin? Someone saw you.” Okay, so it was a little white lie. Or gray, maybe. “And they saw Rikki Raines.”

He stared at me, his eyes wide and shining. “I didn’t hurt her,” he finally said, his voice low. “I would never hurt her. I loved her. I’ve loved her since second grade, when I hit her in the face with a kickball, and she told me it wasn’t my fault. You have to believe me. I didn’t do it. I—” His voice hitched, and he swiped at tears. “She loved me, too. She said so.”

“Austin. Wait a minute. You were friends with Rikki Raines?”

He shook his head. “Not just friends.”

“You were her
boyfriend
?”

His head shot up. “Is that so hard to believe? I’m not good enough for her, is that it? Stupid farmer kid? Is that what you think?”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Austin. Look at me. Look who you’re talking to. You think I look down on you because you’re a farmer? What am I? Huh? What’s Zach? What are most of the people I love? Farmers. Mechanics. Good, blue-collar folks. So don’t give me that crap.”

He sniffed again, and wouldn’t look at me.