"Yes!" She screamed and by now they were both crying. He slid the ring on to her finger and got up off his knee, with a bit of a struggle. He's getting old. I ended the video when they were done swallowing each other's faces and applauded. Kate and I went over by the horses and gave the lovers some privacy. "Get a room!" Kate called. They came back over to us and we started our trek back to the barn. "Well, let's see." I said to Amy and she held out her hand so I could observe.
Later, after they had gone home, Kate and I started packing up. "Hurry up I want to leave soon enough to beat traffic." I told her. She was gathering all her clothes and stuffing them in a bag, not bothering to fold them. "I'm packed." I gave her a look of disappointment and shake my head, looking at her packing job. "Ok, throw it in the truck."
I gather all my stuff, fold it nicely, and put it in my camouflage duffel bag. "Leaving already?" Jeff asks. "Yeah, I want to get ahead of traffic." I say setting my bags down on the floor next to my feet. "Well I'll see ya next time then." "Probably next week, I'll let you know." I hug my uncle and say goodbye to Kathy and throw all the bags in to the bed of my truck. "What in the hell..?" I say when I open the tailgate. I pull the box closer to me and open it. Gummy bears. 50 fucking pounds of them. "Why is this in my truck?" I ask Kate, who is just as confused as I am. I just brush it off for now and go to say goodbye to my horse. "I'm gonna miss you baby." I say stroking his soft mane. "I love you boy." I leave the barn.
"C'mon Kate!" I yelled impatiently sitting in the truck. She comes running out of the house and jumps in the passenger seat. Jeff and Kathy are standing on the porch waving goodbye. I wave to them and hit the gas, doing a burnout in the driveway. I look in the rearview and see them laughing. "Coming back next time?" I ask Kate when we get to the the pavement. "Of course!"
I get on the highway and try to avoid looking in the rearview. Why did we ever leave? I hate living in the city. I don't want to leave. I look at the clock and sigh. It's 2:00 so no matter what I'm not going to beat the horrible traffic in Minneapolis. I turn up the radio and a Luke Bryan song comes on the radio, Country Girl Shake it For Me. Kate and I share a look of excitement and start singing.
On the road already an hour, Kate has fallen asleep and my truck is making sounds that don't sound good at all. "Kate wake up." I shake her awake. "Listen to this." I shut the radio off and accelerate. "That sounds like-" she pauses "-like we won't make it home. Pull over." I get off the highway and pull in to the parking lot of Target. I shut the truck off, then try to turn it back on. It won't start. Kate gets out and goes around to the front, while I pop the hood. Good thing Kate's a mechanic. She bends over and looks around at the engine. "Theres no oil." she says, holding the dipstick. "That can't be true, I just changed the oil last week." I say with shock. "Well that sucks, how are going to get home?" "Well, we could find a garage." She suggests. "No that'll take too long. I'll call my dad." I pull out my phone, and she hands me hers. "Here call Cayla too."
"Hey daddy," I say as more of a question. "I'm not going to make it home-" "-Yeah it's making a really bad noise and there's no oil in it-" "-No I just changed the oil last week-" "-I don't know but do you think you could come get us?" "-okay thanks. Love you too."
"Well what'd he say?" Kate asks. "He'll be here in a little over an hour." She sighs and bends back over the front end of the truck. "Call Cayla."
The phone rang three times and finally she picked up. "Hey Cayla, it's CJ. The truck broke down so Kate's going to be late getting home-" "-Alright thanks. Bye." I hang up. "Hey Kate your girlfriend misses you." I yell to her from the tailgate, where I was sitting. She looks around to where I am and smiles.
We had been sitting in the truck for a little over an hour when an orange Chevy pickup with an empty trailer pulls in to the parking lot in front of us. My parents get out. They're both shaking their head disappointedly. "What happened?" My mother asks as I slide out of the drivers seat. "It made a funny noise and just quit." I exclaim.
My father pulls out the ramps for the trailer and lines them up with my front tires. "Put it in neutral and steer." He tells my mom. She does so and the rest of us get out and start pushing. "Well this is an embarrassment." I say when my truck is loaded and tied down. "A chevy pulling a ford? Yeah it is!" Kate said.
When we get home, it's almost dark. I drove Kate home in my dads Jeep. "I'll see you next week, I might go back to the farm if you want to come." I say as she gets out of the truck. "I'll be back." she says smiling. And with that, I drove away.
