Stable Connection

Chapter Seventeen

Lina’s POV

            Jon handled the task of gutting the deer a lot better than I had imagined; I admit the first time I seen it happen I had thrown up repeatedly and it took me two more times of watching before I could actually stomach being there for the entire process. We shaved off the antlers for him to keep and treated the pelt so that he could have it later once it was fully cured; we cut up all the good parts of the deer and took them to a nearby sink to clean them before bagging them up and taking them in the house to put in the fridge, I would have to take them to Joe later to process for us. Leaving a few pieces out I fried them up and we sat at his kitchen table together after some quick showers to enjoy the meat; Jon was impressed with the taste, it was the first time he had eaten venison.

            It was nice to be the person to be able to teach Jon new things; his dad had been there with me the first time I went fishing and hunting so it meant a lot that I was able to be there with Jon for his first time doing both of those things too. I could tell that he really enjoyed both of them and knew that we would be doing them again together in the near future; not only did I like spending time with Jon but hunting and fishing were two of my favorite things to do so I was happy to find he enjoyed them just as much as I did. We ended the night with me telling him stories about the hunting and fishing trips that I would take with Bubba and by the time I headed off to bed both of our cheeks were hurting from laughing so much; it felt good to be able to share my memories of his father with him and he really seemed to enjoy hearing about them too.

            The next week went by quickly and by the middle of the week I had finished all the work my dad had left for me so I was back to working in the barns with Jon; the more time we spent together the more we got to know each other and I found myself growing increasingly close with him. Not only was I highly attracted to his good looks but his kind and caring personality was starting to rub off on me too; I could no longer deny the fact that I did indeed have a crush on him. I found myself actually flirting with him without even realizing that I was doing it; I was constantly scowled myself for checking him out when he would take off his shirt or bend over in his tight jeans to pick something up off the barn floor.

            As interested as I found myself in him he didn’t seem to be returning the same vibes to me; he would look uncomfortable when I accidentally flirted with him and no matter what I was wearing I never once caught him checking me out, even when I was trying to be seductive he just didn’t seem to get the hint. By the weekend I had come to the conclusion that it was a one way crush and I told myself that I would have to keep myself in check when I was around him before I embarrassed myself doing something stupid. Why did I have to fall for Jon? I just had to fall for someone that I couldn’t have, didn’t I? I felt so stupid for having a crush on a guy that had no interest in me; I was just glad that I was smart enough to figure out that he wasn’t interested before I tried something with him and made myself look like an idiot when he turned me down.

            We had plans to go with Jen this weekend to the truck pulls at the fair grounds; Caleb had a built diesel truck that he pulled every year and was yet to lose a pull with it. Jen met us at the farm and we all piled into my truck to head off to the fair; after a short argument with Jon I finally agreed to allow him to drive, he had been begging me for the last week to get a chance to drive my baby and I figured I would just give in and let him do it. When we arrived at the fair grounds we found some seats in the front row of the stands and waited for the pulls to start.

“So what’s this whole thing about?” Jon asked once we were seated; I tended to forget that he wasn’t from around here and this thing wasn’t the norm for him.

“They hook up their trucks to that sled over there.” Jen stated pointing over to the weighted sled that the trucks would pull down the lane. “Once they get hooked up a green light will come on and they start drivin’ down the track, as they drive the weight on the top of the sled comes down to the front causin’ that plow in the front to dig into the ground and make it harder to pull. The point is to try and get the furthest you can before the truck comes to a stop and can’t pull anymore. Just watch Caleb, he’ll show you how it’s done.” She ended sounding proud of her boyfriend; I had to say Caleb was good at pulling but it was probably the only talent that the guy had.