I Want A Simple Love Like That

I looked up at the sign on the side of the road.
“Boone-5 miles.” I said aloud. I shook my head, “Let’s start walking boys.” I shook my head as my two brothers followed me in step down the road to this town called Boone. They carried their luggage and guitar bags, I toted a single bag of clothing and sported an angry face.
How could I smile, anyway? I’m stuck in a small town because the high winds, that the bus driver didn’t pay attention to, ran us off the road and now the bus won’t start. The mountains in the distance mocked me and I felt like cussing.
“Nick…where are we going?” My oldest brother, Kevin, asked.
“We’re going to see what Boone has in it.” I yelled back to the stragglers.
“But…I’m tired!” Joe yelled. I walked faster, ignoring his comment. I tried not thinking about going and choking them out, but I took a deep breath and kept walking. The sun blazed sharp heat down on my skin-even with the wind-and I looked in the sky. I squinted to see some clouds, but not many. I then learned how to pray for rain and cool air.
We had several cars honk at us passing, with each one I thanked God that our bus fell so far down the side of the hill that no one could see ‘Jonas Brothers’ pasted in huge letters on the side. I stopped for a second, looking around.
“We’ve walked about a mile…are you guys okay?” I turned to see Joe and Kevin way back behind me. I stopped and sat on the guard rail, waiting on them to catch up.
“How do you walk so damn fast?” Kevin breathed heavily. I sighed and looked at them.
“This really sucks.” I said to them.
“Tell me about it.” Joe said nodding. I saw no cars in the distance both ways and noticed a valley across the high way.
“Let’s go see what’s down in that valley.” I pointed to the general direction of the drastic cut in the mountains.
“Good plan.” Kevin said and followed me across the high way. When we finally made it over, we saw houses…but we didn’t know how to get to them without falling to our death.
“That one looks abandoned.” Joe pointed out. I noticed a chain across the driveway’s entrance and then looked to the next house.
“I think that one is too…I see no cars or lights. The curtains are ripped too.” I said.
“This place is giving me the willies.” Kevin said, shuddering. We all agreed and sat back down on the guard rail. “We’re not getting anywhere sitting, but I don’t know what to do.”
“Yeah, neither do I.” I almost whispered.
Just then a car started coming, a small pick up truck. It was black and superfluous stickers of deer horns and tribal deer markings in pink on it. We all looked at each other and wanted to laugh, but it went about thirty yards from us, stopped, and backed up back to us.
“Don’t laugh at someone’s savior, boys.” Joe said. “It’s obviously a girl, let me work my magic.” He smiled and got up to go meet the stranger. She came out and Joe wasn’t the one that needed to be working his magic. I did.
She was wearing tight jeans, hugging every curve in the right places, a tied up flannel shirt, and cowboy boots. Her hair, black as a raven, whipped in the wind. I looked at her taut breasts and almost drooled.
“Howdy…y’all need some help?” She said in a deep Southern accent. I jumped up and knocked Joe back to where Kevin was.
“Yes, we were wondering where town is…our bus got knocked off the highway and we must have busted something, it won’t start. Is there any way we could get a ride into town.” I smiled wide at her. Something I never do just for anything.
“Well…I’m heading back to my place…I can call muh cousin Jason, he could probably fix ya bus for ya. You guys are welcome in my home.” She offered.
“We wouldn’t want to intrude.” I smiled harder.
“No, it ain’t no big thing, come on, I’d be hurt if ya didn’t. Only one of ya can ride up front though.” She looked at the truck, thinking about it. I said thank you and took my spot where I could sit beside her.
“Now, what’s y’all’s names?” She smiled before getting in.
“I’m Nick, that’s Kevin, and Joe.” I pointed in their direction.
“Well…Kevin, Joe, I'm Hazel, and don’t step on my squash. That stuff is rough to grow. Such a hot summer and all.” She got into the truck beside me and the boys climbed in the back.
“You grew those?” I smiled.
“Yep…real hard to grow squash in a hot summer. They require lots of water.” Her Southern drawl, some how, made her all the much appealing to me. “S’cuse me a minute.” She said slowly. She pulled her cell phone out and dialed a long number. I listened to her talk to a man named Jason, who I’m guessing is her cousin that can fix our bus. I wondered if our bus driver was okay, but he said he was going to stay there till the bus repair people come from the local branch. That could take hours, so that’s why we walked.
“Sorry about that.” She said politely and set the phone down. “We’ll be home soon, it ain’t much, but I can call it home.”
“Do you live alone?” Please God, please.
“Yeah…bought the house when I turned twenty as a gift to muhself.”
My heart sank when I heard these words of her age…I don’t know what I expected though. She had a house to herself and a nice truck. I decided to change the subject before my heart sank through my body and came out on the floor.
“So, what do you do for a living?”
“I farm and I work at this other place, don’t like to talk about it.” She smiled, looking at me. We pulled into a dirt driveway off of the small back road we had taken, and came to a large field. “Those are muh horses.” She said quietly. I looked to my side and saw three beautiful brown and tan horses standing there.
We drove a little bit further and passed a huge barn. She pointed it out and said it was her hay barn. I nodded and smiled, looking into her beautiful, bright blue eyes. We finally pulled up to a house that I swear I’ve seen in a Civil War movie.
“Wow…I like your home. When was it built?” I asked her as she came to a stop.
“1840.” She stated simply. “It was once owned by a slave owner, Sgt. Horton. He was once the richest man in Boone.”
We got out of the car and the boys stretched. They looked at me weird, then I remembered I still had that grin on my face. I wiped it off quickly and fixed my hair to cover my blush.
“Well…this is it, y’all. I have two bedrooms upstairs and two downstairs. Take your pick…a bathroom a piece, too. Feel free to freshen up, I’m gonna cook ya something up.”
“Oh no, you don’t have to.” Kevin stated. I knew he was lying, he loves food too much.
“Yes I do, you’re company. My cousin is on his way to your bus right now, he said he could have it fixed in a week.” She smiled. “Now, get, go on and get ready for supper.” She lugged the huge box of squash out of the back of the truck. I offered to get it but she snapped at me, then apologized.
We all three went inside and was in awe at this home. “This place is nicer than our house. How did she get this?”
“She bought it for herself when she turned twenty as a gift. The horses you saw? Hers. The barn? Hay barn. This was built in 1840 by the richest man in Boone at the time, Sgt. Horton. He was a slave owner.” I said. They turned to me and gave me weird looks. “What? I asked her on the way over.”
They shook their heads and walked upstairs.