Welcome To Hickville High (Hickville High Series Book 1) Read Free Page A

tank that has some pretty good fishing.”
    “Tank?” Kelsey asked the question, but she didn’t want to understand. This farm, this town, was just a pit stop in her life—emphasis on pit. To learn about life here, was to accept it and that was never going to happen.
    “It’s the same as a pond.” Austin led them through a doorway opening to a small room. “This is the tack room. Jack got rid of most of the animals before y’all came. He kept two of the horses—Harry and Buster, Winifred the pig, and the chickens.”
    The air was stifling. It was like walking into a giant oven. Four saddles lined the wall on one side the room and a row of bridles hung across the opposite wall. Kelsey would have loved to inhale the scent of the leather but the other less pleasant odors kept her from taking a deep breath. She shielded her nose and mouth with her hand. “How do you get used to the smell?”
    Austin furrowed his brow. “What smell?”
    Kelsey’s eyes watered. “I think it would be animal excrement.”
    He shrugged. “I can’t smell it. So come on, I’ll introduce you to the animals.”
    He led them through a door and into an area with four stalls. The two horses poked their heads out of the stalls. “During the summer we leave them inside under the fans during the day and turn them out at night.”
    Kelsey looked at the fans perched above the stalls blowing on the horses. She couldn’t imagine they helped much, but the horses didn’t seem to mind.
    “This is Buster.” Austin stroked the side of the animal’s face.
    Ryan stood next to Austin, almost touching his shoulder as she reached to pat the horse. “Look at the white stripe on his nose. Isn’t he cute?”
    Really, Ryan, already flirting?
Kelsey wanted to push Ryan away from Austin. Not that she cared about Austin, but it was embarrassing the way her sister threw herself at guys.
    Austin stepped back from the horse. “That stripe is called a blaze. Buster and Harry are both really nice geldings.”
    “Geldings?” Kelsey asked the question before she could stop herself.
    “Horses that have been cut.”
    Ryan peeked over the top rail of the stall. “Cut?”
    “You know, cut. Neutered. Jack thought they’d be good for y’all to learn to ride on.”
    “Is this a requirement to living in Texas?” Kelsey laced her voice with sarcasm.
    Austin smirked. “It should be. Come closer, they won’t bite.”
    Kelsey stepped closer and looked into Harry’s stall. He was a pretty horse with brown and white splotches all over him. His mane and tail were half white and half brown.
    As if reading her thoughts, Austin explained, “He’s what we call a paint—he’s a tobiano. See how the brown extends over both flanks? Look at his legs. He has white socks. There is a pattern to his colors. Now, Buster is a buckskin dun.”
    Kelsey nodded like she understood. The truth was, she wasn’t interested enough to understand. It was stupid. In her mind one was a brown and white horse, the other tan.
    Ryan stood next to Austin stroking Buster’s nose. Mackenzie cowered against the wall with her arms folded across her chest, looking totally freaked out by the animals.
    Austin motioned to Mackenzie with his head. “Don’t you want to pet one?”
    “Nope. The only horse I want to touch is the vault.”
    “Vault?”
    “She’s a gymnast.” Kelsey supplied, although she had her doubts that Austin understood.
    He nodded like he did anyway. “Okay. Come on, let’s meet the chickens.”
     
    *
     
    Austin led the girls through the barn to the chicken coop. God, what a bunch of greenhorns. No wonder Jack asked him to help out.
    He’d already figured the girls out. Kelsey was sexy as hell with dark hair that was just long enough to dance on her shoulders as she walked. She had cool blue eyes that matched her ice-queen-bitch attitude that said she was too good for this redneck town. Ryan, with her short spiky hair, was desperate for attention and would do anything to