Over You by Amy Reed

Author:Amy Reed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

“How do you feel about goats?” Doff asks me over breakfast.

“I’ve never really thought about them,” I say, scraping the last of the oatmeal from my bowl.

“Feel like taking a break from vegetables? I need some help with the animals. Old Glen said he could spare you.”

“Okay,” I say. “Sure.” Come to think of it, I could use a break from the vegetables. They’re not the most exciting of company.

“Lulu’s about to give birth any day now,” Doff says proudly. “So that should be pretty exciting.”

“Where does she go?” I ask.

“Where does who go?”

“Lulu,” I say. “To give birth. Do you take her to the vet?”

Doff seems confused for a second. Then he laughs his honking laugh as soon as he realizes I’m serious. “We deliver her,” he says. “You and me.”

I feel the blood drain out of my face.

Doff looks worried. “Do you think you can handle it?”

For a moment, I’m afraid. I imagine blood and guts and horror-movie gore. But then I realize we’re talking about something natural, something that’s been happening for millions of years before me and will continue to happen long after I’m gone. I have no reason to be afraid of it.

“Yeah, what the hell,” I say. “What else am I going to do?”

We finish breakfast, and I follow Doff and the dogs on the long walk over to the barn. It’s been a few days, but I still haven’t told Sadie about the biodiesel run with Dylan. I haven’t told her about how sitting on his porch has become an afternoon ritual, our afternoon ritual. And even though we don’t really talk, we’re still together, sharing space, intentionally. These are the kinds of things you’re supposed to talk about with a best friend, but I don’t want to tell her any of it. And I feel guilty for that, but at the same time it is somehow freeing to finally be the one with the secrets. Still, I can’t believe she hasn’t noticed, hasn’t peeked out her window and looked across the lake to see me sitting next to him, hasn’t smelled the residue of desire still on my skin when I visit her.

Work’s picked up, and everyone’s busy again. I’ve been visiting Sadie at the trailer after dinner with Skyler. We play cards or a board game, Sadie and I barely talking while Skyler narrates with her constant monologue, as if she’s been saving up things to say for years. It’s strangely fascinating to listen to her stories of what it’s like being “that Oasis girl,” how she’s picked on at school for her mismatched clothes and vegetarian lunches, how she doesn’t have any friends her own age. She’s out of school for the summer and doesn’t have much to do besides a few chores, so she’s been spending her days with Sadie. When I arrive after dinner, it’s like I’m a guest in their weird little world. I can’t help but feel that I’ve been replaced by this almost-thirteen-year-old, and I think I should feel sad about that.

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