Chapter One
No job, low battery warning, and a leaking gutter

     “Gosh, darn it,” exclaimed May, as her shoe slipped on the wet grass and she fell on one knee, only half catching herself. She stood up and scoffed as she saw that mud was smeared all over the side of her new jeans and up her forearm, making her cold and dirty; two things she hated being. She brushed off as much of the grass and mud as she could and while it didn’t work, she still walked determinedly up onto the porch of the tall stately white house with the black trimming. It stood three stories high, tall and foreboding. The drab sky with the background cluttered with clouds that were dropping rain, only added to the dismal effect.
     May shivered and pulled down the sleeves of her gray hoodie. Pursing her lips she took a deep breath and rang the silver doorbell. She stepped back and itched her head, looked side to side, and then glanced behind her shoulder with a sigh. No one answered her ring. 
     “Come on, answer your door,” she muttered, this time with a loud knock in case the doorbell was broken. “I didn’t come this far again, just to be ignored.”
     She bit her lip and stood waiting. No response. She took out her cell phone and fiddled around with it aimlessly. She sent a text message to her mom, and then looked at the clock on the screen. Two minutes passed. Low battery warning. Why hadn’t she charged it? She closed the phone and looked up at the road where her mom had dropped her off. What was taking her so long?
     Rolling her eyes she went up to the window and peeked in but saw no movement. Aggravated, she rang the bell once more. And waited. Still, no response. This was the third time she had tried to visit this place, what was wrong with these people! She needed that job! She had tried ten other options this morning with no effect. Why couldn’t she just get one?
     The wind picked up and buzzed around the corner of the house, picking up speed as it went and blew harshly through the porch. May crossed her arms with a sniff and stamped her cold feet impatiently. Then she heard a faint noise. Text message! She ripped out her phone. Excitedly she went to her inbox hoping it was from her girlfriend in Toledo with info on the airline ticket. She was hoping to visit her soon. She hadn’t seen her since last school year, and she wouldn’t see her for longer than that now that she had given up education for the time being. She sighed, and looked down at the phone, her eyebrows creasing as she read the message. It was from her mom. She said she had to stop a get some things from Kmart, and then she’d pick her up.
     “You’re kidding,” she said to the cell phone in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me! I’m stuck here? Oh, my, gosh.” She shook her head. Her mom took forever in Kmart; May knew that. She shook her cell phone violently as the screen faded. It was dead.
     “Yeah.” She looked around the porch slowly. No chair. “Drat, I can’t even try to be somewhat comfortable.”
     She sat down on the cold porch floor and lent her head against the wall and closed her eyes. She slowly began to fall asleep while the wind played with strands of her hair that had fallen out of her loose ponytail. All of a sudden she woke with a start to the feeling of water pouring on her head. She jumped up and looked above where she had been sitting. The gutter was leaking.
     “Great,” she said slowly as she felt how wet her hair and shoulders were, “Now I’m wet, and cold, and left here for who knows how long, and muddy, and grass stained, and ignored, and tired, and without a job, and with a dead cell phone—I mean, it couldn’t get any worse!”
     “Can I help you with something?” A voice asked behind her.
     She whizzed around and found herself in front of a young man who looked about her age she guessed, maybe in his early twenties. He had intensely dark blue eyes and was staring at her in confusion.
      “Um,” she said simply. “Well actually, no, you probably can’t. I’m just, uh, waiting here for my ride.”
     He stood awhile and looked her over. She could just feel his eyes noting her muddy jeans and messed up hair and sizing up her whole disheveled appearance with a little bit of amusement in those eyes of his. She groaned inwardly. She looked a mess, an utter mess. Why did awkward things like this always have to happen to her? She just wanted a job!
     She swallowed and brushed back the wet strands of hair that were sticking to her face. “Yeah, I uh, slipped in the grass,” she began, looking down at her jeans. “And then your gutter…uh began leaking, anyway…”
     “Why are you waiting on our porch?” He raised an eyebrow with his question.
     “I, well you know, I’m waiting for my ride.”
     “But on our porch?” he asked. “This isn’t the usual place for the bus to stop.” He smiled.
     She smirked and raised her eyebrows in sarcasm. “Really?” She cleared her throat. “Just so happens I’m not waiting for a bus. I’m here because, well—my mom—because my car broke down so she dropped me off…that’s not why I’m here…but…”
     “Could you tell me exactly what you are here for?” he asked quickly as he slipped past her and unlocked the front door. Turning back to her he kept it closed behind him. “I’m kind of in a hurry.”
     “Well, I guess I’ll just have to tell you everything as quickly as possible. Its kind of long…I’ll try to give you the short version.”
     “I’d appreciate it.”
     “Um, first though, my phone is dead, could I use yours?” she asked hesitantly, feeling like this was someone who didn’t really like granting favors to a stranger.
     He put his hand in his pocket and produced the phone.
     “Thanks,” she muttered, a little surprised. 
     “No problem.”
     She turned and dialed in her mom’s number while walking to the end of the porch, conscious that he was watching her every movement. She could hear his fingers beating against his pant leg rhythmically in tune with the rings on the other end of the phone. She closed it as she heard her moms recorded message and shook her head.
     “No answer.” She handed it back to him. “Okay, well I was going to talk to your mom about all this, wait if Mrs. Farrell is your mom.”
     “Yes, Mrs. Farrell’s my mom.” He shifted his feet and stood with hands clasped in front of him.
     “I’ll start at the beginning. First, as always, an intro. I’m May Granville…” She began to stretch out her hand but slowly brought it behind her when he only nodded an acknowledgment. “You are…?”
      Clearing his throat and muttering a muffled ‘excuse me’ he pushed the door open and walked inside. May raised her eyebrows as he disappeared behind it.
     “Okay then…”  she murmured. Slowly she peeked in through the door and though hesitating, she began to walk in slowly but stopped and gasped as he came out.
     He leveled her with a hard gaze but remained silent, making her ears grow warm and her face flush slightly. Taking a pencil from his pocket he flipped open the note pad he had carried out from the house.
     “I’m Evan, Evan Farrell,” he said, not taking his eyes off of the pad, or extending his hand. “So, you’re name’s May Granville…and you came here to…?” He scribbled her name on the pad and looked up at her quizzically as he stalled.
     You can do it, May told herself, you just have to do it.
     “I came here to,” she paused, “Well to tell you the truth, no matter how stupid it sounds, I came here to apply for a job.” She breathed slowly and tried to get rid of the tingling sensation that was flowing through her veins at the moment. There, she told herself, that wasn’t so bad…
     “Apply for a job?” he spoke with teasing in his voice but his eyes regarded her seriously. And then he smiled, a wicked smile. May was totally annoyed. He was teasing her and enjoying her agitation. “I’m sorry Miss Granville, but we don’t have any positions that you could fill right now. In fact we don’t--”
     “Whoa, whoa, wait, hold on you don’t understand, I have to explain further,” she began quickly.
     “Alright, continue,” he said somewhat impatiently.
      She bit her lip and fastened her gray gaze on him for a long time before answering. “A job with barn help, or whatever. I saw the sign out by the road, for horse riding lessons,” she said, aggravated at how stupid it was sounding. “And I thought, since I had horse experience,” she rubbed her hand against her forehead.
     “We don’t have positions open because we don’t even have positions. I mean, this is a private home, we don’t hire hands or farm help or whatever you want to call it.” He creased his forehead, and then smiled again. “Um, are you joking?”
     She rolled her eyes in aggravation. “Do you think I would have waited in the cold on your porch for twenty some minutes if this was nothing but a big joke!”
     “Well, I can’t even believe you’d wait that long even if you really, really wanted a job here…”
      She scoffed. “I’ve been all over today looking for a job, I, I guess I thought I could somehow just help out here…get paid something…I mean, every little bit counts…”
     “I don’t wanna rush you, but I have a lot of work to do….”
     She frowned. “Before you go,” she said with a sigh, “My dad’s out of work, unemployed since September, I really need this job. I even quit collage so I could help my family out, otherwise I’d be a Junior in a class room right now with all my friends instead of freezing out here talking with you. Plus, like I’ve said, I’ve had some experience with horses. And I do need the money because there’s seven in our family for my dad to feed and he has nothing coming in right now. No money.”
     His eyes softened suddenly and he looked genuinely sorry for her. “Look, I’m really sorry for you, honest. That’s a tough place you’re in but I can’t help you.” He sighed and opened the door, but turned back as she caught his arm, her eyes pleading. He looked into them a moment and then sighed again.
     “I guess I could talk to my mom about your situation,” he said. “But I have to warn you, she probably won’t take you on,” he added. “She, um…well some rough things have been happening to more than you and she is just a bit overwhelmed, to say the least. Plus money isn’t really overflowing from here or anything. So if I were you, I’d start looking in other places for a job in case she can’t work it out.”  
     She let herself fall against the side of the house in exasperation. “I’ve looked into ten possible openings today already…you know what, never mind,” she exclaimed. “I’m just gonna go now…don’t bother your mother about me. And…sorry if this stalled your work, and good luck with everything.” She turned and put up the hood of her sweatshirt, holding it against the sides if her head as the wind beat against her ears.
     He slammed the door shut and dropped the pad onto the porch floor.
     “Wait!” he shouted through the howling wind. “Hold on.”
     May rolled her eyes then turned around. “Can’t you just let me go?”
     “How will you get back to your house?” he asked her, ignoring her question.
     “I don’t know, but I guess it’ll just be a good long walk.”
     “In this storm?” he asked with concern.
     She bit her lip and smiled. “Uh, lets see, I don’t have power to change what the weathers like.” She looked down the driveway impatiently. There was a really long pause. “I…should be going if I don’t want to be drenched on the way.”
     “Come into the house, and wait for your ride,” he said finally.
     “If I’m not welcome, I’m not coming into your home,” she said with a shrug.
     “I’m not gonna let you stand out here and get sick because you stood in the rain and not in the house,” he countered. As he finished his words the clouds opened up and the rain began coming down in torrents.
     “Well, I guess I don’t really have a choice then.”  She followed him back to the house and smiled to herself. But once they were inside she began to feel uneasy. She didn’t know this guy from anyone. How was she to know she was safe just sitting in his house? But then, what choice did she have? All she could do was wait for her mom and hope everything would be ok.
     “So, where are your nearest neighbors?” She was trying to come up with conversation.
     “About three miles or so.”
     “Mmm.” She scratched her head and pulled back the drape from the window anxiously. “I’m sorry to keep you from what you have to do…”
     “Well my work is all outside.”
     “Oh…”
     “I work with the horses, obviously.”
     “Of course.” She looked around the room. “You have a beautiful house,” she said dazedly. “I love all the decorations!”
     “You go ahead and look around some, I’ve got to add up these figures anyway,” he said, walking into the kitchen.
     May was fascinated. Everything she saw was a beautiful antique, pricey she could tell, and most in rather good condition considering their ages. Antiques always held special meaning to May for some reason, ever since she was little they always made her feel so enchanted and mysterious. These were simply charming since they were all from old farmhouses across the United States. They gave the house a dear feel, that from the outside you could not have guessed. She sighed and touched a few small things as she passed them. After exploring everything she could, she decided that her biggest fascination was in the old butter churn that sat calm and quiet in the corner. She heard a car pull into the drive and she jumped slightly with quick steps to the door. After throwing it open her smile faded into a gasp. Her feet stuck to the ground and her heart pounded.
     A man of about thirty with shaggy brown hair and a haggard face stood at the door. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. 
     “I, uh, I was here to see, well to talk to, I mean, I…”
     “Evan!!” the man shouted, pushing her back from the doorway. May was horrified and fell back into the room and up against the wall.
     “What is she doing here?”
     Evan hurried in from the kitchen and stood almost completely in front of May. “Um, I invited her, Corey, don’t worry.”
     The one at the door grunted and slammed it behind him. “Tell me next time you invite her,” he mumbled thickly, and climbed the stairs.
     May looked at Evan, shocked. “He scared me out of my wits,” she exclaimed, taking a deep breath. “Who is he?”
     Evan gave her a scowl, and then rose to his full height. “My brother, Corey.”
    “You know I’m sorry, but can I try your phone again?”
     He handed it to her and then climbed the stair. “Just set it on the table there when you’re done,” he called over his shoulder.
     She wandered to the window and rubbed her temple gently while she listened to the incessant ring on the other side of the phone. “Hello? Mom?” May asked quickly.
     “Yeah honey, who’s phone are you calling from?” came the voice on the other end.
     “Long story…um where are you?” she asked her anxiously.
     “Oh, I’m sorry honey, I lost track of time, but I’m just now turning into the driveway. Hey listen, did you talk to anyone?” her mother asked.
     “I’ll tell you once I’m in the car. See ya.” She closed the phone and set it on the table. Biting her nails she glanced at the stairway. Standing on the first step she rapped her fingers on the banister and was about to yell that her ride had come, when she heard voices in deep discussion rise into anxious heights above her. She shook her head and turned to open the door. Pursing her lips she opened his cell phone and typed quickly in a note, “Thanks for the shelter from the rain, my rides here, off safely….May…” She set it back down and closed the door behind her. Running through the hard rain, she flung the car door open and jumped into the front seat.
     “What happened?” her mom asked, seeing May’s face and clothes.
     “Just get me home Mom, just get me home,” May muttered, leaning her head against the head rest with a sigh.