Canyon Walls by Julie Jarnagin Page B

boy.”
    Cassie crossed her arms. “That’s not true.”
    â€œSure,” he said, drawing the word out.
    â€œI’m serious. That kind of thing doesn’t matter to me.”
    â€œWhat do you drive?” he asked.
    Cassie didn’t want to answer him. “You haven’t told me what your hobby is yet.”
    â€œI’m going to show you, but don’t try to change the subject. I want to know what you drive.”
    Cassie could tell by the smirk on his face he wasn’t going to let it go. She breathed an overexaggerated sigh. “I drive a truck.”
    She expected a sarcastic comment or a loud, hearty laugh, but instead all she got was a quiet, “Ah.”
    She looked up at him, and he was smiling. He nudged her with his elbow.
    They walked down the sidewalk to Cassie’s dream truck. She tried not to let on how much she admired his vehicle. She had loved pickups since her grandpa had taught her how to drive his in an empty parking lot when she was fifteen. She wasn’t an easy student because she was headstrong, and she liked to drive fast.
    He led her around to the truck bed. She looked over the edge to see a miniature airplane taking up most of the bed. It looked like an actual two-seater plane someone shrank in the dryer.
    â€œWhat is that?” she asked.
    â€œIt’s an RA aircraft.”
    â€œA what?”
    He laughed. “A radio-controlled plane.”
    It didn’t look like any remote-control toy she had ever seen her nieces play with at Melissa’s. It looked expensive. He had it tied down with rope and bungee cords. “Cool. How does it work?”
    He opened the passenger door and picked up a remote larger than a television remote, with knobs and buttons. “Basically, you control everything from this transmitter. I love flying them, but I also like tinkering with them, fixing stuff and adding better parts.”
    She walked around to the other side of the truck to get a better view.
    â€œAren’t you going to make fun of it?” he asked.
    â€œAs much as I like giving you a hard time, this seems really fun.”
    He held up the remote. “My family thinks it’s a ridiculous waste of time and money.”
    Cassie was actually a little jealous. She wished she had something she loved to do that didn’t involve work. “It’s a hobby. Aren’t hobbies supposed to be fun and pointless?”
    He folded his arms on the tailgate. “I don’t know. My brother loves to take his boat out on the lake, and my brother-in-law goes fly-fishing.”
    â€œHas he ever been noodling?”
    Will’s brow furrowed. “Not that I know of. I think since I’m the youngest, they think I don’t take things seriously.”
    â€œSomeday you’ll have to teach me how it works.”
    He held an open hand out to her. “Deal.”
    She put her hand in his, and as they shook on it, Cassie tried to control the butterflies in her stomach. She slipped her hand out of his.
    Will glanced at his watch. “I really do need to get back to the office. If they hear I’ve been out playing all day, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
    â€œCan you come back tonight around nine o’clock?” Cassie was surprised the words had come out of her mouth without really thinking about it. She stared at him expectantly.
    â€œSure. Should I ask why first?”
    She shook her head. “No, there’s something I think you’d enjoy.”
    She watched him drive out of the canyon. She liked Will, and it scared her.
    â§
    Cassie needed to go into town before everything closed at five. Sometimes she missed living in a city where she could go to the grocery store at 2 a.m. Now if she needed something after dark that couldn’t be found at a gas station, she was out of luck.
    The town of Wyatt Bend was made up of one stoplight, a post office, a few churches, and a downtown the chamber of