Lina’s POV

“Ah, much better.” Jen said as she walked out of the bathroom drying her hands on her jean shorts.

“Good now that you’re refreshed you can help us gather eggs.” I said standing up from the bale of hay I was sitting on.

“Oh hell no! Girl, do you see what I’m wearin’?” Jen said gesturing over her shorts and white tack top.

“Yeah, and?” I replied knowing damn well that I couldn’t get that girl to get dirty if her life depended on it; the only time I had seen her with and dirt on her at all is when we went mudding and she only got dirty then because it was fun not work.

“You must have a few screws loose in the little head of yours if you think I’m steppin’ foot in a chicken coop.” She placed a hand on her hip and raised her eyebrows at me.

“You’re such a girl.” I complained as we all started walking out of the barn together.

“Is there something wrong with that?” She asked and I just rolled my eyes at her.

“So I heard Juniors havin’ a party Friday, you goin’?” I asked as we made our way toward the chicken coop.

“Is a pigs ass pork? Does a bear shit in the woods? Does a one-legged duck swim in circles? Does…” I cut her off before she could spit out ten more analogies.

“Ok, ok I get it, you’re goin’” I said interrupting her; Jon was doubled over in laughter next to us and we both stopped to look at him with grins. It was going to take some time for him to get used to Jen and her crazy way with words.

“I bet there’s never a dull moment with you around.” He said to Jen when he finally got his laughter under control.

“I’m slicker than pig snot on a glass door knob Jonny boy; don’t ya’ worry about gettin’ bored with me around.” Jen replied with a wide smile as Jon set off into another fit of laughs.

“Jen would you stop it, you’re goin’ to give the boy a hernia of you keep makin’ him double over in laughter like that.”

“I can’t help it that I’m entertaining.” She shrugged her shoulders before slapping Jon hard on the back breaking him out of his laugh.

“Ouch, what is it with you girls and hitting people?” He asked standing back up straight.

“Sissy.” Jen mocked the same response I gave him earlier after I hit him.

“That’s what she said but you two hit harder than an MMA fighter.” He tried rubbing his back where I was sure there was still a red handprint from Jen.

“Here’s a little life lesson for ya’ Jonny boy; never walk behind a horse, in front of a bull or mess with a southern girl unless you want to get kicked, picked, or hit.” Jen said before reaching in her pocket and pulling out her phone; Jon chuckled and shook his head.

“I gotta’ go; Caleb needs help tyin’ his shoes.” She joked as she headed off in the direction of her truck.

“You really need to teach that boy how to take care of himself.” I called after her as she waved over her shoulder.

“Who’s Caleb?” Jon asked once she was in her truck and heading down the driveway.

“Her boyfriend.” I informed him.

“And he doesn’t know how to tie his shoes?” He asked seriously and I let out a laugh.

“I’m sure he does but that boy is pretty much useless when it comes to doin’ things on his own; he would be lost without her.” I explained; Caleb really could be stupid sometimes, like borderline learning disorder. I’ve yet to figure out if it’s all just an act to get Jen to do his dirty work or if he really is lacking in the brains department; either way she loves him to death and would rather wait on him hand and foot than ever leave him.

“Well I’m sure it takes someone pretty special to be able to put up with her antics day in and day out.” He joked throwing a thumb over his shoulder in the direction that Jen left in.

“Yeah it does.” I agreed with a laugh.

            I grabbed a few baskets from the shed next to the chicken coop and handed one to Jon before I unlatched the gate and we walked in; opening up the food bin I scooped out some feed and scattered it on the ground. At the sound of the feed hitting the ground chickens came storming out of the laying boxes to get some breakfast and I showed Jon how to open to boxes to get out the eggs; we collected all the eggs in less than fifteen minutes so I decided to give him some lessons on handling chickens. After he got used to how to pick them up I showed him a trick on how to put them to sleep; I flipped the chicken I was holding over in my arms so that it was belly up and stroked its belly from top to bottom a few times until its head started to wobble before falling limp and its body was completely still.

“Is it dead?” Jon asked studying the motionless chicken in arms; I laughed before turning the chicken back upright and seconds later it was wide awake again.

“Nope, just sleepin’” I replied setting it back on the ground so that it could enjoy its meal with the rest of them.

“That was crazy.” Jon said looking back at the chicken on the ground like he couldn’t believe that it was still alive and up and walking around.

“Wait till you see what happens when we chop one of their heads off.” I replied motioning for him to follow me out of the pen; the disgusted look on his face was priceless.

“People really do that?” He asked sounding appalled at the idea.

“They gotta’ get from the pen to your plate somehow.”

“Yeah I know I just thought that it would be a little more… humane.” He replied rubbing the back of his neck as we made our way back up to the main barn.

“It’s an instant death, I don’t know how much more humane you can get. How did ya’ think it worked?”

“I don’t know, maybe knock them out first or shoot them, anything but an axe to the head.” He was being serious but I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Have you ever tried to shoot a chicken in the head? One they never stop movin’ and two it’s a pretty small target.”

“Yeah I guess, still don’t know if I would ever want to actually see it happen though.” I could understand where he was coming from seeing that he didn’t grow up on a farm; it’s something that was natural to me, like raising a cow one day and it was a steak on your plate the next. There were just some animals on a farm that you learned not to get attached to because their lone purpose in life was to grow up and become food for you and your family.

“Aw, are you a softy Jon?” I teased.

“No.” He quickly defended himself and I slapped his arm playfully as we went back to the barn.

            We spent the rest of the day doing normal chores on the farm; feeding the horses, cleaning the stalls, and sending them out in groups to the pastures. By the end of the night I could tell that he was spent; he was almost dozing off at the dinner table. I reminded myself to try and take it easy on him the next day; he obviously wasn’t used to all the hard work it took to run a farm day in and day out. After dinner was finished I headed up to my room and after a quick shower headed off to bed.

Jon’s POV

            A day working on the farm was nothing like I expected it to be; I figured that we would just have to throw some food in for the animals and let them in and out of stalls and that would be the end of it, boy was I wrong. The stalls needed cleaned and fresh bedding laid down; all of which was done by hand using pitchforks and shovels, it was back breaking work. I had to wonder how Lina was able to do it all; my muscles were sore and protesting by the end of the day but she seemed like she wasn’t bothered at all. She was such a small girl and as the day went on she just seemed to amaze me more than I already was with her; she could lift bales of hay like they nothing and didn’t even break a sweat as we shoveled out the stalls even though it had to be at least a hundred degrees out today.

            I was sure that it was something you got used too over time; the heat and the hard work but it was clearly not something that my body was used to. I worked out every single day while I was locked up but the workouts I did were nothing compared to just one day on the farm; the muscles I used today felt like they hadn’t been used in ages, I knew if the pain was bad now it would only be worse in the morning. In an attempt to ease the aching muscles I went to take another hot shower before going to bed; the warm water helped a little but as soon as the shower was over and I was lying in bed the pain returned, well this should be a long night.

            The next morning sure enough the pain was twice as bad as the day before but as the day went on and I started warming up the muscles again the pain subsided; at least that’s what it felt like, maybe they were just numb from overuse. As the week went on my body started to adjust to the grueling workout I put it through daily and tasks that were difficult for me at first were starting to get easier; I now had good knowledge of the proper way to use a pitchfork and instead of every other load falling off before I could get it to the wheel barrel I was only losing about one out of every five.

            A guy with black hair that was buzzed close to the scalp and green eyes stopped by during the week and I quickly learned that it was Lina’s boyfriend; apparently they had been together for two years and were happily in love with each other. I didn’t like the guy from the first time I saw him but I was still debating with myself if there was really a reason behind me not liking him or if it was solely based off the fact that I had developed a small crush on Lina. I knew that I could never get with her, that just wouldn’t work with her being the bosses daughter and all; but there was just something about her that drew me in and I couldn’t seem to keep myself away from her.

            Not only was she beautiful but she had a great personality and was one of the easiest people to get along with that I have ever met; she was real, nothing about her was fake, she wasn’t afraid to tell you what she thought or what she was feeling and I loved that about her. It’s not easy to find a girl like her, most women would just say or act the way they thought you wanted them too, doing whatever they could to try and impress you; it wasn’t like that with Lina, she would do or say whatever the hell she wanted and if you didn’t like it then you could go fuck yourself. Real, that’s really the only word that I can use to describe her and it drove me crazy to know that I could never have her.

            Not that I thought for a second that she would even want me if I could have her. Why would she? I’m a convicted felon who up until the last week had never done anything with my life worth landing a girl like Lina; she deserved better than me, she deserved someone who could take care of her. I could take care of her physically; I never doubted that; I would take out anyone that ever tired to hurt her but other than physical strength I didn’t have much else to offer her. I worked as a farm hand on her fathers’ farm, shit right now I didn’t have more than two dollars to my name; I could never take care of her financially and she deserved someone who could. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that Landon was the person who deserved her but he definitely had an upper hand in the financial department compared to me.

            I don’t know why I wasted so much time thinking about someone who I knew I could never have or would never be good enough for but Lina was constantly on my mind; it was like her face and every one of her perfect features were permanently engrained into my mind and no matter how hard I tried I could never get them out. Not that I ever wanted to stop thinking about her but sometimes it was just hard to constantly think about something you cant have; it was like being a kid staring through the window of the candy store and your mom grabs your arm and pulls you away telling you that you cant have any, or seeing your dream car on the lot of the dealership but knowing that you would never be able to afford it. The worst part about it was that even though you knew that you didn’t have the money for the car or your mom wasn’t going to change her mind about the candy it still didn’t stop that need you had inside for it; the ache deep inside of you that told you if you tried hard enough that one day it could be yours, false hope, dreams, that’s all they were but if we didn’t have hope and dreams what would we have?

            I knew that I could never have Lina, I would never be able to call her mine but that didn’t stop me from dreaming about it; it didn’t stop me from wishing that one day I could make her mine, one day I would find a way to be good enough for her. I had already made it a life goal for myself to become a better person when I got released from prison and so far I think I was doing a pretty good job at it; it had almost been a week and I was yet to get into trouble or get into a fight, I know that if I was back in LA both of those things would have no doubt happened by now. I was so grateful at the opportunity that was given to me and I would do my best not to screw it up in any way; I not only wanted a better life for myself but I wanted to do it for my father; I wanted to prove to him that I could be the man he always wanted me to grow up to be, even if he couldn’t be here to see it I was still determined to do it for him.

            It was a good feeling to actually want to make something of myself, a feeling that until now I had never had; growing up my only goal in life was to survive another day, do whatever I could not to get myself killed or arrested. I had goals now, I wanted to buy a house, a truck and maybe someday be lucky enough to get my life together enough to start a family. A few months ago I would have probably smacked myself upside the head for even having thoughts like that, tell myself that I was stupid for even thinking like that but the longer I spent on the farm the more I wanted to change, the more I wanted to make myself better. I’m still amazed at how much my life and mindset has changed in such a small amount of time; I couldn’t even imagine going back to my old life now, I never wanted to go back to the old me. I wish I could just bury the old Jon with all the memories of my old life; stick it all in a box and throw it to the bottom of a river to be forgotten and never found. Too bad it wasn’t that easy and my old life will always haunt me; it will always be there in the background waiting for me to make one wrong move so that I could get pulled right back into it.