Strawberry Wine Read Online Free PDF

lining up boards. He was constructing a pen in the front part of the hay loft with the intention of buying a few more goats at auction.
    Alli’s throaty giggle caused him to glance over at her in time to see Chase trying to lick her face. She was losing the wrestling match. In her struggles to avoid being covered in dog slobber her eyes met his over Chase’s furry head. There was a definite attraction between them. It sang like electricity in the air all around them. Frankly, Jason thought it was silly of them to pretend they didn’t notice.
    “So, you were saying, a livestock auction?” Alli was asking.
    “Yeah. This Saturday. You want to come?”
    Alli had never been to a livestock auction before. It sounded interesting. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”
    Chase had settled down, and was now lounging against Alli’s side as she gently stroked his ears. Jason tried not to notice the way her hair was falling over her shoulder, caressing the side of her breast. “I don’t know if ‘fun’ is an adjective I would use to describe a livestock auction, but I’m sure Gus will appreciate having some company around here.”
    Jason looked around his immediate area for a tool. Finding it out of reach, he gestured with his chin, his hands being busy holding together two pieces of wood. “d’you mind handing me that level?”
    Alli handed him the level, and sat down beside him. “How’s your dad?”
    “He’s mending. He should be right as rain by the time I start back to work. Or at least well enough to handle the day to day minutia of a hobby farm.”
    “So, shirtless cowboy will have a real job.” Alli bit her bottom lip impishly.
    He snorted with mirth. “Well, we can’t all make our livings stealing shirts. It’s simple economics. The shirtless cowboy market would become saturated.”
    “What do you do?” She was genuinely curious. During their long conversation at the soda fountain, he had mentioned quitting his job, but he had never mentioned what exactly that job had been.
    “The only thing a lit major can do, with any authority. I teach.”
    That surprised Alli. Jason was way too sexy to be a teacher . She sighed in sympathy for the little girls that must moon over him, unable to concentrate on their assignments.
    “What grade?” She asked.
    “So far just eighth. I’ve only been doing it for one year.”
    “You like teaching?”
    He became thoughtful for a moment. “Yeah. It’s just sad to see how uninterested kids are in reading any more. It’s all about texting and tweeting now. I wonder if they’d be more interested in Hemingway if I fed it to them in one hundred and forty character increments.” Jason stopped himself. “God, listen to me. I’m such an old geezer.”
    Alli laughed. “You are not!”
    “I’m what, four years older than you? Jeeze, it seems like decades ago that I was nineteen.”
    Alli sobered quickly at his math. “Four years isn’t all that much.”
    “It wouldn’t be if you were, say, thirty, and I was thirty four, but from nineteen to twenty three, that’s a key four years.” Jason put the boards in place, double checking the level.
    “Yes, I’m sure you’re so much more mature and wise than I.” Alli handed him a hammer before he had to ask.
    “I didn’t say I was more mature, Alli. Just that a lot of life lessons are learned in those short years. You’re not your average nineteen year old though.” Jason smacked a nail in place in two hits.
    “Yes I am. I’m totally nineteen.” Was he on to her?
    “You’re an old soul, Alli. Talking to you is easy. I would love to hear your take on things when you’re this side of twenty.”
    Alli was feeling more and more guilty about her little white lie. Would Jason still want to hang out with her if he knew her real age? Would he still look at her like that ? He seemed to be eating her with his eyes. Lord help her, his eyes alone made her stomach do flips. Their multi layered hues of grey, surrounded by those thick