Rachael Herron - How to knit a love song: a Cypress Hollow yarn

How to Knit a Love Song

A Cypress Hollow Yarn

Rachael Herron

For my mother,
Janette Frances Herron,
who always believed .

Contents

Abigail gave the metal latch a giant twist, shoving all

This is your house?

Cade had heard of people being too mad to see

Abigail put the key to the cottage in her pocket

This was awful. Horrible. Disgusting.

Cade had already finished the morning chores with Tom by

Abigail was getting good at acting like she was strong.

What was she doing to him? He was behind in

An hour laterthree other wheels set up on the porch

Abigail spent the next week settling into a routine. The

Cade heard Abigail calling his name, and it sounded frantic.

Abigail got the animals inside the fenced shed area. They

It was a good morning for a drive: clear and

She was a good follower, hed give her that much.

There were two bathrooms in Cades house. Abigail had been

The next morning, when Cade opened his eyes in the

Abigail stood, her knees aching. Shed been sitting in this

His arm was killing him. And his back hurt. Why

Janets black town car crunched up the driveway. By the

Abigail called Clara, who dragged herself out from behind a

Cade hadnt been to this hospital since Tom had called

Abigail was filthy. She could still smell the dirt from

Cades first thought, after he woke, was about blueberry muffins.

Two weeks later, Cade drove up the county road, toward

Days later, Abigail still hadnt seen Cade even once.

Six hours later, everyone was exhausted.

Hed never been treated as such an object in his

What had gotten into her? She didnt make out with

He drove fast, speeding through town. He took curves ten

He didnt understand how this had happened again, how hed

Abigail opened her eyes slowly. Where was she? These werent

Five or ten grand. Five or ten thousand dollars.

When Abigail heard Cade calling her name, she had no

He knew shed had customers yesterday, but had she had

Without warning, he was kissing her.

Abigail gripped the steering wheel tightly. She hated this part

Cade hadnt seen Tom yet this morning. While he waited

Outside Tillies, Abigail hugged Janet good-bye and went to get

On his way up the driveway, Cade tried to slow

On a cool Tuesday morning one year later, Abigail turned

A bigail gave the metal latch a giant twist, shoving all of her body weight behind it. Her hand slipped off it at the last moment, and her whole arm slammed through the bars in the gate.

Damn it! That hurt. She pulled back her arm and rubbed the elbow that would probably be black and blue tomorrow.

The gate was still closed.

Abigail would get this thing open if she had to use her teeth to do it. It was the front gate, she was pretty sure, and it looked like the only way up the dirt drive. There werent any locks, and she could get the long bolt to turn halfway, but she didnt know how to jam it over and out of the way. She sweated in the late October sun and felt her hair starting to curl against the nape of her neck.

She stood straight and took a deep breath. Her hands burned. Her red pickup idled behind her, mocking her attempt to drive it through the gate. She should have turned the engine off, at least.

A man sat on horseback on the brown ridge above her. She could just see him under a cluster of eucalyptus trees, far enough away to make out that he was male but not much more. Was he watching her?

No, he couldnt be. He probably couldnt see her clearly from up there. If he could, hed have come down, at least to see what she wanted. Instead, he must be looking over the valley, down to the ocean behind her.

Abigail was covered in sweat and panting. This wasnt quite the way she wanted to meet anyone, but she wished that cowboy would come down and help her with this stubborn gate. If sheep ranches even had cowboys. What did they call them?

She looked up the hill at the man. He gave every impression of watching her, so she summoned a smile and gave a cheery wave.

No response.

She waved again, this time a little more frantically, although she tried to keep the desperation out of her body language.

She had to drive through this gate.

Abigail hopped a little and circled her arms in wild motions. He couldnt miss it.

Could he?

The cowboys head turned, and the horse started to turn, too, and it looked as if they were headed uphill and away.

No! Please! Abigail yelled, as loudly as she could, all shame now tossed to the ocean wind. Come back!

She didnt think hed be able to hear her, but his head swiveled back toward her. Then the horses body followed that motion.

Abigail rubbed her now dirty, scraped hands on her brand new Wranglers. She hoped a little dirt would take that new-jeans sheen off of them. As he got closer and closer, she could tell the cowboy riding at her was the real deal, the kind that might have opinions about jeans that werent broken in. She rubbed her palms one last time against her thighs and then waved.

Well, howdy! she called.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to take them back. Howdy? The shape of the word in her mouth hadnt felt right and she could tell by his pained look that it hadnt sounded right either.

He was striking, in the way that anything carved from nature is. His cheekbones looked chiseled, high and tanned. His eyes were as green as the grass on the hill behind him, and the long planes of his body seemed as strongly muscled as the horse he rode.

Abigails mouth opened, but her voice only squeaked.

Then she managed, Wow! Youre real!

And she realized that there was, indeed, a worse thing to say than howdy. Umm. I mean, hi.

She stuck out her hand, and then realized that not only was he still ten feet away, but the fence and gate still separated them, not to mention that he was still sitting on the horse, and she was standing on the ground.

She shook out the offending hand, as if it hurt and she was trying to loosen the muscles in it. Then she stuck it in the pocket of her jeans that might be a smidge too tight.

Do you work here? Do you think you could help me open this? Is it locked and I didnt see it? Is this the front entrance? Is there another way I should go? Abigail paused. Is that too many questions in a row?

She smiled, and waited for a similar response.

Nothing. The cowboys eyes widened at her barrage of questions, but he didnt smile, nor did he attempt to answer a single one.

Instead, he pulled the horse up to the gate, and leaned over. With one hand, he flipped the offending latch. The gate swung freely and fast, directly at Abigail.

Hey! she scrambled backward. Okay! Im out of the way now, thanks.

She jumped in her idling pickup, drove through the gate, and hopped out to close it.

The cowboy just sat and watched.

She swung the gate, heavier than it looked, back into place, and slammed the latch home. The metal had taken off several layers of skin and she knew that her palm was probably bleeding, but she didnt look at it, just smiled up at him and said, Thank you.

She got back into the truck and was about to head up the gravel driveway when he said loudly, What is that, anyway?

She took the truck out of gear and stuck her head out the open window. What is what?

That thing youre driving?